Conservative Christians in Texas are trying to harass Muslims out of existence
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In a troubling sign of how Christian Nationalists plan to extend their power, it appears that Texas Republicans and the white evangelical Christians who prop them up are going to relentlessly harass innocent Muslims like it’s 2001 again. But instead of merely pretending that every Muslim—or anyone who passes for one—is an extremist, they’re hoping that a conservative judiciary will help them redefine the law so that Muslims are just prevented from having the same rights as everyone else.
This isn’t theoretical. It’s been happening in isolation for years, but it now seems to be an unofficial strategy.
A troubling front-page story in the New York Times this week summarizes not just the ways Muslims have been harassed in recent months but the bigoted policy decisions that arguably violate Muslims’ First Amendment rights.
In recent months, a man was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat at a major new Islamic center in Houston. Not far away, in Conroe, a woman told Muslim shoppers at a grocery store they were “not welcome in this state or this country” — after losing her job, she received nearly $250,000 from supporters after video of her comments circulated widely. In McKinney, a Dallas suburb, a woman grabbed a former mayor and stuffed paper with an anti-Muslim message down his shirt during a heated City Council hearing over a mosque expansion.
…
State leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have since opened investigations into Muslim institutions across Texas. They’ve sought to block the real estate development and investigate religious divorce counseling. Mr. Abbott threatened to take state funding from Texas airports that provide ritual washing stations for Muslim travelers, ordered the cancellation of a private water park party celebrating a Muslim holiday and labeled the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national civil rights group, as a terrorist group — a step that even the Trump administration has so far not taken. (Florida followed Texas in applying the same label to CAIR.)
In short, if Muslims try to do what Christians always get to do, Republicans put up obstacles in their path.
If Muslims are abused in public spaces, conservatives reward the harassers.
If Muslims dare to take advantage of public spaces, right-wing bigots will find a way to block them from using it.
And if Muslim lawyers dare to push back, conservatives will just label them as terrorists, as if practicing Muslims and religious extremists are all one and the same.
Each of these stories is horrific on its own. When you start seeing them on a regular basis like this, though, the trend becomes obvious: Conservative Christians and Republicans have decided terrorizing Muslims is perfectly acceptable and virtually no one in their circles has both the platform and courage to call this out for what it is. Why would they when Donald Trump has built his political career in part on dog whistles and attacks on Islamic communities? If Muslims spoke about Christians the way these Christians are speaking about Muslims, they might have a damn point. But conservative Christians don’t seem to care as long as the hate only flows in one direction. (There’s a reason they’re branded as “Y’all Qaeda.”)
Speaking of which, we haven’t even gotten into what Republican politicians have said about Muslims (who are among their own constituents!):
Take Rep. Andy Ogles, the Tennessee Republican who declared last month that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” Since that post, Ogles has shared anti-Muslim content on X more than 100 times.
Ogles is not alone, either. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) wrote on X in February that, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” He added this month: “We need more Islamophobia, not less.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), meanwhile, recently shared photos of the 9/11 terror attacks alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani with the caption, “The enemy is inside the gates.”
What did Speaker Mike Johnson do about those comments? Nothing, of course. He’s a conservative white evangelical. You can’t expect him to take the high road when his religion constantly teaches him to do the opposite. He’s not interested in treating Muslims as if they’re Americans with the same rights as him; he’s interested in Christian supremacy.
If this was just election-year pandering, it’d be bad enough. But consider that Texas Republicans have already injected Christianity in public schools—through the curriculum and through Ten Commandments posters in classrooms—and then realize those are just the initial phases of a long-term plan. They even have a perfect laboratory to test their ideas since there’s a growing Muslim population in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. The thinking goes: Let’s go after Muslims in that area, then expand from there.
They want to make Muslims feel so unwanted and out-of-place, that they remove themselves from society entirely.
When the Republican legislature in Texas reconvenes next year, the Times says, they want to redefine “religion” so that it excludes Islam entirely, giving conservative Christians a pathway to restrict the civil rights of Muslims even further:
In what would be an apparent first, one avenue being explored in Texas is to try to use state law to ban or regulate some Islamic cultural practices, such as tribunals for marriage and other decisions governed by religious rules, often referred to as Shariah law.
