Action Alert Archive
Tell DeSantis to rescind church exemption in gathering ban
Gov. Ron DeSantis has made a decision that will cause Floridians to die, because he wants to show how much he loves religion. We at FFRF are outraged — and you should be, too.
Please take a moment to tell DeSantis that churches cannot be exempt from bans on large gatherings.
Read FFRF’s letter to DeSantis here.
Even after the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters to the governors of all 50 states explaining that the U.S. Constitution requires that they include religious congregations in any ban on large gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, DeSantis belatedly issued a prohibitory order that includes an exemption for churches. The church exemption even specifically overrides (or “pre-empts”) local rules to the contrary, meaning that your local officials cannot protect you even if they want to.
According to several news reports, DeSantis has exempted churches from the orders to pacify a few loud Christian Nationalists lamenting the lawful arrest of Rodney Howard-Browne, who had violated local rules prohibiting big crowds.
Allowing large church gatherings is not just a danger to congregants and their families. As we saw in South Korea, and are beginning to see all over the United States, one sizable group can lead to an explosion of infections throughout the entire community. The state of Florida has the ability — and an obligation — to prohibit all non-essential large gatherings. Exempting church services is unconstitutional, immoral and deadly.
Please use our automated system to contact DeSantis’ office to urge him to rescind this exemption. You can use our suggested talking points, but concise personalized messages are more effective.
More »URGENT! Tell Small Business Administration not to bail out churches
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is alarmed that the Small Business Administration will use the pandemic as an excuse to give a massive chunk of taxpayer funds to churches and other houses of worship.
As part of the federal government’s stimulus efforts to fight the coronavirus scourge and to protect American businesses, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is about to enact emergency regulations to determine which organizations will receive federal aid. Please tell the head of the SBA that you expect the constitutional separation between church and state to be followed, even in times of national emergencies, and that you do not want your tax dollars to be used, unconstitutionally, to aid churches or religion.
FFRF and other secular organizations have sent a letter to SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, expressing our concerns. We’ve asked SBA to follow its ordinary procedures by prohibiting any grants that would go to churches or houses of worship. Read this letter here. LINK
Please take a moment to file a formal comment about SBA’s emergency regulations. You can use the suggested talking points below, or write your own. Personalized, concise messages are the most effective.
You can email the SBA Administrator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or send a letter to:
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 3rd St. SW
Washington, D.C. 20416
TALKING POINTS
As a concerned taxpayer, I insist that my tax dollars be used only to fund secular businesses. In creating emergency regulations pursuant to the CARES Act, or any other form of relief during this time of crisis, please include provisions guaranteeing that funds will not be given to churches or houses of worship, or for any purposes that will advance religion.
We live in a secular democracy, founded on principles of religious liberty that require a healthy separation between state and church. This means that government funds must not be used to advance religion, even during a national emergency. Please respect this provision and only fund secular businesses. Thank you.
More »Tell Gov. Reeves to stop his religious proselytizing
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has repeatedly led prayers and bible studies on his social media page as a supposed means of addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Please take a few moments to tell the governor to stop exploiting our current public health crisis to promote religion from his elected office.
Reeves, in his official capacity, posted some days ago a highly religious message on his Facebook page that contained eight separate prayer requests to Mississippians. The next day, Reeves recorded a Facebook Live video asking Mississippians to pray to cope with the pandemic — and then led them in prayer. The Facebook Live video featured Reeves in front of the American and the Mississippian flags offering two prayers and conducting three readings from the bible. As the video concluded, he exhorted his constituents to “please continue to pray.”
FFRF promptly wrote a letter of complaint to Reeves, calling on him to cease his government proselytizing. He has since continued to post such videos.
While the governor is using taxpayer time to lead bible studies, he is also wielding his power to attempt to close the last remaining abortion clinic in the state.
As one FFRF complainant so eloquently stated:
In The Handmaid's Tale, Gilead was brought about under the cover of catastrophe. Between the continued bible readings by the governor and the threatened clinic closing, Gilead feels close. Mississippi was pretty much a theocracy before this, but he is using it to go all out.
As FFRF pointed out to the governor, he needs to remain cognizant that as the governor of Mississippi, he has taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution — an entirely godless and secular document — and is charged with great responsibility over citizens, including those citizens who may not share his personal religious viewpoints. Endorsing religious messages on behalf of the governor’s office excludes these Mississippians, creating needless division along religious lines.
Please use our simple, automated system to ask Reeves to cease these videos and other unnecessary and exclusionary proselytizing. Adhering to a strict separation of church and state offends no one and honors the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Click on the red “Take Action” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. It is always a good idea to personalize your message if possible.
More »Tell Gov. McMaster to end official government prayers
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has repeatedly organized prayers before official coronavirus-related press conferences. Please take a few moments to tell the governor to stop exploiting our current public health crisis to promote religion from his elected office.
On March 15, McMaster invited Chaplain Greg Brown to begin a news conference about the COVID-19 pandemic with a Christian prayer. Just a fews days later, he invited Chaplain John Denny to offer a Christian prayer prior to a coronavirus press conference on March 19.
FFRF promptly wrote a letter of complaint to McMaster, calling on him to cease these official prayers. He has since continued to organize these religious invocations at official press events.
As FFRF pointed out to the governor, he represents a diverse population that consists not only of religious individuals but also of atheists and agnostics who do not believe in a deity, much less the power of prayer.
Please use our simple, automated system to ask McMaster to remain cognizant that as the governor of South Carolina, he has taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution — an entirely godless and secular document. Adhering to a strict separation of church and state offends no one and honors the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Click on the red “Take Action” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. It is always a good idea to personalize your message if possible.
More »Tell your governor to prohibit church gatherings to slow pandemic spread
Governors across the country are heeding the advice of public health officials and implementing limitations on large gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, some states are exempting churches from these policies, endangering their communities in the process.
Please ask your governor to ensure that in the interest of protecting public health, churches and religious gatherings are included in the curbs on big congregations. FFRF has sent a letter to all 50 governors urging just this.
Some churches have argued that they have a constitutional right to hold large in-person worship services despite the pandemic, but they are wrong. The rights the First Amendment guarantees, such as free assembly and the free exercise of religion, are limited. In fact, the government already regularly limits worship gatherings if they jeopardize public health. Preventing large gatherings due to a pandemic is even more crucial.
Churches that hold services right now are demonstrating a complete lack of respect for widespread efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and for the lives of community members, not just worshippers. Like the rest of us, religious communities all over the world are adapting to social distancing rules by worshipping alone, in small groups or in large online communities. Now is no time for favoritism toward churches.
Please take a few moments to ask your governor to treat churches the same as all other organizations and restrict them from holding large gatherings. Click on the red “Take Action” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. Calling your governor is the most powerful way to make your position heard, and personalizing your talking points is always a great strategy.
More »URGENT: Tell Gov. Little to VETO anti-trans bills
The Idaho Legislature has passed two religiously motivated anti-trans bills that are now on the governor’s desk awaiting signature. We need you to contact Gov. Brad Little and urge him to veto these two bills.
The first, H. 500, dubiously titled “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” is intended to prevent trans women from participating in women’s sports. There is a long legacy of this troubling sex discrimination in athletics. Myths, such as the idea that physical exertion would harm women’s reproductive systems or that women were inherently inferior athletes, were historically used to “protect” women by barring their participation in entire fields, including marathon racing and contact sports. These myths are, of course, closely tied to the long history of religion treating women as inherently inferior to men.
The second, H. 509, disallows trans people from legally changing the sex listed on their birth certificate. The bill says that Idaho birth certificates must include the “immutable” sex, which can only be amended within a year of issuance.
