Mo. district sets positive example in resolving football prayer complaint
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
Photo by Kaleb Becker on Unsplash
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is commending a Missouri school district for its exemplary response to an FFRF letter about a school-sponsored prayer broadcast at a recent football game.
FFRF contacted the Nevada R-V School District in Missouri after learning that the school allowed the student body president to deliver a Christian prayer over the loudspeaker before a varsity football game on Sept. 11. The employee who informed the state/church watchdog about the unconstitutional broadcast said the prayer made them uncomfortable and expressed particular concern for students who may not feel empowered to speak up when religion is promoted at a school event.
The complainant, who is not Christian, stressed that their concern was not with students praying privately or expressing their own religious beliefs. “When a microphone is handed over to force an entire stadium into prayer, that is where things become blurred,” the employee told FFRF.
FFRF stepped up to clarify the district’s responsibility to keep school events free from religious influence.
“School officials may not invite a student, clergy member, teacher, faculty member or anyone else to give any type of prayer, invocation, benediction or sermon at public school-sponsored events, nor may they give a prayer themselves,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to District Superintendent Tyson Beshore.
Here, the district had allowed the student body president to lead all attendees, including students, in a Christian prayer over a microphone before the football game. By having school-sponsored prayer at official school events, the district needlessly marginalized non-Christian students, including atheists, agnostics and members of minority faiths. As much as 38 percent of the American population is non-Christian, including the almost 30 percent that is nonreligious. More than half of Generation Z members (those born after 1996) are non-Christian, including 43 percent who are nonreligious.
The district’s response was swift and unequivocal.
Beshore apologized for the incident and explained that the senior class president had been invited to speak but that administrators had not reviewed the student’s remarks beforehand.
More importantly, the district immediately put safeguards in place to prevent a recurrence. Going forward, students will not be permitted to address school audiences over a microphone without administrators first reviewing their planned remarks, and an administrator will be present when students speak.
Beshore emphasized that in his 29 years with the district, he had never encountered another incident like this. “I can promise you it will never happen again,” he wrote.
FFRF applauds the district and Beshore for taking the complaint seriously, acknowledging what went wrong and adopting a concrete solution to protect students. The Supreme Court formally ruled student-led prayer or other prayer broadcast at school events, including football games, unconstitutional 26 years ago.
“This is exactly how school officials should respond when a constitutional concern is brought to their attention,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The district listened, recognized the problem and immediately took steps to protect every student going forward. We greatly appreciate Superintendent Beshore’s forthright and constructive response.”
For the employee who contacted FFRF, the resolution means that future students attending Nevada R-V athletic events will not have to choose between participating in a school-facilitated religious exercise and visibly separating themselves from their classmates and community.
That distinction is especially important in public schools, where students come from families representing a wide range of religious and nonreligious perspectives. Students remain free to pray individually or with one another, but the school itself must not place its microphone, authority or imprimatur behind a religious exercise.
FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence, who wrote to the district on behalf of the complainant, says the outcome demonstrates why speaking up matters.
“Our complainant saw something that made them concerned for students who might not feel comfortable objecting themselves, and they had the courage to raise that concern,” Lawrence says. “Because they spoke up and because district officials responded so responsibly, students will now be able to attend school events knowing that the school will respect their freedom of conscience.”
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 more than 40,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Missouri, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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FFRF: Air Force must stop erasing atheists and minority faiths from its ranks
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is excoriating a U.S. Air Force directive requiring personnel to update their religious affiliations using a drastically reduced list of categories.
The discarded categories include “Atheist,” “Humanist,” “Wiccan,” “Pagan,” “Druid” and numerous other minority religious and nonreligious identities. The list retains a disproportionate number of specific Christian denominations.
The Department of the Air Force announced on Sept. 25 that all personnel must update their Religious Affiliation Code in the Virtual Military Personnel Flight system. Active-duty personnel have until Oct. 16 to comply while Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members have until Nov. 9. Those who do not select a new affiliation will have their records “automatically realigned according to an approved transition construct.” The mandate implements a Pentagon policy announced earlier this year that slashed the military’s religious affiliation codes from roughly 211 to just 31, including removing the category of “Atheist.”.
FFRF sounded the alarm when the Pentagon first announced the change in June, warning that it would marginalize the many “atheists in foxholes” and other service members whose identities had effectively been erased from official personnel records. Now that concern is becoming a reality.
The Air Force claims that the transition will give its Chaplain Corps “accurate demographic data” to provide tailored resources to service members. But forcing people whose actual beliefs — or nonbeliefs — have been deleted from the system accomplishes precisely the opposite. Although the retained categories include “No Religion” — and, inexplicably, “Agnostic” — the deletion of “Atheist” and “Humanist as accepted categories appears to target those who are most outspoken in their dissent from religion.
“Almost half of today’s service members are atheists or have no religious affiliation and they should be able to accurately identify themselves,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “These are folks who put their lives on the line to defend a Constitution that is supposed to protect freedom of conscience — and that should include their freedom of conscience.”
