FFRF condemns Louisiana bible bill

Statement
By Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker
Co-Presidents
Freedom From Religion Foundation

It's hard to believe that in 2014 a bill to declare “the Holy Bible the official state book of Louisiana” would gain traction in the Louisiana legislature. Yesterday, a House committee voted 8-5 to approve House Bill 503, which does precisely that, and now heads to the full House of Representatives for a vote.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shrevepoint, originally declared a specific 16th century copy of the bible in the Louisiana State Museum system as the “official state book.” Then Carmody changed the language to make the “generic” King James Version the “official state book.”

It’s an understatement to point out there are a lot of problems with this bill. First, the King James Version ain’t “generic” — it’s Protestant. There were riots in the streets, arsons of churches, deaths in Philadelphia in 1843, over precisely this kind of show of government preference for the King James Version over the Catholic version in public schools.

Ironically, aware that the bill endorses Protestantism over Catholicism, Rep. Stephen Oretego, D-Carencro, argued: “Let’s make this more inclusive of other Christian faiths, more than just the ones that use the King James Version.” This, of course, misses the point: Government preference of all “Christian faiths” is equally inappropriate and unconstitutional, being intrinsically exclusionary of all non-Christians and all non-believers. Same problem when Rep. Ebony Woodruff, D-New Harvey, suggested amending the bill to declare “all books of faith” the official state books of Louisiana! (Imagine the consternation had the legislators actually voted to make the Koran an “official state book.”)

It’s hard to credit this degree of zealotry, insensitivity and ignorance among state legislators in a nation where surveys and polls show that as many as 30% of the U.S. population now identifies as nonreligious. The “Christian Nation” Big Lie, repeated over and over, apparently has done its damage. Legislators who took an oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution in all its glorious godlessness apparently have never bothered to examine it.

The taboo against criticizing the bible has also taken a toll. Ruth Hurmence Green, author of "The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible” LINK https://ffrf.org/shop/the-born-again-skeptic-s-guide-to-the-bible (the first book FFRF published and still a bestseller), put it this way: “There is no other book between whose cover life is so cheap.” The bible is a handbook for superstition, despotism, bigotry, oppression of women, homophobia, child abuse and the substitution of blind obedience and faith for reason.

Here’s a thought — how about making Richard Dawkins’ blockbuster, “The God Delusion,” Louisiana’s official state book? These legislators are clearly under the delusion they live in a theocracy.

TAKE ACTION
Contact your legislator today! To find out who your legislator is, type in your zip code here.

Please contact your legislator via phone or email here.

You can also voice your opinion by utilizing social media and commenting on online news sites.

Submit a letter to the editor to the Times-Picayune in Baton Rouge here.

You can also submit a letter-to-the-editor at the Advocate here.

TALKING POINTS

Use your own words if possible, or cut and paste wording below. (Read Andrew Seidel’s letters for more background.)

As a Louisiana citizen, I am outraged that any legislator would even contemplate adopting a state law endorsing the bible, much less declaring one version of it the “official state book of Louisiana.” We live in a secular republic, not a Christian nation or state. This outrageous bill is unconstitutional. It is not the business of the State of Louisiana to dictate what religion citizens must conform to, much less to endorse one particular so-called “holy book” over another. Kill HB 503, get off your knees and get to work!

Read more:

Bill to make Bible Louisiana's official state book passes House Committee

Protest Brandeis University's withdrawal of honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Brandeis University in Massachusetts has taken the deplorable action of rescinding an honorary degree offered to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a campaigner for women’s rights and fierce critic of Islam. Brandeis announced the award to Hirsi Ali, along with four others, on March 31. The Massachusetts university was immediately inundated with protests against her selection by Islamic groups, such as The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which compared Hirsi Ali to white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. In 1992, she escaped an impending arranged marriage to a relative, immigrating to the Netherlands, where she not only learned the language, earned a master’s degree but was elected to the Dutch Parliament in 2003, and wrote two books criticizing Islamic treatment of women, including “The Caged Virgin.” In 2004, her friend and collaborator Theo Van Gogh was brutally murdered for a film Hirsi Ali wrote, “Submission,” about Islamic oppression of women. Hirsi Ali was forced to go into hiding. But she has refused to be silent in speaking about the dangers of faith. Hirsi Ali, the author of the bestselling books “Infidel” and “Nomad,” identifies as an atheist and has written in detail about the harm Islam causes including female genital mutilation, martyrdom and honor killings.

The Justice, Brandeis University’s student newspaper, raged against the decision to honor Hirsi Ali for her contribution to women’s rights by claiming:

“In her 2010 memoir Nomad: From Islam to America, Hirsi Ali states that Islam is ‘not compatible with the modern Westernised way of living,’ that ‘violence is an integral part [of Islam],’ and that ‘Muhammad’s example is terrible, don’t follow it.’ These comments ignore the fact that there are multiple views of Islam, insist that violence is inherent in Islam and that one culture is fundamentally better than another . . . By presenting Hirsi Ali with an honorary degree, the University applauds all aspects of her work.”

Brandeis University bowed to pressure and rescinded her honorary degree, releasing this statement: “We cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali won FFRF’s Emperor has no clothes award in 2010. Read her speech here.

CONTACT

Please contact Brandeis University to ask it to apologize for its shoddy treatment of a freethinking feminist, and to re-offer its honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

General email contact form here.

Office of the President
Fred Lawrence
MS 100
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02453-2728
781-736-3001
781- 736-8699 fax

TALKING POINTS

Use your own words or feel free to paste the statement below or borrow from it:

“I am appalled at Brandeis University’s bad manners and worse logic in offering, then rescinding an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who stands for women’s rights in the face of religious oppression, and secularism in the face of the rise of Islamism (Muslim theocracy). Shame on Brandeis!”

READ MORE

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Statement - The Weekly Standard 

Brandeis University Decides Against Honoring Critic Who Called For Islam To Be 'Defeated'
Huffington Post

After Backlash from Muslim Groups, Brandeis University Will No Longer Be Giving an Honorary Degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Friendly Atheist Blog

-Compiled by Lauryn Seering

STOP ‘In God We Trust’ registration plates

Dear Wisconsin FFRF Member,

Please call and email your state senator immediately asking him or her to vote against AB 244, creating a special “In God We Trust” license plate. The bill is on the agenda for a floor vote tomorrow, (Tuesday, March 18). Read the bill here. 

It’s vital to act — the bill already passed the State Assembly. See bill history here. 

FFRF has taken issue with the 'In God We Trust' license plates since September. FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott noted in his testimony:

"The phrase 'In God We Trust' is not representative of all Wisconsinites. To be accurate, it would have to say, 'In god some of us trust.' The Pew Research Center reports that nearly 20% of adult Americans, and one in three young adults, is now non-religious. According to Department of Defense data from 2012, 23% of military personnel identified as non-religious. A survey of FFRF’s membership also demonstrated that 24% of its members are veterans.

"State legislators are elected to represent all citizens, including those who do not believe in a monotheistic god or any gods. Both supporters and opponents of the bill recognize that 'In God We Trust' is a religious statement. The fact that a portion of the plate fees would go to the state’s Veterans Trust Fund does not mitigate the problems with a religious plate."

The state already offers the secular "Wisconsin Salutes Veterans" license plates, which finances the Veterans Trust Fund. This religious plate is unnecessary and divisive.

“It sends an exclusionary message,” adds FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “First of all, if a non-believer wanted to help out veterans they are going to be precluded from buying this plate. This is obviously an attempt to push religion.”

TAKE ACTION!

Call and email your senator to vote "NO" on AB 244.

Find your state senator HERE. 

Links to senator home pages with emails and telephone numbers HERE. 

Ask governor to veto ten commandments bill now

On Wednesday, March 12, the Georgia Senate passed H.B. 702, a bill designed to place a Ten Commandments monument within the state capitol building or on its grounds. The bill previously passed the Georgia House. In addition to the Ten Commandments, the proposed granite monument will also contain the preamble to the Georgia Constitution (which states in part that the people of Georgia rely “upon the protection and guidance of Almighty God”) and the “part of the Declaration of Independence which states that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’”

Note: the monument will not include the entirely secular preamble to the U.S. Constitution, as described in the bill’s summary on first reading and as reported incorrectly by numerous news sources. The original version of the bill did call for inclusion of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, but that was swapped for the portion of the Declaration of Independence that refers to “a Creator.” Yet the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Greg Morris (R-Vidalia), denied, with a straight face, any religious intent behind his proposed monument.

If enacted into law, this bill would be a clear and egregious violation of the separation between state and church. In reaction to the passage of H.B. 702, Erwin Chemerinsky, First Amendment legal scholar and distinguished attorney in the landmark Supreme Court decision Van Orden v. Perry, noted, “the Supreme Court has . . . made clear that putting up new Ten Commandments monuments, when the purpose is so clearly to advance religion, violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.”

The Georgia legislature needs to stop wasting time imagining new, creative ways to memorialize the Christian god and get back to work!

CONTACT GOV. DEAL TODAY!

Please take a moment to contact the governor to voice your opposition to H.B. 702.

For maximum effectiveness, be succinct and polite in messages, and identify yourself as a constituent when relevant (not as a member of FFRF responding to this action alert). For obvious reasons, do not forward this action alert to the governor. Feel free to let friends and colleagues know about this threat. You may wish to send blind copies (using bc in your email) to FFRF at:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Stop Christian Science health care exemption bill

Next Tuesday (March 11), Christian Scientists are holding a “national call-in” lobbying day in Congress to demand a special exemption for Christian Scientists from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all U.S. citizens carry medical health insurance.

The so-called “Equitable Access to Care and Health (EACH) Act” (H.R. 1814 and S.862) would exempt people who claim “sincerely held religious beliefs” from insurance signup requirements. The bill is sponsored by 216 members of the House of Representatives and 30 senators — thanks to the power of the Christian Science lobby and politicians’ cowardly pandering to religionists.

Please take a moment now or by March 11 to contact your U.S. representative and senators to oppose HR 1814 /S.862. More background follows the contact information and brief talking points below.

CONTACT

Please email or phone your member of Congress today! Find your congressperson. http://beta.congress.gov/members

TALKING POINTS

Use any of the information in the background following these talking points. Or simply note that you are phoning or emailing to register opposition to H.R. 1814/S.862, “Equitable Access to Care and Health (EACH).” Or feel free to copy and paste this text in a message to your representative or senators:

I strongly oppose HR 1814/S.862, introduced on behalf of the Christian Science lobby, seeking special exemption from the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It would increase insurance costs for the rest of us and be a costly nightmare for states to track. Most significantly, every year children needlessly suffer and die because parents decide to rely only on prayer and fail to seek medical care.

The ACA will save children’s lives. My costs as a taxpayer should not increase because Christian Scientists and others citing “sincerely held beliefs” want to be exempted from purchasing health insurance coverage designed to control costs and make universal coverage affordable. Christian Scientists shouldn’t be exempt from this tax, any more than parents who send children to parochial schools are exempt from supporting our public schools. Many Christian Scientists routinely seek emergency or pregnancy health care, and if they are not covered by insurance, the rest of us will pay more. Most importantly, children’s health should not be put at risk. Kill this bill!

BACKGROUND

What’s wrong with this bill? As Rita Swan of Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD) notes, the exemption bill has many serious consequences. Besides setting reckless legal precedent, it would increase insurance costs for the rest of us and endanger children.

More than 170 children are buried in the Followers of Christ Peaceful Valley Cemetery in Idaho, many of whom might have survived had their parents been required to obtain health insurance for them.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in upholding the Affordable Care Act, ruled that the universal mandate, enacted to control costs, is a form of taxation, which everyone needs to pay, just as all taxpayers must support our public schools.

Christian Scientists complain they shouldn’t have to pay for care they won’t use, yet Christian Scientists usually seek medical care for fractures, prenatal care, delivery of babies and going to the eye doctor for glasses.

Insurance works on the assumption that many in the pool of policyholders won’t draw from it. For instance, most people with fire insurance will never need to make use of such coverage.

Equally unworkable would be tracking those who are exempt to ensure they haven’t sought medical care. HR1814 is modeled on the Massachusetts religious exemption. CHILD notes that in 2007, about 9,700 Massachusetts residents claimed a religious exemption. A data match done that year showed that 745 of them had nevertheless received free medical care during the year.

Massachusetts has failed since to track exemptions or enforce its penalty for individuals who seek exemption from medical care but then obtain it. If a state relies on an honor system of self-reporting, there will be widespread abuses of the law. Many individuals will find it convenient to claim an exemption yet continue to get care at the public’s expense. This is grossly unfair and will lower the public’s respect for the law.

Swan notes, “Our organization has information on hundreds of American children who have died because of their family’s religious objections to medical care. Many others get to the emergency room at the last minute, and their medical care is much more expensive than it would have been if the children had a medical home and routine basic care. HR 1814 increases the risk to children in faith-healing sects and the cost to the state if the children do get medical care.”

Oppose unconstitutional Alabama prayer bill now

Dear Alabama FFRF Member:

A bill mandating that public schools begin each morning with prayer was approved by voice vote in the House Education Policy Committee in late February.

House Bill 318, sponsored by Rep. Steve Hurst, would require teachers and public school students to spend up to 15 minutes “studying the formal procedures of the United States Congress including the verbatim reading of a congressional opening prayer.”

The bill is clearly a bald attempt to introduce prayer and religion into the classroom under the guise of studying Congress.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, “This controversial bill emerged from the committee despite the fact that a majority of legislators present stated that they opposed the measure.”

Three representatives voted against the bill: Reps. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, Elaine Beech, D-Chatom, and Phil Williams, R-Huntsville. Another three did not vote at all: Reps. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, Mac Buttram, R-Cullman, and Kerry Rich, R-Albertville.

The only two to vote in favor of the bill were Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Indian Springs, and Rep. Lesley Vance, R-Phenix City. Nevertheless, McClurkin, Chair of the Committee, claimed she heard more votes in favor of the bill.

CONTACT

Contact your state representative today to say why you think this bill is unconstitutional and divisive in the public school system. (It’s unclear when the bill will come to the floor for a vote, so please also watch the news for developments and chime in.)

You can also send a letter to the editor to the Montgomery Advertiser here or to your local newspaper. You can also influence public opinion through social media networks and by commenting online at news websites.

TALKING POINTS

(Use your own words or feel free to copy the language below)

I strongly oppose HB 318. To avoid the constitutional concerns and the divisiveness school-led prayers create, the solution is simple: don’t permit them.

This bill violates more than half a century of firm Supreme Court precedent against prayer, ritual, bible-reading and religious devotion in our public schools.

Prayer sends an inappropriate proselytizing message to all students, and excludes the nonreligious — the second-largest segment today in America by religious identification.

Calling upon faculty and students to pray is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of a secular public school district. Nonbelieving students and religious minorities should not be made to feel like political outsiders by their own school district. Nor should any school district send a message to students that they ought to believe in a deity or show obeisance to one.

MEDIA
Committee Passes School Prayer Bill on Voice Vote
The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Alabama)

Alabama Passes Law that Requires School Prayer Every Morning
Travelers Today

The Case Against School Prayer - For reference of school prayer Supreme Court decisions.

Statement: Brewer should veto ‘religious wrongs’ bill

Have you contacted Gov. Jan Brewer yet asking her to veto SB 1026? Phone her office now: (602) 542-4331

Statement by Dan Barker & Annie Laurie Gaylor
Co-Presidents
Freedom From Religion Foundation

The newest threat to religious liberty is the campaign to pass legislation permitting individuals or businesses to impose their religious beliefs on unwilling others.

The Arizona Legislature last Thursday passed SB 1062, to allow business owners to invoke personal religious beliefs as an excuse to deny gays service. This prompted one witty Tucson pizzeria owner to put up a sign giving tit for tat, saying: "We reserve the right to refuse service to Arizona legislators."

It's kind of a warped version of the Golden Rule, which, phrased in the positive, has always had a dangerous "escape clause." "Do unto others as you would have them do onto you" could be a license to preach at others (if you like being preached at), to hurt others (if you're a sadomasochist) or, in this case, to exhibit bigotry toward others (if you're a bigot). The superior rule far predating Christianity is expressed in the negative: "Do not do to others what you don't want done to you."

According to The New York Times, similar "religious protection legislation" has been introduced in Idaho, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee, with efforts stalled in Idaho, Kansas and Ohio.

The bill, while couched as antigay, is so broad it allows any person, business or church to cite religion as a defense if the government or an individual claims they're being discriminated against. Think about all those floral shops in Rhode Island that refused to take FFRF's order for a bouquet of roses to atheist student plaintiff Jessica Ahlquist. FFRF is pursuing redress under the Civil Rights Act, but if Gov. Jan Brewer signs the Arizona bill into law, such discrimination would be lawful — indeed, encouraged. The bill could permit individuals to break nearly any law and cite religious freedom as a defense, as Arizona Democrats pointed out.

The Civil Rights Act came into being to ensure that basic services (such as food, accommodations, medical care) couldn't be denied because of the customer's or patient's race, ethnic heritage, religion or gender. The Arizona bill and the religious bigotry fueling other such bills pose a serious threat to the Civil Rights Act, equal protection under the law and harmony and good will in our nation.

The chain store Hobby Lobby, which is suing Kathleen Sebelius, is likewise invoking "religious beliefs" to defy the guarantees of the Affordable Care Act, because its fundamentalist founder wants veto power over which forms of contraception his women employees may use.

