AU urges federal appeals court to protect religious freedom, LGBTQ+ workers

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, joined by nine other religious and civil rights organizations, today urged the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm that religious freedom does not give employers a blanket license to discriminate against their workers. In an amicus brief filed in the lawsuit Doe v. Catholic Relief Services, AU and allies explained that the First Amendment doesn’t exempt religious employers from non-discrimination laws and doesn’t allow Catholic Relief Services to discriminate against an LGBTQ+ worker by compensating him less than other employees. 

Religious freedom is not a license to discriminate or harm LGBTQ+ workers

“Religious freedom is not a license to discriminate or harm LGBTQ+ workers,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “Employers don’t have a right based on their religious beliefs to dock the compensation of an employee who happens to be LGBTQ+ — that’s not how religious freedom works.

“Religious extremists continue their crusade of urging courts to grant them immunity from civil rights and anti-discrimination laws,” Laser added. “The lower court’s decision in this case is consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court, which has said religious freedom ‘does not mean that religious institutions enjoy a general immunity from secular laws.’  We urge the court to protect religious freedom for all and reject the employer’s demand for a religious exemption from Maryland’s non-discrimination laws.”

Religious & civil rights groups join AU in brief to court

Organizations joining AU on the brief include the American Civil Liberties Union; Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice; Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ; DignityUSA; Global Justice Institute, Metropolitan Community Churches; Hindu American Foundation; Methodist Federation for Social Action; Sadhana: Coalition for Progressive Hindus; and Society for Humanistic Judaism.

The brief was authored for AU by Litigation Counsel Jenny Samuels and Associate Vice President and Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser.

FFRF demands records after Hegseth targets chaplains for not pushing Christianity

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is responding to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sweeping changes to the U.S. military’s Chaplain Corps and religious affiliation system.

In a video posted on Dec. 16, Hegseth claimed that the Chaplain Corps has been “weakened” and “degraded” by what he called “political correctness” and “Secular Humanism.” He also attacked the Army’s 112-page “Spiritual Fitness Guide” for not actively promoting Christianity, criticizing it for mentioning “God” only once while referencing emotional health concepts such as “feelings” and “playfulness” more frequently.

Hegseth announced that he would sign directives to eliminate use of the “Spiritual Fitness Guide” immediately, “simplify” faith and belief codes used by service members, and elevate “spiritual well-being” to the same footing as physical and mental health as part of a broader “top-down cultural shift.” FFRF cautions that such moves could undermine religious liberty protections for numerous service members.

FFRF has sent Hegseth a letter objecting to these actions and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all records related to the directives, internal communications about chaplaincy reform, and any planned changes to religious affiliation coding practices.

“Chaplains exist to ensure the free exercise rights of all service members, not to serve as instruments of religious conformity,” FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line writes. “Any attempt to transform the chaplaincy into a mechanism for privileging particular religious doctrines or encouraging service members to believe in a particular religion would violate service members’ constitutional rights and undermine the very purpose of the corps.”

FFRF says that Hegseth’s public framing of “spiritual” readiness is especially troubling given that the nonreligious make up at least a quarter of service members, yet such service members are underrepresented and underserved in military chaplaincy. Although secular humanist chaplains serve successfully in prisons, hospitals and universities nationwide, humanist and nontheist chaplains are not currently permitted in the military chaplaincy system.

FFRF emphasizes that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment requires governmental neutrality “between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.” In the military, where chains of command and coercive power structures are uniquely intense, even subtle favoritism can produce unconstitutional pressure and exclusion.

Meanwhile, FFRF’s letter notes, the Army’s “Spiritual Fitness Guide” appropriately recognizes that resilience and purpose can arise from many sources, including family, community, integrity, shared purpose and service — not just religious belief.

“Secretary Hegseth is openly framing government chaplaincy as a tool for enforcing his preferred theology,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The military exists to defend the Constitution, not to promote religion. Any attempt to privilege one faith tradition or marginalize nonreligious service members threatens the First Amendment rights of the very people who serve.”

FFRF believes transparency is essential, particularly when policy changes could threaten service members’ constitutional rights.

“Service members must not be treated as pawns in a culture war,” Gaylor adds. “They deserve leadership that respects conscience — religious or not — and that upholds the secular Constitution they swore to defend.”

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 TV now available on Samsung Smart TV

Freethought TV, the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s free secular streaming channel, is now available on the top streaming device in American homes: Samsung Smart TV. With the launch of the new channel platform, the innovative streaming service can be seen on 68.7 million Smart TVs in the United States.

Designed for smart TVs, streaming sticks and mobile devices, Freethought TV provides on-demand access to the latest FFRF programming, alongside an expansive archive of hundreds of classic episodes produced in house over the years and convention speeches. The platform offers a dynamic mix of informative, inspiring and entertaining content aimed at freethinkers, skeptics, state/church separation advocates and anyone curious about secular perspectives.