Some want to do it as soon as the Texas Legislature meets next year.
“One of the first things we’re going to try to do is define what a religion is,” said State Representative Alan Schoolcraft, a San Antonio Republican. “Islam itself is not just a religion. It’s much more than a religion.”
How’s that for a strategy? The freedom of religion no longer applies if you simply say a religion isn’t actually a religion.
Except Islam is very much a religion. The idea that Islam is any different, in that regard, from other faiths that have their own unique practices is ridiculous. (It’s deeply ironic that the bigots here often argue Islam is bad for women given that many conservative Christians ban women from preaching, demand their silence in church, and promote child marriage.)
You would think that the fact that Muslim politicians like Zohran Mandani or Rep. Ilhan Omar or Abdul El-Sayed have never even suggested that their beliefs should become law for everyone would put an end to the “Sharia Law” propaganda, but the people who are ignorant enough to believe that nonsense aren’t interested in facts. They don’t care that religious beliefs literally cannot override secular law (unless, of course, Christians do it, in which case the courts now say it’s okay.)
For what it’s worth, in 2010, during the Obama administration, the Justice Department argued against this very line of thinking, writing in a brief that “Islam is plainly a religion” deserving of First Amendment protections. As the Times notes, however, that doesn’t mean the Trump administration would say the same thing today.
Just because it seems unlikely that a federal judge would go along with this batshit crazy theory doesn’t mean it can’t happen. After all, conservatives have already succeeded in installing right-wing ideologues to lifetime appointments on the federal bench.
But even if they succeed, this could backfire. Because the idea that my religion isn’t just a religion is one that conservative Christians have adopted for a long time. They’re the one who constantly bristle whenever someone calls Christianity a religion; it’s a relationship, they argue. As Christianity Today deputy editor Bonnie Kristian writes,
… many of our own religious liberty arguments—arguments I support, to be wholly clear—rest on the point that Christianity is not and cannot be confined to what we do inside the sanctuary on Sunday morning…
… if Texas were to define religion down because of Christians’ discomfort with Muslims, what’s to prevent that same redefinition squeezing Christians in the future?
She’s not wrong to point that out. The problem is that she’s thinking steps ahead of conservatives in Texas. She’s committing the cardinal sin of thinking about how rules meant to stifle other groups might be applied to her own… even though a hallmark of Christian Nationalism is that rules are only ever meant to harm other people, not them. There’s no sense of community or equal treatment under the law. There’s just us versus them. And conservative Christians have been pretty damn successful, legally speaking, in getting away with things non-Christians would never be allowed to do.
By the way, also consider that conservative Christians don’t believe Catholics and Mormons are “true” Christians either. The idea that a redefinition of religion would spare non-Muslims is absurd.
However this plays out, it’s all the more reason for people who care about religious equality and church/state separation to defend those who simply want to practice their faith. There’s a huge difference between criticizing religion (fine!) and defending the ability of people to believe and practice their faith in a way that doesn’t harm others. Supporters of church/state separation ought to be able to do the latter without hesitation. We have to. No one else will.
Republicans aren’t interested in religious pluralism because their voters thrive on out-group hatred. Conservative Christian leaders aren’t going to defend it because their ministries will suffer if they equate their faith with other religions. The Justice Department isn’t about to uphold the law because it’s currently run by people who actively oppose the Constitution. And it would be deeply unfair to expect Muslims to defend their rights on their own, because the same people going after them right now aren’t going to stop with Islam. They’ll just find other groups to harass later.
FCA lawsuit distorts FFRF’s efforts on student religious clubs
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation says a federal lawsuit distorts its endeavors to ensure that religious clubs in a New Jersey public school district remain student-led as per federal law.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, filed suit Aug. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against the Hopewell Valley Regional School District and New Jersey education officials. The lawsuit challenges restrictions the district recently imposed on outside adults attending religious student clubs.
Becket, a law firm named for a Catholic saint that demonstrates hostility to the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, has publicly blamed FFRF for the dispute. It claims that “an atheist advocacy group didn’t like that Christian kids were choosing to learn about faith, life and sports from trusted mentors.”