Brewer vetoed a bill similar to SB1062 last session. It's encouraging that the outcry against this bigoted bill prompted three Arizona Republican senators, including the senate majority whip, came forward yesterday with a change of heart on their vote.

To protect true religious liberty it's crucial for these mischief-making pieces of legislation to be vetoed, voted down and ridiculed out of existence.

From Rita Swan director of CHILD

TALKING POINTS

Stop Alabama Ten Commandments Bill

Please make a fuss and protest the action of the Alabama House, which, by a 77-19 vote today, passed an absurd constitutional amendment to permit the display of the biblical ten commandments on state and public school property. The amendment would insert into a section of the state constitution that currently prohibits religion in government:

"Property belonging to the state may be used to display the Ten Commandments, and the right of a public school and public body to display the Ten Commandments on property owned or administrated by a public school or public body in this state is not restrained or abridged.”

According to WAFF News, Rep. Duwayne Bridges (R), who filed this legislation, says
“Alabama should celebrate the country's religious roots.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham (1980) that it is improper to display Ten Commandments posters in public schools, noting:

“The preeminent purpose for posting the Ten Commandments on schoolroom walls is plainly religious in nature. The Ten Commandments are undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths, and no legislative recitation of a supposed secular purpose can blind us to that fact. The Commandments do not confine themselves to arguably secular matters, such as honoring one's parents, killing or murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, and covetousness. See Exodus 20:12-17; Deuteronomy 5:16-21. Rather, the first part of the Commandments concerns the religious duties of believers: worshipping the Lord God alone, avoiding idolatry, not using the Lord's name in vain, and observing the Sabbath Day. See Exodus 20:1-11; Deuteronomy 5:6-15.

. . . Posting of religious texts on the wall serves no such educational function. If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. However desirable this might be as a matter of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause.

It does not matter that the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are financed by voluntary private contributions, for the mere posting of the copies under the auspices of the legislature provides the "official support of the State . . . Government" that the Establishment Clause prohibits.”

CONTACT

Write a letter to your editor, comment on news and social network websites, and most importantly, contact your state representative urging that this mischievous bill be killed.

Contact members of the Alabama House of Representatives to voice your opinion here. 

(The Senate votes aren’t available yet but if you wish to complain to your senator contact them here.)

TALKING POINTS

Use your own words or feel free to cut and paste any of this statement below:

It is an exercise in pandering for the Alabama Senate to pass this blatantly unconstitutional bill to alter Alabama’s State Constitution to permit diplays of Ten Commandments on public property, particularly in public schools. Haven’t Alabama politicians learned anything from the Judge Roy Moore saga? As chief justice, Moore was so bent on misusing his office to promote his personal religious views that he was under court order to remove his Ten Commandments marker from the Alabama State Supreme Court. Ultimately, Moore lost his position due to his insistence on entangling religion and government.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in the 1980 Stone v. Graham decision, has definitively barred postings of the Ten Commandments in public schools. The Alabama State Constitution’s strong prohibitions against religion in government must not be tampered with, and the rights of conscience of young and impressionable students, who are a captive audience, must be protected.

Religionists are free to place bible edicts on church and private property, but our precious principle of separation between religion and government prohibits the use of the machinery of the state to promote one religion’s teachings over others, or religion over nonreligion.

MEDIA

Alabama House Approves Ten Commandments Bill

Thank you for your help!

Ask Congress to adopt Darwin Day (once again!)

Darwin Day is celebrated around the world on February 12, the 205th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) has been working valiantly to designate that date as a national holiday. Last week Holt once again introduced H.R. 467.

The resolution "recogniz[es] the importance of science in the betterment of humanity."

Holt's resolution touts "the validity of Darwin's theory of evolution," "the monumental amount of scientific evidence" that supports the theory, and notes that evolution's "validity ... is further strongly supported by the modern understanding of the science of genetics."

The resolution chastises science-deniers: "the advancement of science must be protected from those unconcerned with the adverse impacts of global warming and climate change" and "the teaching of creationism in some public schools compromises the scientific and academic integrity of the United States education systems."

As science educator Bill Nye stated during his debate with creationist Ken Ham this week, “If we abandon all that we’ve learned. . . if we abandon the process by which we know it. . . if we stop looking for the next answer, we in the United States will be out-competed by other countries, other economies. . . We have to keep science education in science.”

If resolved, H.R.467 will ensure that the House of Representatives:

(1) supports the designation of Darwin Day; and

(2) recognizes Charles Darwin as a worthy symbol on which to celebrate the achievements of reason, science, and the advancement of human knowledge.

The voices of science and secularism must be heard. Ask the U.S. House to hold Darwin Day and pass H.R.467!

TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Please help us honor Charles Darwin’s enormous contributions to progress and science, contact your U.S. Representative to support H.R.467.

To find out who your representative is, type in your zip code on this website to find your representative. Click on their name to contact them.

If you already know who your representative is, find the contact information on this alphabetical list. 

Call, email, fax, write, tweet or Facebook them. Do whatever it takes to be heard!

THANK DARWIN DAY SPONSORS

Take a moment to thank Rep. Holt. Rep. Holt, a nuclear physicist by training, who self-identifies as a Quaker and deserves our gratitude for his efforts. Do feel free to identify yourself as a nonbeliever, atheist, etc., so he knows the secular bloc has clout (and good manners)!

Letters: 1214 Longworth HOB
Washington DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5801
Fax: (202) 225-6025

Email him using the webform here.

(Representative Holt will only accept email from residents in New Jersey.) 

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR

Ask your Senators to support Darwin Day while you're at it!

Find and contact your U.S. Senators.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Supporting Darwin Day would make an excellent and timely topic of a letter to the editor to your local or favorite publication. Don't forget social media and online news comment sections to help spread the word.

MORE MEDIA

Resolution Recognizing 'Darwin Day,' Slamming Creationism, Introduced in CongressDarwin Day and the Science of Science Denial

Thank you for your activism. Freedom depends on freethinkers, and Darwin Day deserves your support!

Freedom From Religion Foundation
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PO Box 750
Madison WI 53701
608/256-8900

Remove bible from Pinella Park City Council chambers

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has contacted Pinellas Park Mayor Sandra Bradbury to insist that a bible be removed from a dais in the city council chamber, among other complaints.

On behalf of local FFRF Members, FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel sent several letters, the first on June 12, outlining why the bible display is divisive and unconstitutional. "Not only is the city council sending a message of endorsement for Christianity over other religions and non religion," Seidel states, "but display of this King James Bible sends a message of endorsement of one particular Christian sect over all others.”

Former Fire Chief of Pinellas Park, Doug Lewis, told FOX 13, "The Bible was given to the city by the Kiwanis Club, I believe when the building was dedicated. They feel it's part of City Hall, as being part of the dedication ceremony, and it's become part of the history of the building.

This is one of several violations FFRF has requested the city to stop, including: prayers opening city council meetings, literature about a Catholic Church's upcoming events being advertised in local water bills and concerns over whether or not a Christian school that is renting from the city is receiving preferential treatment.

Seidel sent another letter on January 13, requesting the city promptly address these ongoing violations. We need your help to educate this Florida city.

TAKE ACTION:

Please email or phone city council members to explain why the government ought to remove the bible and stay out of the business of religious endorsement altogether. You may simply email or phone the mayor or, if you wish, cc the others listed below. If you live in the area please consider addressing the city council.

Mayor: Sandra L. Bradbury This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
City of Pinellas Park
5141 78th Avenue N.
Pinella Park, FL 33781
(727) 541-0706

Vice-Mayor: Jerry Mullins This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Councilman: Rick Butler This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Councilman: William E. "Ed" Taylor This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Councilwoman: Patricia F. Johnson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The City Council meets Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30PM: The city council meets every two weeks.

First Floor of the Council Chambers
5141 78th Avenue N. 
Pinella Park, FL 33781
(727) 541-0706

For more information on city council meetings contact City Clerk: Diane Corna This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TALKING POINTS:
Your own words are best. But feel free to copy this paragraph:

Please remove the bible from the city council dais, which sends an unconstitutional message of endorsement of religion by the city government. It excludes nonbelievers and non-Christians, such as myself, who now comprise more than 20% of the population. The bible display belongs in a church, not at the seat of city government. Pinellas Park is not a theocracy, and its government is predicated on our secular constitution.

ADDITIONAL MEDIA:
Atheist Group Challenges Bible Display at Fla. City Hall, Calls It a Violation of the US Constitution

Compiled by Lauryn Seering

Pressure Mesa School Board to stay secular

The Mesa Public Schools Governing Board in Mesa, Ariz., recently discontinued prayers to start its meetings after a letter from FFRF. But unfortunately it is now reconsidering its decision after several citizens protested the prayers' absence. The prayers were sectarian and included Christian references such as addressing a “Heavenly Father,” or ending with “In Your name Amen.” Students often attend the meetings.

FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel first wrote the school board a letter on Oct. 8, on behalf of a local complainant:

“Public school boards may not include prayer as part of their scheduled meetings. Federal courts have struck down school board practices that include this religious ritual. Prayer at public school board meetings is unnecessary, inappropriate, and divisive.”

Seidel sent a follow-up letter on Jan. 7, 2013 reiterating why governmental prayer is problematic.

The school board is only reconsidering this issue because vocal citizens spoke out for prayer and against our Constitution. That means your opinion count! Please act to ensure the school board hears from you immediately so it does not capitulate to the Religious Right.

TAKE ACTION!

If you live in the area and can attend the regular school board meetings, they are generally held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. The next meeting should be Tuesday, Jan. 14. To check whether prayer is officially on the agenda, contact the superintendent at (480)472-0000 on the day of the meeting.

Meetings begin at 7 p.m. in the Board Room, 549 N. Stapley Drive, Mesa.

Contact the Mesa Public School Governing Board:

E-mail:

All Governing Board Members: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Or contact individually at:
Chair Mike Hughes: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Clerk Mike Nichols: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Steven Peterson: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Michelle Udall: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ben Whiting: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Fax: (480)472-0227
Mail: Mesa Public Schools Governing Board
63 E. Main St.
#101
Mesa, AZ 85201-7422

TALKING POINTS:

Use your own words if possible, or cut and paste wording below.

Calling upon board members and citizens to rise and pray is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of secular county government. Board members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. They do not need to worship on taxpayers' time. Nonbelievers and religious minorities, particularly students, should not be made to feel like political outsiders in their own community.

PROVOCATIVE QUOTES ABOUT PRAYER:

Even the New Testament Jesus warns against public prayer: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:5-6)

It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain. — Mark Twain, “Pudd’nhead Wilson”

Nothing fails like prayer. — Anne Nicol Gaylor (FFRF motto)

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. — Thomas Paine, “Age of Reason”

When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ’tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. — Benjamin Franklin, “Works, Vol. VII, p. 506”

Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. —Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

MEDIA COVERAGE:

AZ Central: Mesa Public Schools Reconsider Prayer Board Meetings

Thank you for your help!

Join boycott against Hobby Lobby

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling a boycott (and “girlcott”) of Hobby Lobby, a national retail craft-store chain. Hobby Lobby characterizes itself as a Christian company, with 561 stores nationwide and revenues of more than $2.28 billion per year. It also employs 21,000 people.

Hobby Lobby’s website notes it is committed to: “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”

FFRF is calling the consumer boycott in response to Hobby Lobby's religiously-motivated role in challenging Obamacare's contraceptive mandate. The mandate ensures that contraception must be fully covered by health insurance plans as a form of preventive medicine. The Supreme Court on Nov. 26 accepted a case involving Hobby Lobby’s opposition to contraceptive coverage based on the religious views of its founder David Green, a preacher’s son.

“The foundation of our business has been, and will continue to be strong values, and honoring the Lord in a manner consistent with biblical principles,” a statement on the Hobby Lobby website reads, adding that it closes on Sundays.

“These abortion-causing drugs go against our faiths,” he told NPR.

Hobby Lobby’s founder objects to Plan B (the “morning after pill”) and ella (the week-after pill), and two types of intrauterine devices. Major medical groups submitted a brief on behalf of the government in the Hobby Lobby case, noting that the morning-after pill is not an abortion, and cannot stop pregnancy after fertilization takes place, instead preventing ovulation.

Hobby Lobby is not only wrong about the science of contraception, it’s 100 percent wrong to seek to impose its “biblical values” on all women. Corporations do not have rights of conscience, women do. Women employees’ rights of conscience cannot be denied by fanatical employers who want to choose which contraceptives they may use! This is religious interference at its most pernicious.

Currently, more than 70 lawsuits have been filed by religious employers, including Roman Catholic dioceses, seeking to deny women workers contraceptive coverage. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two such appeals, including the Hobby Lobby case. Speak up for a right to contraception that has been settled law for more than half a century.

“We ask other secular and feminist organizations to join us in speaking out against religious control of women's bodies,” said FFRF Co-President Barker. “Hobby Lobby needs to find a different hobby than imposing ‘biblical values’ upon women employees.

“Exercise your freedom . . . and shop somewhere else!”

Boycott Hobby Lobby and tell them why!

David Green

Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

7707 S.W. 44th Street

Oklahoma City, OK 73179

Fill out a contact form. 

Contact your closest Hobby Lobby to let them know why you’re boycotting their store. 

This is also a timely topic for a letter to your local editor.

Read more:

Supreme Court to take up Obamacare Contraception case

Abortion cases in court helped tilt Democrats against filibuster

Object to Texas State Board of Education creationist revisions!

The Texas State Board of Education has received nationwide attention after its strong religionist faction pushed an ideological agenda onto revisions of textbook and curriculum standards. As a result of several new requirements, the state board appointed a handful of creationists in their review group. So far, textbook publishers have largely ignored the suggestions made by reviewers. But we need your help to ensure these religiously motivated-changes in textbooks do not occur.

As you're aware, your state is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks, so as Texas curriculum and textbook standards goes, so goes the rest of the country.

Don’t let the religious right hijack our secular public schools!

Contact the Texas State Board of Education Now!

TAKE ACTION!

The final deadline to speak out against the Texas State Board of Education religionist revisions of curriculum and textbook changes is fast approaching. They will vote the week of Monday, Nov. 18 and the final vote with be Friday, Nov. 22.

1) Write the State Board of Education

Texas Education Agency
State Board of Education
1701 N. Congress Avenue
Austin TX 78701
(512) 463-9734
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2) Write to individual board members

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Barbara Cargill (R), Chair
The Woodlands, TX
(512) 463-9007
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thomas Ratliff (R), Vice Chair
P.O. Box 232
Mount Pleasant, TX 75456
(903) 717-1190
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Mavis Knight (D), Secretary
6108 Red Bird Court
Dallas, TX 75232
(214) 333-9575
(214) 339-9242 FAX
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tom Maynard (R)
P.O. Box 2885
Georgetown, TX 78627
(512) 763-2801
(512) 532-9517
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Sue Melton-Malone (R)
101 Brewster
Waco, TX 76706
(254) 749-0415
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Martha M. Dominguez (D)
P.O. Box 960543
El Paso, TX 79996
(915) 373-3563
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Geraldine "Tincy" Miller (R)
1100 Providence Tower West
5001 Spring Valley Road
Dallas, TX 75244-3910
(972) 419-4000
(214) 522-8560 FAX
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Marisa B. Perez (D)
P.O. Box 276406
San Antonio, TX 78227
(210) 317-4651
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Patricia Hardy (R)
900 North Elm
Weatherford, TX 76086
(817) 598-2968
(817) 598-2833 FAX
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Lawrence A. Allen Jr. (D)
2130 Vermillion Oak St.
Fresno, Texas 77545
(713) 203-1355
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David Bradley (R)
2165 North Street
Beaumont, TX 77701
(409) 835-3808
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Ken Mercer (R)
P.O. Box 781301
San Antonio, TX 78278-1301
(512) 463-9007
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Donna Bahorich (R)
P.O. Box 79842
Houston, TX 77279
(832) 303-9091
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Marty Rowley (R), Vice Chair
701 South Taylor, Suite 500
Amarillo, TX 79101
(806) 373-6278
(806) 220-2812 FAX
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Ruben Cortez, Jr. (D)
735 Habana St.
Brownsville, TX 78526
(956) 639-9171
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3) Write letters now to local newspapers

Remember to keep letters to the editor brief (usually under 150 words) and sign your name, address and phone number (for verification purposes only). Send to your nearest local newspaper. Below is contact info for major news dailies in Texas:

Austin Statesman Review
Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 670
Austin TX 78767
http://www.statesman.com/mailfriend/300/1934/d2c37d129f/

Dallas Morning News
Letters From Readers
P.O. Box 655237
Dallas TX 75265
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Houston Chronicle
Letter to the Editor
P.O. Box 4260
Houston TX 77210-4260
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

San Antonio Express News
Letter to the Editor
P.O. Box 2171
San Antonio TX 78297-2171
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

POSSIBLE TALKING POINTS:

Use your own words if possible, or cut and paste wording below.

Vote NO on revisionist textbook revisions.
-Don't let personal religious beliefs influence an entire generation's educational quality. Listen to educational and academic experts in adopting curriculum standards, not ultra-right-wing theocrats.

Thank you for your help!

External News Links:

Huffington Post

Live Science

Compiled by Lauryn Seering

Defeat "In God We Trust" in the Public Schools!

Legislation is underway in the Pennsylvania legislature to mandate the display of the phrase "In God We Trust" in every public school building. This is a blatant attempt to favor religion with a public statement of faith in every school.

