State Charter School Board says no to Ben Gamla Charter proposal

Southwest Ledger (Lawton, OK)
By M. Scott Carter

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FFRF op-ed in Madison paper scrutinizes religiously inclined Wis. voucher program

Freedom From Religion Foundation Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne dissects Wisconsin’s nearly 30-year-long “voucher experiment” in an op-ed published in the Madison newspaper.

“Nearly half of all private school students in Wisconsin now receive a taxpayer-funded school voucher, according to Wisconsin Watch,” Jayne writes in the Wisconsin State Journal. “And almost all voucher schools in Wisconsin are religiously affiliated, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.”

The piece continues with a detailed history lesson on Wisconsin’s voucher program — and how it’s failed FFRF’s home state:

Wisconsin’s modern voucher era began in 1989 with the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, initially restricted to nonreligious private schools. This swiftly changed in 1998, when enrollment surged after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled, by a narrow margin, that expanding the program to include religious schools was not state-sponsored religious education. At the time, supporters assured the public that safeguards such as parental choice and opt-out provisions would prevent constitutional entanglements.

Nearly 30 years later, those assurances ring hollow.

The “choice” taxpayers are funding is largely a myth, because many Wisconsin families don’t live near a private school that shares their religious beliefs (or lack thereof). But those same families are now routinely taxed to fund religious instruction, precisely the kind of government involvement in religion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent.

Voucher defenders often point to a provision in Wisconsin law allowing parents to opt their children out of religious instruction. In theory, this is meant to preserve neutrality.

But in practice, it likely has almost no effect because parents typically choose to send their children to private schools in large part because of the school’s religious instruction. Though no data is publicly available on how often religious opt-outs occur, it makes sense that parents would avoid placing their children in an environment where they would be seen as religious outsiders.

These ineffective safeguards matter because constitutional violations do not disappear simply because participation is voluntary. When the state overwhelmingly directs public funds for religious instruction, it impermissibly advances religion.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s increasingly permissive jurisprudence on vouchers does not change the underlying principle: Compelled taxpayer support of religious instruction is deeply divisive and corrosive to pluralism. That’s why the primary author of the First Amendment, James Madison, denounced even “three pence” of taxes going to support teachers of the Christian religion, in his famed “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.”

Wisconsin’s voucher program also has consequences beyond the separation of state and church. As vouchers expand, they siphon resources from public schools that serve the vast majority of students and that are required to educate every child, regardless of disability, religion or background.

Voucher schools can discriminate in their admissions. Private schools lacking a public mission may well reject “difficult” students, such as those with special needs, leaving public schools with fewer resources to serve more students who require extra resources. Adding salt to the wound, the statehouse had the temerity to reimburse private schools for 90 percent of special education costs, while giving public schools less than 50 percent.

To conclude the piece, Jayne admonishes Wisconsin officials for the voucher experiment and emphasizes the need for the state to focus on public schools: “Instead of foolishly funding two separate school systems (one public, secular and accountable, the other private, sectarian and with almost no accountability for the more than $600 million in tax money it gets annually), Wisconsin needs to re-earn its reputation as an educational leader. It needs to reinvest in public schools and their unifying mission.”

The full op-ed is placed behind a paywall. Please consider supporting the local news website, Madison.com, to access the full article.

This column is part of FFRF’s initiative to engage with pertinent national and state issues and spread the messages of freethought and nontheism to a broader audience.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a Madison-based national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including over 1,800 members and two local chapters in Wisconsin. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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Atheist group claims school violated students’ rights after rapper ‘quotes Bible’ at assembly

Christian Post
By Ian M. Giatti

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The anti–Project Blitz: How the KPOP Act fights Christian Nationalism in public schools

Friendly Atheist
By Hemant Mehta

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American Atheists, Secular Partners Advance Model Legislation to Safeguard Students’ Rights

American Atheists
By Staff

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FFRF warns Alabama lawmakers: Coordinated religious bills violate First Amendment

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is warning Alabama lawmakers that a series of religion-based education bills recently advanced out of committee represent a direct assault on the First Amendment and the constitutional separation between state and church.

Within days, legislative committees advanced multiple measures requiring Ten Commandments displays in public schools, authorizing school chaplains, shifting public school sex education toward abstinence-only instruction and granting academic credit for religious instruction programs.
These bills include:

• HB 8, authorizing school chaplains and incorporating Ten Commandments displays without codifying sponsor assurances that chaplains would not proselytize.
• SB 99, mandating Ten Commandments displays approved by the Superintendent of Education accompanied by selectively chosen religious quotations presented as “historical context.”
• SB 209, shifting sex education requirements toward abstinence-only instruction.
• SB 248, granting academic credit for religious instruction programs during the school day.

While sponsors insist the measures are not intended to promote religion, statements made during committee hearings undermine that claim. During the SB 99 committee hearing, the sponsor displayed a mock-up of what he said would appear in classrooms — a single sheet of paper featuring the Ten Commandments alongside selectively chosen religious quotations from the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Alabama Constitution’s preamble.

