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Lauryn Seering
What the history of ‘Judeo-Christian’ can teach us about fighting Christian nationalism
Parent asks that prayer be put back on board agenda
Stop organizing baptismals, FFRF tells Indiana sheriff
An Indiana sheriff’s department must immediately cease putting together Christian events, including baptismals, inside its detention center, insists the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Several Decatur County residents have informed the state/church watchdog that the Sheriff’s Department has organized a number of religious functions involving inmates inside the Decatur County Detention Center. Sheriff Dave Durant coordinated a “Residents Encounter Christ” weekend in May 2019. He thanked in a Facebook post two department employees for their “tireless work” in helping arrange the event. There were reportedly separate Residents Encounter Christ events for male and female inmates in September 2019. At the men’s event, 34 inmates were baptized and at the women’s event, “EVERY female inmate volunteered to attend this Christ-centered weekend” with 21 baptisms. The Greensburg Fire Department was enlisted to help “fill the baptismal.”
The Decatur County Detention Center again held Residents Encounter Christ events for its inmates in June 2021. Six different local churches were involved. Durant described the Christian Decatur County Detention Center program as “the launch pad for all other programs offered inside our facility.” There were two more Residents Encounter Christ events this April in which many inmates “professed or rededicated their life to Jesus Christ.”
Most problematically, there have seemingly been a large number of Christian baptisms inside the Decatur County Detention Center. After a round of inmate baptisms, the Sheriff’s Department Facebook page described on Aug. 31 of last year how it was “a blessing to see how GOD is changing lives inside of our facility through believer’s baptism.” The Sheriff’s Department posted on Jan. 7 this year about how “GOD is good!” and celebrated 21 more inmate baptisms. And there were reportedly 36 more baptisms inside the detention center on June 24. The Facebook post noted that this was a “glorious day for Heaven and each of these men and women.”
The Decatur County Sheriff’s Department must cease so blatantly endorsing and promoting Christianity, FFRF asserts.
“The Establishment Clause prohibits government sponsorship of religious messages,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes to Durant. “The Supreme Court has said time and time again that the Establishment Clause ‘mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.’ This prohibition applies equally to law enforcement.”
Citizens interact with and rely on law enforcement officers during some of the most urgent and vulnerable times of their lives, FFRF reminds the sheriff. The promotion of Christianity by his department sends a message that excludes the 37 percent of Americans who are non-Christian, including the nearly one in three Americans who identify as nonreligious.
And the Sheriff Department’s promotion of Christianity needlessly jeopardizes taxpayer dollars by exposing the county to legal liability. Not long ago, the sheriff’s office in Bradley County, Tenn., agreed to pay more than $40,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees after promoting religion on social media and ignoring objections to the practice.
The Decatur County Sheriff’s Department is planning and promoting all these religious programs to advance Christianity and coerce inmates and the broader Decatur County community to adhere to the tenets of Christianity. To avoid further Establishment Clause concerns and to protect the rights of its inmates and the general public, the Sheriff’s Department must stop such activities.
“This is an appalling misuse of official resources,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The Decatur County Sheriff’s Department is acting like an arm of the church, instead of an arm of secular law. It must immediately cease promoting religion and baptizing and proselytizing its inmates.”
Read the full FFRF letter to Sheriff Dave Durant here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 37,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 500 members and a local chapter in Indiana. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
The IRS must immediately take action against a politicking Arizona church that is openly challenging the tax agency, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding.
The Redeemer Apostolic Church in Mesa, Ariz., has recently been involved in blatant electioneering. The church hosted Pastor Joshua Feuerstein to perform a prayer revival event on Feb. 4. At this event, Feuerstein openly endorsed Jerone Davison’s candidacy for the U.S. Congress. Feuerstein even acknowledged that his endorsement of Davison was illegal and dared the IRS to take action against him:
Stay standing with me. I’m going to do something illegal. The IRS tells me that because I’m a preacher, then I’m legally not allowed to endorse a candidate … I’m just going to say this and broadcast it around the world, and I’m going to look the IRS right in the face: “My name is Joshua Feuerstein, the founder of America’s Revival, and tonight I officially endorse Jerone Davison for Congress of the United States of America.” And let me say to the IRS: “Come at me, bro.”
Redeemer Apostolic Church also allowed Davison to address the audience to promote his campaign.
The church’s actions are audaciously illegal, FFRF emphasizes.
