The Moanalua High School Music Department (Honolulu, Hawaii) has canceled an unconstitutional concert in response to a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

For four years Moanalua High School had been partnering with New Hope Church to put on a holiday concert. Students and families alike had to purchase tickets from the church and several complainants reported that they had to attend a church service before they were allowed to buy the tickets. The church even promoted the "special relationship" between itself and the school on its website: "Kick off the Christmas season with this great concert featuring Moanalua High School's music department, friends from New Hope and surprise special guests." In a Dec. 3 letter to the Hawaii State Department of Education Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel pointed out that "all payments are made to New Hope Church, not the school." And that past concerts included prayers and proselytizing by New Hope's pastor.

"It is inappropriate for a public school to promote a Christian organization. If Moanalua High School Music Department continues to raise money for and perform with this Christian church, it shows that the district has an unlawful preference not only for religion over non-religion, but also Christianity over other faiths," wrote Seidel.

Matayoshi contacted Seidel on Dec. 3 to tell him that the concert had been canceled.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has held the Cedar Park Police Department accountable for having an unlawful Latin cross on the police seal and badge. The organization also took issue with the city's "Police Chaplain," especially since he drove a vehicle with a police seal and the words "Chaplain, City of Cedar Park."

FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote to Mayor Matt Powell and the Cedar Park Council on July 5, 2012, urging them to remove the cross from all official city paraphernalia. "The display of a Christian cross on a police chaplain's seal violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. . . City Chaplains serve the entire police force and city employees, Christian and non-Christian alike. By displaying a Christian cross on the chaplain's seal, the city alienates adherents to religions other than Christianity. . ."

Seidel pointed out that FFRF also questions the appropriateness of a chaplain program altogether. "Not only are city chaplains inappropriate, they are unnecessary because unlike prisons or the military, the government is not burdening anyone's religious practice."

In a Dec. 6 phone call with the city attorney, Seidel learned that the police badges, cars and shirts will no longer feature a Latin cross by the end of January.

A teacher at Carver Middle School in Monroe, Ga., "turned her public school classroom into a Sunday school," preaching to students and talking about the importance of Christianity.

A local family was appalled by this blatant violation of the First Amendment and contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation. FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote to Superintendent Gary Hobbs on Oct. 24, asking him to investigate the situation and take the appropriate disciplinary action. Not only did the teacher reportedly talk about "knowing god," she did not offer a discussion of any other religion or religious preferences aside from Christianity. Seidel pointed out that the teacher said that "each of her students 'needs to be saved.'" He also called her daily sermons an assault on "vulnerable children."

"Public school teachers have no business indoctrinating schoolchildren in a particular religious sect, 'the preservation and transmission of religious beliefs and worship is a responsibility and a choice committed to the private sphere,'" wrote Seidel.

Hobbs replied to Seidel on Dec. 4 writing that the principal of Carver Middle School directed the teacher to "eliminate a personal discussion of religion, her church and her beliefs with students."

Endeavour Elementary School in New Haven, Mich., took down a lawn sign promoting a church that rents the school's cafeteria every Sunday.

After receiving a complaint from a local resident, FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert wrote the Superintendent of New Haven School District Keith Wunderlich on Oct. 11 about the impropriety of keeping a permanent sign promoting a church on school property.

Wunderlich responded with an Oct. 12 letter, acknowledging that keeping the sign up all week was a problem. He said the church complied with the district's request to only keep the sign up on Sundays, the day the church rents the cafeteria.

A principal will no longer be able to proselytize to the staff at Deaf Smith Elementary School in Rosenberg, Texas, in weekly newsletters, thanks to the action taken by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF Staff Attorney Stephanie Schmitt sent a letter on Nov. 12 to Lamar Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Thomas Randle alerting the district to the principal's First Amendment violation. Schmitt wrote that the Friday newsletters, called “Friday Focus,” “regularly include bible verses, biblical references, and sermon-like discussions that reference Jesus and present biblical stories as fact.” The staff member complained to FFRF that the newsletter had turned into a “Sunday sermon.”