“We’re excited to make our content available for free to so many millions of homes,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “We’re giving the public direct access to a rich library of secular programming — empowering viewers to explore and engage with a wide spectrum of freethought voices.”

Freethought TV features new FFRF series, such as “Secular Spotlight” and “Freethought Radio In Studio” (video versions of interviews), as well as complete seasons of classic shows like “Freethought Matters” and “Ask An Atheist.” In addition, the channel features speeches by major figures, authors and activists from FFRF national conventions and musical and seasonal specials. There’s also a section called “Greatest Hits,” which features the most popular FFRF videos of all time.

The channel will occasionally broadcast live programming, too. For instance, FFRF’s musical Winter Solstice Celebration was carried live on Freethought TV in December.

Apart from Smart TV, the app is also available on Roku, Google TV, Fire TV, Android TV and Android smartphones. Versions of Freethought TV for LG, AppleTV and iPhones will be announced soon.

With a built-in search function and an optional free personal account, users can instantly find and bookmark their favorite episodes. Freethought TV is simple to install — just search for “Freethought TV” in your device’s app store and follow the easy prompts to start streaming immediately.

Barker notes that Freethought TV is the only streaming app on any major platform exclusively dedicated to the concerns of atheists, agnostics and other freethinkers.

“There are scores of streaming channels out there run by megachurches and religious broadcasters,” Barker, a former minister turned atheist, notes.“Right now, Freethought TV is a lone voice for reason in a sea of religious propaganda.”

“We like to call it ‘free content for free minds,’” he adds.

For more information about Freethought TV, and specific instructions for installing the app on your device, visit us at freethoughttv.ffrf.org/.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With about 42,000 dues-paying members, FFRF is the largest freethought association in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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FFRF emphasizes Christian nationalism’s threat to democracy on insurrection anniversary 

Christian nationalism played a central role in fueling the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol five years ago, the Freedom From Religion Foundation reminds the public. And its embrace in the current Trump administration continues to pose an existential threat to American democracy.

FFRF is highlighting its landmark 2022 report, “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021, Insurrection,” which it produced in partnership with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The report documents how religious nationalist ideology helped motivate, justify and sanctify the violence aimed at overturning a democratic election.

“Too many discussions of Jan. 6 still treat Christian nationalism as incidental or even ignore its role,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We cannot fully understand what happened that day without confronting the religious ideology that framed the attack as divinely sanctioned and patriotic.”

The report brought together leading scholars and experts on Christian nationalism, including Anthea Butler, Samuel Perry, Andrew L. Seidel, Katherine Stewart, Jemar Tisby, Amanda Tyler and Andrew Whitehead. It traced the history of white Christian nationalism, mapped the well-funded networks that sustain it, and documented its visible presence during the Jan. 6 attack through prayers, symbols, signage and rhetoric invoking a Christian nation under threat.

The ideology examined in the report, far from fading, has captured key portions of the federal and some state governments, fueling efforts to merge religious doctrine with government power. This ranges from cabinet officials advancing explicitly Christian theology within the federal government to state laws privileging Christianity in public institutions.

In recent months, FFRF has rebuked a governor for instructing state employees to spend a government-mandated holiday “giving thanks for Christ’s birth,” warned that a deeply troubling directive issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi appears to target non-Christians, nonreligious Americans and disfavored viewpoints, criticized a Religious Liberty Commission hearing in Dallas for advancing a distorted, partisan and theologically driven view of religious freedom in the U.S. military, and documented how the Trump administration crossed constitutional lines with its sectarian Christmas messages. Together, these actions reflect the same core belief exposed in the Jan. 6 report: that the U.S. government should actively promote a particular religious identity at the expense of constitutional neutrality and equal rights.

In response, the state/church watchdog has vowed to challenge ongoing efforts to establish publicly funded religious charter schools and, most recently, filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block Texas from forcing public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. FFRF has also previously called “unconscionable” President Trump’s pardon of nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants — an encouragement to white supremacist, Christian nationalist and paramilitary movements.

“The conspiracy theories and the lies about a ‘stolen election’ continue to stoke hate,” Gaylor adds. “In remembering Jan. 6, we must recognize the forces that made it possible and refuse to normalize them going forward. Christian nationalism blessed and sanctified the horrible actions that day. It is a political ideology that threatens religious freedom and democratic governance alike.”

The full report on the Christian nationalist underpinnings of the Jan. 6 insurrection is available here.

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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2026 National Convention

View 2025 convention photos

Save the (convention 2026) date!

2026 has just begun, and FFRF has already lined up two big names for its convention in Milwaukee, Wis., this year!

Jim Obergefell and Ron Reagan will speak the weekend of Oct. 16–18, 2026, at the Baird Center in Milwaukee.

Obergefell is a civil rights activist who was the lead plaintiff in the 2015 United States Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Obergefell, an atheist, had sued the state of Ohio in 2013 due to the state’s lack of legal recognition of Obergefell’s marriage to his husband, John Arthur.

