March 11, 2026 – Sammi Lawrence to Participate in Panel at University of Wisconsin Law School (Madison, WI)

Sammi Lawrence of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) will participate in a panel and networking event hosted by the Women Law Students Association at the University of Wisconsin Law School on Wednesday, March 11th.

The event will bring together attorneys and current law students for a discussion on authenticity and identity in the legal profession. Panelists will share insights from their professional experiences, addressing how personal values, background, and identity intersect with legal practice, as well as offering guidance to students preparing to enter the field.

The program will begin at 12:00 p.m. and will be held in person at the University of Wisconsin Law School. The event is open to current law students and participating student groups.

FFRF regularly engages with student organizations and academic institutions to support conversations  about constitutional principles, professional ethics, and the role of personal conviction in the practice of law.

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March 25, 2026 – Sammi Lawrence to Address Freethinkers of Colorado Springs at University of Colorado Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs, CO)

Sammi Lawrence of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) will present to the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs and their guests on Wednesday, March 25th, at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

Lawrence’s presentation will focus on combating Christian Nationalism in public education, examining how religious ideology is influencing public schools. The talk will address the importance of community advocacy in defending secular public education.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in person at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. It is open to members of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs and their invited guests.

FFRF regularly works with local chapters and community groups across the country to educate the public about nontheistic viewpoints and to uphold the constitutional separation of state and church.

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FFRF warns against preferential treatment for religious groups in HHS addiction funding

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has raised the alarm after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally invited faith-based organizations to apply for federal addiction and behavioral health funding.

According to statements from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, faith-based organizations that meet “evidence-based addiction recovery standards” are encouraged to apply for federal grants. SAMHSA and the Administration for Children and Families, which together oversee more than $138 billion in grants, have emphasized “full participation” by religious groups pursuant to President Trump’s February 2025 executive order directing agencies to facilitate the active involvement of faith-based entities in government programs. These moves follow remarks by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the administration is “bringing faith-based providers fully into this work.”

Such shenanigans clearly reveal a theocratic tilt.

“Taxpayer-funded public health programs must be secular, science-based and free from religious coercion,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Addiction recovery is a medical and public health issue, not a vehicle for government-sponsored evangelism.”

FFRF stresses that while religious organizations are not categorically barred from competing for public funds, the Constitution requires strict neutrality. Federal funds may not be used to advance religion, and beneficiaries must never be subjected to religious pressure, proselytizing or discrimination as a condition of receiving services.

The Trump administration has already revoked prior safeguards that required faith-based providers to offer referrals to secular alternatives when clients objected to the religious nature of services. It has also affirmed that religious organizations may use religious criteria in hiring, even when operating taxpayer-funded programs.

“That combination is deeply troubling,” says FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “When you remove referral protections and allow religious discrimination in hiring, you create a system where vulnerable people seeking addiction treatment may have nowhere to turn but religious programs that do not respect their beliefs or their rights.”

FFRF notes that direct government funding cannot subsidize religious worship, instruction or proselytization. And the government may not favor religious providers over secular nonprofits.

“Federal health dollars should expand access to proven, inclusive treatment,” Gaylor adds. “They must not be diverted into programs that impose religious doctrine, exclude qualified staff based on faith, or deny medically accurate care.”

FFRF is monitoring HHS implementation of this initiative and will take action if constitutional safeguards are violated. The organization urges Congress and federal agencies to ensure that all addiction recovery funding remains evidence-based, nondiscriminatory — and firmly grounded in the separation of state and church.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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Freethought Radio – February 19, 2026

FFRF Communications Director Amit Pal and FFRF Multimedia Producer Leo Costello break down the latest state-church headlines, including troubling rhetoric at the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance led by House Speaker Mike Johnson. Then, historian Chris Cameron explores the freethinkers of color who helped build a powerful tradition of Black secularism in America.

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State Charter School Board says no to Ben Gamla Charter proposal

Southwest Ledger (Lawton, OK)
By M. Scott Carter

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FFRF op-ed in Madison paper scrutinizes religiously inclined Wis. voucher program

Freedom From Religion Foundation Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne dissects Wisconsin’s nearly 30-year-long “voucher experiment” in an op-ed published in the Madison newspaper.

“Nearly half of all private school students in Wisconsin now receive a taxpayer-funded school voucher, according to Wisconsin Watch,” Jayne writes in the Wisconsin State Journal. “And almost all voucher schools in Wisconsin are religiously affiliated, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.”

The piece continues with a detailed history lesson on Wisconsin’s voucher program — and how it’s failed FFRF’s home state:

Wisconsin’s modern voucher era began in 1989 with the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, initially restricted to nonreligious private schools. This swiftly changed in 1998, when enrollment surged after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled, by a narrow margin, that expanding the program to include religious schools was not state-sponsored religious education. At the time, supporters assured the public that safeguards such as parental choice and opt-out provisions would prevent constitutional entanglements.

Nearly 30 years later, those assurances ring hollow.

The “choice” taxpayers are funding is largely a myth, because many Wisconsin families don’t live near a private school that shares their religious beliefs (or lack thereof). But those same families are now routinely taxed to fund religious instruction, precisely the kind of government involvement in religion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent.

Voucher defenders often point to a provision in Wisconsin law allowing parents to opt their children out of religious instruction. In theory, this is meant to preserve neutrality.