When a committee member asked, “So that’s what will be displayed? That right there?” the sponsor confirmed it was.

That admission strips away any pretense of neutrality.

The Democrat questioning the sponsor said the only thing he would change about the bill is to add prayer, because he wishes there was prayer in our schools. He commended the sponsor’s work on the bill, saying students need to be “reprogrammed” by the time they leave home. The bill requires the Superintendent of Education to approve the design and layout of the display, and the specific quotations are listed in the legislation itself — carefully selected religious excerpts presented as civic heritage.

“Public schools exist to educate — not to indoctrinate,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “When lawmakers openly discuss ‘reprogramming’ students through government-imposed religious messaging, they are admitting what the Constitution already forbids: the use of public schools as instruments of religious coercion.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that public schools may not endorse, promote or coerce religious belief. From Stone v. Graham striking down mandatory Ten Commandments displays in classrooms to decades of precedent prohibiting school-sponsored prayer, the law is clear: The government must remain neutral on religion — especially in public education, where students are compelled by law to attend.

“Taken together, these measures are not isolated policy proposals — they form a coordinated effort to embed religious doctrine into Alabama’s public schools,” adds Gaylor. “The First Amendment does not permit the state to favor religion, promote scripture or pressure students into religious conformity. These bills cross that constitutional line.”

Even if couched in the language of history or character education, government-mandated displays of sacred scripture send an unmistakable message of state endorsement. Authorizing chaplains within public schools further entangles government with religion. Granting academic credit for religious instruction privileges sectarian activity. Collectively, these measures violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and threaten the religious freedom of students who do not subscribe to the majority faith.

The Constitution protects the rights of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, nonreligious and all other students alike. Public schools must serve every child — not elevate one religious tradition above others.

FFRF is urging Alabama constituents to contact their representatives before floor votes occur and to demand that lawmakers uphold their constitutional oath by opposing these unconstitutional bills. If these measures are enacted, FFRF will carefully evaluate them and consider appropriate legal action.

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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FFRF: Public schools must protect children

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is warning that coordinated efforts to dismantle longstanding school vaccine requirements threaten both public health and constitutional governance.

According to recent reporting, allies of the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are working state by state to eliminate or severely weaken laws requiring children to be vaccinated before attending public schools. Public health experts warn that rolling back these requirements will lead to preventable outbreaks of measles, polio and other infectious diseases — some of which are already resurging.

“Public schools are government institutions,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “Their obligation is to protect the health and safety of all children — not to bow to ideological campaigns dressed up as ‘medical freedom.’ Religious liberty does not include the right to endanger others.”

School-entry immunization requirements have been upheld by courts for more than a century, recognizing the government’s compelling interest in protecting public health. Vaccine mandates are not theological doctrines — they are evidence-based safeguards grounded in modern medicine.

FFRF notes that efforts to weaken vaccine requirements frequently rely on expansive interpretations of “religious freedom” that distort the First Amendment. While individuals are free to hold religious beliefs that conflict with medical science, the Constitution does not require public institutions to adopt religiously motivated denial of science as public policy.

“When ideology overrides evidence in public institutions, children pay the price,” Gaylor says. “The separation of church and state exists precisely to ensure that public policy is based on reason and the common good — not sectarian belief.”

The organization cautions that dismantling school immunization laws could disproportionately harm vulnerable children, including those who are immunocompromised or too young to be vaccinated.

“Freedom of religion protects belief,” Gaylor adds. “It does not grant a license to impose preventable disease on others.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation will continue monitoring state-level efforts to weaken vaccine requirements and stands ready to defend the constitutional principle that government policy — especially in public schools — must remain neutral, secular and evidence-based.

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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Rubio’s ‘Christian civilization’ remarks misrepresent America’s foundations

The Freedom From Religion Foundation demolishes Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assertion that Christianity is a defining bond of “Western civilization” and a central component of American identity.

On Feb. 14, Rubio delivered a speech at the Munich Security Conference describing the United States and Europe as part of a single civilizational bloc forged by “Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and shared history.”

“We are part of one civilization — Western civilization,” he claimed. “We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.”

Such remarks betray an amazingly narrow-minded worldview.

“When the nation’s top diplomat characterizes the United States as bound to Europe by ‘Christian faith’ and frames national identity in religious terms, he marginalizes tens of millions of Americans who are not Christian,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Nearly one in three Americans today is religiously unaffiliated. Millions more practice Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other faiths. They are no less American.”

The United States is not a Christian nation. It is a secular constitutional republic founded on the radical principle that government must remain neutral on matters of religion. The Constitution contains no reference to Christianity and explicitly prohibits any religious test for public office. The First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion or favoring one faith over others.

Government officials have a duty to represent all Americans, not just those who share their personal beliefs, FFRF asserts. Invoking Christianity as a civilizational litmus test sends a dangerous message at home and abroad that religious identity is tied to political legitimacy or national belonging.