Reagan is a political commentator and broadcaster and long-time ally of FFRF. Reagan’s ad that features him saying, “lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell” has been aired hundreds of times on MSNBC and CBS and CNN.

View 2025 convention photos

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FFRF’s Ron Reagan ad airing on Colbert and Maddow

Ron Reagan’s iconic advertisement for the Freedom From Religion Foundation will be featured in the coming days on Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow’s popular television shows. 

The commercial, in which Reagan declares himself an “unabashed atheist, not afraid of burning in hell,” will first be broadcast on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” tonight, Jan. 6., shortly after midnight Eastern time. It will run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until Jan. 21. Additionally, the ad will be played on “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Mondays starting Jan. 12 through Jan. 26, during both the 9 p.m. and midnight time slots. The ad will return to Maddow’s show in February from Feb. 2 to Feb. 16.

In the 30-second commercial, Reagan, who is the outspoken son of President Ronald and Nancy Reagan, says:
Hi, I’m Ron Reagan, an unabashed atheist, and I’m alarmed, as you may be, by the intrusion of religion into our secular government. That’s why I’m asking you to join the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation’s largest and most effective association of atheists and agnostics, working to keep state and church separate, just like our Founders intended. Please join the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.

Reagan has received FFRF’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award for his lifelong identification as an atheist and his advocacy of the separation between religion and government. He addressed FFRF’s national convention in Madison several years ago and again in Denver in 2024.

FFRF’s “Freethought Matters” TV show has conducted a memorable interview with the ever-quotable Reagan. 

“We thank Ron Reagan for his generous endorsement of FFRF and our work to promote nontheism and get religion out of government,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “The ad is often thought of as provocative, but accounts for nearly 50 percent of new members — so it’s clearly effective!”

Reagan will headline the 49th annual national convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation being held in mid-October in Milwaukee.

The broadcasting of these ads is only possible thanks to generous FFRF members who donate to FFRF’s Advertising Fund.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with about 42,000 members and several chapters across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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FFRF: Beware health care sharing ministries — they’re not health insurance!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is warning that in their quest for affordable insurance Americans should take care not to be duped by health care sharing ministries.

With premiums set to double, triple or even quadruple after the Affordable Care Act subsidies lapsed on New Year’s Day, health care coverage for more than 20 million Americans is at risk. While Congress is set to resume its fruitless debate over the issue that caused the government shutdown last fall, FFRF reminds the American public of the dangers posed by health care sharing ministries.

Imagine an insurance company that doesn’t cover routine care or medications, can drop coverage or kick someone out for almost any reason (including a preexisting condition), has a lifetime cap on benefits, isn’t regulated, doesn’t have to possess any cash reserves and can hide information about coverage, payouts, terms and conditions.

This sums up the modus operandi of health care sharing ministries. In such entities, members — who are required to share a system of religious or ethical beliefs — make monthly payments to cover health expenses of other members. Health care sharing ministries do not have to comply with the consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act, do not guarantee payment for medical claims and provide limited benefits for their members.

In short, health care sharing ministries are a form of noncompliant junk coverage. In fact, they are not insurance, so there is no guarantee that claims will be paid even for expenses that meet membership guidelines for “covered services.” They generally do not have to cover preexisting illnesses, for example. (It goes without saying that abortion and contraception coverage is a nonstarter for most of these outfits.)

Through a combination of lax regulatory structures, selective payment of benefits, religious exemptions and the high cost of medical coverage, health care sharing ministries have become extremely profitable. News stories continue to emerge about how consumers are being duped into joining these organizations.

And health care sharing ministries have been receiving legislative help. Through 2024, 30 states passed so-called safe harbor provisions, touted by the conservative lobbying group ALEC as the Health Care Sharing Ministries Freedom to Share Act. Colorado in 2022 became one of the states to buck the trend and pass laws to curb some of their most egregious practices. But federal legislation introduced by Congressional Freethought Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Jared Huffman to rein in the worst abuses has not been passed. For instance, there are no federal protections or accountability requirements for disclosure of the percentage of claims denied, financial reserves or explicit explanations about when the ministry is not required to pay claims. Until the federal government and all states pass such protections, many hurting Americans will be left vulnerable to misleading claims from health care sharing ministries, particularly because they are promoted as having far more affordable premiums.

“We greatly sympathize with the millions of Americans who have been left in the lurch by the shameful inaction of Republicans in Congress to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “But it’s terribly important to get out the message that health care sharing ministries are a scourge — rather than the answer to the affordability crisis.”

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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Federal officials openly violate the U.S. Constitution by pushing Christian messaging on citizens

Anne Landman Blog
By Anne Landman

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Sarah Sanders stands up to atheists after shutting down state offices to celebrate ’Christ the Savior’

LifeSite
By Charles Richards

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Sanders Defends Faith, Reassures Atheists Jesus Loves Them

Spreely News
By Erica Carlin

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