But in practice, it likely has almost no effect because parents typically choose to send their children to private schools in large part because of the school’s religious instruction. Though no data is publicly available on how often religious opt-outs occur, it makes sense that parents would avoid placing their children in an environment where they would be seen as religious outsiders.

These ineffective safeguards matter because constitutional violations do not disappear simply because participation is voluntary. When the state overwhelmingly directs public funds for religious instruction, it impermissibly advances religion.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s increasingly permissive jurisprudence on vouchers does not change the underlying principle: Compelled taxpayer support of religious instruction is deeply divisive and corrosive to pluralism. That’s why the primary author of the First Amendment, James Madison, denounced even “three pence” of taxes going to support teachers of the Christian religion, in his famed “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.”

Wisconsin’s voucher program also has consequences beyond the separation of state and church. As vouchers expand, they siphon resources from public schools that serve the vast majority of students and that are required to educate every child, regardless of disability, religion or background.

Voucher schools can discriminate in their admissions. Private schools lacking a public mission may well reject “difficult” students, such as those with special needs, leaving public schools with fewer resources to serve more students who require extra resources. Adding salt to the wound, the statehouse had the temerity to reimburse private schools for 90 percent of special education costs, while giving public schools less than 50 percent.

To conclude the piece, Jayne admonishes Wisconsin officials for the voucher experiment and emphasizes the need for the state to focus on public schools: “Instead of foolishly funding two separate school systems (one public, secular and accountable, the other private, sectarian and with almost no accountability for the more than $600 million in tax money it gets annually), Wisconsin needs to re-earn its reputation as an educational leader. It needs to reinvest in public schools and their unifying mission.”

The full op-ed is placed behind a paywall. Please consider supporting the local news website, Madison.com, to access the full article.

This column is part of FFRF’s initiative to engage with pertinent national and state issues and spread the messages of freethought and nontheism to a broader audience.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a Madison-based national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including over 1,800 members and two local chapters in Wisconsin. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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Atheist group claims school violated students’ rights after rapper ‘quotes Bible’ at assembly

Christian Post
By Ian M. Giatti

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The anti–Project Blitz: How the KPOP Act fights Christian Nationalism in public schools

Friendly Atheist
By Hemant Mehta

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American Atheists, Secular Partners Advance Model Legislation to Safeguard Students’ Rights

American Atheists
By Staff

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FFRF warns Alabama lawmakers: Coordinated religious bills violate First Amendment

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is warning Alabama lawmakers that a series of religion-based education bills recently advanced out of committee represent a direct assault on the First Amendment and the constitutional separation between state and church.

Within days, legislative committees advanced multiple measures requiring Ten Commandments displays in public schools, authorizing school chaplains, shifting public school sex education toward abstinence-only instruction and granting academic credit for religious instruction programs.
These bills include:

• HB 8, authorizing school chaplains and incorporating Ten Commandments displays without codifying sponsor assurances that chaplains would not proselytize.
• SB 99, mandating Ten Commandments displays approved by the Superintendent of Education accompanied by selectively chosen religious quotations presented as “historical context.”
• SB 209, shifting sex education requirements toward abstinence-only instruction.
• SB 248, granting academic credit for religious instruction programs during the school day.

While sponsors insist the measures are not intended to promote religion, statements made during committee hearings undermine that claim. During the SB 99 committee hearing, the sponsor displayed a mock-up of what he said would appear in classrooms — a single sheet of paper featuring the Ten Commandments alongside selectively chosen religious quotations from the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Alabama Constitution’s preamble.

When a committee member asked, “So that’s what will be displayed? That right there?” the sponsor confirmed it was.

That admission strips away any pretense of neutrality.

The Democrat questioning the sponsor said the only thing he would change about the bill is to add prayer, because he wishes there was prayer in our schools. He commended the sponsor’s work on the bill, saying students need to be “reprogrammed” by the time they leave home. The bill requires the Superintendent of Education to approve the design and layout of the display, and the specific quotations are listed in the legislation itself — carefully selected religious excerpts presented as civic heritage.

“Public schools exist to educate — not to indoctrinate,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “When lawmakers openly discuss ‘reprogramming’ students through government-imposed religious messaging, they are admitting what the Constitution already forbids: the use of public schools as instruments of religious coercion.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that public schools may not endorse, promote or coerce religious belief. From Stone v. Graham striking down mandatory Ten Commandments displays in classrooms to decades of precedent prohibiting school-sponsored prayer, the law is clear: The government must remain neutral on religion — especially in public education, where students are compelled by law to attend.

“Taken together, these measures are not isolated policy proposals — they form a coordinated effort to embed religious doctrine into Alabama’s public schools,” adds Gaylor. “The First Amendment does not permit the state to favor religion, promote scripture or pressure students into religious conformity. These bills cross that constitutional line.”

Even if couched in the language of history or character education, government-mandated displays of sacred scripture send an unmistakable message of state endorsement. Authorizing chaplains within public schools further entangles government with religion. Granting academic credit for religious instruction privileges sectarian activity. Collectively, these measures violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and threaten the religious freedom of students who do not subscribe to the majority faith.

The Constitution protects the rights of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, nonreligious and all other students alike. Public schools must serve every child — not elevate one religious tradition above others.

FFRF is urging Alabama constituents to contact their representatives before floor votes occur and to demand that lawmakers uphold their constitutional oath by opposing these unconstitutional bills. If these measures are enacted, FFRF will carefully evaluate them and consider appropriate legal action.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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