FFRF blasts Education Department’s weakening of civil rights office

The Freedom From Religion Foundation assails the Trump administration’s latest assault on public education.

In an attempt to further dismantle our educational system, the Trump administration has announced plans to transfer oversight of special education and the Office for Civil Rights out of the Department of Education. This is not an inconsequential reorganization, but a deliberate dismantling of the civil rights infrastructure designed to protect every student in America’s public schools.

For decades, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has acted as a check on discrimination in education. It is tasked with enforcing vital laws such as Title VI, Title IX and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. These laws exist precisely because Congress recognized that vulnerable students get ostracized and left behind without federal oversight. The Trump administration had vowed to cut 90 percent of the office’s staff, but a federal court struck down that plan and required the reinstatement of all previously fired Department of Education employees. As a result, the administration has shifted its focus to impeding agencies within the department, leaving them without power to protect students.

This dismantling is not happening in a vacuum. It coincides perfectly with an aggressive push to undermine public education and reroute funding to private, often religious schools. One way the Trump administration seeks to accomplish that goal is through promoting private school voucher schemes. In peddling vouchers as “school choice,” the Trump administration has rebranded the defunding of public education as parental empowerment.

The dire consequences of voucher programs cannot be overstated. In addition to siphoning funds dedicated to public schools, private schools are permitted to discriminate on the basis of religion, exclude students with disabilities, and reject families who don’t share their faith. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has traditionally enforced the anti-discrimination laws that private schools must follow.

The Trump Administration has vowed to “return education to the states.” However, states do not enforce federal civil rights law; this is the federal government’s job. Stripping the Office for Civil Rights of its enforcement authority does not empower local communities; it abandons the students those laws were written to protect, including students of color, students with disabilities and students whose religious identity makes them targets in schools that receive public money but answer to no public authority.

FFRF has long warned that the systematic defunding of public education and the simultaneous expansion of taxpayer-funded religious schooling represent twin threats to public, secular education. Vouchers are at the forefront of eroding the wall of separation between state and church. By methodically dismantling the Department of Education, the Trump administration is accelerating that erosion.

“The latest effort by the Trump administration to dismantle our nation’s public education system is simply abhorrent,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Stripping civil rights protections from millions of students while calling for public dollars to be funneled to religious schools is nothing more than the systematic dismantling of constitutional protections.”

Public schools are secular, open and accountable to all. FFRF will not stand by while that is broken.

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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FFRF questions Auburn University coach-led prayers and ‘Jesus’ uniforms

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that Auburn University stop suffusing its men’s baseball program with religion. 

A concerned Auburn University family member has informed the state/church watchdog that the Auburn men’s baseball team has Latin crosses on the backs of their new uniforms and “Jesus Won” written on the front. Additionally, both the Auburn baseball team Facebook page and the official Auburn Tigers fan group have posted a video and a photo, respectively, of the Auburn men’s baseball team being led in prayer by what appears to be the coach.

The family member who brought the situation to FFRF’s attention expressed concerns about the coercive pressure the players may be under to participate in team prayers and wear religious uniforms. They observed that non-Christian students would likely feel out of place and unable to refuse the coach’s expectations for players to kneel and pray or wear team gear with the cross and “Jesus” written on it. 

Notably, this is not FFRF’s first time contacting Auburn University over unconstitutional entanglement of religion and sports, and this is not the first time Auburn University has prioritized religious practice over students’ rights. In 2015, FFRF published its “Pray to Play” report, which heavily features abuses at Auburn. The report details how universities like Auburn have allowed their football coaches to impose their personal religious beliefs on players via the hiring of Christian chaplains. FFRF wrote to Auburn again in 2018 regarding football Chaplain Chette Williams, a university-employed chaplain who has proselytized and prayed with the football team. Finally, in 2023, FFRF wrote to the university after learning that multiple coaches had promoted a religious event where the head football coach had baptized a player. 

FFRF is once again asking that Auburn University respect students’ First Amendment rights — by ceasing the usage of religious symbols and messaging on uniforms, and by the baseball team coach refraining from leading players in prayer.

These actions amount to official university favoritism toward religion over nonreligion, and Christianity over all other faiths. The religious uniforms and coach-led prayer also risk unconstitutionally coercing players into wearing religious symbols and participating in prayer. Men’s baseball team players who wish to maintain their standing on the team and continue to have access to scholarships and other benefits of playing college sports will no doubt feel that going along with what the coaching staff wants is essential to being viewed favorably by their coaches and team. Players will not feel free to refuse to wear religious uniforms or to refuse to participate in prayer, for fear of retaliation or of losing their place on the team.

University employees are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. Entangling the university’s sports teams with Christianity needlessly marginalizes students and players part of the nearly one in three Americans who now identify as religiously unaffiliated. In addition, more than half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) are not Christian, with a recent survey revealing that almost half of Gen Z identify as religiously unaffiliated.

