Knox County taxpayers fight attempt to open a religious charter school

Knoxville News Sentinel (Knoxville, TN)
By Keenan Thomas

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FFRF lambastes arrest of Don Lemon due to privileging of churches 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation castigates the shocking arrest of journalist Don Lemon and three others in connection with a recent protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn.

Lemon was covering a protest of ICE and, in particular, the church’s pastor, who is an ICE official. The arrest of Lemon, after a federal magistrate judge had already rejected a criminal complaint, raises grave First Amendment concerns. That the Department of Justice pursued him anyway, reportedly out of anger at the court’s decision, underscores the political nature of his arrest and its chilling effect on press freedom and the First Amendment.

“The arrest of one of the nation’s most recognizable journalists, who was simply covering a protest, represents a dangerous escalation of government overreach. It’s an attack on the free press and a misuse of federal law,” say FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It’s also an unconstitutional prioritization of certain pastors and religious institutions over the civil liberties of citizens.”

Rather than defending constitutional rights, Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media last week to announce federal arrests and proclaim, “WE WILL PROTECT OUR HOUSES OF WORSHIP” and “WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.” These public declarations make clear that the administration is extending extraordinary protection to a religious institution while ignoring or actively enabling daily violations of citizens’ rights.

Government resources are being marshaled to shield a church from protest, scrutiny and reporting, even as federal authorities have killed peaceful protesters, terrorized immigrant communities and eroded fundamental civil liberties with little accountability. While protecting houses of worship from violence or credible threats of violence is a legitimate government interest, the rush to invoke federal law to suppress protest and journalism is not. Laws meant to protect individuals are instead being repurposed to privilege powerful religious institutions.

“This case is part of a broader pattern FFRF confronts every day: the government treating churches as uniquely deserving of special protection, deference and insulation from criticism,” adds FFRF Attorney Chris Line. “The First Amendment neither grants houses of worship immunity from protest nor does it permit the government to weaponize federal statutes to suppress speech because it occurs near or within a religious setting.”

FFRF stands firmly for the First Amendment, including its guarantees for the separation of state and church, freedom of the press and the right of citizens to protest government action, including when that protest implicates religious institutions entangled with state power. Selective enforcement that elevates churches while punishing journalists and protesters undermines the Constitution and endangers democratic accountability.

The government’s job is to protect the Constitution — not to act as the enforcement arm of religious privilege at the expense of public accountability and fundamental rights. FFRF calls for the immediate dismissal of unwarranted charges against Lemon.

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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Riverton (Utah) City Councilmember claims residents have only ‘God-given rights’ 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is admonishing a Riverton (Utah) City Councilmember for telling residents during a meeting that they “actually don’t have any First Amendment rights” — only “God-given rights.”

Councilmember Spencer Haymond made the remarks on Jan. 20 while members of the public, including FFRF’s complainant, were in attendance.

“Tonight here, we’ve talked a lot about our First Amendment rights, and one interesting thing is you actually don’t have any First Amendment rights,” Haymond said. “You have God-given rights that your First Amendment protects, that stops your government from infringing upon your God-given rights.”

FFRF has written to Haymond objecting to the comments and warning they violate the constitutional requirement that government officials remain neutral toward religion.

“It is deeply troubling for an elected official to tell citizens that their constitutional rights come from God rather than from the Constitution itself,” says FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line. “The First Amendment is not a theological concept. It is a legal guarantee that protects the rights of all Americans, including the 34 percent of adults in Utah who are nonreligious.”

A Riverton resident who attended the meeting reported feeling disrespected and marginalized by Haymond’s remarks, saying they felt like an outsider at their own City Council meeting when the councilmember used his position to preach religious beliefs and deny their First Amendment rights.

FFRF noted that this is not the first time Haymond has been warned about promoting religion in his official capacity. Last May, FFRF wrote to Haymond after he authored a column in the city newsletter asserting that “divine guidance played a crucial role” in America’s founding. The letter explained that government officials may not use their offices or government platforms to advance religious belief.

“Despite being put on notice, Councilmember Haymond has again crossed the same constitutional line,” Line says. “Public officials are free to hold personal religious beliefs, but they may not use taxpayer-funded positions or official meetings to promote religion or present religious doctrine as civic truth.”

FFRF is urging Haymond to refrain from making religiously promotional statements during City Council meetings and to respect the rights of all Riverton residents — religious and nonreligious alike.

FFRF will continue monitoring the situation to ensure Riverton officials comply with their constitutional obligations.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including hundreds of members and a chapter in Utah. FFRF’s purposes are to defend the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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Freethought Radio – January 29, 2026

Peruvian journalist Paola Ugaz tells us how her investigation (with colleague Pedro Salinas) led to the downfall of the Sodalitium, a Catholic cult that was sexually, physically and psychologically abusing young people.

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No choice about it: vouchers hurt public schools and fund religion

The Freedom From Religion Foundation cautions that the almost unrestrained expansion of so-called school choice programs continues to overwhelmingly divert public education dollars into private, mostly religious, schools while undermining our public school system.

