New mayor, same problem: FFRF condemns NYC mayor’s ongoing violations

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is again warning New York City’s mayor that the Constitution prohibits government officials from using the machinery of public office.

FFRF has sent its second letter in a couple of months to Mayor Zohran Mamdani after receiving a complaint from a New York City employee regarding a recent religious event organized through official city channels. The national state/church watchdog previously contacted Mamdani in February after he posted on the official New York City Mayor’s X account about participating in a suhoor meal and praying with Department of Sanitation workers during Ramadan.

Despite that warning, FFRF has now learned that the mayor’s office held a “City Workers Iftar” on March 12 to “celebrate workers who keep New York City running while fasting.” The event notice was emailed to city employees by Interim Commissioner Melissa Hester and it noted that the event included a call to prayer.

A city employee who contacted FFRF observed that it is “completely inappropriate for a government agency to have a religious celebration.” The employee expressed concern that events like this may create the perception that the mayor’s office favors one religion and that employees attending city-sponsored events may be expected to participate in religious activities.

“While you are entitled to observe your faith in your personal capacity, the Constitution prohibits government officials from organizing, promoting or participating in religious exercises in their official roles,” FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line writes to Mamdani. “Hosting a religious observance for city employees of one religion and facilitating a call to prayer through official government communications and personnel crosses the line between private religious expression and government-sponsored religious worship.”

FFRF emphasizes that city employees work under the authority of elected leadership, creating a dynamic where even “voluntary” religious events can carry implicit pressure. “Public employees should not be placed in a position where they may feel compelled to attend a religious event or appear supportive of a particular faith tradition to maintain favor with their employer,” the letter states.

FFRF also notes that this is not the first time the organization has raised such concerns with the New York City mayor’s office.

FFRF repeatedly contacted previous New York City Mayor Eric Adams over his misuse of the office to promote Christianity and religious messaging. Adams openly rejected the constitutional principle of state/church separation, declaring at a 2023 interfaith breakfast, “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state.”

FFRF again rebuked Adams after he appeared at a church and claimed that “God had spoken to my heart” and told him he would become mayor. The organization warned that the continued use of public office to advance personal religious beliefs is an abuse of public trust and violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“It is dismaying to see these constitutional concerns arise again under a new mayor,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Regardless of whatever religion the mayor may or may not personally follow, the mayor’s office must remain neutral. The city government cannot organize or promote religious worship.”

More than one-fourth of New Yorkers have no religious affiliation while 57 percent identify as Christian and 15 percent have non-Christian faiths, including 8 percent who are Jewish, 3 percent who are Muslim and 2 percent who are Buddhist. FFRF stresses that defending state/church separation means opposing government promotion of religion across the board, including when religious minorities are involved.

It is unfortunate that Mamdani’s official promotion of Islamic prayer and rituals comes at a time when some politicians are cynically spreading fear about Muslim public officials and promoting baseless claims that Islamic law poses a threat to the United States.

Last week, FFRF called on Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., to resign after he declared on social media that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” And the past November, FFRF’s legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, named Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., its “Theocrat of the Week” for promoting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories about so-called “Shariah law.”

“Religious bigotry from lawmakers and government promotion of religion are two sides of the same constitutional problem,” Gaylor says. “The solution is the same in every case: Government must stay out of the religion business.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members nationwide, including more than 2,100 members in New York. 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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Court permanently blocks Arkansas public school 10 Commandments law 

A federal district court issued a permanent injunction today prohibiting the school district defendants from implementing an Arkansas law that requires all public schools to permanently display a government-chosen, Protestant version of the Ten Commandments.

In his decision in Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks wrote, “Act 573 must be permanently enjoined. Failing to do so would violate the Establishment Clause rights of all Arkansas public-school children and their parents and also violate plaintiffs’ Free Exercise rights.”