This is yet another example of the infiltration of entrenched religious dogma into our secular law. These bills are currently on Little’s desk. If the governor takes no action, the bills will pass automatically. Please take a few moments to use our simple, automated system and ask Little to VETO these dogmatic bills. Click on the red “Take Action” link below and follow the prompt. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Can you spare a few minutes to speak out against Gov. Justice’s “day of prayer”?
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has designated today, March 25, as a statewide “day of prayer” in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Can you take some time to write a letter to the editor to your local paper condemning this religious pandering?
Justice called on families, businesses and religious leaders to join him in this day of prayer and assured citizens that if they continue to “consult your God above,” all West Virginians would make it through. “If there’s any time, now’s the time we need to be looking to God above for assistance in any and every way we possibly can,” he pleaded.
As states across the country adopt measures to address the ongoing public health crisis presented by coronavirus, we need to ensure that our lawmakers are not exploiting this opportunity to promote their personal religion. FFRF has sent a letter of complaint to the governor’s office urging him to keep religion out of policy.
Letters to the editor are a powerful advocacy tool. Elected officials often monitor local letters to the editor and these allow you to bring a secular perspective to a large audience.
How to write a letter to the editor:
Writing a letter to the editor is easier than you think. Check your local paper’s word limit for letters (usually between 100 and 250 words). Keep your letter short and to the point. Tell a story about your personal connection to this issue as a secular community member, and make sure to tell them if you are a local resident and that you read the paper you’re writing to.
Click here for a list of the top ten West Virginia papers.
Most newspapers will accept submissions online and require you to provide personal information to confirm you are a local citizen.
As freethinkers, it is important that we utilize a variety of advocacy tools to call our legislators for promoting religion. Thanks for taking action to ensure that the perspective of secular West Virginians is heard!
More »Please oppose Pa. resolution calling for “day of prayer”
A Pennsylvania state representative has introduced a plainly nonsensical resolution calling for “A State Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” in response to COVID-19, which she has called “God’s punishment for our sins.”
Rep. Stephanie Borowicz has filed H.R. 835, which would designate March 30 as the day to combat an international public health crisis by praying and not eating. We need you to tell your Pennsylvania lawmakers that this outrageous pandering is a dangerous and irresponsible move.
The resolution reads, in part:
WHEREAS, During the pandemic of 2020 and the ensuing uncertainty and anxiety of this time, Pennsylvanians may be comforted by turning to a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer as well as the wise words of our great President Abraham Lincoln; and
WHEREAS, The House of Representatives devoutly recognizes the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations; and
WHEREAS, It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow...
This resolution will soon be voted on by the House State Government Committee. Please use our simple, automated system to contact the members of this committee and urge them to VOTE NO on this nonsensical resolution. Click on the red “Take Action” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points below.
More »Resist “IGWT” on Miss. secretary of state official seal
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson is promoting a bill that would put “In God We Trust” on the official seal of his state office. Watson has advocated for this change because it “signals Mississippi’s allegiance to God as well as our country.”
We need you to tell your lawmakers that “In God We Trust” has no place on any official state seal.
This bill, S.B. 2131, and others like it are thinly veiled attempts to peddle religiosity and equate patriotism with piety. They are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, dismantling the wall between religion and government. The motto "In God We Trust" is inaccurate, exclusionary and aimed at brainwashing Americans into believing that our nation is a theocracy.
This bill has already passed the state Senate and is headed to the House of Representatives for a vote. Please use our simple, automated system to contact your state representative and urge them to vote no on S.B. 2131. Click on the red “Take Action” link and follow the prompt provided. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Tell your senators: Don’t use crisis to attack public education
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has introduced a stimulus bill that would grant Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos — who once referred to public education as a “dead end” — broad authority to disregard existing protections for vulnerable students.
We need your help to ensure that lawmakers do not exploit our current international crisis to expand their dangerous agenda.
If passed, this “Phase 3” coronavirus stimulus package would give DeVos sweeping power to absolve public schools of their legal obligation to provide education for students with disabilities. Specifically, she would be able to abandon crucial requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.
DeVos’ assault on public education, including her disdain for federal protections for students with disabilities, is rooted in her personal interest in promoting private, religious schools. This betrayal of the secular public school system was thoroughly aired during her confirmation hearing, but she was nevertheless confirmed by the same senators who are now considering giving her this sweeping power to undermine public school laws. We cannot allow this public health crisis to serve as an inroad into privatizing our public education system.
Please take a few moments to contact your U.S. senators and remind them that any final compromise on the coronavirus stimulus bill must not sacrifice our public education system. Click on the red “Take Action” link below and follow the prompt provided.
More »Tell Florida state senators to reject school prayer proposal
The Florida House of Representatives has passed a bill with a troubling section that would permit prayer over the loudspeaker at state-run high school athletic competitions. The prayer provision is tucked in a broader education bill, H.B. 7103.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is a state entity that sponsors championship series games for high-schoolers across the state. In 2015, the association declined a request that it turn over the public address system and broadcast a prayer from a Christian school for all attendees to hear. It correctly understood that to do so would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The school then sued the association in federal court.
While the case is not yet resolved, prayer proponents have sought to change the law to require the athletic association to provide an opportunity for prayer. The bill says that the association would be required to adopt rules that allow each participating school “30 seconds for opening remarks over the public-address system.” The bill says, “The FHSAA may not prohibit prayer or otherwise control, monitor, or review the content of the opening remarks, if any.”
While the bill does not mandate that the athletic association recite prayers to open all games, its intended effect is to impose communal prayers on young participants and attendees.
Tell your state senator to reject this provision of H.B. 7103.
More »URGENT: Tell lawmakers to reject Trump’s Muslim ban
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote this Thursday, March 12, on the NO BAN Act. Please join us in urging your representative to vote yes on this bill.
The NO BAN Act repeals President Trump’s existing executive order blocking travel from majority Muslim countries and prevents another baseless, discriminatory travel ban from being implemented again. The bill prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, including against those with no religion, and restores the separation of powers by limiting overly broad executive authority to issue future travel bans.
While this dangerous travel ban is on the top of your legislators’ minds, please ask your legislators to support the NO BAN Act.
The NO BAN Act is particularly important to FFRF, which has helped several atheists flee death sentences from Muslim-majority countries targeted by the ban. Just as the Constitution bars a religious test for public office, we believe it also bars a religious test for immigration or citizenship. We know that the ban precedent will ultimately be used against nonbelievers. Please use this opportunity to encourage your representative to support the NO BAN Act.
Click on the red “Take Action!” link below and follow the prompt. Please feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Reject Tenn. public school religious release time bill
The Tennessee Legislature is considering a bill that would require public schools to establish a program allowing children to be released from instructional time to attend “a course in religious and moral instruction.”
This bill, H.B. 2542, specifies that public schools would be required to excuse students for a religious course even if the district has not adopted a policy to address other release time programs, clearly favoring religion at the expense of a secular education.
This bill has already passed the state Senate and will next be heard by the House Education Committee TOMORROW, Wednesday, March 11. Please use our automated system to contact the members of this committee and urge them not to pass H.B. 2542. Click on the red “Take Action!” button below and follow the prompt. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. If you are able to attend tomorrow’s hearing, please consider showing up and opposing this bill in person.
Hearing Information:
House Education Committee
Date: March 11, 2020
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Hearing Room 1
Click here for more information.
Please oppose New Hampshire anti-trans bill
The New Hampshire Legislature is considering a harmful anti-trans bill — and we need your help to stop it.
Tomorrow, the N.H. Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development will review S.B. 480, which would bar trans girls from participating on their school’s women athletic teams.