Randle responded in a Nov. 15 letter, which reported the district investigated the issue and found the religious newsletters were not in accord with the district's practice. The principal had been instructed to stop putting religious references in staff communications and the district will review his newsletters before they are sent to the school's staff, Randle said.

Elkhorn City Elementary School in Elkhorn City, Ky., will no longer allow organized prayer or display religious advertisements or fliers within the school building.

The principal of Elkhorn City Elementary School and Pike County Schools Superintendent Roger Wagner took this action as a result of a letter Wagner received from the Freedom From Religion Foundation on July 31.

FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert wrote to Wagner after a concerned parent told FFRF that his five-year-old daughter's teacher had been instructing her students to pray. His daughter had told him she had been praying every day before lunch for the past two years. The worried parent also told FFRF that the school had posted Christian and church event fliers. Markert wrote that the school should educate the teacher “about why public school authorities may not abuse positions of trust to proselytize four-year-olds or any students.”

Wagner and the principal each responded to FFRF in Nov. 1 and Oct. 30 letters, respectively, affirming that organized prayer and religion-endorsing fliers in the schools had ended.

It was not exactly “good will toward all” at public forums around the country. The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s winter solstice banner or sign, placed in 12 cities to counter religious displays on public property, has been stolen or vandalized in four spots by “First Amendment Grinches.”

Most recently, FFRF’s banner, placed on Dec. 17 on the Boston Common, was stolen sometime on Dec. 24.

“Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common in 1660 for daring to preach tenets of the Quaker religion, and some residents carry on that tradition of intolerance by carrying off our Boston Common banner,” said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.

Fence posts weighing more than 80 pounds secured a similar banner but were overturned in Gladwin, Mich., sometime before or on Christmas Day, next door to the police station. FFRF is offering $1,000 awards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves and vandals.

The 7 x 3 ½ feet colorful mesh banner says: “At this season of the winter Solstice Let Reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The signs were placed in response to large religious displays on government property.

FFRF already reported that its winter solstice banner was stolen last week from a public forum in Warren, Mich., with FFRF offering $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit. Both banners in Michigan are missing.

An identified man last week brazenly and in front of TV cameras cut cords displaying one of FFRF’s banners in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., only one day after it was erected by the city. FFRF had a permit and had paid the required $50 to have the city put up the display. To date, the city and police in Wilkes-Barre have not reattached FFRF’s sign, or apparently taken any action against the vandal.

“We want to thank Joe Chavez of Gladwin, Mich., for all his efforts to place and secular the banner, Zachary Smith of Boston, Justin Vacula of Wilkes-Barre, and Douglas Marshall of Warren, Mich., as well as our local helpers in other locations,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor

FFRF’s winter Solstice banner, urging all to “Let Reason Prevail,” went up in nine places (click here to view all of FFRF's solstice banner news releases), including Streator, Ill., Gladwin County, Mich., Olympia, Wash., Prineville, Ore., Arlington Heights, Ill., Manassas, Va., Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Boston Common, Mass., and Warren, Mich. Additionally, the Wisconsin State Capitol Rotunda in Madison, saw the second coming of our anti-crèche and the 17th revival of our winter solstice sign. Witnesses report to FFRF that Gov. Scott Walker had aides remove the anti-crèche before appearing to light the Tree [see article] on Nov. 30. A winter solstice sign is gracing the Milwaukee, Wis. courthouse for the second year in a row. FFRF’s Chicago-area chapter erected its own clever sign, depicting Founding Fathers and Lady Liberty posed reverentially before a manger-bound Bill of Rights for the FFRF display in Niles, Ill. Two other towns have been giving FFRF the run-around on permitting our displays. Athens, Texas, refused to allow our banner alongside their nativity scene. Pitman, N.J., bounced FFRF volunteers from city official to city official in search of a permit for a banner while news reports state the Knights of Columbus did not need one.

Below is a copy of the letter FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor sent to the mayor of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Dec. 21 in response to the recent vandalism of FFRF's Winter Solstice banner. It has been five days since FFRF's banner was vandalized by an identified man (who was caught on the local news) and FFRF's banner is still down even though the group paid $50 to have it hang through the holiday season. As of today, the local police apparently have not pursued the case and the vandal is still at large — he has not been charged with anything. Click here to view the letter as a PDF.