House Bill 1728, introduced on Oct. 1, by Republican State Representative Rick Saccone, cleared the Education Committee last week with a 14-to-9 vote.

Saccone claims that the measure would promote patriotism through the display of the national motto and "educate" students on Pennsylvanian heritage.

State legislators are elected to represent all citizens, including those of us who do not believe in a monotheistic god or any gods. Both supporters and opponents of the bill recognize that "In God We Trust" is a religious statement. The history of the motto "In God We Trust" evidences no secular purpose; on the contrary, the motto was first adopted in 1956 during the Cold War, as a reaction to the purported "godlessness" of communism. "E Pluribus Unum" [out of many, one] is the entirely secular original motto selected by a distinguished committee of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

A spokesman for the House majority leader says he has "no idea when it might come up for a full House vote; however the Republicans have the House advantage." 

This is not Saccone's first theocratic overture. You may recall that with the help of many Pennsylvania members, FFRF filed suit challenging a resolution sponsored by Saccone that declared 2012 "The Year of the Bible." Although U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner dismissed the case, ruling House officials had legislative immunity, he chastened House officials for "premeditated pandering" and expressed alarm that the resolution passed unanimously.

The phrase "In God We Trust" is not representative of all Pennsylvanians. To be truly accurate, it should say "In God SOME of Us Trust," and wouldn't that be silly? The Pew Research Center reports that nearly 20% of adult Americans, and one in three young adults, is now nonreligious. Students should not be taught that patriotism requires piety. HB 1728 also proposes holding student contests to create artwork for the motto; this creates the impression of school-sponsored endorsement of religion. With bullying rampant it schools, the Pennsylvanian legislature should not be proposing legislation that will divide students rather than unify them.

Send the Wausau School Board Your Opinion!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has encouraged the Wausau School District to ensure its Wis. music curriculum that does not make religion its primary focus.

FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott sent a letter on Oct. 10 to the school board, explaining why religious music in public schools is problematic. 

Over the last two weeks, community members have decried a decision by school administrators to include more secular music in December concerts. The school board held a special meeting on Oct. 10 where Wausau residents spoke in favor of reinstating a Christian-dominated music program.

FFRF would like for you to share your opinion on this issue with the Wausau Board of Education!

TAKE ACTION!
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TALKING POINTS:

Use your own words, if possible.

It is divisive and unconstitutional for a public school music program to have religious music as its primary focus. There are many non-Christian and non-religious families who have a right to participate in school music programming. When public school choir students practice for an entire semester for a religion-themed concert by singing mostly Christian songs, the school has abridged its constitutional duties. School concerts must have a secular and educational purpose and not act as a yearly devotional for one religion. We urge the district to provide a secular and inclusive music program.

RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE (External News Sites):
Pro-separation, pro-religious freedom groups lobby School Board
Wausau Daily Herald

School Board member: Reverse limit on religious music at holiday concerts
Wausau Daily Herald

Freedom From Religion group praises Wausau schools
Post Crescent

Contact White House to approve atheist group in interfaith meetings

The Secular Student Alliance (SSA) was recently invited asked to participate alongside religious groups as part of President Barack Obama's InterFaith and Community Service Challenge by contacting the White House.

Religious organizations such as the Faith & Freedom Coalition are shamefully protesting the SSA's inclusion. FFRF has a partnership with the Secular Student Alliance which exists to support high school and campus secular groups. The Religious Right wishes to marginalize and discriminate against secular organizations, and it's our goal to tell them we won't allow it.

Contact the White House to thank them for including the SSA and other secular organizations in the InterFaith Initiative!

TAKE ACTION!

Email the White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Call the President
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414

TTY/TTD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitor's Office: 202-456-2121

TALKING POINTS:
Use your own words, if possible.

Polls such as the 2012 PEW survey show that one in three young people is nonreligious, which is 30% of Americans. Imagine shutting the door on a third of the nation's population because they aren't religious is bad manners and even worse government. Secular students should be represented in the White House.

For more information read SSA's Press Release here.

Protest White House Pro Government Prayer Brief

Statement by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor
Co-Presidents
Freedom From Religion Foundation

What a disappointment to see the White House side with congressional Republicans and theocrats in the upcoming Supreme Court case over opening town councils almost exclusively with Christian prayer.

The Obama administration just submitted a friend of the court brief on behalf of the town of Greece, N.Y., and the Alliance Defending Freedom, the arch-Religious Right legal group defending the town’s Christian prayer policy. Besides promoting religion in government, ADF primarily works to overturn abortion rights and obstruct marriage equality.

The high court accepted the town’s appeal of a strong decision by the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that ruled the practice of opening government meetings with Christian prayer is unconstitutional.

The development is highly troubling, with court watchers speculating the case gives the conservative majority a chance to overturn Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s “endorsement” standard. Under the former justice’s test, a government act violates the First Amendment if it appears to endorse religion.

We’re watching this case closely at FFRF, which will be submitting a friend of the court brief, because one of the most common state/church complaints we receive from members is over inappropriate government prayer. In fact, FFRF had its start back in 1976 because of encountering (and eventually stopping) prayer before the city council in Madison, Wis.

The lawsuit against Greece was brought on behalf of two female residents, one atheist and one Jewish, by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Beside U.S. federal government officials, other politicians giving aid and succor to the Christian Right include 85 House members and 34 senators who joined two amicus briefs. Of the representatives, all but one — Mike McIntyre of North Carolina — are Republicans. Of the senators, all but one are Republicans (Democrat Mary Landrieu of Louisiana).

Nearly half of state attorneys general (23) signed onto a brief filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has taken several vicious public potshots at the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

When so few Democrats broke ranks to endorse unadulterated Christian preaching at local government meetings, it is doubly disappointing that the Obama administration would choose to ally with its political enemies to further entangle religion and government.

Prayer in government is truly running amok. Late last week, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley chimed in to publicly condemn FFRF for our work to stop the third annual “prayer caravan” called by Cullman County Superintendent Billy Coleman.

Coleman organized and spoke at a Christian rally Aug. 10 before the event, quoting the bible’s admonition to “pray without ceasing.” The outrageous “caravan” involved prayerful crowds visiting some 29 public schools .

Bentley said: "I personally believe that one of the problems we have in this country is taking God out of, not only our lives, but out of government.”

One of the biggest problems we have in this country is pandering public officials who misuse their civil authority to push their personal religious views on the rest of us. Government shouldn’t have a prayer.

Our message to pious politicians remains: Get off your knees and get to work.

TAKE ACTION!

Contact The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Call the President
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414

TTY/TTD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitor's Office: 202-456-2121

Read Brief by U.S. Government HERE.

• Complain to your U.S. Representative if he or she signed on, see list HERE.

See House Amicus Brief HERE.

Find and contact your representative HERE.

• Complain to your U.S. Senator if he or she signed on, see list HERE.

See Senate Amicus Brief HERE.

Find and contact your senator HERE.

• Complain to your State Attorney General if he or she signed on, see list HERE.

• Read more about how Alabama Governor opposed FFRF, supported the Cullman Co. Prayer Caravan HERE.

Federal funding should NOT build churches!

A serious violation of the separation between state and church looms. Senate Bill 1274 was introduced July 10. This bill proposes that churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other places of worship destroyed or damaged by natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy should receive federal, financial aid. The Establishment Clause firmly prohibits our government from funding religions, including the construction and repair of churches. If passed this bill would give millions of dollars of taxpayers' -your- money to organizations which already receive substantial tax-exempt charitable donations.

Citizens should not have to fund a religion that they do not participate in! Call, write or email your senator telling them to vote NO on S.1274!

• The bill was assigned to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Please contact the committee member chair, or your senator if he or she sits on the committee. (Phone, email and/or tweet). There are 9 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

Chair: Tom Carper, D- Delaware

• Contact your own senators. We encourage both phoning the D.C. office and following up with email or tweet:

You can track this bill yourself online (sign up here).

Please continue to respond in a timely fashion to news developments if this bill moves out of committee. It's helpful to send a letter to the editor about why you oppose such funding and to use social media or social networks or on comment sections at online news sources to influence public opinion.

BACKGROUND:

Read FFRF's previous action alert over a similar bill this spring outlining the concerns and dangers.

Thank you for taking swift action to safeguard an essential principle of our secular government.

"A" Mountain Shrine Meeting Tonight

The matter of the "A" Mountain shrine is coming up tonight(!!) at a city council meeting. Please phone (520 791-4213) and email ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) the Tucson City Hall to object to religious shrines on public property.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation recently asked the city of Tucson, Ariz., to remove religious shrines from city property. FFRF received a local complaint about the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine located at the southeast base of "A" Mountain. "A" Mountain is public land owned by the city. According to news reports, shrines on the mountain have been placed since 1993 including one created by a former Pima County jail inmate.

FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott sent a letter on June 21 to Richard Miranda, the Tucson city manager, explaining why the shrine is inappropriate:

"The display of this patently religious symbol in this public park confers government endorsement of Christianity in an extremely public way. It endorses religion over non-religion, Christianity over all other faiths, and Catholicism over all other sects. Allowing religious shrines depicting the Virgin Mary on public land clearly has a primary effect of advancing religion."

FFRF just received a letter from City of Tucson stating: "(I can) advise you that the City has no plans to move or remove the items that are the subject of your complaint."

We need your help to educate the City of Tucson.

In response Elliot affirmed, "We maintain that the City's allowance of permanent Catholic shrines on public property confers government endorsement of religion. The initial decision by the City to let these religious displays remain is troubling. We hope that City officials will take their constitutional obligations seriously and take action to have them removed. A brief review of court precedent from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals demonstrates the unconstitutional nature of the shrines. Our members will continue to oppose them and FFRF is considering its options."

-Compiled by Lauryn Seering

WI Action Alert - Stop vouchers now!

Dear Wisconsin FFRF'er:

FFRF has asked you earlier this year to contact your state legislators to oppose vouchers. It’s time to act again — putting pressure on your state senator and the Joint Committee on Finance. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recent budget proposal includes major increases in taxpayer funding to subsidize vouchers for primarily religious schools. The governor's budget includes a $73 million increase for voucher schools and a new $21 million program for a statewide special needs student voucher system. In Milwaukee and Racine, more than 85% of voucher funds go to religious schools.

The expanded voucher program would extend into nine school districts: Beloit, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Sheboygan, Superior, Waukesha and West Allis-West Milwaukee. The budget also would increase voucher payments to private schools already in the program.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates that the Milwaukee voucher program alone would reach state aid of $194 million for the 2014-15 school year because of greater enrollment and proposed voucher payment increases. Under the terms of Walker's plan, the amount of a school voucher would increase by 8.6 percent for K-8 schooling (up to $7,050) and 21.9 percent for high school students (up to $7,856).
Milwaukee Public Schools would see a decrease in aid for each student utilizing vouchers. According to the Fiscal Bureau, this would equate to a $66.7 million reduction in state aid to the Milwaukee school system in 2014-15.

Parents of special needs students have formed a coalition to oppose the creation of vouchers for students with disabilities. Special needs advocates have said private vouchers would take away funding from public school programs and would not provide any assurances that private schools would meet the education needs of students with disabilities, as public schools are mandated to do by federal law.

Supporters of voucher expansion have their eyes on creating a statewide system for funding private schools. Assembly Speaker Robin Voss recently said he would like to see vouchers “exported to the entire state.” Voss stated, “I know there is some resistance in the Senate, but I want school choice for every single child in the state.”

Act now!

Contact members of the Joint Committee on Finance and contact your state senator to let them know your opposition to funding religious schools with taxpayer money.

Talking Points:

Please feel free to use language from this action alert. Read the op-ed by Senators Fred Risser, Jon Erpenbach and Mark Miller, “Vouchers would hurt Madison schools."

The Wisconsin State Constitution ensures that no citizen may “be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent . . . nor shall any money be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of religious or theological schools.” (Article 1, Section 18)

The state constitution also provides for district schools, “which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable, . . . with no sectarian instruction.” (Article X, Section 3)

Write Letters to the Editor:

Influence public opinion today by writing your local or other weekly or daily newspapers with a letter opposing vouchers! It’s also helpful to use social media, including reader comment sections at online news sites, to post messages in support of Wisconsin’s dedication to its public schools and to the principle that citizens should not be compelled to support religious education.

Protest Pennsylvania House fasting and prayer resolutions!

Below is a copy of a letter from FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor submitted to Pennsylvania newspapers as an opinion piece objecting to HR 17 and HR 51, which designate April 30, 2013 as “National Fast Day” and May 2 as the “National Day of Prayer.”

Please take a moment to phone and/or email Pennsylvania House Speaker Samuel Smith (717-787-3845) and House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (717-787-3566) as well as Pennsylvania representatives. Let them know that it is inappropriate and exclusionary for the government to designate days of prayer and fasting. If you are a Pennsylvania resident please directly contact your representative and identify yourself as a state citizen. Click here to find your representative.

Thank you for your help!

Pennsylvania Representatives Violate Citizen Rights With Religious Endorsements

Representatives in the Pennsylvania General Assembly have continually abused the authority of their elected office to endorse religion and call upon Pennsylvania citizens to venerate and show obeisance to their preferred religious practices. This intrusion into the private religious beliefs or non-religious views of citizens must end.

Most recently, the House passed resolutions declaring “National Fast Day” for April 30, and a “National Day of Prayer” for May 2, creating two government–sanctioned “holy days” within the same week. The National Day of Prayer resolution even passed unanimously. Such legislative interference in the rights of conscience of citizens is officious, inappropriate and strikes at the heart of individual freedom.

State Rep. Rick Saccone sponsored the National Fast Day resolution, which calls for all “to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness,” quoting a proclamation by Abraham Lincoln from 1863. It’s shameful that members of the House, by a 160-35 vote, have used a Civil War proclamation as a pretext for endorsing religion today. The resolution sponsors quote it because it aligns with their Christian religious beliefs. Yet, Pennsylvania was founded by state/church separation advocate William Penn and is home to citizens of many religions and no religion, including nearly 20% of whom identify as nonreligious.

Saccone and supporters of government—created religious holidays display no regard for the Constitution and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The government has no business telling citizens whether or not to engage in religious practices. President Thomas Jefferson rejected such proclamations, advising:

What Jefferson could not do as President, certainly representatives of the General Assembly may not do.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation brought suit last year over the House’s offensively proclaimed “Year of the Bible.” That resolution was also sponsored by Saccone. Although U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, he took the House to task. Conner noted that that the proclamation was at worst “premeditated pandering designed to provide a reelection sound bite.” Connor wrote, “But regardless of the motivation … its express language is proselytizing and exclusionary. The court is compelled to shine a clear, bright light on this resolution because it pushes the Establishment Clause envelope behind the safety glass of legislative immunity.” He said his strong disapproval “is directed to the blatant use of legislative resources in contravention of the spirit – if not the letter – of the Establishment Clause.”

Over the last year, the House has declared days of prayer, a day of fasting, a “Prayer Month” (last October) and a “Year of the Bible.” Enough already. Our message to state representatives is to stop abusing their public office to create religious holidays. It’s time they get off their knees and get to work!

Very truly,

Tell HHS to stand up to Catholic Bishops on contraceptive health care!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a new notice of proposed rulemaking on February 1, with a comment period ending April 8. The rules seemingly broaden the definition of “religious employer” to exempt more groups from the requirement that health insurance plans must fully cover contraception. Churches and denominations were already directly exempt from providing coverage under Obamacare's contraceptive mandate. The proposal could mean that nonprofit religiously-affiliated hospitals, charities, and universities would be exempt along with churches and other religious organizations. Insurance companies will be required to provide contraception coverage separately to these groups’ employees so that the religious employers do not have to do so directly.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and other right-wing religious groups continue to object to the Obama administration’s plan for insurance coverage of contraception, despite the administration’s recent compromise broadening coverage exceptions for religious groups. The proposed rules provide women with coverage of preventive care that includes services with no co-pays. But, according to a news release by HHS, it has adopted new rules that also respect “the concerns of some religious organizations.”

While this proposal concedes a lot of ground to religious groups, many of them are still vigorously opposed to it. A few for-profit companies run by religious CEOs who have religious objections are mad that they are still required to provide coverage. But, as usual, it is Catholic Bishops making the most noise. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan is still calling “illicit” the idea that women employees at a Catholic hospital, for instance, would be ensured via a separate plan. Dolan, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the proposal “appears to offer second-class status to our first-class institutions in Catholic health care, Catholic education, and Catholic charities.”

In fact, it’s women who are being offered second-class status by the Catholic Church and other religious groups who want special dispensation to impose their religious views on their secular employees and the public at large. Dolan said that Catholics should not “be forced to violate their morally well-informed consciences.” Considering that 98% of Catholic women, and 99% of all women, have used contraception, it seems that most of the consciences “violated” by contraception use belong to the celibate men of the bishops’ conference.

Dolan contends that since Catholic hospitals, colleges, and charities are “integral to our church,” they are “worthy of the same exemption as our Catholic churches.” However, many of these institutions, especially hospitals, include non-Catholic employees and exist to serve the public at large and receive huge infusions of public funding. Religious freedom does not give them the right to tyrannically impose irrational religious beliefs on anyone, especially people who may not even of the same religion.

For a reminder of how outrageous the Catholic Church's position on contraception is, see this week's article, "Boston College Cracks Down on Condoms," reporting that distributing condoms on the Jesuit campus is now grounds for expulsion.