National School Choice Week, observed Jan. 25–31, is a conjured-up PR campaign for voucher programs, education savings accounts (ESAs) and tax-credit schemes that redirect taxpayer funds away from public schools. Despite slick marketing and heavy political spending, these programs are neither about “choice” nor about improving education outcomes.

“School vouchers are a massive transfer of public money to private religious institutions at the expense of our public schools,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “They weaken public schools, erode accountability and force most taxpayers to subsidize religious instruction in which they disbelieve.”

Public money, religious indoctrination
The majority of private schools participating in voucher programs are religious, nearly 70 percent, and 76 percent of private-school students attend a religious school. In many voucher states, the numbers are even more lopsided. For instance, in Arizona roughly 96 percent of voucher recipients attend religious schools.

Voucher programs therefore function as a public subsidy for religious education, violating the fundamental constitutional principle that no taxpayer should not be compelled to support religion, especially someone else’s. While public schools welcome all students, religious and nonreligious alike, preserving a neutrality that serves all, religiously segregated schools typically require prayer, religious instruction and adherence to faith-based doctrine as a condition of enrollment.

No academic benefit, less oversight
Despite decades of promises, voucher programs have failed to deliver better academic outcomes. Numerous studies show voucher students performing no better, and often worse, than their public-school peers. Meanwhile, private schools receiving public funds are usually exempt from basic transparency requirements, standardized testing, accreditation standards and public oversight.

FFRF’s maxim is: Where public money goes, public accountability must follow. When public money goes to private schools, the public loses the right to know how that money is being spent. That lack of accountability has led to documented fraud, school closures and students left stranded mid-year.

Discrimination and segregation
Voucher-funded schools are allowed to discriminate against students and staff based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability — practices that would be illegal in public schools. These programs also exacerbate segregation, allowing schools to pick and choose students while draining resources from neighborhood public schools that must serve all children.

A coordinated political push
The recent expansion of voucher programs has been driven by well-funded political groups and religious lobbying organizations, not by grassroots demand. Wealthy donors and national advocacy groups have poured millions into state legislatures to pressure lawmakers into dismantling public education systems under the misleading banner of “choice.”

“Calling these programs ‘educational freedom’ or ‘school choice’ doesn’t change the reality,” notes Barker. “They are an ideological effort to privatize education and inject religion into taxpayer-funded schooling.”

FFRF urges lawmakers to invest in public schools
FFRF calls on policymakers to reject voucher expansion and instead invest in strengthening our public schools — the bedrock of our democracy and which are open to all students, accountable to taxpayers and committed to educating, not indoctrinating.

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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Court panel hears suit against law requiring Ten Commandments be posted in schools

Tulane Hullabaloo (New Orleans, LA)
By Bryce Oufnac

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Student Activist Awards

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FFRF stops religious activity in Tenn. elementary school after district posts biblical photo op

The Freedom From Religion Foundation forced the Crockett County Schools system to clarify its policy on bible distributions at a district elementary school, and has also had it remove a post from an official social media account showing students receiving those bibles during the school day.

FFRF learned that Gadsden Elementary School (in Gadsden, Tenn.) permitted Gideons International to distribute bibles to students on school grounds due to a post on the district’s official Facebook page. The post, which featured multiple students’ unobscured faces with bibles, read, “Thank you Mr Benny, along with the Gideons, for presenting bibles to our 5th graders this morning!!”

FFRF spoke up on behalf of the students — and their right to be free from religious coercion.

“By allowing Gideons International to distribute bibles to students at school during the school day, Crockett County Schools displays blatant favoritism for religion over nonreligion and Christianity above all other faiths,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote to the district. 

FFRF pointed out that when school staff encourage young students to take bibles, they risk unconstitutionally coercing students to take, read and reflect upon literature of a particular religious background. Students who see their peers taking bibles at the encouragement of authority figures will no doubt feel pressured to take a bible to fit in. A district social media page promoting Christianity also sends the message about favoring Christianity to students and community members — needlessly marginalizing all students and families who do not subscribe to Christian beliefs. As much as 38 percent of the American population is non-Christian, including the almost 30 percent who are atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular. 

Thanks to FFRF, the district has now been set on the right course.

Crockett County Schools Director Phillip A. Pratt sent an email to FFRF confirming that the district has addressed policies of social media and acceptable use of the district website. The district has also removed the original post of the event, and has assured FFRF that the district went over acceptable class time use policies with staff.

“Distribution of bibles or other religious proselytizing materials as part of the public school day is unconstitutional as well as predatory,” notes FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We parents teach our children not to take gifts from strangers, and then the Gideon Society takes advantage of a captive audience of school children to proselytize. Schools cannot and must not allow this.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Oklahoma. 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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WV Republican lawmakers continue to try to blur line between church and state in public schools

West Virginia Watch
By Leann Ray

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Tennessee parents and faith leaders seek to block religious public school Wilberforce Academy

Americans United
By Staff

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