FFRF sues Trump administration over taxpayer funding of religious America 250 events
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing the Trump administration in federal court for refusing to release records on the use of taxpayer funds for religious events tied to the 250th anniversary celebrations.
The national state/church watchdog, which is also the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics), filed suit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service under the Freedom of Information Act after the agencies failed to produce records requested months ago. The lawsuit seeks to compel the release of documents detailing federal involvement in religious programming associated with the administration’s “Freedom 250” initiative, including an all-day Christian prayer rally called by President Trump and held on the National Mall.
Trump promoted the all-day prayer fest during his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast: “On May 17, 2026, we are inviting Americans from all across the country to come together on our National Mall to pray, to give thanks, and to rededicate America as one nation under God.”
Says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, “Americans deserve to know how much of our tax dollars were misused to promote a Christian nationalist worship service.”
“The 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding should have celebrated the constitutional principles that unite us all, including the all-American principle of separation between state and church that ensures true religious freedom,” Gaylor adds. “It should never have been used to promote an extremist brand of Christianity or to falsely portray the United States as ‘a Christian nation.’”
At the center of FFRF’s investigation is “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” a May 17 event that featured videos from Trump (reading from a chapter of the bible), Vice President JD Vance (“We’ve always been and still are a nation of prayer, and thank God for that”), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (who urged attendees to pray “on bended knee” to Jesus) and an in-person appearance from House Speaker Mike Johnson (“We hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God”). Numerous religious leaders also spoke; every speaker but one ultraorthodox rabbi was a Christian.
FFRF is seeking to determine to what extent federal resources and taxpayer dollars were used to organize, promote or subsidize this pervasively sectarian and exclusionary religious celebration.
Congress voted in 2016 to appropriate $150 million to the Department of the Interior for semiquincentennial activities billed as America 250. But most of the congressional funding has gone to Freedom 250, which Trump announced in December 2025 as a separate entity. FFRF is seeking to discover how much public money was directed toward religious worship and proselytizing under the guise of commemorating (and whitewashing) American history.
Congressional Freethought Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., released a report in July charging, “Donald Trump’s hijacking of America’s 250th birthday will go down as one of the most corrupt, brazen abuses of public trust in presidential history, even by the dubious standards of this administration.” One use was $10 million for “Freedom Trucks” that promoted Christianity and included an AI rendering falsely claiming that George Washington said, “Our rights are a gift from God.”
FFRF first submitted a FOIA request to the National Park Service on March 5 seeking all permit applications, issued permits, memoranda, schedules and communications relating to the Rededicate 250 event. Despite repeated attempts by FFRF’s legal counsel to obtain the records, the agencies have produced nothing.
FFRF submitted a second FOIA request on May 13, expanding its investigation to the broader Freedom 250 initiative and its relationship with religious organizations. That request sought contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding, payment records and communications involving Freedom 250, particularly those connected to religious worship and prayer. The request also sought information about “America Prays,” a faith-based initiative Trump announced promoting nationwide prayer activities, including events associated with the anniversary celebrations.
The Department of the Interior acknowledged the second request but has not made a substantive determination or released any responsive documents. As of this month, the request remained listed as “in process.”
The Freedom of Information Act generally requires federal agencies to make determinations on requests within 20 business days, subject to limited extensions. FFRF contends that the agencies have violated federal law by failing to meet those deadlines, withholding responsive records and failing to provide estimated completion dates.
FFRF’s lawsuit asks the court to order the agencies to conduct reasonable searches, produce all nonexempt responsive records, justify any lawful withholdings and comply with their obligations under FOIA.
“This administration cannot use taxpayer money to promote religious events and then keep the public in the dark about how that money was spent,” says FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “The Freedom of Information Act exists precisely so Americans can hold their government accountable. Federal agencies do not get to ignore transparency laws simply because the records might invite scrutiny.”