ACT TODAY! COMMENTS ARE DUE ON OR BEFORE APRIL 8

Submit a formal comment now, before April 8, for your view to be counted.

TALKING POINTS

(Your own words are best but feel free to copy and paste)

HHS should stand up to Catholic bishops on contraceptive health care. Health care must not be based on dogma but on need. Religious leaders must not be permitted to impose their personal religious views on those of other religions or viewpoints. A religious employer should not be able to deny a woman employee preventive contraceptive care.

Catholic and other religious institutions such as hospitals, colleges and charities often receive vast infusions of public funds, hire non-Catholic employees and exist to serve the public at large. They must not be allowed to discriminate against women. HHS is to be congratulated for its decision a year ago to put women's rights above bishops' wrongs. Please do not jeopardize women’s rights to appease the bishops.

Thank you!

Protest ‘state religion’ proposal

Without intended irony on April Fools' Day, Republican Rowan County Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford introduced House Joint Resolution 494 to establish a state religion in North Carolina.

Unbelievably, the bill has already attracted 12 other equally ignorant sponsors. It’s no joking matter that 14 people who have absolutely no understanding of our Constitution have been elected state legislators.

Someone needs to tell these legislative Rip Van Winkles that under the 14th amendment adopted in 1868, state citizens have the same protections under the federal Bill of Rights as federal citizens:

“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, reading “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” also means “State legislators shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” extends to state as well as federal citizens.

These legislators refuse to acknowledge any federal judicial ruling over a constitutional topic, such as government prayer. Their rancor over the First Amendment stems from conflicts over government prayer. They’re especially mad at the ACLU right now, which is suing over sectarian Christian prayer by the Rowan County Board, N.C. They’re also mad at complaints over statehouse prayer. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has formally complained over overtly Christian prayer in the state Senate, for example, where a state Senate chaplain routinely offers overtly Christian prayers. Read FFRF's letter to Senate. Read FFRF’s letter house.

The bill reads:

"SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

"SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

"These fools for god fail to understand that, if their bill were enacted, it will also prohibit North Carolina citizens from exercising other First Amendment rights, such as freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the right to peaceably assemble and to petition their government for a redress of grievances. Most notably, these legislators are saying there is also no “freedom of religion” for state citizens, a cornerstone of the First Amendment.

Of course, this absurd bill is patently unconstitutional, violates the separation of powers, the supremacy clause, as well as the 14th and First Amendment. This bill is going nowhere. Legislators of ill will who insult intelligence and the Constitution should be going no where near the North Carolina Statehouse.

EDUCATE!

Send an educational message to the billl’s sponsors.

Look up contact info on the other sponsors or your statelegislator:http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=House

CONTACT MEDIA

Send a letter to your favorite area daily newspaper over this outrageous proposal. And comment online on news sites. You can influence public opinion with one or two sentences, taking only one or two minutes!

Thank you!

As always, we encourage you to be polite, succinct and to identify yourself as an individual, not as a member of FFRF. Please, for obvious reasons, do not forward this email to your legislators or the media. In contacting legislators, always identify yourself as a North Carolina resident, and if you are contacting your personal rep, indicate you live in their district for maximum effectiveness.

SOS! Oppose prayer of Clark County Board!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wants your help in contacting the Clark County (Washington) Board of Commissioners to oppose a plan to open civil Board meetings with prayers. The prayers would marginalize nonbelievers and community members who are not in agreement with the proselytizing messages. Because the prayers would be government-sponsored speech they must follow the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

TAKE ACTION!

The Board of County Commissioners of Clark County is holding a public hearing at 10:00 am, Tuesday March 19. Please speak out and let the Board know that the prayers are unwelcoming and that the Board should take action to prevent the Board's adoption of religious invocation. If you can't make the meeting, please phone the County Board and email today. Phone calls get more attention than emails.

Contact

Board of County Commissioners for Clark County
1300 Franklin, 6th Floor
Vancouver, WA 98666-5000
Phone: (360) 397-2232
Fax: (360) 397-6058
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

District 1 Commissioner, Tom Meilke
Click on the link below to send him an email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

District 2 Commissioner, David Madore
Click on the link below to send him an email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

District 3 Commissioner, Steve Stuart
Click on the link below to send him an email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contact the local media

Email a letter to the editor of the area's newspaper, The Beaumont Enterprise:
http://www. columbian.com/lettertotheeditor/

Talking Points

Read FFRF's letter.

One sentence is sufficient. Your own words are best. But you may wish to copy these paragraphs in your correspondence:

I oppose the resolution to invoke prayer at the start of each meeting of the Board of County Commissioners of Clark County.
Board members and other representatives of the government should not misuse the privilege their position confers upon them to promote religious messages.

The prayers would confer an appearance of official government endorsement, and marginalize members of the community who do not conform to the religious beliefs espoused in the messages. Please do not adopt government-sponsored prayers and show respect for the Establishment Clause and the rights of conscience of all members of our pluralistic society. A quarter of the Washington State population is nonreligious.

Let Texas school district know school sponsored biblical messages are not OK

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wants you to help give perspective to a Texas school district over allowing religious "run-through" banners displayed by school cheerleaders on the field during school football games. The Kountze ISD Board of Trustees has asked for public input.

FFRF maintains that banners on the football field are perceived as official messages of the school and as such, may not endorse Christianity. FFRF contacted the District in the fall and requested that the religious banners no longer be used. In September of 2012 the District's former superintendent agreed and disallowed religious messages on the run-through banners. Liberty Institute, on behalf of school cheerleaders, filed suit against the district. A Texas court granted a temporary injunction, which allows the religious banners until trial in June.

The cheerleaders and their advocates have claimed the messages painted on the banners are "inspirational." But, the messages are insulting and exclude members of the community who are non-Christians, non-religious, or Christians who do not subscribe to divisive biblical messages being promoted by the school at a football game.

"If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31," read one of the banners displayed by cheerleaders in school uniforms. Others have said:

But thanks be to God, which gives us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:57

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 3:14

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14.

The banners marginalize community members who are not in agreement with the proselytizing messages. FFRF disputes Liberty Institute's position that the banners are merely private speech. Because the banners are school-sponsored speech they must follow the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

Take Action!!

The Kountze Independent School District is receiving comments on the religious banners through Friday. FFRF encourages you to speak out and let the District know that the divisive banners are unwelcoming and that the Board should take action to prevent the District's display of biblical banners.

Contact

Interim Superintendent Reese Briggs
Click on the link below to send him an email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Kountze Independent School District
PO Box 460
Kountze, Texas 77625
Phone: (409) 246-3352
Fax: (409) 246-3217

Contact the local media

Email a letter to the editor of the area's newspaper, The Beaumont Enterprise:
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/letters/submit/

Talking Points

One sentence is sufficient. Your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:

I support Kountze ISD's original decision to stop the display of bible verse banners on the football field.

Cheerleaders and other representatives of the school should not misuse the privilege the school confers on them to promote Christianity.

The banners confer an appearance of official school endorsement, and marginalize members of the community who do not conform to the religious beliefs espoused in the messages. Please put an end to school-sponsored religious banners and show respect for the Establishment Clause and the rights of conscience of all members of our pluralistic society.

Thank you. (Sign name)

News Background

KHOU-TV

The New York Times

Oppose Congressional storm aid for religious institutions

Please contact your U.S. Senator today and tell him or her to vote against the Senate version of House Resolution 592.

The federal government is perilously close to using your tax dollars to directly fund the building, maintenance and repair of "houses of worship," including churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. H.R. 592, the so-called Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act of 2013, passed the U.S. House in early February by a lopsided 354 to 72 vote — after strong lobbying by Roman Catholic and even Jewish groups.

Congress has appropriated $60 billion to finance recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. The House has voted to use your tax dollars to fund the repair or rebuilding of churches without regard to their exclusive use as houses of worship. That would mean less money for individuals who lost their homes. Funds would go to untaxed entities that never report or divulge any of their financial assets to the public or the federal government. Congress would be sending your tax dollars down a religious black hole, when people are in dire need.

Hurricane Sandy (ironically a so-called "Act of God" which did not spare houses of worship) must not be used to justify creating horrific legal precedent. Sandy's devastation is not a reason to suspend the Constitution. We cannot allow Congress to ignore the protections of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has specifically stated that our government may not erect religious buildings, Tilton v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 672, 683 (1971), and "[i]f the State may not erect buildings in which religious activities are to take place, it may not maintain such buildings or renovate them when they fall into disrepair." Comm. For Pub. Ed. & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. 756, 777 (1973).

If enacted, this Congressional bill would allow funds to go to the Roman Catholic Church — which owns almost $3.5 billion worth of property in New York City, according to one estimate. About 200 parishes were affected by the storm, and Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan has been pushing particularly hard to get the bill passed. This bill sets the precedent to allow funds to go to all religious groups, including, as has been observed, to the most hateful bigots, such as the Westboro Baptist Church.

As the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy notes:

"FEMA's policy not only ensures that FEMA grants are used to rebuild facilities that provide the most critical services to the entire community, but also reflects an important constitutional principle. Religious liberty is one of our nation's most fundamental values and it starts from the precept that religion and religious institutions thrive when both religion and government are safeguarded from the undue influences of the other."

You and we must stop this bill before it becomes a law, before the funds are dispersed. Make sure your senators hear from you on this issue.

CONTACT YOUR SENATORS

Phone and email your two U.S. senators today!

Find contact information for your two senators here (listed by state): 

Your voice is magnified by speaking out early. Be sure to identify yourself as a constituent, and leave your name and address. If you have time, both phoning and emailing is most effective, including your Senator's home and DC offices. Phone calls are immediate and take up staff time; the more (civil) calls they receive, the better.

Phone 202-224-3121 and ask an operator at the Capitol switchboard to connect you to your senator.

TALKING POINTS

See above, use your own words, or feel free to cut and paste any of this brief statement into an email:

I strongly oppose H.R. 592 and urge you to defeat it in the Senate. This bill would send tax dollars down a religious black hole, and create precedent endangering tax dollars and the Establishment Clause.

James Madison, the primary architect of our godless Constitution, famously opposed even "threepence" of taxpayer money going for religious purposes. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, pointed out that no citizen should "be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever." These are core principles safeguarding religious liberty and personal conscience, upon which our secular nation was founded.

FEMA does not "discriminate" against churches or other nonprofits when it properly declares them ineligible to receive direct grants for disaster relief. Nonprofits, churches and businesses are eligible to apply for major low-interest, government-secured loans for losses not fully covered by insurance. Where public money goes, public accountability must follow. Yet tax-exempt churches, no matter how wealthy, are uniquely exempted from federal requirements to report on their finances to the government and U.S. taxpayers. Churches exist for the purpose of worship. Any incidental disaster relief they engage in is voluntary, and not equivalent to providing "essential services of a governmental nature to the general public," as FEMA regulations require.

H.R. 592 would grant tax dollars to tax-exempt churches with no strings attached, "without regard to the religious character of the facility or the primary religious use of the facility." Tax dollars should not go to repair or build space for worship, much less repair stained-glass windows, arks of the convenant, prayer books and decorative religious icons! Defeat this proposal!

WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Further influence public opinion by writing letters to the editor to our local news dailies, using social media and leaving messages at reader comment sections at online news websites. Borrow any language you like from this action alert!

READ AND FOLLOW THE BILL

Text of bill (pdf)

(Note: you can sign up to track this bill, and receive notice of pending action. We urge you to follow developments and respond often and quickly if the bill proceeds in the Senate.)

See listing of statements against H.R. 592

Urge South Carolina education board to drop prayer

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking for your help in persuading the School District of Pickens County Board of Trustees, S.C., to drop prayers to begin its monthly meetings.

FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott sent a letter to the District on Nov. 26, 2012, protesting the school board's egregious practice of opening meetings with prayer led by students, which included sectarian references to the "Holy Spirit" and "Jesus."
(Our letter sent the religious community into a tizzy. Scroll to the end for links to TV news and other media coverage!)

At its Feb. 25, 2013 meeting, the Pickens County school board voted preliminarily to begin meetings with "nonsectarian" prayers by adults from the district. Elliott points out this new policy would still violate the rights of conscience of students and parents who are nonreligious or religious minorities.

Federal courts of appeals examining the issue of school board prayer have found such prayer — even nonsectarian — to be unconstitutional. As part of the public school system, school boards must set an example of respect and conform to law protecting children from the coercion of school-sponsored religion.

The Pickens County school board should get in line with the U.S. Constitution and stop alienating the 19 percent of American adults who have no religious affiliation. One in three young people today identify as nonreligious and one in five adults (Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life, October 2012).

"Calling upon board members, as well as parents and students of the school, to pray is coercive, embarrassing, and beyond the scope of our secular school system," Elliott said.

TAKE ACTION!!

The Pickens County Board of Trustees will meet next on Monday, March 25, 2013, to vote to finalize its policy of beginning each meeting with prayer.

Urge the board to follow the Constitution, and remove the divisive prayers from their meetings. (see Talking Points below)

Contact:

Chairperson Judy Edwards
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pickens County Board Of Education
1348 Griffin Mill Road
Easley, SC 29640
Phone: (864) 397-1000
Fax: 864-855-8159

(Feel free to cc other members, below)

Vice Chairman Ben Trotter
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Secretary Alex Saitta
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jimmy Gillespie
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jim Shelton
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CONTACT MEDIA

Email a Letter to the Editor (via a comment box):

http://www.powdersvillepost.com/pages/web_forms_letter_editor

TALKING POINTS

Feel free to use your own words or use or incorporate the statement below:

To avoid the constitutional concerns and the divisiveness school board prayers create, the solution is simple: discontinue them.

Nonsectarian prayer sends an inappropriate proselytizing message to all students, and excludes the nonreligious — the second-largest segment today in America by religious identification.

Calling upon school board members, students, parents and residents to pray is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of your secular public school district. Board of Education members are free to worship on their own time in their own way. Nonbelieving students and religious minorities should not be made to feel like political outsiders by their own school district. Nor should any school district send a message to students that they ought to believe in a deity or show obeisance to one.

I support a secular public school system.

NEWS BACKGROUND

Prayer issue packs Pickens co. school board meeting
(Watch this TV video to see an unbelievable "amen corner")

Attorney: non-sectarian prayer does not go far enough
Powdersville Post

School board may vote on controversial prayer issue Monday
WIS-TV 10

Thanks to FFRF journalism intern Sarah Eucalano

Ask Congress to adopt Darwin Day

Continuing the tradition of former Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) has introduced a resolution designating Charles Darwin's 204th birthday, Feb. 12, 2013, as Darwin Day. The resolution "recogniz[es] the importance of science in the betterment of humanity."

Holt was recently quoted in The New York Times as saying, "I hope we can hold hearings, where people can hear about Darwin and science and the jobs it creates, the lives it saves, everything."

Holt's resolution touts "the validity of Darwin's theory of evolution," "the monumental amount of scientific evidence" that supports the theory, and notes that evolution's "validity ... is further strongly supported by the modern understanding of the science of genetics."

The resolution chastises science-deniers: "the advancement of science must be protected from those unconcerned with the adverse impacts of global warming and climate change" and "the teaching of creationism in some public schools compromises the scientific and academic integrity of the United States education systems."

Our country faces a crisis of ignorance. To the shame of the United States' international standing, about half of Americans reject evolution. Globally the United States ranks just above Turkey in public acceptance of evolution. How can we compete in a global, technologically advanced community when a majority of U.S. citizens deny basic reality and embrace creationism?

The voices of science and secularism must be heard. Ask the U.S. House to hold Darwin Day hearings.

Take Action Today!

Contact your U.S. Representative to support the resolution and ask for hearings

To find out who your representative is, type in your zip code on this website http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ to find your representative. Click on their name to contact them.

If you already know who your representative is, find their contact information on this alphabetical list http://www.house.gov/representatives/

Call, email, fax, write, or Facebook them. Do whatever it takes to be heard!

Contact the chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, where the bill was referred, to ask for a hearing.

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX)
http://science.house.gov/contact-us/email-us
2321 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-6371
Fax: 202-226-0113

Thank Darwin Day Sponsors

Take a moment to thank Rep. Holt. Rep. Holt, a nuclear physicist by training, self-identifies as a Quaker and deserves our gratitude for his efforts. Do feel free to identify yourself as a nonbeliever, atheist, etc., so he knows the secular bloc has clout (and good manners)!

Letters: 1214 Longworth HOB
Washington DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5801
Fax: (202) 225-6025
Webform: https://forms.house.gov/holt/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm (Representative Holt will only accept email from residents of New Jersey.)

While you're at it, thank Holt's cosponsors (especially if they represent you). They are:

Rep. Michael Honda (CA-17)
Rep. Edward Markey (MA-5)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Rep. Jared Polis (CO-2)
Rep. Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
(If your representative's name isn't on this list, ask why not!)

Contact your Senator

Ask your Senator to introduce a Darwin Day resolution, while you're at it!

Find and contact your U.S. Senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Write a letter to the editor

Supporting Darwin Day would make an excellent and timely topic of a letter to the editor to your local or favorite publication. Don't forget social media and online news comment sections to help spread the word.

Thank you for your activism. Freedom depends on freethinkers, and Darwin Day deserves your support!

Freedom From Religion Foundation
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PO Box 750
Madison WI 53701
608/256-8900

BSA to keep discriminating against atheists

It is absolutely outrageous that the Boy Scouts of America, which has proudly excluded both atheists and gays from its membership, announced yesterday that lifting its ban on gays — but not atheists — is on the agenda for the biannual meeting of its national board in February.