Ruling that the law, which sought the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom and library in the state, would lead to unconstitutional religious coercion of the child plaintiffs and interfere with their parents’ rights to direct their children’s religious education, Brooks explained: “Act 573’s purpose is only to display a sacred, religious text in a prominent place in every public-school classroom. And the only reason to display a sacred, religious text in every classroom is to proselytize to children. The state has said the quiet part out loud.”

Brooks added: “Nothing could possibly justify hanging the Ten Commandments — with or without historical context — in a calculus, chemistry, French or woodworking class, to name a few. And the words ‘curriculum,’ ‘school board,’ ‘teacher’ or ‘educate’ don’t appear anywhere in Act 573. Accordingly, there is no need to strain our minds to imagine a constitutional display mandated by Act 573. One doesn’t exist.”

“Act 573 is a direct infringement of our religious-freedom rights, and we’re pleased that the court ruled in our favor,” said Samantha Stinson, who is a plaintiff in the case along with her husband, Jonathan Stinson. “The version of the Ten Commandments mandated by Act 573 conflicts with our family’s Jewish tenets and practice, and our belief that our children should receive their religious instruction at home and within our faith community, not from government officials.”

“We are delighted that reason and our secular Constitution have prevailed, and that children will be spared this unconstitutional proselytizing,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “Our public schools exist to educate, not to evangelize a captive audience.”

“Today’s ruling is a resounding affirmation that public schools are not Sunday schools. The Constitution protects every student’s right to learn free from government-imposed religious doctrine,” said John C. Williams, legal director for ACLU of Arkansas. “Arkansas lawmakers cannot sidestep the First Amendment by mandating that a particular version of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom. As the court recognized, this law served no educational purpose and instead placed the authority of the state behind a specific religious message. We’re grateful that the court has permanently blocked this unconstitutional law and protected the religious freedom of Arkansas students and families of all faiths and none.”

“Today’s decision ensures that our clients’ classrooms will remain spaces where all students, regardless of their faith, feel welcomed and can learn without worrying that they do not live up to the state’s preferred religious beliefs,” said Heather L. Weaver, senior counsel for the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

“Today’s decision honors the Constitution’s promise of church-state separation and religious freedom,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “It will ensure that Arkansas families — not politicians or public-school officials — get to decide how and when their children engage with religion.”

“Today’s thoughtful decision reinforces a bedrock principle of our constitutional system: The government may not compel adherence to any religious doctrine,” said Jon Youngwood, co‑chair of Simpson Thacher’s Litigation Department. “This ruling is a critical affirmation of the First Amendment rights of students and families to decide for themselves whether — and in what ways — they engage with religion.”

The injunction, issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, permanently prohibits the school-district defendants, including Bentonville School District No. 6, Conway School District, Fayetteville School District No. 1, Lakeside School District No. 9, Siloam Springs School Dist. No. 21 and Springdale School District No. 50, from “complying with Act 573.” Last year, the court issued a preliminary injunction temporarily barring the school district defendants from displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms and libraries.

Represented by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the ACLU, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel, the plaintiffs in Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1 are a group of 10 multifaith and nonreligious Arkansas families with children in public schools.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide. 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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May 4, 2026 – Patrick Elliott to Speak at Minnesota Day of Reason at State Capitol (St. Paul, MN)

Legal Director Patrick Elliott of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), will be the featured presenter at the Minnesota Atheists’ Day of Reason event at the Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda on Monday, May 4th from 1:00-2:30 p.m.

The annual Day of Reason gathering will bring together secular advocates, community members and legislators under the theme “Rally for Secular Government.” Speakers will address the importance of maintaining the constitutional separation of state and church and promoting evidence based public policy.

Elliott will discuss FFRF’s ongoing legal efforts to uphold secular government and protect the First Amendment rights of all Americans. Additional speakers, including legislators and secular advocates, will participate in the program.

The event will take place from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at the Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul, located at 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard., St Paul, MN 55155. The event is free and open to the public.