The strength of the United States has never depended on religious uniformity. It depends on a constitutional system that protects freedom of conscience for believers and nonbelievers alike. Our secular government has allowed people of every faith and none to coexist as equal citizens under the law.

FFRF urges Secretary Rubio and all public officials to respect the Constitution’s mandate of state-church separation and to refrain from using their offices to promote Christian nationalism. American diplomacy should reflect our founding principles of religious freedom and governmental neutrality, not sectarian rhetoric.

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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FFRF’s secular TV channel now on LG WebOS TVs

In another expansion of its secular streaming platform, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has announced that Freethought TV is now available on LG smart TVs.

With such televisions making up an estimated 22 percent share of the U.S. television market, the move makes Freethought TV streamable on about 27 million additional TVs. Designed for smart TVs, streaming sticks and mobile devices, Freethought TV provides on-demand access to the latest FFRF programming alongside an expansive archive of hundreds of classic episodes produced in-house and at national conventions. The platform offers a dynamic mix of informative, inspiring and entertaining content aimed at freethinkers, skeptics, state/church separation advocates and anyone curious about secular perspectives.

“We’re very happy to be introducing this free secular programming to so many millions of additional U.S. households,” says Dan Barker, FFRF co-president. “As the airwaves become more and more dominated by Christian nationalist propaganda, we’re hoping that Freethought TV will be a beacon of secular clarity and reason.”

Freethought TV features new FFRF series, such as “Secular Spotlight” and “Freethought Radio In Studio,” as well as complete seasons of classic FFRF shows like “Freethought Matters” and “Ask an Atheist.” The channel also spotlights speeches by major figures, authors and activists from FFRF national conventions and musical and seasonal specials. FFRF recently announced that it has transferred its entire 600-video archive of material to Freethought TV.

In addition to LG webOS TVs, the Freethought TV app is also available on Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Google TV, Fire TV, Android TV and Android smartphones. Versions of Freethought TV for AppleTV and iPhones will be announced soon. For step-by-step instructions on installing the streaming app on your device, visit freethoughttv.ffrf.org.

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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American Atheists, Secular Partners Advance Model Legislation to Safeguard Students’ Rights

Across the country, hundreds of bills have been introduced to undermine the quality of public education and erode the First Amendment freedoms of students, teachers, and administrators. For years, watchdogs have warned against religious nationalist initiatives from Project Blitz to Project 2025 that aim to censor classroom discussions, restrict students’ exposure to the full marketplace of ideas, impose a narrow religiopolitical ideology, and divert public dollars to private schools — jeopardizing academic integrity and core civil liberties. A rapid shift in federal jurisprudence regarding religion in public schools has also left districts and educators confused and at risk of costly litigation. A national coalition of secular organizations have developed model legislation to safeguard nonsectarian public education. Policy and legal experts with American Atheists, the American Humanist Association, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) say their Student Secular Bill of Rights (SSBOR) affirms a long-established principle: Public schools must remain neutral in matters of religion. Coalition members contend this is both legally required and the best way to protect districts, administrators, teachers, students, families, and taxpayers alike.  Just weeks into the 2026 legislative session, the SSBOR has already been introduced in three states: Kansas (HB 2431, Rep. Heather Meyer), Oklahoma (HB 3488, Rep. Michelle McCane), and Vermont (H 705, Reps. Monique Priestley and Laura Sibilia). If passed, these bills will codify longstanding Establishment Clause case law into state statute, ensuring that public schools are not subject to the whims of the U.S. Supreme Court. “This is a chance for state lawmakers to stand up for students’ right to a secular public education in the face of an increasingly hostile U.S. Supreme Court,” said FFRF Action Fund Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne. “Enshrining these protections into state law guarantees that kids remain protected, regardless of what damage judicial activists may do to the First Amendment.” Proponents of the policy warn the consequences of perverting the Founders’ promise of religious freedom for all into a privilege and weapon for some are not hypothetical. Religious minority and nonreligious students experience alarming levels of discrimination and bullying at school. In California, 40% of Muslim students say discrimination has caused them to miss school. Nationally, over 75% of Sikh students report experiencing verbal, physical, social, or cyber bullying due to their religious beliefs. And nearly one-third of nonreligious youth report being bullied while at school, according to American Atheists’ U.S. Secular Survey. “The Constitution promises fundamental freedoms to everyone, regardless of religion,” said Sam McGuire, Director of Grassroots Organizing & Advocacy for American Atheists. “Anti-pluralistic policies that promote one faith tradition in public schools alienate religious minorities and nonreligious people. Our tax dollars must never fund or favor someone else’s beliefs, and we cannot allow students to be casualties in politicians’ culture wars.”  The coalition also developed a more comprehensive version, the Promoting Liberty & Upholding the Rights of All Learners (PLURAL) Act, which includes the same protections as SSBOR, as well as a minimum school funding standard and additional provisions to safeguard against the deprofessionalization and deregulation of education. The PLURAL Act further affirms that students themselves – not only their parents and guardians […]

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