The marginalization of trans athletes is rooted in archaic gender stereotypes based on false understanding of strength, biology, and the proper gender roles for two binary genders. There is a long legacy of this troubling sex discrimination in athletics. Myths, such as the idea that physical exertion would harm women’s reproductive systems or that women were inherently inferior athletes, were historically used to “protect” women out of participation in entire fields, including marathon racing and contact sports. These myths, of course, are closely tied to the long history of religion treating women as inherently inferior to men.
This is yet another example of the infiltration of entrenched religious dogma into our secular law. Please urge the members of the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development to vote no on this discriminatory policy. If you are able, please attend the committee hearing and speak in opposition to this bill.
Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development Information
Date: March 10, 2020
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: LOB, Room 103
More information here.
Speak out against Maryland “license to discriminate” bill
The Maryland Legislature is considering a so-called “FORUM” — Forming Open and Robust University Minds — bill that would give student groups at public universities the license to discriminate based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
In order to ensure that campus groups are welcoming of all students, the majority of U.S. public colleges and universities have nondiscrimination policies that prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation etc. This bill, H.B. 796, aims to exempt religious student groups from these nondiscrimination policies, in order to allow particular groups to exclude unwanted members. For example, some religious students seek to exclude LGBTQ people or to restrict leadership only to those with particular religious views.
Similar laws have popped up in states across the country under the guise of protecting the religious convictions of college students. The true intent and impact of these bills, however, is to allow groups to exclude based on religion, while those students still reap the taxpayer-funded benefits of being endorsed and subsidized by their public institution.
This bill will be considered by the Maryland House Appropriations Committee TOMORROW, Tuesday, March 10. The members of this committee need to hear your opposition to this bill. Click on the red “Take Action!” below and feel free to use or adapt the talking point provided. If you are able to attend the hearing next week, please consider sharing your opposition in person.
House Appropriations Committee
Date: March 10, 2020
Time: 1 P.M.
Location: House Office Building, Room 120
More information here.
Tell your lawmakers: Do not fund religious discrimination
Over the past three years, the Trump administration has introduced an onslaught of regulatory proposals that allow federally funded agencies to discriminate based on their religion. As a result, citizens who do not conform to their narrow set of religious beliefs can be denied public services.
One critical way we can hold this administration accountable for its reckless weaponization of religious liberty is by ensuring that Congress uses the appropriations process to block these harmful entities and regulations, and to support strong nondiscrimination measures.
FFRF recently scored a huge lobbying victory on this front. Because of our efforts, Congressional Freethought Caucus Chairs, Reps. Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin, have introduced what’s called a “Dear Colleague” letter urging other lawmakers to help restrict taxpayer money from funding discrimination in the name of religion.
A “Dear Colleague” letter is a key part of the federal budgeting or appropriations process. It’s an internal letter sent among members of Congress to show support for a particular appropriations item. At least one member is the sponsor, and other members are encouraged to sign on showing their support. The more support a letter has, the better the chances are that the appropriations request will be adopted by the committee. That’s why we need your help to convince more members of Congress to sign onto this letter.
Please join us in ensuring that Congress can use all legislative means possible to hold the Trump administration accountable for its disregard of our founding values by encouraging your member to sign onto Huffman and Raskin’s “Dear Colleague” letter: Support Anti-Discrimination Measures and Preserve Separation of State and Church in FY 2021.
Click on the red “Take Action!” link below to contact your U.S. representatives. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. Personalized messages are the most impactful means of persuading your lawmakers.
More »Oppose bible classes in W.Va. public schools
The West Virginia Legislature is considering a bill that would allow state-funded public schools to indoctrinate students with bible classes. We need your help to stop this bill in its tracks.
This bill, H.B. 4780, is part of Project Blitz, the Christian fundamentalists’ nationwide legislative push to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we most cherish about our democracy and must tirelessly defend.
While politicians often claim that these laws are intended to teach the bible in the context of U.S. history, we know their true agenda is to abuse their access to young and impressionable children and indoctrinate them with religious orthodoxy. Public school bible classes have been tried across the country and have invariably ended up unconstitutionally promoting religion.
H.B. 4780 has passed the West Virginia House and is now headed to the state Senate for consideration. Please click on the red “Take Action!” link below and follow the prompt provided to tell your state senators to oppose this bill. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
Connecticut: Please urge elimination of religious exemption from vaccines
The Connecticut Legislature is considering a good bill that would eliminate religious exemptions from vaccine requirements for public school students.
Many states, including Connecticut, have allowed parents to claim a religious exemption from regulations that require they vaccinate their children. When parents choose not to vaccinate, it not only compromises the health of their own children, but also jeopardizes the “herd immunity” for those who cannot receive vaccinations for health reasons.
This bill, Connecticut H.B. 5044, would improve the state’s ability to combat infectious diseases by removing the possibility of religious exemption from mandatory vaccines for children in public schools and day cares.
It is critical that we counter the influence of anti-science religious zealots, whose dangerous rhetoric has caused very serious and preventable infectious disease outbreaks in numerous states across the country. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the reported individual cases of measles in the first four months of 2019 surpassed the total cases per year since 2000. The states that see the highest incidences of the disease are those with the most relaxed exemption laws.
Please stand up for this common sense bill that will protect Connecticut residents from the dangerous implications of others people’s religious dogma. Please use our simple, automated system to ask your representative to support H.B. 5044 and feel free to use or adapt the provided talking points.
More »TAKE ACTION: Oppose ‘IGWT’ in Oklahoma public buildings
The Oklahoma Legislature is considering a bill that would require all state buildings to install giant “In God We Trust” displays. We need your help to ensure that Oklahoma residents are not subjected to government-sponsored Christian proselytizing.
This bill, H.B. 3817, is part of the nationwide legislative push, Project Blitz. Project Blitz seeks to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills, imposing the theocratic version of a powerful few on We The People. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we cherish most about our democracy, and now must tirelessly defend.
While politicians claim that these laws are intended to showcase the national motto or inspire patriotism, it is clear that their true purpose is to peddle religiosity to a captive audience. These laws are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, dismantling the wall of separation between religion and government.
The original text of this bill excluded public school districts, but that language has since been removed. This opens the door to young, impressionable students being exposed to this discriminatory, inaccurate and exclusionary phrase aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy.
Most shockingly, the bill specifies that the “placement of the display shall be in keeping with the placement and size of the display of the national motto in the United State Capitol Visitor Center,” which is a colossal 4 feet by 70 feet.
Tell Missouri lawmakers: Reject bible classes in public schools
The Missouri Legislature is considering a bill that would allow state-funded public schools to indoctrinate students with bible classes. We need your help to stop this bill in its tracks.
This bill, H.B. 1345, is part of Project Blitz, the Christian fundamentalists’ nationwide legislative push to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we most cherish about our democracy and must tirelessly defend.
While politicians often claim that these laws are intended to teach the bible in the context of U.S. history, we know their true agenda is to abuse their access to young and impressionable children and indoctrinate them with religious orthodoxy. Public school bible classes have been tried across the country and have invariably ended up unconstitutionally promoting religion.
H.B. 1345 has passed its House committee, and is now headed to the full state House of Representatives for a vote. Please click on the red “Take Action!” link below and follow the prompt provided to tell your representative in the House to oppose this bill. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
Urge Idaho governor to veto “Choose Life” license plate bill
A dangerous bill is headed to Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s desk next Monday, March 2, to be signed into law. This bill, S. 1249, authorizes an official “Choose Life” license plate in the state of Idaho.
If passed, a portion of the purchase price for each plate will go to Choose Life Idaho, an anti-choice religious group that is instructed to use the funds to support so-called “life-affirming” crisis pregnancy centers.
Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-science clinics that disseminate erroneous and misleading information about abortions to dissuade women from accessing one. Some women are led to believe that they are seeing a licensed medical provider when they are, in fact, being peddled anti-abortion propaganda by religious charlatans.
Please contact Little and urge him not to sign this bill. Taxpayer money has no business funding this religious mission through an official relationship with a state agency. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Reject Iowa bill that would establish sexual identity registry
The Iowa Legislature is considering a shockingly abhorrent bill that would require Iowans to register their sexual orientation with the state — and face punishment if they deviated from their official status.
This bill, Iowa S.F. 2130, proposes that applicants for a marriage license in the state specify whether they identify as bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual, questioning or “unsure.” If an applicant gives the “wrong” answer for any reason, this mistake could be used against them in future divorce and custody proceedings. They would be held automatically liable for the dissolution of the marriage on the basis of “fraudulent concealment of sexual orientation.”
This proposal is both an obvious overstepping of government power and a shocking attempt to use the power of the state to impose Christian marital values on all Iowans.
As writer Val Wilde recently pointed out in a piece about this bill, “There’s something deeply dystopian about what will ultimately amount to a government list of Iowans’ sexual orientations.”
This bill is currently in front of the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee. Please use our automated system to contact the members of this committee and let them know that this absurd proposal is not in line with Iowa values. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Please support Virginia equal protection bill
The Virginia Legislature is considering a good bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under state civil rights law.
This bill, H.B. 1663, is a positive step toward ensuring true equal protection for LGBTQ people. The federal Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against particular classes of people, including bigotry based on religion, race and sex, but currently does not prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Until this serious shortcoming of federal civil rights law is addressed, states must expand this protection individually.
As FFRF often points out, religion has, for far too long, imposed its Bronze Age immorality on public accommodations and civil rights laws. It’s time to protect all Americans, whatever smear the bible may contain about them.
This bill has passed the Virginia House of Delegates and will be heard next by the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology. Please use our automated system to contact the members of this committee and urge them to support H.B. 1663. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Resist W. Va. bill promoting prayer in public schools
The West Virginia Legislature is considering a bill dubbed the “West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act,” which would require public schools to allow prayers to be broadcast at many school-sponsored events.
This bill, H.B. 4069, obligates schools to create a limited public forum any time a student speaks at a school event. This proposal is an obvious maneuver intended to promote prayers at graduations and other official school events. This bill would take away school administrators' ability to control messaging at their events and to ensure that those events don’t include religious proselytizing.
This bill has passed the West Virginia House of Representatives and will be heard next by the Senate Education Committee. Please urge the members of this committee to vote no on H.B. 4069 and protect the ability of public schools to keep official school events free of religious coercion. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Please tell Kentucky to pass FGM ban
The Kentucky Legislature is considering a bill that prohibits Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and creates strict penalties for those who perform or aid in the performance of the procedure.
In addition to the traumatic and often lifelong physical and emotional pain this procedure inflicts on women, girls and women who have it are at risk for dangerous infections and cysts. Infants born to women who have had it have a higher risk of dying. The practice has no medical benefit and is based solely on barbaric religious traditions that have no place in modern American society. After a federal ban on Female Genital Mutilation was declared unconstitutional recently, many states are banning the practice, and you can take action today to make sure Kentucky is next on the list.
This bill, S.B. 72, passed the Kentucky Senate and is now headed to be the House Judiciary Committee. Please use our automated system to contact the members of this committee and urge them to pass this important measure.
More »
Resist “In God We Trust” in public buildings
The Idaho Legislature is considering a bill that places “In God We Trust” in legislative chambers above the chairs of the presiding officers.
This bill, H.C.R. 32, is part of a nationwide legislative push: Project Blitz. Project Blitz seeks to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills, imposing the theocratic version of a powerful few on We The People. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we cherish most about our democracy, and now must tirelessly defend.
While politicians claim that these laws are intended to showcase the national motto or inspire patriotism, it is clear that their true purpose is to peddle religiosity to a captive audience. These laws are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, dismantling the wall of separation between religion and government. The motto “In God We Trust” is inaccurate, exclusionary and aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy.
This bill recently passed the Idaho House of Representatives and will next be heard by the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee. Please use our automated system to contact members of this committee and ask that they stop this bill in its tracks.
More »Advance bill to protect children by repealing faith-based exemptions
Last month, we asked you to contact your legislators and urge them to support a good bill that would repeal faith-based healing protections for parents who choose not to seek medical attention for their children based on their religious beliefs. That bill recently passed the Washington Senate and is one step closer to becoming law.
This bill will next be heard this Friday by the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary. Please keep the pressure on legislators to pass this important measure and protect children by repealing faith-based exemptions.
Currently, Washington has a law that protects these parents from legal charges even if their children die as a result of this negligence. S.B. 5749 aims to remove this exemption as it relates to “criminal mistreatment of children and vulnerable adults.”
The law currently states: “It is the intent of the Legislature that a person who, in good faith, is furnished Christian Science treatment by a duly accredited Christian Science practitioner in lieu of medical care is not considered deprived of medically necessary health care or abandoned.”
If this bill passes, this language will be removed and children will no longer be at risk of death because of the state sanctioning their parents’ dangerous religious beliefs. Please use our automated system to urge the members of this committee to vote yes on S.B. 5749.
If you are able, please attend the committee meeting on Friday, Feb. 21, and make your support of this bill known in person. More details can be found here.
More »Urge the Virginia House of Delegates to cease legislative prayer
Please take a moment to urge your delegate to discontinue the practice of legislative prayer.
The Virginia House of Delegates recently opened a meeting on the House floor with a six-minute-long divisive prayer that condemned marriage equality and reproductive rights, and threatened legislators with the wrath of God.
Robert Grant Jr. a pastor at the Father’s Way Church in Warrenton, Va., said, in part, during his invocation:
“God is also judgment. Please do not provoke his anger and bring wrath upon this state by what you create as law. Biblical history is very clear, His wrath upon the earth is documented. We are not exempt. If he does not grant us mercy for the atrocities that are being done, we will eventually encounter the judgment of the Almighty God and may the Lord have mercy upon us all.”
When he went on to extol “traditional marriage,” the gavel dropped and delegates reciting the Pledge of Allegiance drowned out what was left of the prayer. Some members even walked out.
Watch a video of this prayer here.
This dangerous and belligerent speech has no place commencing our secular lawmaking process. FFRF has submitted a formal letter to House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn advising the body to end religious prayers at government meetings. Now, we need you to contact your legislator and ask that they discontinue this unnecessary and discriminatory practice. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Georgia: Oppose discriminatory adoption policy
The Georgia Legislature is considering a bill that would allow taxpayer-funded child-placing agencies to discriminate based on religion — and we need your help to stop it.
Georgia S.B. 368, currently in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would prohibit the state from taking any action against a child-placing agency that declines to facilitate adoptions conflicting with the agency’s “religious or moral convictions.” If passed, the law would allow these agencies the right to refuse services to, among many other groups, LGBTQ families and children.
This bill is part of Project Blitz, a Christian fundamentalist nationwide push that seeks to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious template bills, imposing the theocratic vision of a powerful few on We The People. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we most cherish about our democracy, and now must tirelessly defend.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there were more than 440,000 children in foster care in the United States in 2017. Some 50,000 of these children will be adopted every year through the child welfare system, while another 20,000 will “age out” of the system before being adopted. Allowing agencies to turn away parents looking to adopt, on the basis of their religion, is both morally reprehensible and puts further financial burden on an already strained child-welfare system.
