Freethought-Now

We at the Freedom From Religion Foundation have been dealing with the welcome situation of our past work continuing to resonate even while we engage in fresh action.

For example, we filed an appellate court brief (along with the American Humanist Association) asking for our major district court win against an Arkansas Capitol Ten Commandments monument to be affirmed. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas held in our favor that the Display Act (the legislation imposing the monument) and the actual monument itself was unconstitutional under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The state appealed our victory and now we’re asking the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the district court decision.

“The state of Arkansas has no business weighing in on quintessentially religious matters,” notes FFRF Legal Counsel Sam Grover. “The Display Act was passed in order to commemorate a literal bible verse that mandates worshiping the Christian god. Erecting a permanent monument to one religion’s beliefs is precisely what our Constitution’s First Amendment was meant to prohibit.”

Okla. religious public charter school should be disallowed

We sent a joint letter with other secular organizations once again urging the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board to reject the nation’s first proposed religious public charter school. We wrote the letter soon after the school admitted that it will not come close to meeting the student enrollment numbers predicted in its charter school application. As the letter explains, the drastically reduced enrollment plan shows the school lacks community support, is financially unsustainable, and that its application is noncompliant with Oklahoma’s charter school requirements. 

Trump’s outrageous misuse of taxpayer funds and welcome reversal
We welcomed President Trump’s reversal of plans to use taxpayer dollars to pay for campaign-style advertisements (including a ludicrous “God Made Trump” video) promoting himself. However, this doesn’t excuse his administration for putting public funds toward the effort in the first place. It is outrageous that more than $10 million in taxpayer-funded ads have run on cable and network television, paid for through a $20 million contract funded by the Department of Homeland Security.

“The fact that Trump backed down demonstrates why speaking out against abuses of government power matters,” say FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Taxpayer money belongs to the American people. It is not a political slush fund for presidents to advertise themselves, and it certainly must not be used to promote the absurd notion that our political leaders have been chosen by God.”

An anti-abortion joint crusade
We’re warning that three anti-abortion states driven by religious ideology are going hammer and tongs after three other states shielding abortion rights groups and physicians. The attorneys general of Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas have filed a suit directly before the U.S. Supreme Court contending that shield laws in California, Massachusetts and New York violate the U.S. Constitution by preventing anti-abortion states from enforcing their own bans. The three blue states are among a handful that protect providers from prosecution regardless of where their patients are located.

No religion on public school football gear

We are asking two public school districts to stop using official football apparel that promotes Christianity. We recently contacted districts in Colorado and Ohio over religious messages emblazoned on high school football gear. The First Amendment prohibits public schools from favoring religion over nonreligion or one religion over others, we’ve pointed out. The religious messages also marginalize the significant number of students who aren’t Christian.

Satanic controversy shows the downside of official prayer
We are calling on an Iowa city council to end its practice of opening meetings with religion after its mayor allowed a pastor to counter a satanic invocation. 

“This entire controversy demonstrates exactly why government meetings should not begin with religious rituals,” says Annie Laurie. “Government is supposed to serve everyone, not referee theological disputes.” 

Our investigation of the Pentagon gets media play
While we are engaged in all this hectic activity, media reports continue about our past interventions.

“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced a new Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs,” reports Military.com, a leading news portal covering the Armed Forces. “Both the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) called it a First Amendment violation, pointing to Hegseth’s record and continued practices, including monthly Christian prayer services at the Pentagon.”

Another reporting outfit mentioned us in a story highlighted on the AOL website.

“Pete Hegseth is facing a fresh watchdog investigation over his newly created Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs, with critics demanding records revealing how taxpayer money will fund the powerful operation and how officials plan to assess troops’ ‘spiritual fitness,’ RadarOnline.com can reveal,” says the piece. “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) announced it is launching an investigation into the office just one day after Hegseth formally established it, saying it plans to use the Freedom of Information Act to uncover records surrounding its creation, operation, and funding.”

Our national billboard campaign

We have truly gone multimedia. We’re launching a national billboard campaign in 19 markets across the United States to encourage Americans to pay attention to what is at stake in the 2026 election and make their voices heard at the ballot box. We are intentionally selecting many communities where our chapters and supporters provide a local presence — creating opportunities for community engagement and conversations about secular government.

Unpacking religious satire on our YouTube show

The brand new episode of our “Secular Spotlight” show explores online comedian Kevin Crowe’s satirical approach to calling out religious bigotry. Crowe, also known online as “Jesus Unfollower,” discusses how religious satire and humor can expose hypocrisy, absurdity and the weaponization of religion. Crowe shares his journey from evangelical Christianity to atheism, how he uses short-form comedy to reach new audiences, and why he argues that the freedom to mock ideas is an important part of a free society. You can catch a glimpse here.

Why fascists fear teachers
Freethought Radio co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor were delighted to interview American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten about her important topical book, “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.” She shared profound insights about our current predicament and will be sharing more at next week’s national convention in Milwaukee. Preregistration is closed, but you can register at the door to hear Weingarten, Rep. Jared Huffman, Ron Reagan, Jim Obergefell, Percival Everett, Jennifer Welch — and more!

We’ve disbursed almost $20,000 to high school essay winners
We proudly announced $19,450 in awards to students in our 2026 William Schulz High School Essay Contest. College-bound high school seniors were asked to write a personal persuasive essay based on this prompt: “My favorite freethought/humanist hero/ine. Write a personal essay about your favorite freethinker or humanist and what they did or are doing to improve or enrich our lives.” Congratulations to all the winners!

Hayley Williams is ‘Secularist of the Week’ for Christian nationalism warning

Our legislative affiliate, the FFRF Action Fund, chose singer and songwriter Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams as its “Secularist of the Week” for cautioning against the threat of Christian nationalism. The Action Fund warmly thanks Williams for her activism and for using her platform to raise awareness of the ever-increasing threat of Christian nationalism.

‘Theocrat’ Idaho AG creates donation loophole for churches
The Action Fund named Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador its “Theocrat of the Week” for creating a dark-money loophole allowing churches to spend general funds on political campaigns while shielding the identities of their donors. Idaho’s Sunshine Law does not unlawfully target religious groups. It only prevents dark money from entering Idaho’s elections, yet Labrador’s theocratic opinion has now created a loophole that allows only churches to circumvent that requirement. He completely deserves his “Theocrat of the Week” moniker. 

Gaylor: The folly of the death penalty

Annie Laurie has written a new blog on the botched recent execution in Tennessee — and how it reveals the folly of the death penalty.

“The ‘eye-for-an-eye, life-for-a-life’ Old Testament edict fuels the death penalty in our nation,” she concludes. “Let’s learn something from Tennessee’s shameful case and get rid of the primitive Bronze Age ‘justice’ known as the death penalty.”

From Christian nationalism at the Pentagon to the religious roots of capital punishment, we are able to respond to so much only because of your staunch support.

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