Dixit Himal Nepal
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
WORT 89.9 (Madison, WI)
By Staff
FFRF Communications Director Amitabh Pal interviewed from Kathmandu for his world affairs radio show Himal SouthAsian magazine founder Kanak Mani Dixit on the climate change-caused glacial melt flooding that has devastated Nepal — and what all needs to be done, including at the global level, to prevent a recurrence.
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FFRF disburses $18,450 to 2026 college student essay contest winners
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is proudly awarding $18,450 to the 12 winners and eight honorable mentions in the 2026 Kenneth L. Proulx Memorial Essay Contest for Ongoing College Students.
Currently enrolled college students (up to age 24) wrote on the topic of “Why President Trump is wrong that ‘you just can’t have a great country if you don’t have religion.’”
This contest is named for Kenneth L. Proulx, one of FFRF’s most generous benefactors, who died in 2019. The cupola at Freethought Hall, FFRF’s office in Madison, Wis., is called the “Above Us Only Sky Kenneth L. Proulx Cupola” or “Ken’s Cupola” for short.
The $1,000 prize for sixth place in the ongoing college competition is generously endowed by actor and FFRF Lifetime Member Mr. Madison Arnold. Madison, who is 90, has given a $30,000 endowment as a living bequest, which he calls a “pre-quest.”
Essay contest winners, their ages, the colleges or universities they are attending and the award amounts are listed below.
FIRST PLACE
Artem Khaiet, 21, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, $3,500.
SECOND PLACE
Astrid Jepson, 21, UCLA, $3,000.
THIRD PLACE
Alexander Safranak, 19, Bradley University, $2,500.
FOURTH PLACE
Hendrick Ventura Andeliz, 24, American Military University, $2,000.
FIFTH PLACE
Natalie Sowers, 19, Allegheny College, $1,500.
SIXTH PLACE (tie)
(MR. MADISON ARNOLD AWARD)
Whitney Brown, 19, Hutchinson Community College, $1,000.
Aaron Love, 19, University of Kentucky, $1,000.
SEVENTH PLACE
Sean-Patrick Dulcio, 20, Florida A&M University, $750.
EIGHTH PLACE
Ava Jackson, 19, Howard University, $500.
NINTH PLACE (tie)
Amelia Keefe, 20, University of Central Florida, $400.
Anh Nguyen, 20, Georgia Tech, $400.
TENTH PLACE
Kevin Xiong, 21, Baylor University, $300.
HONORABLE MENTIONS ($200 each)
Alfred Conway, 19, George Mason University.
Katherine Chow, 19, New York University.
Mason Gutierrez, 19, Northern Arizona University.
Rowen Hamilton, 21, University of Texas.
Jeremiah Jefferson, 20, College of Wooster.
Olayide Ogunse, 20, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Sapien Saldivar, 20, University of Texas.
Aimee Vega, 20, Purdue University.
FFRF thanks Lisa Treu for managing the details of this and FFRF’s other student essay competitions. It also would like to thank our volunteer and staff judges, including: Dan Barker, Anne Bendixen, Craig Crispin, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Susan Gould, Robert Holley, Sammi Lawrence, David Malcolm, Andrea Osburne, Rose Mary Sheldon, PJ Slinger, Jennifer Vines and Matthew Woodruff.
FFRF has offered essay competitions to college students since 1979, high school students since 1994, grad students since 2010, one explicitly for students of color/first in the family since 2016 and a fifth contest for law students since 2019.
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 40,000 members across the country, 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 backs Hegseth impeachment amid escalating Christian nationalist agenda
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is denouncing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest effort to transform the U.S. military into a vehicle for his brand of Christian nationalism.
Hegseth kicked off what the Pentagon is calling the “Send Me Tour” during a visit late last week to Texas A&M University, where he addressed the university’s Corps of Cadets.
“This is our first stop on what we are calling the SEND ME TOUR,” Hegseth told the cadets. “If you know your Book of Isaiah, Chapter 6, Verse 8, the Lord said, ‘Whom shall I send?’ Isaiah says, ‘Lord, I AM HERE. SEND ME.’”
Hegseth then explicitly connected the biblical passage to American military service.
“For 250 years of this country, there have been men and women who raised their right hand and said, ‘SEND ME,’” Hegseth stated, before referring to Americans fighting the Redcoats, communists and “Islamists.”
The Pentagon itself has adopted the biblical branding. Its announcement of Hegseth’s Texas trip identified his appearance at Texas A&M as part of the “Send Me Tour,” alongside meetings with the Corps of Cadets and the university’s Veterans Resource Center.
FFRF emphasizes there is something deeply wrong with the nation’s highest-ranking defense official using the machinery and prestige of the U.S. armed forces to recast military service as answering a biblical call from God.
“Hegseth seems to have forgotten that he oversees the U.S. military — not a Christian crusade,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “Service members take an oath to support and defend our godless and entirely secular Constitution, not somebody else’s so-called holy book. Hegseth’s religious overreach is increasing and shocking — and demonstrates that he needs to be reined in.”
FFRF points out that a biblical deity is not sending service members into battle; they signed up to serve their secular country. FFRF, as the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), also points out that 18 percent of active military members are atheist/agnostic, and another 32 percent have no religious affiliation, according to research, putting the “Nones” overall at half of current military members!
The “Send Me Tour” is not an isolated incident, but only the latest development in a pattern of Hegseth misusing his government position to promote an explicitly Christian conception of the United States and its military.
Hegseth has repeatedly cited Isaiah 6:8 in connection with military service and recruitment. At the Pentagon’s Sept. 11 observance marking 25 years since the terrorist attacks, he also compared Isaiah answering God’s call with Americans volunteering for military service after 9/11.