The health and care of a child should be the only factor that an agency and its employees consider when looking to place a child in a foster care or adoptive family — not advancing the bigoted agendas of those promoting discrimination at the expense of children in need.
Please use our simple, automated system to ask the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee to reject this harmful bill. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below, follow the prompt provided, and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Ask your U.S. legislators to support Darwin Day resolutions!
In the age of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” we need you to stand up for reason and critical thinking in government by supporting Darwin Day resolutions in Congress.
Two resolutions, House Resolution 847 and Senate Resolution 495, have been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate. The resolutions designate today, Feb. 12, as Darwin Day in order to promote scientific research of global warming and climate change, and the integrity of science education in our public school systems.
Please use our automated system to contact your legislators and ask them to support the Darwin Day resolutions. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Support ratification of the ERA today
Last month, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, outlawing discrimination on the basis of gender.
The ERA now meets the three-fourths threshold the Constitution requires for amendments. But new questions have arisen about the validity of a decades-old deadline set for states to adopt the amendment. The U.S. House of Representatives will vote this Thursday, Feb. 13, on whether to remove this deadline for adoption of the ERA, which will allow this amendment to move forward.
Religious extremists have unsurprisingly attempted to undermine the ERA’s recent traction, peddling the dubious claim that it is meant to legalize state-sponsored abortion. In a recent statement, the League of Catholic Bishops stated that “the ERA hurts women and the unborn.”
On the contrary, the ERA is a long overdue measure to achieve gender equality under the law. This amendment is supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans — 94 percent according to a recent survey — and your representative needs to hear your support of the resolution to remove the deadline for adoption.
The Equal Rights Amendment has always been opposed by the Religious Right and Christian Nationalists. The Roman Catholic Church, Protestant fundamentalists and the Mormon Church tirelessly lobbied against this mandate for equality. Our public and social policy must not be dictated by religion and ultraconservative Christian denominations. Please urge your U.S. representative to support H.J. Res. 79 before its upcoming hearing on Thursday, Feb. 13. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Thank the Clark County Board for removing prayer from meetings
Please show your appreciation of the Clark County School District for its adherence to the Constitution.
The district recently discontinued the practice of beginning school board meetings with prayer after receiving a complaint from FFRF. According to local reports, 30 pastors are planning to speak at the school board meeting this Thursday, Feb. 13, in protest of FFRF’s victory. It’s important that secular Clark County residents attend this meeting and speak up in support of this decision.
The school board, FFRF wrote in a letter to the district, cannot lend its power and prestige to religion, amounting to a governmental endorsement of religion that excludes the 24 percent of Americans who are nonreligious, including 38 percent of Americans born after 1987. FFRF successfully litigated the most recent case striking down a school board prayer practice, in which Chino Valley (Calif.) School District’s board paid out more than $280,000 in fees and costs.
The Clark County School District informed FFRF last month that the board will no longer begin meetings with an invocation. This is a victory for all families in the district. Keeping school board meetings free of religious proselytizing makes the community inclusive, regardless of religious beliefs. It also avoids opening the district up to a costly legal battle with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on the line.
WAYS TO TAKE ACTION:
- Contact the Clark County School District Board of Trustees and thank it for keeping school board meetings free of religious proselytizing. Click on the red “TAKE ACTION!” link below to be directed to the board’s comment page. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. Personalized messages are the most effective.
- Attend the board’s meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 5 p.m. and share your support for this decision in person. Details can be found here.
TALKING POINTS
I want to thank the board for choosing to discontinue the practice of beginning each meeting with a prayer. This is a positive step toward making the district inclusive of all students and families, regardless of religious beliefs. It will ensure Clark County is not at risk of spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in a costly legal battle over settled law. Religious prayer at school board meetings is unnecessary, exclusionary and illegal. This board made the wise and responsible decision by deciding to forego prayer at meetings.
Speak out against slate of anti-LGBTQ bills in Colorado
Colorado legislators have introduced a dangerous package of anti-LGBTQ bills, and your lawmakers need to hear your opposition. These six religiously based bills, largely targeting LGBTQ rights in Colorado, are a coordinated attack on secular law:
- HB20-1272 is a patently unconstitutional bill that restricts marriage to “one man and one woman, regardless of judicial decisions to the contrary.”
- HB20-1033, the “Live and Let Live Act,” is a Project Blitz bill that would allow people to discriminate against LGBTQ Coloradans based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
- HB20-1114 criminalizes doctors for adhering to prevailing medical standards by providing trans youth with gender-affirming care.
- HB20-1273 prohibits trans girls and women from participating in exclusively “female” sports.
- HB20-1144 would, among other things, allow parents to exempt their children from state-mandated vaccination requirements.
- HB20-1063 is a far-reaching bill which establishes strict scrutiny (a very high legal standard) for any state imposition on parental rights. When paired with the above mentioned bill, this drastically limits the government’s ability to provide education and protection to Colorado children.
This is a clear and coordinated attack on LGBTQ citizens presented under the guise of preserving religious liberty. These bills have a hearing in the House State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee this Thursday, Feb. 13. Please let the members of this committee know these bills do not align with your values as a Colorado voter.
WAYS TO TAKE ACTION:
- Click the red “Take Action!” link below to email or call your legislators and share your opposition to this coordinated host of anti-LGBTQ bills. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
- Attend the hearing on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 1:30 p.m. and speak in opposition to these bills in person. More information can be found here.
- Speak out against these bills on social media.
Tell Wisconsin legislators not to give churches preferential tax treatment
The Wisconsin Legislature has introduced two bills intended to give preferential tax treatment to religious institutions, and your representatives need to hear your opposition.
Churches are lobbying the Wisconsin Legislature to create a special property tax exemption that removes more property from the tax rolls. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has registered in support of these two bills, Assembly Bill 771 and Senate Bill 726, which would allow churches to become commercial landlords as long as they are renting their property to private schools or nonprofit entities. Please use our automated system below to contact your legislators today and tell them to oppose these bills.
The bills single out property owned by a “church or religious association or institution” for tax exemption, even if the church profits off of the rental. Other nonprofit entities in Wisconsin are excluded from receiving the same benefit. This bill would allow churches and religious nonprofits, but not secular nonprofits, to operate tax-exempt rental properties for the purpose of generating income.
Current law allows property owned by a nonprofit to be tax exempt if it is rented to another nonprofit only in narrow circumstances. To be exempt, the nonprofit landlord must use the rental income for either maintenance costs or to pay debt related to the construction of the leased property. As the city of Milwaukee has pointed out, the current law ensures that tax-exempt organizations do not become “real estate investors.”
More importantly, the bills are unconstitutional. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from giving preferential tax treatment to religious entities. The Supreme Court struck down special tax exemptions targeted at churches in the case Texas Monthly Inc. v. Bullock. Wisconsin’s Constitution, Article VIII, § 1, also requires “uniform” real estate taxation. Because only churches would benefit from the law (and not all nonprofits), the bill would fail scrutiny under both the U.S. and Wisconsin Constitutions.
The city of Milwaukee estimates that it would lose an additional $6.7 million to its tax base, which would result in more than $175,000 reduction in tax revenue each year. Of course, if the exemption is added, many more churches may seek to become commercial landlords.
The impact on taxation of other communities is not known. With the expansion of voucher schools across Wisconsin, churches may seek to take advantage and acquire new properties for the purpose of renting them to pop-up voucher schools. Tell your legislators to oppose these unconstitutional bills!
Please oppose Iowa bill to expand religious privilege
The Iowa Legislature has introduced a new bill that would drastically expand religious privilege in the state.