FFRF works nationwide to defend the constitutional principle of the separation between state and church and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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The bright side of the 5th Circuit’s disturbing Ten Commandments decision

The Hill
By Rachel Laser

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FFRF op-ed published in Maryland newspaper with illustrious history

Freedom From Religion Foundation Regional Government Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens has had an op-ed published in one of Maryland’s most venerable newspapers.

“Theocratically inclined Maryland lawmakers are offering a false solution to a real problem.” Dollens begins his column in the Easton Star Democrat, founded in 1799.

The piece goes on to explain:

Like most states, Maryland faces a serious shortage of school mental-health professionals. The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students per counselor, yet Maryland’s average is closer to 327. The gap is even wider for school psychologists, with roughly 1,000 students per psychologist — nearly double the recommended maximum.

Rather than investing in licensed, trained mental-health professionals, House Bill 24 attempts to address the shortage by inserting unlicensed volunteer chaplain aides into public schools to provide “support services” to students.

The bill lacks even the most basic safeguards. It does not prohibit proselytizing, require parental consent or list any professional standards for chaplains working in schools. It tramples the religious liberty of students and disregards the very same parental rights that some of the bill’s supporters claim to value so much.

Don’t fall for the rhetoric claiming that public school chaplains won’t proselytize. Of course they will — and that is precisely the point of this bill. HB 24 does nothing to prevent a volunteer chaplain from using a school-sanctioned role to advance religious beliefs during the school day. Imagine a county superintendent who attends a Baptist church recruiting that church’s pastor to serve as a school chaplain — encouraging students to meet with him during the school day and allowing the pastor to proselytize during those meetings. Such a school would obviously be favoring religion over nonreligion, and favoring the county superintendent’s own specific denomination over all others. …

A major driving force behind this legislation is the National School Chaplain Association. Its parent organization has openly stated that it places Christian chaplains in public schools with the goal of converting non-Christian students — “reaching the largest unreached people group inside of the public schools around the world” to ensure that “the saving grace of Jesus becomes well known.” The same organization has said it intends to exploit the “massive lack of school counselors throughout public schools” to insert chaplains to “share God’s word” and “disciple” students.

“If lawmakers genuinely care about student well-being, the answer is not to blur the line between state and church,” the op-ed further states. “It is to invest in what actually works: hiring more licensed counselors and psychologists trained to support students of all backgrounds without pushing religious doctrine.”

You can read the full piece here.

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

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members nationwide, including close to 1,000 members in Maryland. 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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Creationism expelled from Colorado school after FFRF complaint

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has successfully halted the teaching of creationism in the science curriculum at a Colorado public charter school.

FFRF wrote to the CEO of James Irwin Charter Schools after a concerned parent reported that James Irwin Charter Middle School in Colorado Springs was planning to include “intelligent design” and “creationist theory” alongside evolution in its eighth-grade science curriculum.

According to an email sent to parents by the school’s science lead, the evolution unit proposed to “teach Intelligent Design and evolution” and “present a creationist theory and an evolutionist theory regarding natural selection, adaptation and evolution.”

The parent who contacted FFRF expressed concern about the school presenting religious doctrine as science.

“I feel like the public charter school is not trustworthy and I am now questioning the quality of my [child’s] education,” the parent communicated to the state/church watchdog. “I feel angry that religion is being forced on children and presented as science.”

FFRF Staff Attorney Samantha Lawrence wrote to the district explaining that teaching creationism or intelligent design in public school science classes violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“Promoting creationism, intelligent design or any of its offshoots in public schools is unlawful because creationism is based solely on religion, not scientific fact,” her letter stated. FFRF noted that the Supreme Court and federal courts have consistently rejected attempts to introduce religious doctrine into public school science classes, including the landmark ruling in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) and the federal decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005), which struck down policies promoting creationism and intelligent design.

FFRF’s intervention had the desired result. Following its letter, the school system investigated the matter and scrapped the pseudoscience portion of the curriculum.