“Auburn University continues an upsetting and concerning trend of allowing athletics coaches to proselytize student-athletes with seemingly no real consequences,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “There are undoubtedly students who are too afraid to speak up about representing a religion that they are actually not a part of. They are owed an explanation as to why their rights are consistently being sidelined.”

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 41,000 members, including hundreds of members in Alabama, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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The 11 CRAZIEST Things Mormons Are Taught

Episode 54 – The War on Nonprofits

FFRF challenges N.C. county’s Christian agenda

Photo by Jessica Ruscello on Unsplash

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is insisting that Randolph County commissioners in Asheboro, N.C., immediately stop imposing their sectarian religious beliefs on the community.

A concerned county resident informed the state/church watchdog that on Dec. 8, 2025, the Board of Commissioners voted to dissolve the entire Library Board of Trustees in response to its decision to keep the book “Call Me Max,” which is about a transgender child, in the children’s section. In a video documenting the meeting, Commissioner Kenny Kidd stated, “What is important to me is the souls of our children.” FFRF has learned that the board now intends to create new Library Board of Trustees policies that would supposedly better “represent the values of Randolph County” by excluding books like “Call Me Max.”

The community member who reported this incident also informed FFRF that the board has been opening every meeting with a Christian prayer. As far back as Aug. 4, 2025, Chaplain Bill Hatfield led the audience in prayer at the board meeting, saying, “Thank you for our country. The Lord is always here when I say the pledge of allegiance, and I encourage us to do this as well. Not only to make it a pledge, but make it a prayer. … Oh we pray for our country and pray for our county. We love you Lord, we thank you, we give you praise again. Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.” And to give a very recent example, the meeting on June 1 began with a Christian prayer led by Chaplain Kevin Walton:
Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Lord, I pray that you bless and watch over this meeting and I do pray that the truth will be done. Lord, and I ask all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The board ought not to lend its power and prestige to religion, especially a single religion, by scheduling, hosting or conducting governmental prayers.

“Citizens, including Randolph County’s nonreligious citizens, are compelled to come before the board and its committees on important civic matters, to seek licenses and permits and to participate in important decisions affecting their livelihoods, property, children and quality of life,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude writes to Board Chair Darrell Frye.

Prayer at government meetings is unnecessary, inappropriate and divisive. All board members and meeting attendees are, of course, free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. However, board members do not need to worship on taxpayers’ time.

Exclusively Christian opening prayer excludes those community members who belong to the 38 percent of Americans identifying as non-Christians, including the nearly one in three Americans who are now religiously unaffiliated. It is coercive, embarrassing and intimidating for such citizens to be required to make a public showing of their nonbelief in Christianity — by not rising or praying — or else to display deference or obeisance toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe, but which their county commissioners clearly do.

The ideal approach is to discontinue invocations altogether.

Additionally, FFRF is firmly opposed to banning books from libraries. FFRF believes that there is no true freedom of thought, conscience or even religion unless our government and its public schools are free from religion and its control over thought. The best solution is to leave a diversity of viewpoints in libraries — and trust that families will explore complex topics in the ways their beliefs dictate. As the board must know, parents, not the government, have the constitutional right to guide their children’s religious or nonreligious upbringing.

To respect the diverse range of religious and nonreligious residents living in Randolph County, FFRF is asking that the board concentrate solely on civil matters — and leave religion to the private conscience of each individual.

“As if banning books from the library were not bad enough, board members are revealing their true nature by putting prayer before meetings,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “The commissioners should stop their prayers immediately, and not channel their personal dogmatic beliefs to control what books are available to the public.” 

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 41,000 members and several chapters across the country, including almost 1,000 members and a chapter in North Carolina, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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Emma Hanson

EMMA HANSON

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Ellen Gaul

ELLEN GAUL

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The 11 CRAZIEST Things Mormons Are Taught

MLB warns San Francisco Giants players after anti-LGBTQ protest on “Pride Night”

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A group of Christian athletes on the San Francisco Giants pushed back against the team’s “Pride Night” festivities by writing anti-LGBTQ Bible verses on their caps, a move that violates baseball’s rules. They’re now acting like they’re the real victims in all this.

Last week, the Giants celebrated Pride Night with special rainbow-colored caps for team members—they apparently didn’t have to wear them if they didn’t want to—and a message promoting resources to help LGBTQ people and their loved ones.

It’s not a controversial message in any way… unless you’re a conservative Christian who thinks acknowledging and helping LGBTQ people amounts to a sin.

That was the case for Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp, who wrote “Gen 9:12-16” on his cap… and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, who imitated him… and another pitcher, Sam Hentges, who refused to wear the cap entirely.

You’d be forgiven for not noticing the message given that Roupp gave up four runs in under five innings and left the game before taking the official loss. But those verses are ones in which God says the rainbow is a sign of his covenant with the planet—after he murders nearly everyone on it. In other words, Roupp was arguing that God owns the rainbow, not LGBTQ people. As if a message of unity and inclusion violates his religion.