“IRS regulations specify that 501(c)(3) organizations, which include churches and other religious organizations, are prohibited from ‘[participating in or intervening in] . . . any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office,’” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes to the IRS. “Pastor Feuerstein knowingly and flippantly disregarded the law by endorsing Davison.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) and it takes this designation, along with the accompanying benefits and responsibilities, very seriously. By inviting Feuerstein and allowing him to publicly endorse a candidate for public office during one of its events — while flagrantly taunting the IRS — Redeemer Apostolic Church has made it clear that it is not interested in the benefits of tax-exempt status. The IRS must ensure that the Redeemer Apostolic Church is no longer receiving the benefits of 501(c)(3) status and that donations made to the church are no longer treated as tax deductible.
Contributions to political campaigns are not tax deductible, and tax-exempt entities are essentially subsidized by the public, two excellent reasons why the IRS forbids electioneering by churches and other (c)(3) entities. In the case of churches, they are exempted from filing Form 990 returns, which account to the IRS and the public what secular nonprofits do with tax-exempt donations, making it even more important that churches toe the line.
“Churches are so brazen in their violation of tax-exemption rules that preachers are now openly issuing challenges to the IRS,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Unless the tax authorities forcefully respond, religious institutions will continue to gleefully flout the law.”
You can read the complete FFRF letter to the IRS here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 37,000 members and several chapters across the country, including nearly 1,000 members and a local chapter in Arizona. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Do not misinterpret a recent Supreme Court decision, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is warning a California school board against whom it won a historic judgment.
After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District was released in late June, some members of the Chino Valley Unified School Board have openly discussed introducing prayer back into their school board meetings. Board Vice President Andrew Cruz has recently made some alarming statements implying that the Bremerton decision universally permits prayer at school events. Cruz reportedly said, “People have the right to express their faith without fear of reprisal. That’s important.” He continued, “What’s the difference between a coach and me? ”
FFRF won a major lawsuit challenging the practice of prayer at Chino Valley Unified School Board’s meetings, which resembled church revivals more than public meetings. These meetings opened with prayer and regularly included board members reading from the bible and proselytizing.
In FFRF’s case against the Chino Valley Unified School District, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018 reaffirmed that Establishment Clause concerns are heightened in the context of public schools “because children and adolescents are just beginning to develop their own belief systems, and because they absorb the lessons of adults as to what beliefs are appropriate or right.”
Prayer during school board meetings remains unconstitutional, and the Bremerton decision simply affirms that school officials may pray privately during times when they are not acting in their official capacity as school district representatives, FFRF reminds the school board.
“For instance, school board members may pray privately to themselves prior to board meetings,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes to the school district’s legal counsel. “They could not, however, coerce those in attendance to participate in a religious practice by holding public prayers for everyone.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has regularly struck down prayers imposed on everyone at school-sponsored events, FFRF emphasizes. The recent decision in the Bremerton case does not alter this. The court actually ruled that the Bremerton School District inappropriately disciplined the coach for his personal, private, religious exercise because the prayers for which he was disciplined “were not publicly broadcast or recited to a captive audience.” Religious invocations at the beginning of school board meetings are entirely different from the private prayer practice the court found permissible in Bremerton. School board meeting prayers “typically take place before groups of schoolchildren whose attendance is not truly voluntary and whose relationship to school district officials, including the board, is not one of full parity,” to quote the Chino Valley decision.
While individuals are certainly free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way, it remains unconstitutional for the Chino Valley Unified School Board to institute prayers at its meetings and events, FFRF concludes.
“The Bremerton decision doesn’t change anything regarding school board prayer,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The school board must abide by the decision of the 9th Circuit. Those who are suggesting otherwise are deluding themselves.”
You can read FFRF’s letter to the Chino Valley Unified School Board in its entirety here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 37,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 5,000 members and a chapter in California. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Probe electioneering Ohio churches, FFRF urges IRS
The IRS should investigate five Ohio churches that have been blatantly campaigning for an Ohio senatorial candidate, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is insisting.
Northwest Baptist Church in Toledo invited Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for the Ohio Senate primary, and Sen. Ted Cruz to come speak to its members on April 30. Northwest Baptist Church advertised this event on its Facebook page as a gathering to join Mandel and Cruz “as they rally for the upcoming Ohio primary.” The church did not invite any of Mandel’s opposing candidates. Pastor Andrew Edwards III introduced Mandel to his congregation, touting his record when he was state treasurer:
Father, we thank you Lord for the opportunity we have today to fight for our faith and freedom. Lord, I thank you for these men that are with us today. As a result of his innovation in this area, Josh earned Ohio the number one ranking in America for government transparency. Let’s welcome the next senator of the state of Ohio, Josh Mandel.