The bill, S.F. 508, is a state version of the federal law called RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The federal RFRA law is directly responsible for the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby debacle, allowing religious business owners to avoid following laws that they say conflict with their religious beliefs. State RFRAs, based on the federal version, are emboldening corporations and business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ people, religious minorities and the nonreligious, and any other group their religion declares inferior.
In 2015, Indiana received intense backlash when then-Gov. Mike Pence signed a state RFRA into law. Today, about 20 states have some version of RFRA on the books. Please take action today to help ensure that Iowa will not be next by opposing S.F. 508.
WAYS TO TAKE ACTON
1. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below to contact members of the Senate Committee on Local Government to urge them to oppose this bill. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
2. Attend the hearing and oppose the bill in person. The Senate Committee on Local Government will hold a hearing on this bill Thursday, Feb. 13, in Room 22 in the Capitol at 9:30 a.m.
3. Write an op-ed opposing S.F. 508 in your local Iowa paper.
Please support New York’s pro-reproductive health bill!
The New York Legislature is considering a good bill that would increase regulations governing so-called “crisis pregnancy centers.”
If passed, Senate Bill S2264 would require any Crisis Pregnancy Center to promptly disclose that it is not a licensed medical provider and will not provide abortions or birth control or make a referral for these services.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers are anti-science clinics that disseminate erroneous and misleading information about abortions to dissuade women from accessing one. Some women are led to believe that they are seeing a licensed medical provider when they are, in fact, being peddled anti-abortion propaganda by religious charlatans. Abortion is a time-sensitive issue, and no time should be delayed accessing the necessary care. These centers are almost exclusively backed by religious groups and are intended to steer women away from accessing reproductive care in order to carry out the group’s own dogmatic religious agenda.
This measure is an imperative clampdown on fallacious, anti-women propaganda, and your New York legislators need to hear your support.
The Senate Women’s Committee has a hearing on this bill next Monday, Feb. 10. Please use our simple, automated system to contact the members of this committee and urge them to pass Senate Bill S2264. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »TAKE ACTION: Eight federal agencies seek rule changes to weaponize “religious liberty”
Eight extremely influential federal agencies have proposed changes to the rules governing how they work with religious organizations. Under the guise of protecting “religious liberty,” the goal of these eight proposals is to allow faith-based organizations to receive federal funding without complying with nondiscrimination laws.
If these rules are implemented, they will mandate taxpayer-funded discrimination in the name of religious belief. For example, one proposal would allow the VA to fund religious projects that discriminate against the one-quarter of U.S. veterans who are not religious.
The negative ramifications of these proposals would be widespread. Allowing these rule changes to take effect would give taxpayer-funded government agencies a dangerous amount of discretion to administer public services to only those people who align with their religious beliefs. By funding discrimination in the name of God, the government will be funding religion.
We are asking you to submit a comment on each of these proposed rule changes. Unfortunately, due to the process by which the federal government accepts public comments on these sorts of regulations, this is not a process we can automate, but if you follow the steps below, we hope to simplify it as much as possible.
FFRF has submitted official comments on each of these eight proposals. For more details on each department's rule changes, you can find FFRF's letter linked under each heading.
STEPS TO COMMENT:
- Click on the link that says “Click here to comment” under each proposed rule in this email. You will be taken to the Federal Register page pertaining to the corresponding rule proposal.
- Click on the green button in the upper righthand corner that says “Submit a Formal Comment.”
- Fill out the corresponding comment form. We have provided suggested talking points for each department’s proposed changes. Feel free to copy and paste the suggested message. Personalized comments are most influential.
All comments are due by Tuesday, Feb. 18th! The Trump administration released all these rules at one time hoping to overwhelm us into inaction. They don’t want you to comment in opposition, but we do. We must heed every opportunity to hold this theocratic administration accountable for degrading state/church separation.
1. Department of Veterans Affairs
ID: VA-2020-VACO-0003-0001
RIN: 2900-AQ75
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the Department of Veterans Affairs proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
The proposed rule will undermine access to critical services, such as education and training, counseling, community living facilities, and many other programs for veterans. The rule eliminates key religious freedom protections for participants while inviting employment discrimination by the government-funded service providers that are supposed to be serving everyone.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s ability to get vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
2. USDA
ID: USDA_FRDOC_0001-2157
RIN: 0510-AA08
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the USDA’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
The proposed rule will undermine access to critical services for youth such as school lunch programs and 4-H development and mentoring programs. The rule eliminates key religious freedom protections for participants while inviting employment discrimination by the government-funded service providers that are supposed to be serving everyone.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s access to vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
3. Department of Justice
ID: DOJ-OAG-2020-0001-0001
RIN: 1105-AB56
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the Department of Justice’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
The proposed rule will undermine access to critical services, such as assistance for crime victims, prisoner rehabilitation, mentorship programs for at-risk youth, and assistance for trafficked youth. The rule eliminates key religious freedom protections for participants while inviting employment discrimination by the government-funded service providers that are supposed to be serving everyone.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s ability to get vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
4. Department of Health and Human Services
ID: HHS_FRDOC_0001-0752
RIN: 0991-AC13
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose HHS’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom or civil rights in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
The proposed rule will undermine access to critical services, such as homeless youth programs, sex education programs, food assistance, refugee support programs, substance abuse programs, foster care and adoption services, assistance for trafficked youth, and countless others. HHS is the largest grant-making agency, so this broad rule would potentially cause millions of Americans to lose access to the services they need.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s ability to get vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
5. Department of Education
ID: ED-2019-OPE-0080-0001
RIN: 2019-26937
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the Department of Education’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom or civil rights in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
For example, the rule would eliminate religious freedom protections for college prep and work-study programs intended to help high school students from low-income families prepare for college. This would also impact federally funded afterschool and summer learning programs for students in high-poverty, low-performing schools.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s ability to get an education should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
6. USAID
ID: AID_FRDOC_0001-0328
RIN: 0412-AA99
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the USAID’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
USAID funds foreign aid and development projects to assist impoverished nations, to foster goodwill towards America, and to enhance global stability. But under this rule, the primary focus would instead be to allow religious providers to get access to these funds. After the recent media report detailing how Vice President Pence improperly directed government money to religious foreign aid organizations, it is very clear what this administration intends.
The rule eliminates key religious freedom protections for participants while inviting employment discrimination by the government-funded service providers that are supposed to be serving everyone. American taxpayers should not be funding foreign proselytization efforts by religious grantees, and no one’s ability to get vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
7. Department of Labor
ID: DOL_FRDOC_0001-1441
RIN: 1291-AA41
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the Department of Labor’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom or civil rights in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
The proposed rule will undermine access to critical services, such as employment training programs for older Americans, youth summer programs, and re-integration programs for homeless veterans. The rule eliminates key religious freedom protections for participants while inviting employment discrimination by the government-funded service providers that are supposed to be serving everyone.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s ability to get vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
8. Department of Homeland Security
ID DHS-2019-0049-0001
RIN 1601-AA93
FFRF's submitted comment.
Comment Suggestion:
I strongly oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule because it unfairly favors taxpayer-funded religious organizations over the people that government programs are intended to help. No one should be forced to sacrifice their religious freedom in order to qualify for basic government-funded services.
The proposed rule will undermine access to critical services, such as emergency preparedness training and programs, disaster recovery programs, and citizenship instructions and resources for immigrants. The rule eliminates key religious freedom protections for participants while inviting employment discrimination by the government-funded service providers that are supposed to be serving everyone.
This proposed rule is discriminatory and dangerous. In America, no one’s ability to get vital services should depend on whether they share the religious beliefs of government-funded organizations. Please withdraw this harmful rule in its entirety.