FFRF calls the records essential to determining the extent of federal involvement in these religious activities and how they violated the Constitution.
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 40,000 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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FFRF helps Arkansas parent secure inclusive field trip for kindergartners
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash
A concerned Arkansas parent no longer has to choose between protecting their 5-year-old from school-sponsored religious activity and letting the child share a special field trip with classmates.
Lakeside Primary School, located in Hot Springs, had planned an Oct. 1 kindergarten field trip to Family Farm Christian Day Camp. The parent complainant personally visited Family Farm last year and witnessed religious activity there. When the school sent home permission slips in early September, the parent objected to an official public school trip to camp with a pervasively sectarian mission.
The parent first raised the issue directly with the school. Principal Amanda Sarver confirmed that previous school visits to Family Farm had included “a brief prayer in the morning after the pledge” and that there could also be “brief comments that reference being thankful to God.” Students were not required to participate, the principal said.
But having to opt their child out of the field trip because it was inappropriate did not feel like a real solution to the parent. They wanted their kindergartner to enjoy the same educational and social experience as classmates without first needing a lesson in how to navigate religious activity at a public school event.
“I don’t want to exclude [my child] from fun school experiences with [their] classmates because of this,” the parent told the school.
“I don’t think it’s fair that a five-year-old should have to grapple with this distinction in the context of a public-school field trip,” the parent wrote. “I would much rather be able to send [them] on a school field trip without having to prepare [them] for the possibility of religious activity.”
That is when the parent turned to FFRF.
“My concern is not that a private Christian organization exists or that individual students or staff members hold religious beliefs,” the parent explained to FFRF. “My concern is that a public elementary school is sponsoring and organizing a kindergarten field trip to a location identified as a Christian day camp, where religious activity has occurred as part of the experience.”
FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to Lakeside School District Superintendent Bruce Orr on Sept. 22, explaining that public schools cannot place families in the position of choosing between an important school experience and avoiding unconstitutional school-sponsored religious events.
The district acted immediately.
The very next morning, Orr informed FFRF that Lakeside would not proceed with the trip to the Family Farm Christian Day Camp. Instead, the district is planning an alternative kindergarten outing and is considering the Mid-America Science Museum and a local botanical garden.
“We intend to preserve the opportunity for our kindergarten students and their families to enjoy this special experience together while ensuring the school-sponsored activity is appropriate for all students,” Orr wrote in an email.
Orr also acknowledged the district’s constitutional responsibility: “Lakeside respects the individual religious beliefs of all of our students, families, and staff. We also recognize our responsibility as a public school district to ensure that school-sponsored educational opportunities do not promote or favor particular religious beliefs or practices.”
FFRF commends Orr and the Lakeside School District for taking the parent’s concerns seriously and responding promptly.
“This is exactly how public schools should respond when it becomes aware of a First Amendment violation,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Every activity in a public school should be educational, inclusive and welcoming to all. Young and impressionable students should never be taken on a religious field trip as part of a public school activity.”
FFRF is pleased that Lakeside students will still get their field trip, with the educational experience and childhood memories that come with it, while leaving religious instruction where it belongs: with families and religious organizations, not public schools.
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 nearly 41,000 members and several chapters across the country, including hundreds of members and a chapter in Arkansas, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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A Tennessee school board is putting Christian Nationalism ahead of students
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A public school district in Tennessee voted to allow a Ten Commandments display to go up in each school—even though they didn’t have to. It’s not just a pathetic attempt to appease Christian Nationalists, it’s a move that could lead to a lawsuit.
That said, it feels odd that we’re even talking about Tennessee.
Over the past year, there have been laws passed requiring classrooms to post the Ten Commandments in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. All three states have faced lawsuits over the matter, and most of the judges have declared those laws to be unconstitutional; lawmakers did it anyway because they see an opening to inject Christianity into the public schools. The bills even said the state would cover a district’s legal fees if they were sued over the matter.