The Honorable Thomas M Leighton
Mayor City of Wilkes-Barre
40 East Market St
Wilkes-Barre PA 18711

Re: FFRF Banner in Public Square

Dear Mayor Leighton:

Earlier this week, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and representing the rights and views of nonbelievers, requested and was granted permission to put up a banner in Public Square. The banner went up on December 19th.

As you are certainly aware, yesterday afternoon just before 4pm, a young man who identified himself as Joe McDonald, climbed the structure at Public Square and cut two wires holding up FFRF’s banner. He then put an American flag on the structure. This was all caught on camera by WNEP News Channel 16’s film crew. Reporter Bill Wadell interviewed Mr. McDonald after the criminal act and Mr. McDonald stated he did it because of the shootings in Newtown, CT. He also implied it was because the banner was higher than other displays at Public Square. (FFRF notes that the City, not FFRF, placed the banner in its location).

Displays at Public Square

This incident highlights why the City of Wilkes-Barre should not allow unattended displays — religious or not — in Public Square. In some communities, these displays have caused great divisiveness. Just last year, a crazed woman in Loudoun County, Va., tore down a skeleton dressed as Santa that was displayed on the courthouse lawn. In years past, FFRF banners have been subject to vandalism. These actions signify to nonbelievers and members of minority religions that they are not welcome in the community. This vandalism and divisiveness also does not reflect well on the many Christians who honor peace and equality at this time of year.

The use of public property for religious signs and other displays is inappropriate. There are ample individual homes, businesses, and church grounds where religious displays may be placed freely. Once the government enters into the religion business, conferring or implying endorsement and preference for particular religious views over others, it strikes a blow at religious liberty, forcing taxpayers of all faiths and of no religion to support a particular expression of worship.

FFRF’s Banner

This afternoon Justin Vacula contacted Gwen at your office about reinstallation of this banner. He was informed that City workers were “understaffed” today and they would probably not get to fixing the banner today. Rebecca Markert in our office also called Gwen and left a message to determine when the banner would be reinstalled. We expect the City to expeditiously hang our banner.

FFRF paid the requisite $50 to obtain the permit to put up a banner at Public Square for a week. There was already a delay in putting up the banner (we were told it would go up the 18th, but did not go up until the 19th), and this act of vandalism adds to the delay in our displaying our message during the Winter Solstice. We request the City keep the banner on display for additional days to make up for this circumstance.

Police Report

It is extremely troubling that Mr. McDonald climbed the structure at Public Square, vandalized FFRF’s property, and placed his own display (an American flag) without the requisite permit. At this point, the police have not announced that they have ticketed, arrested or talked with Mr. McDonald. The City should take swift action to report this incident to the police, request that an investigation be commenced and charges brought against Mr. McDonald. The City must take appropriate steps to ensure Mr. McDonald is cited for his wrongdoing.

We would appreciate a response regarding this letter so that we may notify Justin Vacula and our local members of the steps the City of Wilkes-Barre is taking to ensure First Amendment rights of its citizens are protected. Thanks in advance for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Annie Laurie Gaylor
Co-President

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is challenging an inappropriate nativity scene in Manassas, Va., with its own message about the "real reason for the season."

FFRF's 7½-by-3-foot banner states: "At this Season of the Winter Solstice, LET REASON PREVAIL. There are not gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

The displays are on public property in Nelson Park. FFRF's banner will be up through Dec. 31. The banner was removed temporarily because of high winds, but it is expected to return Saturday evening.

"It is our hope that one day government spaces will be free from religious — or irreligious — displays," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "But until then, we will do our best to counter these unlawful displays and remind passersby of the 'real reason for the season' — the Winter Solstice."

A thief or thieves in Warren, Mich., stole the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Winter Solstice banner several days after it was put in place to counter a religious nativity scene on public property. It was vandalized on Dec. 16, the day after it was put up, when one of the steel fence posts it was attached to was removed. It disappeared on Solstice Eve.