“Please know that this practice has ceased,” CEO Rob Daugherty wrote in a response to FFRF. “Intelligent design will not be taught in the middle school or in any other James Irwin Charter School as part of a science curriculum.”

The district confirmed that the instruction had occurred sporadically over a period of years but was not part of the official curriculum and had not been known to current administrators until the issue was raised. The school system said it has taken several corrective steps, including halting the instruction, verifying that intelligent design is not taught elsewhere, reviewing lesson plans and instructional materials, and providing additional guidance and training to staff regarding religion in the classroom. The district also plans to adopt formal board action to codify these measures in its curriculum policies.

FFRF is pleased that the district moved quickly to correct the constitutional violation.

“Creationism and intelligent design are religious beliefs, not science,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Public schools have a constitutional obligation to teach evidence-based science — not promote religious doctrine.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 1,400 members and two chapters in Colorado. 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 – March 12, 2026

We talk about the Iran war with Mother Jones national correspondent Kiera Butler, author of the article: “Trump’s Holy Warriors Finally Got the Apocalypse They’ve Prayed For.”

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FFRF proudly co-sponsors ‘No Kings III Day’ on Sat., March 28

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is once again proud to co-sponsor the next “No Kings” National Day of Action taking place on Saturday, March 28. 

No Kings III is expected to be the largest nonviolent protest in U.S. history. Please visit this site to find the closest event near you.

There are 2,200 No Kings Day events planned in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and a dozen other countries. The flagship gathering will take place in the Twin Cities, which are still reeling from the ICE raids and the deaths of two bystanders.

There is still time to sign up to host an event if there isn’t one near you or to volunteer as a marshall.

Nearly 7 million people attended No Kings last October and the goal is for an even larger turnout at thousands of peaceful rallies later this month. The “No Kings III” website features a map showing events near you, messaging and many resources, including a host toolkit, graphics and signs.

“As a group with ‘freedom’ in our very name, the Freedom From Religion Foundation knows that we cannot defend the First Amendment’s ‘first freedom’ in an authoritarian nation,” comments Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “To defend our secular form of government and civil liberties, we must defend U.S. democracy itself, which is currently imperiled by corruption, chaos and Christian nationalism.”

FFRF encourages you to attend a March 28 event near you and to spread the word to friends, family and colleagues, as well as via social media by sharing No Kings III posts.

P.S. By the way, FFRF is offering a new T-shirt that’s perfect for No Kings Days (pictured above). FFRF also offers a variety of sun-protecting caps suitable for the occasion, such as one bearing the United States’ original motto of unity, “E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One).” To ensure delivery in time for March 28, we encourage you to order immediately and to request expedited shipping by phoning FFRF at 608-256-8900 during office hours (Monday through Friday, 9–5 CDT).

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide. 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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Coalition champions religious freedom in Texas schools

Baptist Standard
By Faith Pratt

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March 14, 2026 – FFRF Co-President Dan Barker will Speak on “The Battle of Church and State” in Austin, TX

Join Dan Barker, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), as he speaks at a public meeting hosted by the Austin Chapter of FFRF on March 14, 2026, in Austin, Texas.

Barker will present a talk titled “The Battle of Church and State,” examining the ongoing constitutional and cultural debates surrounding the separation of religion and government in the United States. Drawing from his experience as a former evangelical minister turned atheist activist and his decades of work advocating for secular government, Barker will discuss why maintaining a clear boundary between church and state remains vital to protecting religious freedom for all.

As Co-President of FFRF, Barker works to uphold the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government through education, advocacy, and legal action. During the event, he will share insights from FFRF’s work challenging church-state violations across the country and will engage with attendees during a discussion period.

The event will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the Little Walnut Creek Branch of the Austin Public Library, located at 835 W Rundberg Ln, Austin, TX 78758. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear Barker’s perspective on current church-state issues and learn more about FFRF’s efforts to defend the First Amendment.

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