Despite its Republican supermajority, though, Tennessee hadn’t followed suit… until this year.
Back in May, the state passed its own version of a Ten Commandments bill, but HB 47 wasn’t like the bills we saw in other states. This one gave school districts the option of putting up the display in a “prominent” location in each building.
What display? Specifically one that included the full KJV text of the Ten Commandments, the “first sentence of the second paragraph of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence,” and the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
Something like this:
By making it a choice, and by requiring the inclusion of those other actual historical documents—or at least snippets of them—the state was hoping to avoid legal battles.
But you can already see the problem here. The bill requires the full text of the Ten Commandments, but only partial text of the other two. If this is meant to teach kids about our “Founding Documents,” as the title in that image says, why all the focus on a religious list that has nothing to do with the nation’s origins?
Republicans also left it to the districts to decide how big the displays should be. The districts didn’t have to put up anything, but if they did, the only requirement was that the text needed to be in at least 26-point font.
After that bill was signed into law, five school districts agreed to participate: Blount County School District, Rutherford County Schools, Washington County Schools, White County Schools and Wilson County Schools. All five have already been sent letters from church/state separation groups demanding public records about the decision. That could be the prelude to a lawsuit.
It probably doesn’t help that one of those districts, the Rutherford County Schools, already chose the following as their design, making it very clear which document they really care about:
But none of those districts have posted the documents in their schools yet because, at least in some cases, they haven’t raised enough money. Until they do, there won’t be any litigation.
Now the Hamilton County Schools are getting in on the action.
Last month, the board voted 6-4 to approve the plan, despite warnings from one board member, Ben Connor, who said this could lead to an expensive and unnecessary legal battle:
I know from talking to people [in the Tennessee legislature] that they removed it from being “mandatory” because they’re not going to be dumb enough to pay the bill to fight this. They specifically wanted to pull out “mandatory” so some moron school board would vote for it and then be on the hook to pay millions of dollars to fight a dumbass lawsuit.
Sharp language, but he’s not wrong. He voted against the displays. Sadly, he was outnumbered. He probably saw that coming, though, because at the same meeting, the board voted 6-4 to elect a new chair, Jodi Schaffer, whose completely inappropriate introductory remarks included a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer:
That’s the sort of deranged majority that runs this public school board. And now they could be the first to put up those religious posters.
All of these districts will almost certainly be sued if they go through with this. When they are, they’ll likely be forced to pay a hell of a lot of money in legal fees. That’s what happens when you violate federal law—and the law still says promoting religion in the classroom like this is illegal.
It’s irrelevant that Tennessee lawmakers gave districts permission to do this. By going through with it, these districts won’t escape the consequences of forcing religion onto students under the guise of teaching them about American history.
(Interestingly enough, this wouldn’t even be the area’s first time fighting a Ten Commandments battle. In 2002, the Hamilton County Courthouse posted Ten Commandments displays at multiple buildings, only to have a judge declare those displays unconstitutional.)
None of this is necessary. It sends a horrible message to students that the Ten Commandments influenced our country’s founding (it didn’t) and that there’s value in being told they must worship the Christian God or honor the Sabbath (there isn’t). It creates far more problems than it solves.
If and when they’re hit with a lawsuit, it’ll be the fault of those six irresponsible board members for wasting taxpayer dollars to fight it.
Even beyond the fact that the Commandments didn’t influence the Constitution, think about what this district wants to teach students: If you’re coming from a Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or other non-Christian family, your beliefs aren’t as valued. No public school should be sending that message. No public school board should be pressuring children to accept their preferred theology.
Students will ultimately pay the price for the negligence of their school board. Money that could have funded teachers, counselors, and classroom supplies will have to be diverted to lawyers who’ll have to defend an entirely avoidable act of religious favoritism. All because a bunch of Christian Nationalists want to gamble that money away on a religious vanity project.
They were warned. They knew the risk. They chose indoctrination anyway.
What an embarrassment.