More »SOUTH DAKOTA: Speak out against anti-trans bill
The South Dakota Legislature is considering a bill that would criminalize doctors who provide medically necessary treatment to transgender youth, most notably prohibiting puberty-blocking medication. South Dakota legislators need to hear your opposition to this discriminatory measure.
This bill, H.B. 1057, puts private medical decisions in the hands of lawmakers and endangers transgender youth in the interest of advancing a dogmatic religious ideology. If passed, it would make it a felony for doctors to adhere to prevailing medical standards by providing gender-affirming care.
Anti-LGBTQ legislative efforts are rooted in religious dogma. For example, the nationwide effort known as Project Blitz includes sweeping anti-LGBTQ measures while advancing the lie that America is a Christian nation, aiming to cement religiously motivated discrimination into the law.
The South Dakota Senate Committee on Health and Human Services has a hearing on this bill next Monday, Feb. 10. These senators need to hear your opposition. Legislative offices tally the calls and contacts received in opposition and support of controversial issues, and it is essential that South Dakota citizens make it clear they will not tolerate this discrimination so the Religious Right cannot claim a mandate.
WAYS TO TAKE ACTION
- Attend the committee hearing next Monday. More information can be found here.
- Click on the red “Take Action” link below to contact the Senate Health and Human Service committee members and urge them to oppose this bill. Please take a moment to personalize the talking points provided.
- Speak out against HB 1057 on social media.
- Consider writing a letter to the editor in opposition to HB 1057 in your local South Dakota paper.
Please support Missouri’s anti-conversion therapy bill
Missouri could become the next state to ban conversion therapy for minors, and your legislators need to hear your support of this bill.
The bill, S.B. 658, would protect LGBTQ youth from the barbaric, pseudoscientific religious treatment deceitfully called “conversion therapy” by restricting any licensed physician or mental health care professional in the state from engaging in the practice.
Conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice aimed at altering a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity, often basing the “therapy” in religious shame and guilt. Many governmental health organizations have denounced the practice as both physically and psychologically traumatizing. Individuals who endure this so-called treatment are at a higher risk for suicide and depression. Read more.
This bill is currently in front of the Senate Professional Registration Committee. Please use our simple, automated system to urge the members of this committee to advance S.B. 658. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Please support Kentucky’s anti-conversion therapy bill
Kentucky could become the next state to ban conversion therapy for minors, and your legislators need to hear your support of this bill.
The bill, S.B. 85, would protect LGBTQ youth from the barbaric, pseudoscientific religious treatment deceitfully called “conversion therapy” by restricting any licensed physician or mental health care professional in the state from engaging in the practice.
Conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice aimed at altering a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity, often basing the “therapy” in religious shame and guilt. Many governmental health organizations have denounced the practice as both physically and psychologically traumatizing. Individuals who endure this so-called treatment are at a higher risk for suicide and depression. Read more.
This bill is currently in front of the Senate Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations Committee with bipartisan sponsorship. Please use our simple, automated system to urge the members of this committee to advance S.B. 85. Click on the red “Take Action!” link below. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Tennessee: Tell State Senate to reject anti-choice bill
The Tennessee Legislature has introduced an anti-abortion bill that prohibits the state from funding abortion services because doing so would — wait for it — be a violation of state/church separation.
The bill, S.B. 1418, seeks to prohibit state funding of abortion services because it constitutes an endorsement of “nonsecular conduct that is inseparably linked to the religion of Secular Humanism.”
In summary, the Tennessee Legislature — the same body that recently passed a bill that would permit taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to turn away LGBTQ families based on “religious convictions” — is suddenly concerned with keeping state and church separate.
The job of elected officials is to enact policies that protect and improve the well-being of their constituents, not to impose their own dogmatic religious beliefs. Not only is abortion a constitutionally protected freedom, but access to safe and legal abortion is correlated with improvements in women’s sexual and reproductive health, economic opportunity and overall well-being. The only organized opposition to abortion is religious in nature, predicated on the religious concept of “ensoulment,” thereby making reproductive rights a state/church separation matter. But this bill gets it backward by suggesting that the “religion” of secular humanism is behind the push for access to safe, legal abortions.
S.B. 1418 is currently in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. These senators need to hear your opposition to this bill. Legislative offices tally the calls and contacts received in opposition and support of controversial issues, and it is essential that pro-choice Tenesseans make your voice heard so the Religious Right cannot claim a mandate.
More »Please speak out against Missouri “license to discriminate” bill
The Missouri Legislature is considering a bill that would give student groups at public universities the license to discriminate based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
In order to ensure that campus groups are welcoming of all students, the majority of U.S. public colleges and universities have non-discrimination policies that prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, etc. This bill, HB 1926, aims to exempt religious student groups from these nondiscrimination policies, in order to allow particular groups to exclude unwanted members. For example, some religious students seek to exclude LGBTQ people or to restrict leadership only to those with particular religious views.
Similar laws have popped up in states across the country under the guise of protecting the religious convictions of college students. The true intent and impact of these bills, however, is to allow groups to exclude based on religion, while those students still reap the taxpayer-funded benefits of being endorsed by their public school.
This bill will be considered by the Missouri Committee on Career Readiness next Wednesday, Jan. 29. The members of this committee need to hear your opposition to this bill. Click on the red “Take Action!” below and feel free to use or adapt the talking point provided. If you are able to attend the hearing next week, please consider sharing your opposition in person.
Special Committee on Career Readiness Hearing Details
Date: Jan. 29, 2020
Time: Noon
Location: House Hearing Room 6
More information here.
New Hampshire: Please take action on two upcoming education bills
The New Hampshire House Education Committee is considering two bills related to religion in schools next week and they need to hear you weigh in.
The first bill, HB 1148, seeks to place the theocratic motto “In God We Trust” in New Hampshire public schools. This bill is part of the nationwide legislative push, Project Blitz. Project Blitz seeks to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills, imposing the theocratic version of a powerful few on We The People. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties.
While politicians claim that these laws are intended to showcase the national motto or inspire patriotism, it’s clear from the bill’s pandering language that their true purpose is to peddle religiosity to a captive audience. This bill is about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, and dismantling the wall of separation between religion and government. The motto “In God We Trust” is inaccurate and exclusionary, and this bill is aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy.
We need your help to ensure that a captive audience of impressionable students aren’t forced to view a motto that falsely equates piety with patriotism. This bill will be reviewed in committee on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
The second bill, HB 1306, is a good piece of legislation that would repeal an existing law that permits schools to recite the Lord’s prayer in public elementary schools in the state. Although not enforceable, leaving such a law on the books perpetuates the myth that we are a Christian nation, and repealing this law is a positive step to preserve secular public education. The committee will review this bill on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Please use our simple, automated system to contact the members of the N.H. Education Committee members and urge them to vote no on HB 1148 and to vote yes on HB 1306. Click on the red “Take Action!” link. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. If you are able to attend either of these House Education Committee hearings next week, please consider doing so to share your thoughts with lawmakers in person.
More »Urge S.C. senators to support Pro-Birth Accountability Act
A new bill introduced in the South Carolina Legislature would require that if the state bans abortion care, it must pay all costs associated with birthing and raising children born as a result.
SB 928, dubbed the “Pro-Birth Accountability Act,” is a retort to the swath of legislators across the country attempting to force women to give birth to unwanted or nonviable pregnancies against their will.
The bill states: “Just as South Carolina may not constitutionally use a citizen’s rental property without just compensation, it may not constitutionally require a woman to incubate a child without appropriate compensation.”