Victory Christian Church in Kettering also recently engaged in unabashed campaigning for Mandel. The church reportedly hosted two political rallies in April, both of which had Mandel as a guest. On April 21, it invited Mandel to come speak at its “Faith and Freedom Rally.” The church advertised this event on its Facebook page, and according to its Facebook post, the church was “honored to host” the rally. Soon after this event, the church hosted another “Faith and Freedom Rally” on April 29 with guest speakers Mandel and Cruz. In a post depicting Pastor Steve McCuin praying over Mandel and Cruz, Victory Christian called this event a “success.” The church did not invite any of Mandel’s opposing candidates. Mandel also posted about this event on his official campaign Facebook.
Solid Rock Church, based in the town of Lebanon, Ohio, has recently politicked on Mandel’s behalf, too. In late October last year, Solid Rock hosted a political rally at its church. Mandel told attendees that he believed the “election was stolen from Donald J. Trump.” He claimed that if elected, he would vote with the Constitution in one hand and the bible in the other.
On Dec. 5, 2021, Pastor Lawrence Bishop publicly applauded Josh Mandel for his conservative beliefs in front of his congregation: “A man that is running for Senate like Josh Mandel who is nationally known and big-time in politics goes to Lakota school board meeting and gets booed for telling his conservative beliefs that he’s against mandatory mask mandates for children and for this transgender bathrooms and all this. He says all these things and has to be escorted out because people that are booing him because he’s pro-life, because he’s for the things of God.”
On April 30 of this year, Solid Rock Church hosted a “Faith and Freedom Rally.” The church advertised for the event through its Facebook page and also posted a video of the rally. In attendance at the rally were lieutenant governor candidate Candice Keller, Cruz and Mandel. During the event, Keller introduced Mandel: “I hope every single person here votes on Tuesday and I hope you vote rightly. He has repeatedly stood up for Judeo-Chrsitian values even when it could have hurt him politically. It is my absolute honor to introduce you to our conservative hero, please stand for Josh Mandel.”
And the primary pastors at Solid Rock, Pastor Lawrence Bishop and Pastor Darlene Bishop, were two of the 114 Ohio pastors to publicly endorse Josh Mandel for the Ohio Senate Primary Election.
Yet another church that has been shilling for Mandel is Calvary Baptist Church in Portsmouth. On Nov. 12, 2021, Calvary Baptist invited Mandel to come speak at its church. It advertised this event on its Facebook page as an opportunity to meet with “the leading candidate for Senate for the state of Ohio.” The church also noted in its promotion of this event that it believes that “elected officials should have to speak to and answer to bible-believing people.” The church did not invite any of Mandel’s opposing candidates. Mandel posted on his official Facebook page after this stop on his church-based campaign that he discussed how “Judeo-Christian values and American values are one in the same” with the Calvary Baptist Church members.
In another violation FFRF is asking the IRS to probe, Ascent Church in Westlake, Ohio, invited Mandel to come speak at its church on March 8. Ascent Church advertised this “Faith Family Freedom Rally” on its Facebook page as a gathering to “support biblical values.” Ascent Church also invited Pastor JC Church, one of the 114 Ohio pastors who officially endorsed Mandel, to speak at its rally. The church did not invite any of Mandel’s opposing candidates. Mandel posted on his official Facebook after this stop on his “church-based campaign” that he discussed with church members how “separation of church and state does not exist.”
IRS regulations specify that 501(c)(3) organizations, which include churches and other religious organizations, are prohibited from “[participating in or intervening in] . . . any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office,” Staff Attorney Madeline Ziegler underscores on behalf of FFRF in complaint letters to the IRS. Because these churches invited a political candidate to speak to its members and endorsed him shortly before the Ohio Senate primary election, they should no longer receive the benefits of 501(c)(3) recognition, including tax-exempt status.
“Groups that are tax-exempt are essentially subsidized by the public,” explains FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Political donations are not tax-exempt. Churches and other (c)(3) tax-exempt organizations therefore may not engage in partisan politicking for that reason, or they should lose their exemption.”
That’s why FFRF is urging that the IRS commence an immediate investigation into these five churches and take appropriate action to remedy any violations of 501(c)(3) regulations that have occurred or which continue to occur.
You can read one of FFRF’s letters to the IRS here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 37,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 1,000 members and two local chapters in Ohio. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