BSA spokesperson Deron Smith said a change in policy toward atheists is not being considered because "Duty to God" is one of its basic principles.

With one in five Americans — and as many as one in three young people — identifying as nonreligious, clearly millions of nontheistic families and their sons are being treated as undesirable members by BSA. It should not be socially acceptable to exclude either gays or atheists. Talk about proof of who's on the bottom of the social totem poll in our culture!

BSA has always falsely advertised that "any boy may join" and has relied upon and received major governmental favors. In the 1970s, discrimination against atheists became entrenched as BSA adopted a religious litmus test, forcing parents of boys interested in joining to sign a "Declaration of Religious Principles" returned with membership fees. The declaration states: "The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God."

No one can grow into the best kind of citizen being told it is good form to discriminate against nonreligious children. BSA needs to be reminded it is not what you believe that makes you a good person, but what you do. Wrapping oneself in a mantle of piety is often counterproductive of moral action, as witnessed by the way in which "God belief" was used by BSA to justify excluding gays and atheists.

Challenge the kneejerk assumption that professing an orthodox belief in an unprovable deity has anything at all to do with ethical conduct. Clearly, the outcome of such piety for BSA is immoral — it places dogma over people, in this case real children, teenagers and volunteer leaders who are being shunned for holding the intellectually respectable position that we need proof before swallowing dogmatic claims.

Religion builds walls between children, and religious litmus tests have no place in a fraternal organization with a congressional charter.

The media, in covering this story, properly recite BSA's unkind history of bigotry against gays and gay families. These same mean practices have also personally harmed and stigmatized nontheist families and Scouts. (And it should be remembered that many gays are nonbelievers who would still, on that score, be unwelcome in BSA.)

Here are just a few of the many instances of ostracism and discrimination on the basis of religion practiced in recent decades by local and national BSA leaders:

• Stripping model Boy Scout Darrell Lambert of Oregon of his Eagle Scout badge in 2002 because he is an atheist. Darrell was a Scouting and community volunteer who had won first place in his state athletic medicine competitions and volunteered as a search and rescue worker. He was singled out for his atheism by his district commissioner, who told the class an atheist cannot be a good citizen.

• Denying 6-year-old Mark Welsh of suburban Chicago of the right to join Tiger Cubs, after being solicited through his public school. When his father encountered the Declaration of Religious Principles and explained to BSA officials he could not in good conscience sign it, Mark was told he was an undesirable candidate and left the sign-up meeting in tears.

A lawsuit under the Civil Rights Act was lost to BSA, which has vigorously defended its exclusionary policies in many court battles, including its exclusion of gays in a Supreme Court test.

• Twins William and Michael Randall were expelled with no warning from the Orange County Cub Scout pack despite three years of Scouting experience. The BSA appealed their challenge under the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and won the right to expel the twins. An agnostic den leader who sent a supportive letter to the Randalls was expelled, a common practice against those within BSA who have protested bigotry at the national level.

BSA has finally considered lifting its bigotry against gays after decades of protests and cut-off of major favors by corporations, public schools and some governmental bodies. That BSA is at least willing to reconsider its bigotry against gays shows it has listened to protest. Contact BSA immediately to urge it to take this opportunity to stop giving merit badges for bigotry — either against nontheists or gays.

It must be noted that the motion pending at its national board meeting is more than flawed. The Boy Scouts of America which had no problem dictating from the top down its absolute exclusion of gays in the past, announced it "would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members, or parents. This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation," but chartered groups (many of them Mormon) could "select leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs."

Contact and call BSA now!

Phoning is most effective! 972-580-2000

Email contact form: http://www.scouting.org/ContactUs.aspx

Alternate Phone (National Help Desk): 877-272-1910

Wayne Brock, Chief Scout Executive
1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane 
Irving, Texas 75015-2079

(Writing letters to the editor and commenting at online sections at news sites and social media are also in order.)

Ask Brownback to 'repent' of his 'Day of Repentance'

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging Kansas Governor Sam Brownback to rescind his religious proclamations and opt not, in his official capacity, to attend or endorse the overtly Christian event "Going to the Heart," which is scheduled to broadcast live from Topeka, Kan., on Dec. 8 from 3-6 p.m. CST.

Brownback not only publicly declared Dec. 8 a "Day of Restoration," but recorded a promotional video for the national simulcast, calling on citizens to "pray to God, in humility and in unity to ask for his favor and assistance in these difficult times."

FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker wrote to Brownback on Dec. 6: "If you wish to endorse religious events and religious groups, you must do so in your private capacity as a citizen, not in your official capacity as the highest elected executive of the State of Kansas."

They also pointed out that at least 300,000 Kansans are not religious, so the sectarian proclamations exclude a large segment of the state's diverse population.

The "Going to the Heart" event is part of ReignDown USA, "a worship and prayer movement that began on April 26, 2008, with simultaneous worship and prayer led from the Capitol in Washington, D.C. broadcast via satellite around the world."

The organization's mission states that "God is now calling ReignDown USA to churches, parks, colleges and other venues across the United States that need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit and/or want to experience radical change. We're called to cover these places in prayer and intercession, bringing healing and restoration to the people in those communities."

FFRF asks that the governor "rescind this proclamation and refrain from issuing them in the future, and encourage him to "get off your knees and get to work."

WATCH THE VIDEO

Click here if you cannot view the 'embedded' video above. 

Ask Kansas Gov. to reign over all, not just Christians

TAKE ACTION!

Please take a moment to phone, email, tweet and/or Facebook Brownback. Phoning is the preferred method since it guarantees direct communication between you and the governor's office, although all methods of contact are much appreciated. Tell Brownback that he should not be issuing prayer proclamations or endorsing the "Going to the Heart" event in his official capacity as governor. All Kansas citizens deserve to be recognized by his office, not just those who feel the need to "repent for their sins."

If you are a Kansas resident, please identify yourself as such and when necessary include your address and other contact information.

CONTACT

Office of the Governor
Capitol, 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 241S
Topeka, KS 66612-1590
Local: 785-296-3232
Toll Free: 877-579-6757
Email Contact Form: http://governor.ks.gov/serving-kansans/constituent-services/legislation-and-policy-issues

Twitter: https://twitter.com/govsambrownback (@govsambrownback)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/govsambrownback

TALKING POINTS

One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this statement in your correspondence:

As a secular citizen I am deeply offended that you in your official capacity as governor have endorsed an overtly Christian event, to proclaim Dec. 8 a "Day of Restoration." Both of these actions tell me, a non-Christian and nonreligious citizen, that I am not valued or respected by the Kansas government.

Please honor our godless Constitution by not misusing your civil authority to promote your personal religious views.

Thank Buhler mayor for taking cross off city logo

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has successfully petitioned the city of Buhler to remove a cross from its official seal — and now we need your help to sustain the victory.

FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott wrote to Mayor Daniel Friesen on Sept. 14, urging him to discontinue using a Latin cross as a symbol of "traditional values" in the city's motto and logo.

Friesen told reporters that "the city consulted several law firms, which said the city would most likely lose if it took this to court." Now the mayor says the seal will be redesigned.

The Buhler seal is displayed on a large billboard in Albert Becker Park, as well as on official city forms.

In his letter, Elliott cited seven federal court decisions which found municipal seals and logos to be unconstitutional.

"The endorsement of religion in the Buhler seal is particularly egregious because the cross is prominently featured and used to symbolize the 'Traditional Values' portion of the town motto. Courts addressing less prominent depictions have found that the inclusion of a Latin cross among other symbols on government seals and logos violates the Establishment Clause," wrote Elliott.

The mayor rightfully added that if the city were to fight the case it would be wasting taxpayer money.

TAKE ACTION!

The city council is set to meet tonight. We ask that you phone (this is the preferred method, as city officials will then hear from you directly) and/or email the mayor and city council members to affirm their decision and to say thank you. (They will undoubtedly receive complaints from the religious right, which we need to balance.)

We are hoping your calls and emails will reinforce the mayor's decision to remove the cross (the regularly scheduled city governing body meets tonight).

Note: There will be a public discussion of the logo tonight at 7 p.m. at 219 North Main, Buhler, Kansas 67522. If you live in the area please attend the city council meeting and show your support for the mayor's decision to remove the cross.

CONTACT

Mayor Daniel P. Friesen
602 N Main
Buhler, KS 67522
Phone: 620-543-5003
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

AND/OR

Click here to contact individual council members. 

TALKING POINTS

One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:

Thank you for making the wise decision to remove the Latin cross from the city seal. The cross was divisive and shows an inappropriate preference for Christianity, excluding nonbelievers like myself and other nonChristians. A city should not be in the business of supporting or endorsing one religion over another or religion over nonreligion. It is important everyone feel included when it comes to civic matters. Thank you. (Sign name)

Thank you for your help!

Ask Obama to drop religion in presidential oath

ACT NOW, CONTACT PRESIDENT OBAMA

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a letter to President Obama asking him to reject the way this country politicizes religion. The Constitution, which prescribes the oath in Art. 2, Sect. 1, does not contain the “so help me God” language or require use of a bible. As FFRF has always done before presidential inaugurations, we are asking President Obama to honor the Constitution on Jan. 21 by omitting that religious verbiage from the Oath of Office.

Secular Americans are the fastest growing religious identification demographic in this country. It’s time politicians stop pandering to the religious right and start courting us. Please choose one of the three courses of action listed below. 

Click here to read FFRF's letter before you take action. 

Thank you for your help! 

1. Easiest 

Submit a shorter version of this same letter on the White House webform. All you have to do is cut and paste one of the messages below and submit it to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments. 

Copy and paste the following text if you are 30 or younger. 

I write to respectfully ask you to re-examine using religion as a political tool in your second term. This election highlights the country’s rapidly shifting demographics. The electorate’s religious affiliation is changing more quickly than any other metric, including race. In 1990, 8% of Americans were nonreligious. When you were elected in 2008, 15% of Americans identified as nonreligious. Now that number is 20%.

Most strikingly, 1-in-3 Americans under 30 now identify as nonreligious. We, the 30-and-unders, elected you in 2008 and again in 2012. We are the future of this country. And we are tired of our leaders injecting religion into politics. Politicians use religion to pander to their base, but it excludes us.

You called Nov. 5 “the last day that I will ever campaign.” This is a gift. You are beholden to no future constituency. Reach out to secular Americans. In the past, that might have been politically costly. But this recent election shows that it will be politically costly not to reach out to secular America. Use this second term to build a legacy by rejecting the way this country politicizes religion.

You can start on Jan. 21. When you reaffirm your oath, do so in the language the Founders specified in the godless Constitution. Eliminate the religious verbiage and the bible. The “so help me God” tradition violates the Constitution in the act of promising to uphold it. The ritual alienates the demographic that politicians must now rely on.

Use this term to bring secular America into the political conversation, and to forge a legacy worthy of the Founders. Restore the presidential oath and begin divorcing American politics from religion.

Your first inaugural address recognized nonbelievers and expressed a hope “that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve, that … our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”

The final tribal allegiance is not sex, or race, or sexual orientation. It is religion. Private citizens are free to maintain that allegiance, but it is time our government abandoned it. Please lead us into an era of politics free from religious rhetoric.

Start small. Start by restoring the oath. Our once silent minority will no longer remain silent as politicians trample the document we hold sacred—the Constitution. Honor the oath as you recite it on January 21 and lead us into the new era you promised 4 years ago.

With hope,

Copy and paste the following text if you are 30 or older. 

I write to respectfully ask you to re-examine using religion as a political tool in your second term. This election highlights the country’s rapidly shifting demographics. The electorate’s religious affiliation is changing more quickly than any other metric, including race. In 1990, 8% of Americans were nonreligious. When you were elected in 2008, 15% of Americans identified as nonreligious. Now that number is 20%.

Most strikingly, 1-in-3 Americans under 30 now identify as nonreligious. The 30-and-unders are the future of this country. They and the rest of secular America are tired of our leaders injecting religion into politics. Politicians use religion to pander to their base, but it excludes us.

You called Nov. 5 “the last day that I will ever campaign.” This is a gift. You are beholden to no future constituency. Reach out to secular Americans. In the past, that might have been politically costly. But this recent election shows that it will be politically costly not to reach out to secular America. Use this second term to build a legacy by rejecting the way this country politicizes religion.

You can start on Jan. 21. When you reaffirm your oath, do so in the language the Founders specified in the godless Constitution. Eliminate the religious verbiage and the bible. The “so help me God” tradition violates the Constitution in the act of promising to uphold it. The ritual alienates the demographic that politicians must now rely on.

Use this term to bring secular America into the political conversation, and to forge a legacy worthy of the Founders. Restore the presidential oath and begin divorcing American politics from religion.

Your first inaugural address recognized nonbelievers and expressed a hope “that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve, that … our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”

The final tribal allegiance is not sex, or race, or sexual orientation. It is religion. Private citizens are free to maintain that allegiance, but it is time our government abandoned it. Please lead us into an era of politics free from religious rhetoric.

Start small. Start by restoring the oath. Our once silent minority will no longer remain silent as politicians trample the document we hold sacred—the Constitution. Honor the oath as you recite it on January 21 and lead us into the new era you promised 4 years ago.

With hope,

2. Easy 

Submit your own message on the White House webform. Use a few FFRF paragraphs to get you started. All you have to do is cut, paste, and add your own words. Then submit your response here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments. 

I write to respectfully ask you to re-examine using religion as a political tool in your second term. This election highlights the country’s rapidly shifting demographics. The electorate’s religious affiliation is changing more quickly than any other metric, including race. In 1990, 8% of Americans were nonreligious. When you were elected in 2008, 15% of Americans identified as nonreligious. Now that number is 20%. Most strikingly, 1-in-3 Americans under 30 now identify as nonreligious. We are tired of our leaders injecting religion into politics. Politicians use religion to pander to their base, but it excludes us.

Please use your second term to build a legacy by rejecting the way this country politicizes religion. You can start on Jan. 21. When you reaffirm your oath, do so in the language of the Founders. Eliminate the religious verbiage. The hand on bible, “so help me God” tradition violates the Constitution in the act of promising to uphold it. The ritual alienates the demographic that politicians must now rely on. Restore the presidential oath and begin divorcing American politics from religion.

3. Best — For those of you with a little time and a bit of drive

Write your own message asking Obama to take a secular oath and start divorcing politics from religion. Feel free to use any of our language. Submit your letter on the White House webform (2500 character limit): http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

Write to President Obama:

President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Call the White House Comment Line:

(202) 456-1111

Call Texas AG & Gov. over their atheist potshots

As you know, the Texas governor and attorney general have attacked FFRF and all Texas freethinkers and nonbelievers over FFRF's role in protesting religious banners by public school cheerleaders in Kountze. The school district properly halted the cheerleader practice of placing bible verses on banners, then the cheerleaders sued the school district. The national media are following the Kountze developments avidly.

As FFRF's statement below notes, we believe Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's condemnation of FFRF and atheists will encourage a climate of hostility toward nonbelievers, and encourage more state/church entanglements in Texas public schools. We believe you as a Texas freethinker must protest Abbott's inflammatory actions.

Please phone the AG's office today to voice your distress at his cavalier treatment of Texas freethinkers. Follow up with an email that indicates you're a Texas citizen or concerned U.S. citizen, but phoning his office is the best way to get the attention of the AG's office. Ditto the governor. See the statement below to read Abbott's and Perry's dismissive remarks toward atheists, FFRF and the separation of church and state. Links below also take you to a transcript and the video of Abbott's and Perry's preposterous press conference yesterday, in which both took potshots at FFRF, atheists and the Establishment Clause.

We are also asking you to contact the Kountze school district, depending on what happens today. The cheerleaders are in court awaiting word from the state judge on the restraining order against the school's action barring bible verses on cheerleader banners. Please either thank the District for defending the First Amendment, or, if the District backs down, let them know of your disappointment.

Please also write letters to the editor — your local newspaper, the Houston Chronicle or Beaumont newspaper, and if possible write comments supporting FFRF and the school district's position at online news coverage of the controversy.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Perry and Abbott that they have crossed the line. Phone calls are best, so please call them today!

CONTACT

Governor Perry 
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Phone: 

• Information and Referral Hotline [for Texas callers]: (800) 843-5789
• Information and Referral and Opinion Hotline [for Austin, Texas and out-of-state callers]: (512) 463-1782
• Office of the Governor Main Switchboard [office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST]: (512) 463-2000
• Citizen's Assistance Telecommunications Device. If you are using a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD), call 711 to reach Relay Texas

Email Contact Form: http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/

Attorney General Greg Abbott
Office of the Attorney General
PO Box 12548
Austin, TX 78711-2548
Phone: (512) 463-2100
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CONTACT KOUNTZE ISD

Kountze Independent School District
Administration Office
Phone: 409-246-3352
Fax: 409-246-3217

Superintendent Kevin Weldon
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Assistant Superintendent Reese Briggs
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CHIME IN

Send a letter to your local paper or area papers below. 

Houston Chronicle

Letters Policy: Send letters to the editor, 250 words or less, as part of email text to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Include name, address, and day and evening phone numbers for verification purposes only. Letters subject to editing.

Reader Essays Policy: E-mail essays, up to 600 words long, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . No attachments, please. Include name, day and evening phone, and byline identification with affiliation or expertise related to essay. Because of the volume of letters and essays received, a personal response to each is not possible. However, authors of essays chosen for publication will be contacted by phone.