Restrictive abortion laws are a tactic of Christian supremacists to effectively overturn Roe v. Wade, which affirmed the legal right to abortion in 1973. This is a critical state/church issue because these laws are based on the dogmatic religious belief that ensoulment takes place at conception. People who oppose abortion should not have one, but they also have no right to use their positions of power to inject religion into our secular laws. And if they do, South Carolina SB 928 contends, the state ought to be accountable for the financial repercussions of that forced pregnancy.
This bill is currently in front of the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs — and the members need to hear from South Carolina constituents in support of this bill. Please click on the red “Take Action!” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Urge Florida legislators to reject bible classes in public schools
Two bills have been introduced in the Florida Legislature that would require all public schools to offer bible classes.
The corresponding bills, HB 341 and SB 746, mandate all Florida public schools offer “an objective study of the Bible, including, but not limited to, a course on the Hebrew Scriptures and Old Testament of the Bible, a course on the New Testament of the Bible, and a course of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament of the Bible and the New Testament of the Bible.”
The bills were introduced by self-proclaimed exorcist and state Rep. Kim Daniels, a Christian evangelist who has thanked God for slavery and has minimized the horrors of the Holocaust because “the Jews own everything.”
While politicians often claim that these laws are intended to teach the bible in the context of U.S. history, we know their true agenda is to abuse their access to young and impressionable children and indoctrinate them with religious orthodoxy. Besides the obvious bias in requiring classes on one specific set of religious texts and no others, public school bible classes have been tried across the country and have invariably ended up unconstitutionally promoting religion.
Mandatory bible class bills are unnecessary, inappropriate and expose public schools to potentially costly legal battles when the line between state and church is inevitably breached. Please use our simple, automated system to urge your legislators to stop these bills. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
More »Washington: Tell your legislators to protect children by repealing faith-based exemptions
Two bills have been introduced in the Washington House and Senate that would repeal faith-based healing protections for parents who choose not to seek medical attention for their children based on their religious beliefs. Currently, Washington has a law that protects these parents from legal charges even if their children die as a result of this negligence.
The two companion bills, HB 1376 and SB 5749, aim to remove this exemption as it relates to “criminal mistreatment of children and vulnerable adults.”
The law currently states that: “It is the intent of the Legislature that a person who, in good faith, is furnished Christian Science treatment by a duly accredited Christian Science practitioner in lieu of medical care is not considered deprived of medically necessary health care or abandoned.”
If these two proposed bills are passed, this language will be removed and children will no longer be at risk of death because of the state sanctioning their parents’ dangerous religious beliefs. Please ask the members of both the House and Senate committees reviewing these bills to support them. The Washington Legislature collects comments on proposed bills on their website. Click on the links below to access the comment page for the corresponding body and click on the green button on the right side of the page that reads "comment on this bill."
TALKING POINTS
As a Washington constituent, I am urging you to support HB 1376/SB 5749, which will remove faith-based healing exemptions for parents whose religious beliefs and subsequent medical neglect result in their children’s death.
Currently, practitioners of religions that discourage seeking medical attention can claim an explicit exemption from liability for their children’s health, even if their child dies as a result of this neglect. This is unacceptable. Elected officials have an obligation to pass laws that protect the most vulnerable among us, including children.
Allowing parents to dodge responsibility for the health and well-being of their children based on their religious beliefs is an affront to the rights of children. Please support HB 1376/SB 5749. Thank you.
More »Please resist 'In God We Trust' on public buildings
The Missouri Legislature is considering two bills that would require every government-owned building to display “In God We Trust.” We need your help to ensure that Missouri residents are not subjected to government-sponsored proselytizing.
These two bills, HB 1712 and HB 1294, are part of the nationwide legislative push Project Blitz, which seeks to inject state legislatures across the country with a whole host of religious bills. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties, imposing the theocratic vision of a powerful few on We The People.
While politicians claim that these laws are intended to showcase the national motto or inspire patriotism, it is clear that their true purpose is to peddle religiosity to a captive audience. These laws are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, dismantling the wall between religion and government. The motto "In God We Trust" is inaccurate, exclusionary, and aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy.
These bills are currently in the early stages, so it’s critical that lawmakers hear opposition from constituents to stop both bills in their tracks. Please use our simple, automated system to contact your representative and ask that they reject this thinly veiled attempt to inject religion into our public schools. Feel free to use or adapt the talking point provided.
More »URGENT: Tell Arizona lawmakers to reject anti-LGBTQ sex education bill
A dangerous, religiously motivated bill would restrict age-appropriate sex education and ban discussions of LGBTQ people in Arizona public schools. We need your help to stop this.
State Sen. Sylvia Allen has proposed SB 1082, which would remove the word “homosexuality” from all public school teaching materials and forbid schools from teaching sex education to students under the age of 12. Allen, a conservative Christian who has previously called for mandatory church attendance and recently warned colleagues about the “browning of America,” is also the chair of the Senate Education Committee.
This infiltration of church dogma into public school classrooms endangers the health of students exposed to it. It is wildly irresponsible to codify a religious worldview that erases LGBTQ youth and censors public schools from providing age-appropriate sex education.
This proposed legislation is scheduled for a hearing by the Senate’s Education Committee tomorrow — Tuesday, Jan. 14. It is critical that members hear your opposition to this arcane bill. If you are able, please attend tomorrow’s meeting and speak out in opposition to this bill.
If you are not able to speak in person, please use our simple, automated system to contact the members of the committee and let them know that these proposals are not aligned with Arizona values. Click on the red “Take Action!” button below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
Senate Education Committee Hearing
Day: Tuesday, Jan. 14
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: SHR 1
Tell Nebraska gov. to rescind call to “pray to end abortion”
Last week, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts issued a proclamation to mark Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, as a “Statewide Day of Prayer to End Abortion.” Ricketts declares that it is “right and fitting that the citizens of the state of Nebraska are urged to pray for an end to abortion.” It’s critical Ricketts hears from you — his constituent — that these draconian religious views do not align with the popular will of Nebraskans.
The Nebraska government has no business — and no power — to tell citizens when or whether to pray, much less what to pray about.
The proclamation treats a constitutionally protected right — a right the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Roe v. Wade — as though it were unlawful. It wrongly declared that “Nebraska is a pro-life state.” In fact, more Nebraskans — 50 percent — think abortion should be legal in all or most cases than think it should be illegal (46 percent). Ricketts is abusing the power of his office to erroneously declare a minority religious view to be official state policy.
FFRF sent a letter of complaint to Ricketts last week urging him to get off his knees and instead get to work to protect established constitutional principles as his oath of office demands of him.
Here’s how you can object:
- Click on the red “Take Action” link below to contact Ricketts’ office by email or phone to urge him to rescind this proclamation. Calls are the most effective method of getting the attention of elected officials. Please feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
- Tweet Gov. Ricketts (@GovRicketts) with a message about your opposition.
- Consider writing a letter to the editor against this in your local paper.
Please resist N.M. “In God We Trust” bill
The New Mexico Legislature is fast-tracking a bill that would require all public buildings and license plates in the state to display “In God We Trust.” We need your help to ensure that New Mexico residents are not subjected to government-sponsored Christian proselytizing.
HB 115 is part of the nationwide legislative push, Project Blitz. Project Blitz seeks to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills, imposing the theocratic version of a powerful few on We The People. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we cherish most about our democracy, and now must tirelessly defend.
While politicians claim that these laws are intended to showcase the national motto or inspire patriotism, it is clear that their true purpose is to peddle religiosity to a captive audience. These laws are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, dismantling the wall of separation between religion and government. The motto “In God We Trust” is inaccurate, exclusionary and aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy.
Please use our automated system to contact your representative and ask that they stop this bill in its tracks.
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