The 7½-by-3 foot banner in the public median on Mound Road states: “At this Season of the Winter Solstice, LET REASON PREVAIL. There are not gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

FFRF member Douglas Marshall had gotten a permit for it from the Macomb County Department of Roads.

The Foundation is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the responsible party or parties, said Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

" 'Thou shalt not steal' is one of the tenets that people who typically oppose FFRF supposedly live by," Gaylor said. "I guess it's all part of the war on reason."

The banner is valued at more than $100. The Foundation is replacing it with another.

Gaylor expressed appreciation to Marshall and other FFRF supporters in the area for their work, particularly the extra work brought about due to the vandalism and thievery. Marshall filed an official report with the police. Those with any leads on the crime should contact FFRF directly.

A man yesterday about 4 p.m. brazenly climbed a structure to cut the cord attaching the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Winter Solstice banner in Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The city, which requires that its workers must place displays, had just put the banner up Wednesday. FFRF paid a $50 fee and had a permit.

A film crew with WNEP 16, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre caught the crime, committed by a young man who identified himself as Joe McDonald, who climbed about 30 feet up the sculpture, cut two wires holding one side of the banner, and placed an American flag. View the news story here. 

FFRF placed the sign in response to a very large menorah and prominent religious banner planted in Public Square. FFRF student member Justin Vacula had notified FFRF about the religious displays, and oversaw placement of the banner.

“No messages, religious or irreligious, should be placed in Public Square,” Justin told WNEP. But while religious displays are there, “we’re going to put up irreligious messages in protest.”

The city apparently made the decision about where to place the banner. (McDonald claimed he only tampered with the banner because it was “higher” than the other displays.) At this point, the city has not rehung the banner, which is dangling. Nor have police announced that they have ticketed, arrested or talked with the culprit. He excused his actions “in light of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut.”

“We are staggered by the brazen action of this young man. We have a permit and he has violated the law and our free speech rights. We expect the city to expeditiously rehang our banner and police to investigate and take appropriate action to enforce the law,” said Dan Barker, FFRF co-president.

FFRF thanks Justin for all his help, including filing a police report concerning the vandalism. FFRF was told both by city and police officials today that the people in charge were not available and no one else could help FFRF.

The City Council in Cheboygan, Mich., moved a nativity display off public property rather than give the Freedom From Religion Foundation equal time during the winter holiday season.

“We couldn't be more pleased,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “We think religion — or irreligion — is divisive on public-owned property. If religious displays are allowed, ours should be allowed as well. But this resolution is a victory for the Establishment Clause.”

Instead of letting FFRF's "Let Reason Prevail" banner be displayed in a public park with the Kiwanis Club's religious nativity scene, the council voted Dec. 18 to ban all displays in Washington Park — except for secular displays by the Chamber of Commerce and the Opera House.

City Attorney Stephen Lindsay warned the council about denying FFRF’s request and facing litigation which “the city cannot win.”

City officials had either ignored or lodged spurious objections to FFRF's banner request starting in early December. The Kiwanis Club had put up the Christian display for 51 years.

Lindsay wrote FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert on Dec. 19 that the council voted to suspend all private displays on city property and will appoint a committee to develop regulations and policies for displays.

The Cheboygan Tribune reported that Kiwanians moved the crèche the next day to the Citizens National Bank parking lot.

National Bank CEO Sue Eno said it was an easy choice to give the space to the Kiwanis Club.

“The move here makes so much sense," bank CEO Sue Eno told the newspaper. "We just don’t need the controversy in the city.”

The potential controversy could have come about if council would have allowed the erection of the FFRF banner or if it denied the request. If a denial was the route taken, the group more than likely would have sued the city on the basis of separation of church and state as it has done in Warren, Mich.

“I respect council for doing what they did. That group (FFRF) is entitled to their beliefs as well,” Eno said. “However, we have a great location here, a more convenient location.”

FFRF is very appreciative of local supporters who followed the issue and spoke up for state-church separation, said Gaylor.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is challenging a nativity scene in North School Park in Arlington Heights, Ill., with a message about the "real reason for the season."