Beaumont Enterprise

Submit your letter here.

READ FFRF'S STATEMENT ON TEXAS AG AND GOVERNOR’S INTERVENTION

Click here to read this statement at FFRF's website.

by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor
FFRF Co-Presidents

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has crossed the line from carrying out his secular constitutional duties to defend the state of Texas, to using his government bully pulpit to bully and scapegoat atheists.

At a press conference earlier today with Gov. Rick Perry at the Capitol, the grandstanding attorney general, speaking about FFRF, said:

“We will not allow atheist groups from outside of the state of Texas to come into the state, to use menacing and misleading intimidation tactics, to try to bully schools to bow down at the altar of secular beliefs.”

During the press conference, Abbott openly went after FFRF, and by extension, FFRF’s Texas membership of 700, and all atheists and nonbelievers — now estimated to comprise a fifth of the population. We’ve already heard from Texas FFRF members who have children in the schools, who are worried that their attorney general’s menacing remarks will not only escalate religious violations, but create a climate of hostility toward nonbelievers and their children in Texas.

Abbott called his pandering press conference after announcing he is intervening on behalf of Christian cheerleaders suing their school district in Kountze, Texas, aided by a zealous Christian-right group. The school had properly told the cheerleaders to nix religious banners after being contacted by FFRF, acting on behalf of a local resident who was shocked and dismayed to see bible verses used as part of a public school football ritual. The cheerleaders paint bible verses on giant paper banners, and quote such Christian verses as 1 Cor. 15:57: “But thanks be to God, which gives us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Abbott contemptuously described FFRF as “an atheist group from Wisconsin, who came into the state of Texas and tried to silence these students.”

He bragged about his history of activism in favor of state/church entanglements, including getting involved against FFRF “last year, at Christmastime, I think it was this very same group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, that tried to bully Henderson County in Athens, Texas, into removing a nativity scene off of the county court grounds. There’s a bottom line here, and that is . . . we are not going to either tolerate or accept these atheist groups trying to prevent that freedom of expression here in the state of Texas.”

The Constitution and FFRF are not “preventing freedom of expression,” we are defending freedom of conscience. The Constitution differentiates government (public school) speech from individual speech. Those cheerleaders are free to worship as they like, go to the church of their choice, but not to exploit a public school event, and their school-sponsored podium, to push their personal religious views on an entire stadium. That’s just plain bad manners.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who repeatedly referred during the press conference to Abbott as “General,” castigated FFRF and state/church proponents. He said:

“The underlying problem here is that there’s this very vocal, as you shared, and very litigious minority of Americans that are willing to legally attack anybody who dares to utter a phrase, a name that they don’t agree with.”

Perry went on to demonstrate that he apparently has never read the godless Constitution he has taken oaths to uphold, saying: “We’re also a culture built upon the concept that the original law is god’s law, outlined in the ten commandments.”

The reprehensible actions of the governor and attorney general are the very reason our founders adopted a First Amendment — to keep local majorities from tyrannizing the minorities, and government officials from using their offices to promote religion.

Background 

Read transcript of governor’s and AG’s remarks 

View video at the governor’s official website

Read FFRf’s original letter of complaint

Read FFRF’s amicus brief

Read previous press releases:

FFRF files amicus brief in Texas prayer banner case (Oct. 3, 2012)

Texas AG attacks FFRF, butts into banner case (Sept. 28, 2012)

Read FFRf’s original letter of complaintTexas school halts football bible banners (Sept. 19, 2012)

Thank you for your help!

Oppose Pennsylvania 'Prayer Month' resolution!

Update: Unfortunately this resolution passed 189-2 shortly after this action alert was sent out, so please contact the lawmakers below and make a fuss.

Below is a copy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation's letter objecting to Pennsylvania House Resolution 922, "Recognizing October 2012 as 'Prayer Month' in Pennsylvania."

Please take a moment to phone and/or email Pennsylvania House Speaker Samuel Smith (717-787-3845) and House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (717-787-3566) as well as Pennsylvania representatives. Tell them that it is inappropriate and exclusionary to designate October as "Prayer Month." If you are a Pennsylvania resident please also contact your representative and identify yourself as a state citizen. Click here to find your representative. (Refer to the upper right hand corner of the page). 

Thank you for your help!

(Click here to view the PDF version.) 

October 17, 2012

SENT VIA MAIL & FAX

Hon. Samuel Smith
Speaker of the House
139 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202066
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Hon. Frank Dermody
House Minority Leader
423 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202033
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Dear Speaker Smith and Minority Leader Dermody:

We are writing on behalf of the 19,000 members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, including nearly 700 Pennsylvania members, regarding continued unconstitutional action by the House of Representatives. It is truly dismaying that members of the House continue to abuse their office by seeking to advance a religious agenda. Twenty representatives introduced a so-called “noncontroversial resolution” on October 15^th to recognize October as “Prayer Month.” House Resolution 922 is scheduled for a vote today. These are not “noncontroversial” resolutions; they are divisive and should not be put up for a vote by House leadership. You must stop the House of Representatives, which is charged with representing all citizens, from being used for gratuitous pandering to a select religious constituency.

The “Prayer Month” resolution is part of a continuing pattern of inappropriate promotion of religion by House members. We understand that not one, but two prayers were offered this morning to open the session, one of which was a sectarian prayer referencing Jesus. (Enclosed is a copy of our April 4, 2012 letter of complaint over this unconstitutional practice.) Earlier this year, the House adopted HR 609 designating May 3, 2012 as the “National Day of Prayer” in Pennsylvania. (Enclosed is our letter of complaint over that violation.) Infamously, the House declared the entire year of 2012 as the “Year of the Bible” in Pennsylvania, and had the temerity to direct citizens to “study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures.” (Enclosed is FFRF’s letter.)

Just this month, United States District Judge Christopher Conner, in deciding a lawsuit brought by FFRF, chastised the House over its declaration of the “Year of the Bible:”

The court is compelled to shine a clear, on this resolution because it pushes the Establishment Clause envelope behind the safety glass of legislative immunity. That it passed unanimously is even more alarming. This judicial rebuke of the resolution is not intended to impugn the religious beliefs of any citizen. To the contrary, the court's disapprobation is directed to the blatant use of legislative resources in contravention of the spirit — if not the letter — of the Establishment Clause. At a time when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania faces massive public policy challenges, these resources would be far better utilized in meaningful legislative efforts for the benefit all of the citizens of the Commonwealth, regardless of their religious beliefs. 

FFRF v. Saccone, No. 1:12-cv-00536-CCC (M.D. Pa. Order Oct. 1, 2012).

When will House leadership put a stop to representatives’ misuse of House sessions as vehicles to proselytize citizens? They have gone overboard. Legislators have now encouraged citizens to engage in religious rituals for a day, a month, and even a year.

The irony in the opening statement of HR 922 should not be lost on citizens. It states: “The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania holds that all men have the right to worship according to the dictates of their consciences and no human authority can control or interfere with this right.” This recitation of Art. 1, Sec. 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution is being violated in the remainder of the very same resolution. The resolution calls on citizens to engage in a religious ritual: prayer. This grandstanding resolution says, “To millions of people across the world, prayer is recognized as the most important utterance for the benefit of humankind.” The resolution further states that “Prayer Month is a time to ask for healing for ourselves and the nation.”

Whether to pray, whether to believe in a god who answers prayer, is an intensely precious and personal decision protected under the Pennsylvania Constitution and our First Amendment as a paramount matter of conscience. H.R. 922 is a rebuke to the legacy of William Penn, who was one of the earliest champions of freedom of conscience.

A declared state month of prayer is far beyond the bounds of constitutionally permissible activity. The resolution constitutes government speech that encourages the citizenry to engage in religious activity. This has no secular purpose. The Colorado Court of Appeals said as much when it ruled for FFRF, finding that Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations by the Governor had a religious purpose and endorsed religion. FFRF. v. Hickenlooper, 2012 COA 81 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012). The court said, “A reasonable observer would conclude that these proclamations send the message that those who pray are favored members of [the state] political community, and that those who do not pray do not enjoy that favored status.” Id. ¶ 119.

You can imagine the outrage were the House to issue a resolution asking citizens to refrain from prayer. The government has no authority to urge prayer or urge citizens not to pray. Decisions about prayer and the efficacy of prayer must be left to the individual conscience. The Pennsylvania House has no business telling citizens to pray, much less what to pray for (note the “laundry list” prescribed in the resolution), much less to set aside the entire month for prayer!

This resolution comes at a particularly troubling time. Earlier this month, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe abused his position as State Government Committee Chair to condemn Rep. Babette Josephs for her refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Rep. Josephs stated that she viewed the pledge as a prayer given the insertion of “under god” into it in the 1950’s, when Congress tampered with the previously secular pledge. Rep. Metcalfe reportedly told reporters, “It’s a person’s right not to say the pledge, but I don't believe anybody should be in elected office that holds that position, and I think a majority of Americans wouldn't elect somebody if they held that position." The timing of HR 922 with these comments further signals to citizens that those who are religious are favored and the nonreligious are disfavored.

This resolution comes at a time when PEW has released results of its latest survey into the views of citizens, showing that fully one-fifth of adult Americans now call themselves “nonreligious,” choosing no religion, and about a quarter of young people choose “none of the above” when it comes to faith. Metcalfe’s bigoted remarks are an insult to freedom of conscience and to 20% to 25% of freethinking Pennsylvanians.

Many nonbelievers see the intellectual harm of government-hyped prayer. HR 922 is indicative of that harm. As previously noted, the resolution claims “prayer is recognized as the most important utterance for the benefit of humankind.” On the contrary, our members think nothing fails like prayer. The unanswered prayers could fill the universe and our cemeteries of full of people who prayed to live. The problems we face — and they are major — will not be fixed by human beings saying “We give up; we can’t solve these problems ourselves; it’s up to an imaginary supernatural creature to rescue us.” Problems will only be solved using informed reason, human ingenuity, and resolve. The final clause of the resolution says, “we must also recognize the hunger and devastation of many that have suffered through tragedy.” As nonbelievers, we know that prayer does not cure hunger and devastation, rather, concerted action by caring individuals aids those in need.

HR 922 declaring October as “Prayer Month” is controversial. House leadership should not continue to let such inappropriate resolutions reach the House floor. The resolution excludes many nonreligious citizens in your state and violates federal and state constitutional proscriptions against religious preference. We reiterate our call for the House to get off its knees and get to work. Leave the religious posturing to private citizens and houses of worship, which are free, unlike government officials, to proselytize.

Very truly,

Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor
FFRF Co-Presidents

Help remove the Ten Commandments from the Georgia Capitol

A display of the Ten Commandments recently went up in the Georgia Capitol. We need your help to take it down.

The Decalogue is part of a larger display titled “Foundations of American Law and Government” which includes various historical documents. Needless to say, the Ten Commandments are not “historical.” Georgia’s legislature in July 2012 passed a trouble-making law providing for this display in Georgia’s public buildings.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote to Capitol Museum Director Timothy Frilingos on Sept. 13, informing him of the exclusionary nature and proselytizing message of the display and the many historical inaccuracies contained within it. Frilingos responded that same day to say that he was “compelled” to authorize the display by the legislation. Gaylor responded on Oct. 8, pointing out that the legislation merely “authorized” the display, and it remained an unwise decision. FFRF also wrote Governor Nathan Deal.

While the law states that the purpose of the display is “to educate and inform the public about the history and background of American law,” the facts say otherwise. The displays are donated by private groups or individuals, many by Christian churches. The Capitol’s display, donated by an individual, is the popular version sold by Ten Commandments – Georgia, Inc., a group which lists its mission as “To educate Georgians by distributing a copy of the Ten Commandments to every home in the state [and] encouraging the public display of historical documents that inform citizens of our country's biblical heritage.” It lists one of its purposes as “Displaying the Ten Commandments in our homes, churches, businesses and public buildings.”

Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn), who sponsored the bill in Georgia’s legislature, sits on the group’s Trustee Board. The group’s Honorary Board includes Dan Cathy of Chik-Fil-A and Judge Roy Moore, who was removed as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments display from the Alabama Judicial Building, as well as several other right-wing extremists.

The display’s explanation for the inclusion of the Ten Commandments is wildly inaccurate. It claims that the Ten Commandments “profoundly influenced” the Western legal tradition and the Declaration of Independence, neither of which is true. The display as a whole contains other inaccurate claims; for example, the display also includes the current national motto, “In God We Trust,” which can hardly be said to be a foundation of American law or government, since it was adopted in 1956.

TAKE ACTION

Please take a moment to urge Georgia officials to remove the Ten Commandments from the walls of its State Capitol.

CONTACT

Timothy Frilingos
Director, Capitol Museum 
206 State Capitol 
Atlanta, GA 30334 
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Governor Nathan Deal
203 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Fax: (404) 657-7332
Tel: (404) 656-1776
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SAMPLE WORDING

If you’d like more ammunition, read FFRF’s nontract, “What’s Wrong with the Ten Commandments.” Click here. One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence. (If you live in Georgia, personalize your statement and be sure to identify yourself as a Georgia citizen, including your mailing address):

Please remove the Ten Commandments from the State Capitol. It is divisive and historically inaccurate. The Ten Commandments are a religious document, and have no relation to the “Foundations of American Law and Government.” The display unconstitutionally endorses religion and excludes the nearly 1 million Georgians who are non-Christians. They should not be made to feel like outsiders in their Capitol building, the pinnacle of Georgia state government, and the state government should not lend credence to the misinformation and obvious religious agenda of the Ten Commandments display.

MEDIA COVERAGE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Ten Commandments may raise ire at Capitol 

WSB-TV: Ten Commandments posted in Ga. Capitol

Thank Pueblo for stopping government prayer

The Pueblo City Council, Colo., is indefinitely postponing sectarian prayers to open meetings and going to a moment of silence. Thank them for their commitment to the secular Constitution and freedom of conscience.

Freedom From Religion Foundation Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel, a former Pueblo resident, wrote to the Pueblo City Council on Sept. 14 to point out the unconstitutional nature of the prayers given at their meetings. Seidel listened to the prayers led at the 14 most recent meetings, 13 of which were sectarian Christian. One memorable prayer invoked the Christian “Lord” 22 times in 73 seconds — once every 3.3 seconds. In three cases, the scheduled clergy failed to appear and city employees gave prayers instead.

Last night, the council agreed to stop sectarian invocations and substitute a moment of silence. Council President Christopher Kaufman said, “We’re going to be postponing indefinitely the invocation from our sectarian churches. We’ve been monitored by some group out of — I’m not even sure where — and they’re putting the kibosh on us via indirect threat. So until we decide what we’re going to do with that we’re going to be postponing it.”

FFRF’s letter pointed out, “Local government should not be in the business of performing religious rituals, or exhorting all citizens, regardless of beliefs, to participate in a Christian prayer, or even asking citizens to show deference or obeisance to this ritual.”

Prior to the final invocation, Mr. Kaufman almost asked everyone to rise, but corrected himself, “If you’d all — I guess if you choose to, you may rise. If you want to sit, that’s fine as well.

TAKE ACTION

Please take a moment to thank the city council members and urge them to make their indefinite postponement permanent. (They will undoubtedly receive complaints from the religious right, which we need to balance.)

CONTACT

U.S. MAIL
200 S. Main
Pueblo, CO 81003

PHONE OR EMAIL

Mr. Christopher Kaufman
City Council President
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: (719) 545-1700
FAX: (719) 553-2698

City Council Representatives

Ms. Ami Nawrocki
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(719) 680-0730

Ms. Eva Montoya
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(719) 546-9647

Mr. Leroy Garcia
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(719) 568-5996.

Ms. Sandy Daff
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(719) 250-0272

Mr. Steve Nawrocki
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(719) 994-6030

Mr. Chris Nicoll
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(719) 924-5449

SAMPLE WORDING

(One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:)

Thank you for honoring the Constitution by keeping religious ritual out of public meetings.

Calling upon council members and citizens to rise and pray (even silently) is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of secular city government. Council members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. They do not need to worship on taxpayers' time or dime. Nonbelievers and religious minorities should not be made to feel like political outsiders in their own community. Thank you. (Sign name)

PROVOCATIVE QUOTES ABOUT PRAYER

It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain. —Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson

Nothing fails like prayer. —Anne Nicol Gaylor (FFRF motto)

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. —Thomas Paine, Age of Reason

When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ’tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. —Benjamin Franklin, Works, Vol. VII, p. 506

Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. —Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

MEDIA COVERAGE

The Pueblo Chieftain: "Pueblo City Council choosing silence over opening prayer"

Thank you for your help!

Help banish bible verses from Texas high school’s football games

Ever since the Freedom From Religion Foundation persuaded a Texas high school last week to disallow the practice of having football players run through giant paper posters adorned with bible verses and prayer, the state of Texas has been in a state of hysteria!

Please help FFRF protect its victory ending this outlandish school/religion violation by urging Kountze High School to stand by its decision.

The complaint is bizarre even by Religious Right standards. As the Beaumont Enterprise put it, “For three straight weeks, high school football players in a small southeast Texas town took the field by bolting through large red-and-white banners that hollered the praises of Jesus Christ.” Until FFRF complained, that is.