That rhetoric is particularly disturbing given the history surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks. Just five days after the attacks in 2001, President George W. Bush drew international criticism after describing the coming fight against terrorism as a “crusade.” Bush subsequently backed away from the historically charged term.
It is dismaying to see Hegseth, a quarter century later, employing explicitly violent Christian imagery, especially at a time when the United States is engaged in war with Iran, a predominantly Muslim country.
Hegseth recently invoked Psalm 144, including its language about God training hands for war and fingers for battle, in connection with U.S. military operations. He has repeatedly blended biblical imagery, military force and his false promotion of the United States as a Christian nation.
And Hegseth has institutionalized sectarian Christianity inside the Pentagon itself. Since May 2025, Hegseth has hosted monthly “Christian Prayer & Worship Service” events at the Pentagon featuring Christian preaching, prayer and hymns. At the Sept. 16 service, Hegseth quoted Psalm 33 before falsely declaring that America “was founded as a Christian nation” and “remains one.”
This claim is historically and constitutionally false, given that the Constitution establishes a secular government, contains no reference to a deity, Christianity or Jesus, prohibits religious tests for public office and protects religious liberty for citizens regardless of belief or nonbelief.
Hegseth’s conduct has now become part of a broader congressional controversy surrounding his tenure.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth alleging high crimes and misdemeanors related to the war with Iran, military strikes in the Caribbean and alleged suppression of protected speech. A separate group of House Democrats previously introduced its own impeachment resolution accusing Hegseth of misconduct, including prosecuting an unauthorized war and mishandling classified information.
FFRF supports congressional efforts to hold Hegseth accountable and believes his sustained promotion of Christian nationalism as secretary of defense provides additional reason for Congress to closely scrutinize his conduct.
The constitutional concern extends far beyond any single bible quotation. Cabinet officials retain their personal religious freedom, including the right to pray, worship and discuss their beliefs. But holding public office does not confer a license to enlist the government itself in promoting those beliefs.
The secretary of defense exercises extraordinary authority over millions of military and civilian personnel. When the person at the top repeatedly declares that America is a Christian nation, holds government-branded Christian worship services and now launches a military tour named for a biblical call from his god,service members outside Hegseth’s preferred faith receive an unmistakable message about which service members enjoy official favor.
That is precisely what the Constitution’s principle of separation between state and church is designed to prevent.
“Pete Hegseth is free to answer whatever religious calling he personally believes he has received,” Barker adds. “He is not free to answer it on behalf of the U.S. military. Our armed forces defend a secular Constitution and a pluralistic nation, not Christianity. Congress should treat this escalating pattern with the seriousness it deserves.”
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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A welcome blank wall: Fla. school takes down godly banner after FFRF complaint
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
A Florida public middle school in Panama City, Fla., has removed a prominent “God is Love” banner from its gym after the Freedom From Religion Foundation intervened on behalf of a concerned parent.
For roughly three years, the large religious banner hung inside the gym at Mowat Middle School in Lynn Haven, part of Bay District Schools. The banner incorporated the school’s official “M,” its Mustang identity and school colors, making the religious proclamation appear to be an official message of the school. Mowat identifies its students as “Mustangs,” and district materials confirm its traditional school colors include navy and yellow.
A parent who contacted FFRF said they first noticed the banner in August 2023 and had been troubled by it ever since.
“It has bothered me for three years,” the parent told FFRF. “The official M and the Mustangs logo make it feel like the school is endorsing one religion over others. It just hit me that my kids see this religious propaganda every single time they enter that gym. It’s impossible to miss.”
FFRF contacted the district and asked it to remove the banner, which clearly violates the principle of separation between religion and government.
“As the district is aware, public schools may not constitutionally show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to Superintendent Mark McQueen.
Mowat Middle School was undeniably signaling clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion. There was no other reasonable way to interpret this banner other than an official school-sponsored religious pronouncement that a god is real and that “God is Love.” The school was also coercing students to read and reflect upon an overtly religious message every single time they enter their school’s gym.
Thirty-four percent of Floridians are non-Christian, including 27 percent who are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.”
Fortunately, FFRF has recently received welcome news directly from the parent: The banner is gone.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your help,” the parent wrote to FFRF after confirming its removal. The parent sent FFRF a new photo of the gym showing the large space on the wall where the banner once hung, adding: “That big blank spot on the wall feels so right.”
FFRF welcomes the school’s response, which shows respect for the Constitution and for families by leaving decisions about what to believe where it belongs: with students and their families.
“Students should never have to walk into their public school and be confronted with a declaration about what they are supposed to believe,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We’re delighted that this inappropriate religious display has been removed.”
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 nearly 2,000 members and a chapter in Florida, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Arkansas families urge appellate court to block 10 Commandments law
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
Attorneys for 10 Arkansas families presented oral arguments today urging an appellate court to uphold a district court injunction blocking defendant school districts from implementing a Ten Commandments state law.
Act 573 requires displays of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom and library. The attorneys for the multifaith and nonreligious families argued before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the injunction is necessary to protect the religious freedom of these families under the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.
The organizations representing the families in Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1 — the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the ACLU, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel — issued the following statement:
“Arkansas families — not politicians — have the right to decide how and when their children engage with religion. Act 573 tramples families’ fundamental religious-freedom rights by forcing a government-selected version of the Ten Commandments on children for nearly every hour of the school day, throughout their entire public education. The district court correctly recognized that public schools exist to educate, not to impose the state’s preferred religious doctrine on children. We are proud to support these courageous families and will continue defending the constitutional promise of religious freedom for students and parents of every faith — and those who practice no religion at all.”
Learn more about Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1.
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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