Despite being called "spoil sports" by a local resident, members of FFRF Metropolitan Chicago Chapter say that posting the group's Winter Solstice banner went without a hitch.

FFRF's 7½-by-3 banner states: "At this Season of the Winter Solstice, LET REASON PREVAIL. There are not gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

A group calling itself the Illinois Nativity Scene Committee (INSC) urged the Arlington Heights Park District to incorporate a nativity scene into the park's annual holiday display back in November. The Park District typically hosts a secular light display that features seasonal toys. The Thomas More Society, a Christian legal group representing INSC, argued that the Park District should incorporate a nativity scene into the government display. The Park District turned down the request and ultimately granted a permit to the committee to place a nativity scene in a separate area of the park.

Given the controversy, the Park District may adopt new rules on whether to allow private displays in future years.

The national state/church watchdog has over 19,000 members nationwide, including more than 670 in Illinois. The group's Chicago chapter also placed a sign in Niles, Ill., last week depicting the Founding Fathers reverently observing the Bill of Rights in a manger.

"It is our hope that one day government spaces will be free from religious — or irreligious — displays, but until then we will do our best to counter these unlawful displays and remind passersby of the 'real reason for the season' — the Winter Solstice," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

The Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year, takes place today. This natural holiday signals the return of the sun and the new year, and has been celebrated for millennia in the Northern Hemisphere with festivals of light, evergreens, feasts and gift exchanges.

FFRF thanks its Chicago chapter members for placing the banner.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the help of a Pennsylvania member, has placed its Winter Solstice banner in Wilkes-Barre's Public Square to counter religious displays set up there.

The 7½-by-3 foot banner states: “At this Season of the Winter Solstice, LET REASON PREVAIL. There are not gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The Madison, Wis.-based national state/church watchdog has over 19,000 members nationwide with more than 670 in Pennsylvania. FFRF has two ongoing federal lawsuits in Pennsylvania over Ten Commandments in front of public schools.

The banner, which was attached by city of Wilkes-Barre employees to a display structure, joins "The Seven Universal Laws For a Better World" (No. 1: Believe in G-d) and an ad for a religious event attached to a looming menorah.

"It is our hope that one day government spaces will be free from religious — or irreligious — displays, but until then we will do our best to counter these unlawful displays and remind passersby of the 'real reason for the season' — the Winter Solstice," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

"Christians don't own the month of December,” added Co-President Dan Barker.

FFRF thanks local supporter Justin Vacula for his great help and initiative in getting the banner placed. Justin, a student, received a $250 honorable mention award from FFRF for his graduate student essay this year.

Darrell Barker poses with FFRF's banner in 2011. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, on behalf its 1,000 Washington members, placed its Winter Solstice sign today in front of the state capitol for the second year.

The Madison, Wis.-based national state/church watchdog has over 19,000 members nationwide.

Thanks to FFRF Board member Darrell Barker, the Winter Solstice banner was erected to counter a large nativity display outside the Washington Capitol in Olympia. Barker has applied for and received a permit to keep the display up until the end of the year, for as long as the nativity scene will be on government property.

In 2008, FFRF, at the request of one of its octogenarian members in Shelton, Wash., sought a permit to display its own sign to counter a life-sized nativity display allowed for a second year inside the Statehouse. Religious, and irreligious displays, do not belong at the seats of government in public-owned government buildings, FFRF maintains, but if religion is going to be there, there must be “room at the inn” for irreligion as well.

The engraved sign read: "At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Placement of the sign set off such a firestorm, when Bill O’Reilly of Fox News and others condemned its presence, that the governor ended public forums inside the Capitol. That was FFRF’s goal. However, the state is now permitting displays outside the Capitol, and a nativity scene has been placed by a private group in 2011 and this year.

"Our sign is a reminder of the real reason for the season, the Winter Solstice," said Dan Barker, Foundation co-president, and brother of Darrell Barker. "Christians don't own the month of December.”

The Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year, takes place this year on Friday, Dec. 21. This natural holiday signals the return of the sun and the new year, and has been celebrated for millennia in the Northern Hemisphere with festivals of light, evergreens, feasts and gift exchanges.