The Pentagon expanded its previous system in 2017 following years of advocacy by service members from minority religious and nonreligious backgrounds. The expanded codes allowed personnel to more accurately identify their beliefs or convictions and gave military chaplains and officials more appropriate information about the service members they serve.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the dramatic reduction, arguing that the previous system of more than 200 codes was “impractical and unusable.” The Pentagon says the change is meant to streamline religious-support planning rather than judge the legitimacy of particular beliefs.
But the context surrounding the change is impossible to ignore. In announcing his overhaul of the military chaplaincy earlier this year, Hegseth complained that the Chaplain Corps had been “infected by political correctness and secular humanism.” He has also instituted Christian worship services at the Pentagon and repeatedly emphasized his own conservative Christian worldview in his official capacity.
The result is especially troubling for nonreligious service members. “Atheist” is no longer available as a distinct affiliation even though atheists have served honorably in the U.S. military throughout the nation’s history. Humanists and adherents of numerous minority religions have likewise lost the ability to identify themselves specifically in the personnel system. Military.com reported that an active-duty Air Force member who had previously identified as an atheist was outraged, not only personally but on behalf of other Air Force personnel whose brand of nonbelief is no longer represented.
The Air Force says service members will remain free to specify their actual religious preference on identification tags rather than being limited to the standardized personnel codes — making the change even more mystifying.
“If the military recognizes that service members must be able to accurately state their nonbelief on identification tags,” adds Barker, “there is no legitimate reason to deny them the same accuracy in their personnel records.” Barker also reminds that the First Amendment does not permit the government to treat those with minority religions or nonreligion as lesser citizens.
FFRF calls on the Department of Defense to restore the comprehensive religious and nonreligious affiliation codes and urges the Air Force to halt mandatory implementation of the truncated system. No American who volunteers to defend the Constitution should have to sacrifice an accurate acknowledgment of their own beliefs — or nonbelief — to serve.
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 41,000 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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2026 National Convention: Registration
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
Pre-registration for FFRF’s 49th annual convention in Milwaukee, WI closed on September 30th, 2026.
Registration at the door is welcome; however, group meals cannot be purchased at the door. To register, please visit the Help Desk near the registration table.
Registration opens at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15th, in the Crystal Ballroom at the Hilton Milwaukee, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave.
On Friday, registration reopens at 8 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom Foyer on the first floor of the Baird Center, 405 W. Kilbourn Ave., which is connected to the convention hotel. All Friday and Saturday events take place at the Baird Center.
Registration will remain open throughout the convention. Look for the “Help Desk” to register.
Registration is $100 for FFRF members, $105 for companions accompanying members and $160 for non-members (or save money by joining FFRF for $40 when you register). High school students and younger may register for free, and college students may register for only $25.
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Make your voting plan and vote early!
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
We’re incredibly proud that nearly 99 percent of FFRF members are registered voters who voted in the past presidential election.
However, because there’s been so much chaos sown by the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine voting, we’re sharing some brief voting tips, if you have not yet voted:
• Check on your voting status, even if you’ve voted recently. Visiting Vote.org is a fast way to confirm that your registration is still valid.
• Make your voting plan. Check with your local registrar’s city or county website to find information on mail-in rules, how to register, when early voting starts and stops, polling places — and what’s on your ballot. Many voter groups also provide such information, including Democracy Forward or Rock the Vote.
• What to do if you’re a citizen told you can’t vote. Although unlikely, if you’re turned away at the polls, first be sure to request a provisional ballot. Then call or text the League of Women Voters hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) or 1-888-VE-&-VOTA (en Espanol).
• Help get out the vote if you have time. Contact your local League of Women Voters to find out how you can help.
Young “Nones” (religiously unaffiliated) need special encouragement to vote, so if you have young people in your life, help them register and get to the polls. If you are Gen Z or a Millennial yourself, you now make up 44 percent of American voters! Young voters turned out in record numbers in 2018 and 2020. It’s vital they turn out in 2026. Find out more.
And remember: Vote like your rights depend on it, because they do.
See you at the polls!
Dan Barker & Annie Laurie Gaylor
Co-Presidents
Freedom From Religion Foundation
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Latest episode of ‘Secular Spotlight’ uncovers blasphemy laws in America
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The brand new episode of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Secular Spotlight” YouTube show reveals the astonishing fact that blasphemy laws still exist in this country.
Blasphemy laws may sound like a thing of the past, but six states still have them on the books. FFRF’s Ryan Jayne and Mickey Dollens explore the history of such laws in the United States, explain how you can help repeal these archaic laws, and speak with filmmaker George Kalman about his successful challenge to Pennsylvania’s blasphemy law.
“Who gets to define what blasphemy is? You know, what is or is not blasphemy?” Jayne begins. “That’s always going to be a danger, even for people who are really deeply religious.”
You can catch this episode of “Secular Spotlight” on FFRF’s YouTube channel, or on your smart TV after downloading FFRF’s free app, Freethought TV, which also highlights FFRF’s other video programming. Previous episodes include a warning about Wisconsin’s proposed constitutional amendment that will exempt places of worship from emergency measures, and a deep dive into India’s ruling Hindu nationalist movement with Faria Rehman of Hindus for Human Rights. Make sure you’re subscribed to FFRF’s YouTube channel for all the latest updates!
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 more than 40,000 members across the country, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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