Freedom From Religion Foundation

So it's kind of in legal limbo.

Of course, the typical characters like Freedom From Religion Foundation, all those atheist organizations, they're coming out to bat against this thing.

But, you know, there's now some precedent with Louisiana law and others pending.

So we'll see ultimately where this goes.

But as of right now, by January 1st, all schools across Alabama are going to have the Ten Commandments in 5th through 12th grade classrooms.

Yeah, tough day for the folks over at the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

I mean, they just feel like they're racking up L's every time they try to combat this stuff.

And it's because the Constitution does not prohibit the mere mention of Christianity.

Okay, Jerry Coyne.

Okay, so Jerry Coyne I had to talk about because I was talking about the Freedom From Religion Foundation backlash with Dawkins and Coyne and Pinker.

So Dawkins and Coyne and Pinker, I would not call Grifters any of the three of them.

They just... are bigots now that they're older and they are kind of being i feel like they're being swept into this political movement i think somewhat unwittingly i think that they think that they're standing for biology um you know but it is ironic like especially dawkins you know raging against religious propaganda and now acting as a pawn of christian theocrats to be honest um which i think is you know with the islamophobia and everything it's it makes sense But anyway, Jerry Coyne just spews anti-trans rhetoric.

Okay, today I'm going to talk with Chris Line, who is legal counsel at the Freedom From Religion Foundation, or RF.

The mission of this organization is to promote the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.

and to educate the public on matters relating to non-theism.

What I would say is if they would just join with us and understand the importance of protecting the separation of church and state, they'd understand that those constitutional rights will protect them as well.

And that's the point of a secular pluralistic society is that we all defend each other.

We're having to find that a lot right now here at the Freedom from Religion Foundation and often getting pushback because we, in recent months and years, have had to really defend Muslims because while there's, as you noted, serious issues with theocracy in, say, Iran, places like that, here in this country, Islam is such a small minority, it's a 1% population, and yet Christian nationalists are using them as a tool in saying, oh, they're coming here and taking over and imposing Sharia law and we have to fight back and we have to vote and we have to kick them out and we have to impose laws on them and all these things.

And it's like, no, listen, that's already taken care of with the Constitution.

That's what prevents us from living under Sharia law.

As Annie Laurie mentioned, look up the details at voteearly.org or vote.org.

So the Freedom From Religion Foundation launched a national billboard campaign in 19 U.S. markets earlier this month with our favorite message, Vote Like Your Rights Depend On It.

FFRF wants Americans to consider how the 2026 election will affect state-share separation, public education, and individual rights.

And our billboards direct viewers to an educational page that you might want to check out.

The campaign, which doesn't endorse candidates, of course, encourages voters to research the issues and make their voices heard.

And the biggest news of the last two weeks is...

FFRF is suing the Trump administration for failing to release records about taxpayer dollars used to fund religious events tied to the nation's 250th anniversary.

That included that all-day prayer rally on the National Mall in May where Annie Laurie and others protested with a giant golden calf with Trump's visage on it.

I'm Rebecca Markert with Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

I'm Liz Cavell with the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

And I'm Allison Gill with the National

Women's Law Center.

You can also find us at we-dissent.org.

Thanks for listening.

We Dissent is a joint production of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the National Women's Law Center, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

It is hosted by attorneys Liz Cavell, Allison Gill, and me, Rebecca Markert.

It is your host, Shay Leonia, on behalf of the American Humanist Association.

I am freshly home off the plane from Milwaukee, where several of us from the AHA got a chance to hang out with our friends over at the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

That might sound familiar to you because you are either familiar with their work, or you listened to the episode with Chris Line that we did a few episodes back.

If you haven't heard that one, be sure to queue it up for after this one is done.

Let's talk a little bit though about the positive side.

What did we fight for? We are fighting for a student's Bill of Rights to a secular public education.

This is a large project that we are doing with our partners at Freedom From Religion Foundation and American Atheists across the country.

And our organization, the Center for Freethought Equality, secured introduction in Pennsylvania this week.