FFRF Staff Attorney Stephanie Schmitt wrote a Sept. 17 letter to Superintendent Kevin Weldon of the Kountze Independent School District, informing him that the practice of cheerleaders presenting religious banners for football players to run through at games runs afoul of the Constitution. A 2000 Supreme Court decision, involving a Texas case, nixed student-initiated school prayers at sporting events.

Weldon, after consulting school district attorney Tanner Hunt, very properly advised school administrators and student activities sponsors that the bible verse banners would be stopped. Read the reply from the school district here.

Last Thursday, however, the Liberty Institute managed to obtain a 10-day temporary restraining order from the Hardin County, Texas state district court, allowing the banners to remain. FFRF is sure that ultimately courts will uphold the bible ban. School district cheerleaders are acting as representatives of the school, wearing uniforms with the school's name, and are granted an unparalleled forum and access to the field at an official school function in order to promote school spirit, not religious "spirits." As such, their banners have the appearance of school-endorsed speech.

TAKE ACTION

Please phone and/or email Superintendent Weldon to support his wise decision to follow Supreme Court rulings by ending this inappropriate practice. The religious community is up in arms and the school board needs to defend itself against the lawsuit, not capitulate. The district needs to sustain its decision and resist interference from the Liberty Institute. To read more about it, scroll to the end.

If you are a resident of the area or Texas, please identify yourself as such. Include your address and other contact information when appropriate. Please take a moment to draft a short, but strong note of gratitude (or better yet, phone).

CONTACT

Mr. Kevin Weldon, Superintendent
Kountze Independent School District
PO Box 460
Kountze, TX 77625
Phone: (409) 246-3352
Fax: (409) 246-3217
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SAMPLE WORDING

(One sentence is sufficient. Your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:) 

I support Kountze ISD’s wise decision to halt unconstitutional bible verse banners at football games. Just as it would be inappropriate for cheerleaders in school uniforms at official school functions to sport banners saying, “Praise Allah!” or quoting Koranic verses, so is it inappropriate for them to misuse the forum the school confers on them and their status representing the school to promote Christianity and bible verses. Those banners confer an appearance of official school endorsement. Your decision shows that the school district respects clear court precedent and the individual rights and freedoms of a diverse community. Thank you. (Sign name)

MEDIA COVERAGE/BACKGROUND

KIII: “Religious banners banned at Kountze football games”

Beaumont Enterprise: “Texas school bars Bible banners at football games”

Thank you for your help! 

FFRF urges end to UT-Knoxville football prayer

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter of complaint Sept. 13 to Chancellor Jimmy Cheek of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville about prayers over the loudspeaker at Neyland Stadium before Volunteers football games.

An alumnus wrote FFRF in August that an announcer asks fans to stand for the invocation, which is delivered by a clergy member.

“It is also our information and understanding that the pastors giving the prayers routinely invoke Jesus Christ,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

“As you are undoubtedly aware, FFRF sent a letter of complaint to the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga regarding prayer at its football games in May of this year,” Gaylor wrote. “Last week, UTC Chancellor Roger Brown announced that UTC would no longer schedule prayers at the start of football games. Instead, in an effort to be more inclusive and allow ‘all in attendance to reflect and address their individual beliefs in their own ways,’ UTC will observe a moment of silence.”

That news garnered widespread media attention and spurred similar complaints about football prayer at Neyland Stadium.

“We urge you to follow UTC’s lead and drop prayer from UTK football games and all other UTK-sponsored events,” Gaylor said. “First and foremost, prayers at public university events that are sectarian in nature violate the Establishment Clause. Sectarian prayers at public universities have been struck down as unconstitutional in the Sixth Circuit, which is binding in Tennessee.

“While students, athletes, and athletic event attendees may choose to gather privately in prayer, a public university has no place in encouraging or endorsing religious ritual.”

UT-Knoxville must take action to stop any further involvement, endorsement, encouragement or scheduling of prayers at university functions and sporting events, Gaylor said.

FFRF, which advocates for state-church separation, has about 18,500 members nationwide and 285 in Tennessee.

Help FFRF tackle UTK football prayer

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking Chancellor Jimmy Cheek of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville to end prayers over the loudspeaker at Neyland Stadium before Volunteers football games.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported today that "the administration does not believe there is anything wrong with the long-standing tradition of a pre-kickoff invocation." Vice Chancellor for Communications Margie Nichols said that the university "is still formulating its response" to FFRF's Sept. 13 letter of complaint.

An alumnus wrote FFRF in August that an announcer asks fans to stand for the invocation, which is delivered by a clergy member.

"It is also our information and understanding that the pastors giving the prayers routinely invoke Jesus Christ," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. FFRF cited a decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is binding in Tennessee, that makes clear that sectarian prayer at public universities is unconstitutional. FFRF asks that all prayer be dropped.

UT-Knoxville fans began to question the illegal prayers after FFRF successfully muffled athletic prayer at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga last week.

TAKE ACTION

Please phone Cheek today! Calling Cheek during business hours is most effective and guarantees that your secular point of view will be heard. Tell him that you do not deserve to sit on the bench, football fans are not just Christian. These sectarian prayers violate the law and must be stopped.

If you are a resident of Knoxville and/or Tennessee, please identify yourself as such. Include your address and other contact information when appropriate. Please take a moment to draft a short, but strong note to Cheek (or better yet, phone).

CONTACT

Office of the Chancellor
527 Andy Holt Tower
The University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: (865) 974-3265
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fax: (865) 974-4811

SAMPLE WORDING/TALKING POINTS

(One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:)

I urge you to put an end to UT-Knoxville's pre-kickoff invocation. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down sectarian prayers at public universities, so I encourage you to abide by the law and protect the rights of conscience of all students, staff and faculty. Not every UT-Knoxville fan subscribes to the Christian faith, or any religion for that matter. Up to a quarter of young Americans today identify as nonreligious. Football games act as a bridge between the university and the community and it is inappropriate for UT-Knoxville to make its non-Christian fans feel out of place. Follow UT-Chattanooga's wise decision to maintain and foster a diverse campus by ending prayer. Football fans come in all shapes, sizes, colors and religions. Do not leave us on the bench! Thank you. (Sign your name)

MEDIA COVERAGE/BACKGROUND

Knoxville News Sentinel: "UT: Prayer before games not unconstitutional" (Please respond to the poll attached to this story: "Should the University of Tennessee stop its pre-game prayer ritual?")

FFRF's News Release: "FFRF urges end to UT-Knoxville football prayer"

Thank you for your help! 

Tell Illinois schools to stand by Jessica Ahlquist!

Three Illinois public schools are coming under fire because of a decision to invite First Amendment advocate Jessica Ahlquist to speak during their "Constitution Week" festivities. (FFRF'ers can hear and meet Jessica at FFRF's upcoming annual convention in Portland Oct. 12-13, where she will receive the "Freethinker of the Year" Award.)

Ahlquist, 17, still in high school, is scheduled to discuss her successful state-church lawsuit over a prayer banner at her Cranston, R.I., high school. She will speak at York Community High School, Waubonsie Valley High School and Downers Grove North High School this week.

The Illinois Family Institute (IFI), "a non-profit ministry dedicated to upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois" has issued a mean-spirited call to Illinois citizens to protest Ahlquist's appearances at the schools.

The group argues that "York and Waubonsie Valley high schools sent out permission slips to parents, permission slips that failed to include any information whatsoever about Jessica Ahlquist, the specifics of her lawsuit, or any details regarding the topics she would be addressing or the learning objectives her presentation is intended to fulfill." IFI mainly seems to feel Jessica's atheism is the issue. Very few adults have had the first-hand experience Jessica has had in defending the Establishment Clause and in winning a Federal Court battle. 

A parent contacted a Waubonsie teacher who spoke against the group's suspicions: "The purpose of the optional presentation is so that students may see that the US Constitution, which is the foundational document for our country’s government, is still relevant today."

Help counter the outcry from the religious right, as IFI is encouraging its members to take action by contacting school administration and school board members.

TAKE ACTION

Please call and/or email school officials to show your support for Jessica and their decision to invite her. Students should be aware of what is involved in standing up for their individual freedoms and rights. What Jessica has had to endure should not be taken lightly. Jessica's credentials as a First Amendment litigant/victor are unique and impeccable.

CONTACT

York Community High School
Diana Smith, Principal
Phone: (630) 617-2401
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
AND/OR
Click here to email members of the school board. 

Waubonsie Valley High School
Jason Stipp, Principal
Phone: (630) 375-3310
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
AND/OR
Curt Bradshaw, School Board President
Phone: (630) 717-6916
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

North High School
Scott Kasik, Principal
Phone: (630) 795-8411
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
AND/OR
Click here to contact members of the school board. 

TALKING POINTS

I stand behind your decision to invite Jessica Ahlquist to speak during "Constitution Week." Jessica has every right to share her story with your high school students, including being a victim of bullying (even by her own state representative). It is important students today know that they have a voice and place in our secular government and who better to tell that story than Jessica? Thank you for selecting Jessica as a "Constitution Week" speaker.

Background

IFI: http://illinoisfamily.org/education/constitution-week-at-york-waubonsie-and-downers-grove-north-high-schools/

The Friendly Atheist: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/09/17/illinois-family-institute-lashes-out-against-jessica-ahlquist-for-speaking-about-her-case-in-local-high-schools/

Thank you for your help! 

Help block prayer from UTC football field

The Freedom From Religion Foundation scored a touchdown against football prayer at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga this week.

The pre-game prayer, which typically included a reference to 'Jesus Christ,' was traditionally delivered by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and had been a home game staple since 2010.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor initially wrote to UTC Chancellor Roger Brown on May 15, 2012: "While students, athletes, and athletic event attendees may choose to gather privately in prayer, a public university has no place in encouraging or endorsing religious ritual."

After several months of indecision, Brown announced on Sept. 10 that the university would make "the right decision for the university" and offer a moment of silence in lieu of prayer.

Brown told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that "we need to make sure there is never anybody that goes away from our campus, our stadium, our arena or classroom or work, that feels like they have been excluded or feel uncomfortable in any way."

TAKE ACTION

Please phone Brown today and tell him that you support UTC's wise decision to end pre-game prayer. The religious community is making a loud fuss. To read more about it or watch TV coverage, scroll to the end. In order to sustain this recent victory, Brown's choice must be reaffirmed. Help FFRF keep religion out off the playing field by sharing some secular 'praise' with UTC.

If you are a resident of Chattanooga and/or Tennessee, please identify yourself as such. Include your address and other contact information when appropriate. Please take a moment to draft a short, but strong note of gratitude (or better yet, phone).

CONTACT

Office of the Chancellor
Phone: (423) 425-4141
Fax: (423) 756-5559
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  (Please address your email to Deb, the chancellor's administrative specialist. Ask Deb to share your note with the chancellor.)

SAMPLE WORDING

(One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:)

I support UTC's wise decision to end unconstitutional prayer before football games. Not only was this choice in the best interest of all students, faculty and staff, but it shows that the university respects court precedent and the individual rights and freedoms of a diverse campus. I encourage the university to maintain this wise decision by dropping prayer at any other UTC functions. Thank you. (Sign name)

MEDIA COVERAGE/BACKGROUND

Chattanooga Times Free Press: "Diversity leads to UTC moment of silence instead of prayer at football games"

WATE: "Prayer ban at UT-Chattanooga worries UT-Knoxville students"

Thank you for your help! 

Help FFRF sustain Ten Commandments victory in Pennsylvania!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the Connellsville Area School District to stand firm in its decision to remove a large, unconstitutional Ten Commandments display from Connellsville Junior High School East in Connellsville, Pa.

Pittsburgh-based attorney Marcus Schneider represents FFRF and a concerned district parent. Schneider wrote to superintendent Dan Lujetic on Aug. 29 demanding that the district "permanently remove the Ten Commandments monument from school property" and provide notice of removal to Schneider by Sept. 7 or FFRF would file suit. 

In response to FFRF, the school district's attorney acknowledged that the monument violated the constitution and needed to be removed. The district began covering the monument with garbage bags, and then a piece of plywood, promising to remove the structure as soon as it can be dug out of the ground.

School board president Jon Detwiler told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "My phone is ringing off the hook with people that want to fight this . . . It's not really the worst thing in the world to have our kids reading."

TAKE ACTION

Please phone the administration office (which is the main contact for the superintendent and school board) today, so they hear from people who support their decision to honor the law and protect the personal conscience of students. Please tell them that you support their wise, inclusive decision to remove the Ten Commandments. Since the school board has been receiving numerous negative phone calls from religious citizens, it is time it receive supportive calls from secular folks. Your support is especially important since the school board will be meeting on Wednesday night to discuss discuss the removal of the Ten Commandments monument.

If you are a resident of Connellsville and/or Pennsylvania, please identify yourself as such. Include your address and other contact information when appropriate. If you haven't had a chance to email the council, please take a moment to also draft a short, but strong note of gratitude (in addition to phoning now!).

CONTACT

Dr. Dan Lujetic - Superintendent
Phone: 724-628-3300 EXT 327 (when you phone you'll probably talk to Vicki McWilliams, superintendent/board secretary)
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SAMPLE WORDING

(One sentence is sufficient, your own words are best. But you may wish to copy this paragraph in your correspondence:)

I support the Connellsville Area School District decision to remove the illegal Ten Commandments display outside of Connellsville Junior High School East. School districts have no business telling students which gods to have, how many gods to have, or whether to have any gods at all! Bible edicts have no place in our secular public schools. Thank you. (Sign name)

TALKING POINTS

See FFRF press release and letter for addition information.

Thank you for your help! 

Help remove cross in Santa Clara park!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging Santa Clara officials to remove a Latin cross from public property.

After many months of indecision, the city council has agreed the cross is not on constitutional footing. The city council has announced it will discuss the future of the cross at its Tuesday, Aug. 21 meeting. A July 24 letter from a city attorney laid out the options: "Dismantling the cross, moving the cross, transferring the land on which the cross sits, and changing the name of the park."

The large granite Latin cross in question is displayed at Memorial Cross Park, a publicly-owned area at the intersection of Martin Avenue and De La Cruz Boulevard in Santa Clara, Calif.

The cross was donated to the city by the Lions Club to commemorate the location of a Catholic Mission that has since been removed.

FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert first complained about this Establishment Clause violation on April 5, 2012: "This display impermissibly demonstrates not only the city of Santa Clara's preference for religion over non-religion but also Christianity, specifically Catholicism, over all other faiths." After no reply, a follow-up letter was sent.

A deputy city attorney finally told Markert on April 19 that the city was "awaiting the outcome" of the Trunk v. City of San Diego petition (a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down a display of a cross as part of a war memorial atop Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, Calif.).

Markert pointed out in a July 2 letter that "the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari in Trunk v. San Diego," meaning the appeals court decision against crosses on public land holds firm. Markert said the action reaffirmed that the "sectarian symbol" in Santa Clara carries an "inherently religious message."  

TAKE ACTION!

1. Please phone and/or email the city council before the Tuesday, Aug. 21 meeting. The agenda description, "City staff hopes to obtain direction from the council on how best to resolve this issue," means that officials need to hear from you. Tell them that Supreme Court precedent dictates that this is a government endorsement of religion and the best solution is to relocate the cross to private property and change the name of Memorial Cross Park. If you live in Santa Clara be sure to so identify yourself, but anyone can help influence the discussion. As a citizen and taxpayer you do not deserve to be left out of the decision.

2. Attend the city council meeting if possible. Citizen participation is vital. Click here to view the procedure on addressing the council during council meetings. There is apt to be emotional testimony in favor of "saving the cross" and secularists need to speak up.

The meeting will be held at city hall in the Council Chambers, 1500 Warburton Avenue at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 21.

CONTACT

Mayor Jamie Matthews and City Council
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Phone: (408) 615-2250
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Click here to contact individual council members.

CHIME IN

You may also choose to write to your local paper. Feel free to chime in on current news stories, offering your secular point of view.

TALKING POINTS

(Feel free to copy and paste the statement below.)

I urge the city to uphold the Constitution and remove the Latin cross at Memorial Cross Park and change the park name to a suitable alternative. A solution would be to offer the religious symbol to a private entity for display on private property. Transferring publicly-owned land in order to "save the cross" as the focus of a city park does not solve the problem and will only help to further entangle city government with sectarian principles. Please honor our secular roots and end this state-church violation.

Thank you for your help!

Urgent: One more day to help indonesian man

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking you to stand up for Indonesian civil servant Alexander Aan. Aan was recently given a 30-month prison sentence for saying what FFRF'ers and 750 million people today believe: "There is no God." FFRF sent a formal letter of complaint in June to the President of Indonesia and the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia. Many of you contacted these officials via FFRF's Action Alert, and we appreciate your help and support.

Now there's another push to have the Obama Administration pressure the Indonesian government to free Aan through a White House "We the People" petition. The petition urges the Obama Administration to: "Call upon the Indonesian government to respect the freedom and dignity of all its citizens and to free Alexander Aan." The petition must garner 17,000 signatures by August 16 in order to reach 25,000, ensuring the administration's review.

TAKE ACTION!

Please take a moment to sign the petition to protest Indonesia's first imprisonment of a citizen for the "crime" of being an atheist. Follow the instructions below to voice your opposition. 

INSTRUCTIONS: SIGNING THE PETITION

(This petition site requires a little patience.)

1. Open your web browser and 'copy' and 'paste' the link into the address bar: http://wh.gov/cmUt. 

2. If you don't already have a 'We the People' account at the White House website, follow the steps to create a username and password. (Note: The White House prompt on passwords specifically encourages at least six characters, a few numbers, and upper and lower case letters.)