It’s bad enough that these pitchers wanted to make it clear they’re not on board with celebrating LGBTQ people, but to do it in San Francisco? Who do they think comes to the games?! It’s also not like they care about sending this message on other nights. Just Pride Night. So let’s not pretend like this is anything but anti-LGBTQ.

Roupp and his colleagues later gave the standard Christian monologue to reporters saying they don’t hate LGBTQ people at all. They just don’t like them and that’s a totally different thing! They’re just following the Bible! They’re Christian so you’re not allowed to be mad at them! Stop persecuting them for their free speech!

“Kind of what the verse says, you know, the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant to us, and us as believers to stand firm in that. … There’s no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for and what I stand in. I believe in God, and that’s me.”

Roupp then was asked how he’d respond if someone from the LGBTQ+ community took exception to his inscription of the Bible verse on Pride Night.

“First of all, as a believer, I would push them to read the Bible,” Roupp stated. “I think God has blessed me in so many ways, and I don’t think I would be here right now if it wasn’t for him. So, like I said, there’s no hate in it at all, you know, like I said, we live in a country where you’re welcome to believe what you want. There’s a freedom of speech and stuff like that, so that’s really all I have to say about that. I’m just thankful that God has put me in this situation and that I can go out and share his kingdom.”

…

Hentges said Saturday there had been discussions among several players in the days leading up to the Pride event on how to proceed. The reliever referenced “other Christians on the team that have the same beliefs” and said the group went to team leaders and then made a “collective decision.”

“It’s just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don’t morally support it,” Hentges said. “There wasn’t hatred behind it. I think that’s kind of something that’s misinterpreted. I don’t hate the LGBTQ community. It’s just something I believed and talked with teammates and family, and they supported it.”

There wasn’t hatred behind it. These guys just want LGBTQ people to know they are evil sinners who deserve the wrath of God. You know, Christian Love. It’s such a cop-out of an answer because Roupp and Hentges clearly didn’t want to say what they actually believe about LGBTQ people so they tiptoed around it, as if that would make anything better.

It’s also not a matter of “free speech” because this has nothing to do with the government. MLB sets the rules.

The pathetic responses from the Christian bigots led to predictable praise from fellow religious bigot JD Vance, and an offer to pay future fines from “comedian” Rob Schneider, while the team quickly issued a statement denouncing the players’ actions… but not saying they would do anything about it:

“The San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community. Baseball should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued.

“We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations. We understand that the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that. Those choices do not change our organization’s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all.

“We remain grateful to our fans, partners, employees, players, and coaches who help make Pride Night a meaningful celebration.”

That was followed by a mild rebuke from a Higher Power: Major League Baseball itself.

Not because of the anti-LGBTQ sentiments, which the players are allowed to have, but because there are rules about putting personal messages on your equipment:

“The writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations,” Pat Courtney, MLB’s chief communications officer, told Outsports in a statement.

It was a weak statement that didn’t go into any specifics about what the consequences could be if they did it again—or how immediately those consequences would be implemented. How many strikes will these guys get?

And then, somehow, MLB made it worse. They issued a second statement, watering down the first one, and making it clear that their only concern was the act of writing a message, not the content of the message:

“To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message,” MLB said.

“We respect players’ right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball’s Uniform Regulations which provides in part that, ‘(a) Player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment…’. We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad’, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom,’ and names of family members.”

Again, they didn’t say what the consequences would be if these players did something similar in the future. Probably nothing, given that baseball players have put messages on their caps for right-wing and sensible reasons and there’s no evidence of MLB taking any action against them. Hell, Clayton Kershaw did the same thing with the same Bible verses last year. No punishment. In fact, Jim Buzinski of Outsports.com noted, “In reviewing Spotrac’s database of MLB fines and suspensions going back 10 years, I could find no examples of players being fined for a uniform violation.”

It’s not like this is limited to baseball either. Hell, a player on the Chicago Bulls was booted off the team after unleashing an anti-LGBTQ rant back in March (though the team said he was let go for unrelated reasons).

It’s worth reiterating that the players in question didn’t have to wear the Pride Night hats at all. They could have worn the regular ones. Instead, they wore the rainbow caps and wrote a message on them, to be extra dickish to their fans.

Rarely has this kind of pushback been part of a concerted team-wide effort, though. Maybe that’s why MLB put out a statement now when they said nothing publicly in the past.

My concern isn’t that other teams will do this, realizing there are no real penalties. It’s that some teams may stop doing anything Pride-related in the future because they want to avoid controversy altogether.

Whatever the case, God doesn’t appear to be on the Giants’ side. They have one of the worst records in all of baseball. And after their antics this week, there’s even less to root for.

Braindead tiktoker attempts to salvage awful showing by running away.