3. Either choose 'sign in' or 'create an account'

4. Once you're logged in, click the green 'sign the petition' button

5. Click 'promote the peition' and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you for your help!

Help three young women avoid religious ‘burning’

Please speak out now against the prosecution and possible imprisonment of three young Russian women for singing a protest song in a Russian Orthodox Church to denounce its corruption and ties to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The women are members of the feminist punk rock group Pussy Riot and were arrested after a Feb. 21, 2012, performance which featured the song, "Virgin Mary, Redeem Us of Putin." Each group member was dressed in a vibrant uniform with colored tights and a balaclava covering her face. The band took the stage at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

All three women, who have since apologized, told the Huffington Post that the goal of the performance "was to express their resentment over the church's open support for Putin's rule." The women, who have been in jail since March appear to be facing a three-year prison sentence. 

Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samusevich have been charged with "hooliganism," although The New York Times reported that recently the women have been accused of "committing 'moral harm,' engaging in 'Satanism' and 'inciting religious hatred.' " It was announced Wednesday that a verdict will be issued on Friday, Aug. 17. Hooliganism charges carry a maximum sentence of seven years. Two of the women have young children.

Feminism is considered a "sin" by the Russian Orthodox Church and religious leaders, known as "patriarchs," who think the women should be punished for "desecrating the Russian Orthodox Church." They have issued forceful statements, such as Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers leader Leonid Simonovich-Nikshich, who said "We’re going to rip them up and burn them. . . Like in the Middle Ages."

It is urgent that you contact the key officials listed below to protest the charges and sentence the women face.

Watch a video of Pussy Riot's performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALS92big4TY.

TAKE ACTION!

Please email and/or write to the officials below. Asking for the immediate release of Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samusevich.

CONTACT

USA: Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Phone: (202) 298-5700
Fax: (202) 298-5735
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Prosecutor of the Moscow’s Central Administrative District
Denis Gennadievich Popov
Prosecutor’s Office of the Central
Administrative District
ul. L.Tolstogo, 8, str.1
Moscow 119021
Russian Federation
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Prosecutor General
Yurii Yakovlevich Chaika
ul. B.Dimitrovka, d. 15a
Moscow, GSP-3, 107048
Russian Federation
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TALKING POINTS

(Feel free to copy and paste the statement below.)

Free the brave young women musicians — Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samusevich — who are essentially facing imprisonment for a victimless crime — blasphemy. The band members should never have been charged, jailed or put on trial. Mean-spirited Russian clerics should not be permitted to prevail in persecuting women for speaking out.

Thank you for your help! 

Oppose Tucson giving Catholic Church $1.1 M to restore building it neglected for 10 year

In bustling downtown Tucson — between Ochoa and Corral Streets, and Stone and Church Avenues, near the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Children’s Museum, and the Convention Center — is a Catholic enclave owned by the Diocese of Tucson. The block includes the Cathedral of St. Augustine and, at the northwest corner, the Marist building, “a structure about which the diocese obviously does not care a whit, having let it sink into terrible disrepair since vacating the premises in 2002.” [See FFRF’s August 7 letter for citations and attributions]

On July 10, 2012, the City of Tucson voted 5-2 to use $1.1 million of taxpayer funds to restore the building owned by the Catholic Church. Please show your support and ask the Tucson City Council to re-consider its misguided vote.

At 52 feet, the Marist building is the tallest unfired adobe building in Arizona. Built in 1915, the mud brick structure was a schoolhouse until 1968 and then served as church administration offices until 2002, when the church abandoned the building to the elements. The Diocese of Tucson still owns the building but it is now in serious disrepair and in danger of collapsing. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in August 2011.

One thing is clear: If they Diocese wanted to pay to fix this building, it could. It chose not to. “The Catholic Church has neglected it for a decade. If they were serious about this building, they could cancel one of their pro-life ad blitzes and pay for it in a heartbeat,” said Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik, after the council voted to approve the funds. (Thank Steve for voting against the proposal.)

The Diocese’s 2011 assets totaled $15.5 million with $3.3 million in property. It appears that the Diocese can make the repairs, despite the financial hit it took after “100 credible allegations of sexual misconduct with minors made against 26 priests who served in the Diocese over that period of time.” 

As of 2003, nine years ago, the Diocese “had paid out $2.7 million related to abuse costs, including the settlement of 14 lawsuits for $1.8 million.” Is this really an organization the Tucson City Council should be funding?

The scandals forced the church into bankruptcy, but according to the National Catholic Register it is now thriving:

Immediately following the diocese’s emergence from bankruptcy, donations to the Annual Catholic Appeal for the Tucson Diocese soared, increasing to $13.3 million, $450,000 more than budgeted, between 2004 and 2008. The separate “Our Faith, Our Hope, Our Future” campaign, intended to restore diocesan funding for Catholic Community Services, Catholic schools, clergy retirement and religious-education programs, attracted 17,209 donors. Their contributions surpassed the $28 million goal, with combined pledges exceeding $40 million. . . . Annual appeal income has remained over $3 million, higher than any year prior to the Chapter 11 filing.

One would think that with the extra millions in donations the diocese could pay to fix its own building. But while the donations were rolling in to the Diocese, the City has already doled out over $100,000 funds to fix the Marist building:

• In 2005, the City paid $59,000 to repair damage to the roof. This damage, supposedly caused by a storm, was more likely due to three years of neglect and inoccupation.
• In 2006, the Tucson Ward 1 Council Office funded at $24,00 structural analysis.
• In 2009, the City paid $8,400 for emergency roof repairs.
• In 2010, the City paid another $9,800 for emergency roof repairs.

The Diocese is perfectly willing to spend money to restore its other property. Last year, the church spent $75,000 to restore a crucifix. The city estimates that the Marist building can be restored for $1.1 million. Ironically, the Diocese just used $1.1 million raised in the “Treasures of the Heart campaign” to restore St. Augustine Cathedral — situated next door to the Marist building.

But the message the Council has repeatedly communicated to the Diocese and that the Council reinforced on July 10 is that churches everywhere will be rewarded if they neglect their duties as landowners and community members and fail to maintain their historic buildings. Religious neglect and specifically Catholic neglect has caused serious injury to many communities, including Tucson. Now the Tucson City Council wants to reward that neglect: Urge them to change their minds.

As Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik pointed out, the money could be used for far better purposes like “housing rehabilitation, rental assistance or lead-paint abatement.” Kozachik continued, “We have a waiting list of people waiting for that type of assistance right now.”

Tell the Tucson City Council to stop rewarding rich churches for neglect and to start helping those who really need it.

TAKE ACTION

Email, call, or fax the Tucson City Council or write a letter to the editor of one of the publications listed below. 

Mayor: 
Jonathan Rothschild
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Phone: (520) 791-4201
FAX: (520) 791-5348
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mayor-Jonathan-Rothschild/155850181182871

Council Members: 

Ms. Regina Romero – Ward One
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Phone: (520) 791-4040
FAX: (520) 791-5393
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tucson.romero

Ms. Karin Uhlich – Ward Three
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Phone: (520) 791-4711
FAX: (520) 791-5391
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karin-Uhlich/164893000165

Ms. Shirley Scott – Ward Four
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Phone: (520) 791-3199
FAX: (520) 791-4717

Mr. Richard Fimbres – Ward Five
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Phone: (520) 791-4231
FAX: (520) 791-3188
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/richard.g.fimbres?sk=info

Thank these two council members for voting the right way, particularly Steve Kozachik who opposed this project for all the right reasons.

Mr. Steve Kozachik – Ward Six
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Phone: (520) 791-4601
Fax: (520) 791-3211

Mr. Paul Cunningham – Ward Two
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Phone: (520) 791-4687
FAX: (520) 791-5380
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VotePaulCunningham

Write a letter to the editor

Arizona Republic (AZCentral.com)
Send a letter to the editor using their online form. Letters may also be faxed to (602) 444-8933.

Letters can be sent via U.S. Mail to:
Letters to the Editor
The Arizona Republic
P.O. Box 1950, Phoenix, AZ 85001

Tucson Weekly
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
P.O. Box 27087
Tucson, Arizona 85726-7087
Phone: (520) 294-1200
Fax: (520) 792-2096

Arizona Daily Independent
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FFRF tells Augusta Mayor eggs and bacon need a side of toast, not prayer

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is renewing its request that Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver "cease all organization of the monthly Mayor's Prayer Breakfasts."

FFRF first wrote to Copenhaver about these illegal, city-sanctioned prayer breakfasts in June. Yesterday, the group sent a second letter of complaint to city general counsel Andrew Mackenzie.

In response to FFRF's June letter, Copenhaver told a local news channel, "we are not violating any laws so we will continue to move forward." He added, "Being mayor is what I do. My faith is who I am, and I feel very strong about that."

An open records request revealed that Karyn Nixon, executive assistant to the mayor, is primarily responsible for coordinating the event, which includes selecting the churches and sending out all the invitations. Nixon also puts together an agenda for the event, instructing pastors that scriptural references be included. The agenda specifically includes scripture readings, an opening prayer and remarks by the hosting pastor.

"Ms. Nixon utilizes her city-issued email account to organize the prayer breakfast. These emails reveal that Ms. Nixon works on the prayer breakfast during normal business hours. City phone lines are also used for participants to RSVP and to field requests for further information on the event," wrote FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert in a July 17 letter.

Aside from one breakfast in 2009 which was held at a Jewish synagogue, all other events have been scheduled exclusively at Christian churches or organizations and almost always include a Christian prayer.

Markert's thorough four-page letter lays out the law, demonstrating why the city organization of the monthly devotionals violates the First Amendment.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor called the city's participation in the prayer breakfasts "grossly illegal and inappropriate." She added that the continued practice "certainly has the effect of government endorsement of religion."

Gaylor pointed out that the "patently religious" event alienates nonbelievers in Augusta by turning them into political outsiders.

TAKE ACTION!

Please email and/or phone Copenhaver. Tell him that his office should stop organizing the blatantly Christian events. The city's participation in the prayer breakfasts is not only illegal and unnecessary, but is offensive to local freethinkers. FFRF believes the prayer breakfasts should not be called "Mayor's Prayer Breakfasts," but be clearly identified as privately organized and that the mayor should attend only in his private capacity.

CONTACT

Mayor Deke Copenhaver
530 Greene St.
Room 806
Augusta, GA 30901
Phone: (706) 821-1831
Fax: (706) 821-1835
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CHIME IN

You may also choose to write to your local paper. The religious right has been able to sneak in a few letters to the editor, so let's give them a run for their money. Feel free to chime in on current news stories, offering your secular point of view. 

The Augusta Chronicle
725 Broad Street
Augusta, GA 30901
Phone: 706-724-0851
Click here to submit your letter

Thank you for your help! 

Voice your opposition to Knox County prayer

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging Knox County Commissioners (Tenn.) to drop a resolution that would create written guidelines for "pre-meeting prayer." 

Knox County officials will meet next Monday, July 23 at 1:45 p.m. to make a final decision about the resolution. The county set the prayer issue aside at last month's meeting because it was a last-minute addition. Talk of the prayer resolution arose after two local citizens sued Hamilton County, Tenn., over its illegal prayer.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Chairman Mike Hammond is looking forward "to the people of Knox County telling us whether they want to pray before meetings."

FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote to Hammond and the board on July 3, calling for the commission to "discontinue official government prayers during government meetings." They added that the prayers are "nearly always pervasively Christian." On June 25, commissioner Larry Smith prefaced his prayer by saying he would pray from "the Christian perspective." Several other prayers included references to "Jesus," "Our Heavenly Father," and "in the name of your son."

"The constitutional rights of citizens to participate in government meetings, including the commission’s meetings, should not be predicated upon being subjected to Christian-based, or even non-denominational prayer. By hosting prayers, which inevitably show preference for Christianity, the commission is illegally and inappropriately imposing its religious beliefs on the citizens of Knox County who attend these meetings for public business," wrote FFRF.

One of Knox County's very own, commissioner Amy Broyles, is leery of the sectarian prayer: "there are over a dozen unique and separate religions practiced in Knox County and it can be difficult to represent everyone," she told commissioners during the April 23, 2012, meeting.

TAKE ACTION!

Please phone and/or email Hammond now. If you live in Knox County be sure to so identify yourself, but any freethinking individual can help influence the debate. It is your constitutional right to have a secular local government. Please tell Hammond and the rest of the commission that these prayers are inappropriate and unnecessary and exclude Tennesseans who identify as nonreligious (numbering 400,000 adults in the state).

CONTACT

Chairman Mike Hammond
Suite 603
City County Building
Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: 865-215-2534
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Click here to contact other commissioners, including Amy Broyles who you may wish to thank. 

Thank you for your help!

TALKING POINTS

A sentence or two in your words is sufficient, but feel free to copy and paste the statement below:

To avoid the constitutional concerns and the divisiveness government prayers cause within the community, the solution is simple: discontinue them.

Calling upon commissioners and citizens to rise and pray (even silently) is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of secular county government. Commissioners are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. They do not need to worship on taxpayers' time or dime. Nonbelievers and religious minorities should not be made to feel like political outsiders in their own community.

Even the New Testament Jesus warns against public prayer: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:5-6). See more quotes about prayer at end.

PROVOCATIVE QUOTES ABOUT PRAYER

It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain. —Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson

Nothing fails like prayer. —Anne Nicol Gaylor (FFRF motto)

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. —Thomas Paine, Age of Reason

When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ’tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. —Benjamin Franklin, Works, Vol. VII, p. 506

Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. —Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Help FFRF end the Ellwood City saga

The Ellwood City Borough Council (Ellwood City, Pa.) is at it again and we ask you to contact them immediately. On Mon., July 16 at 6 p.m., the Ellwood City Council will vote on a proposal intended to “save” a nativity on government property.

Some council members have proposed a lottery to allow only one display on public property. We need as many FFRF'ers to contact the council as possible to oppose this latest scheme. The council needs to know that the odds for lottery will be heavily in our favor.

Brief Background

You may remember the cross-wielding mob that swarmed Ellwood City last December to prevent the First Amendment from being upheld and the nativity from being removed? There was even a fistfight between a council member and citizen over the nativity removal a few weeks ago.

In December, FFRF sent a letter to Ellwood City protesting an illegal nativity placed for more than 50 years by the city on the lawn of its municipal building. City officials responded that any organization could put up a display, but when FFRF sent our solstice banner, they refused to display it. 

After a few weeks of haggling, the Ellwood City Council agreed to move the nativity to private property. Now that agreement is in jeopardy. The new proposal, set for a vote on Monday, will allow only one display, only during December, and will give preference to locals. This regulation was proposed by the “Nativity Committee,” an official city group dedicated to putting the nativity back on public property.

Problems with the Proposal

There are a number of things wrong with this proposal to bring to the attention of the Ellwood City Council:

1. If Ellwood City goes to a lottery system, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers will enter the lottery to put up a display of our choosing. You may want to mention what your display will be. This is what happened in Santa Monica, Califronia where the city recently ended December displays in parks after atheists won 18 of the 21 lottery spots. 

2. This is clearly an attempt to renege on their promise to move the nativity to private property. The “Nativity Committee” is quite obviously trying to get the nativity displayed on public property and censor any other speech, especially that of FFRF.

3. Ellwood City cannot escape its history and the statements of its mayor and council members claiming that their only goal is to keep the nativity on public property.

4. Allowing only one display on government property — selective access — does not make the nativity display private speech. Any nativity erected in that spot will still be a government endorsement of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause.

5. Our First Amendment right to free speech does not depend on where we live. Ellwood’s scheme to allow preference for locals is likely unconstitutional.

6. There are more than 20 churches within two miles of the municipal building that host the nativity. Many have offered to display the nativity. 

Take Action Now

URGE THE COUNCIL TO VOTE AGAINST THE LOTTERY PROPOSAL

Please attend the meeting if you can:

Mon., July 16, 2012 at 6 p.m.
525 Lawrence Avenue
Ellwood City, PA 16117

Emails can be routed to the council via the Borough Secretary Linda Pawlowski:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If you can’t attend the meeting, please call the Ellwood City Council at (724) 758-7777 or at the numbers listed below. If you have Facebook please send them a message on Facebook as well.

Council members who want the Nativity on Public Property: Ask the members listed below to stop trying to violate the Constitution and start supporting it. Council Vice President Judith Dici is probably the swing vote and originally voted to remove the nativity. Kindly ask her to vote against the lottery proposal.

Judith Dici, Vice President (email through Borough Secretary, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Ralph Chiappetta - http://www.facebook.com/ralph.chiappetta.5
George Celli - http://www.facebook.com/george.celli.9
John Todorich - (email through Borough Secretary, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Council members who support FFRF and removal of Nativity: Please thank these members for standing up for the First Amendment and the Constitution. Ask them to continue their support. (Email them through Borough Secretary Linda Pawlowski, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .)

Anthony DeCarbo, President 
Marilyn Mancini
Glenn Jones

Or send a letter to:
Ellwood City Council
525 Lawrence Avenue
Ellwood City, PA 16117
Fax: (724) 758-3091

Letters to the Editor: 
Newcastle News
Letter to Editor e-form: http://www.ncnewsquickclick.com/eforms/letterstoEditor.php

Beaver County Times
Letter to Editor e-form: https://timesonline-dot-com.bloxcms-ny1.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/

Ellwood City Ledger
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for your help!