“That’s a convenient culture war trope, but it isn’t what happened,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “FFRF has never sought to prevent Christian students from forming their own religious clubs in compliance with the federal Equal Access Act.”
This law requires public schools that permit noncurriculum student clubs to allow student clubs on religion or politics, with the stipulation that they must be student initiated and run. It expressly provides that “nonschool persons may not direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend activities of student groups.”
“We’re defending the crucial distinction between students exercising their own constitutional rights and an outside religious ministry seeking regular access to public schoolchildren,” Gaylor says. “Public schools aren’t mission fields for outside religious organizations.”
FFRF’s letter of March 13, 2025, asked the district to investigate reports that outside adults were regularly attending and participating in meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club at Timberlane Middle School and to ensure that the club remained student-initiated and student-led.
The fellowship’s own lawsuit acknowledges that FFRF asked the district to make certain that outside adults did not “regularly lead, attend or participate” in religious student clubs. It further acknowledges that the district subsequently “went even further than FFRF demanded” by allegedly prohibiting all outside individuals from attending religious club meetings.
“Becket is trying to turn a straightforward request that a public school follow federal law into a story about atheists attacking Christian students,” adds FFRF Staff Attorney Madeline Ziegler. “There is an important legal distinction between students exercising their own religious freedom and representatives of an outside Christian ministry regularly leading public school students in religious activities.”
In its legal complaint, the Christian group describes its “huddle ministry” as a critical component of its religious mission and states that its presence on public school campuses is “essential” because schools provide the platform through which the Christian fellowship reaches student-athletes. It says that these huddle activities include “prayer, religious teaching, religious counseling” and “ministry outreach to share the Gospel with other students.”
According to its complaint, Fellowship of Christian Athletes Area Director Carolyn McDonough and another volunteer attended huddle meetings and moved among small group discussions that students were holding, “sometimes participating” in those conversations. They answered questions from students about “life, faith or sports” and mentored student leaders, providing feedback.
Elsewhere, the fellowship says its adult volunteers provide students with “spiritual guidance,” mentor students in being bold in their faith and, when asked, pray for students.
“The Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ own allegations show that its adult ministry representatives were regularly present on a public school campus to improperly lead religious discussions and provide spiritual guidance as part of its broader religious mission,” says FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott.
FFRF notes an obvious distinction between an occasional guest speaker invited to give a presentation to a student club and representatives of an outside religious ministry regularly attending its affiliated club to participate in religious discussions and rites.
Even though the Equal Access Act provides that school employees may be present at religious or political clubs only in a “nonparticipatory capacity,” the Christian fellowship specifically challenges the district’s requirement that employees attend such meetings in a custodial role. It asks the court to declare that district employees, who wield tremendous authority and influence over students, nevertheless have a right to participate in student bible study, prayer and other religious discussion in their purported personal capacities.
“The fundamental principle here is simple,” Elliott concludes. “An outside ministry cannot convert student rights into a right for its adult representatives to regularly conduct a ministry among children inside a public school, contrary to the safeguards of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and those that Congress expressly enacted.”
FFRF will continue to defend students’ freedom of conscience, including the rights of religious and nonreligious students alike while working to ensure that public schools remain neutral toward religion and comply with the safeguards imposed by federal law.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with about 41,000 members nationwide, including more than 800 members in New Jersey. 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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FFRF ensures Ga. superintendent will not sermonize at employee events
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has made certain that future staff events in the Douglas County School System in Douglasville, Ga., will not be treated like church.
FFRF received reports from numerous school district employees regarding proselytizing that took place at the mandatory July 28 convocation. Reports, photographs and a video provided to FFRF show Superintendent Trent North sermonizing employees in his official capacity throughout the convocation. FFRF was told that during the multihour event, North made “numerous remarks about God” and said that he believes God sent him to “save Douglas County Schools.” He reportedly preached to staff, quoted bible verses, told employees that “[you] need to learn to trust the Lord,” and that “we don’t need church just on a Sunday, we need to teach our students to worship any day of the week.”
Gospel singers also performed religious songs throughout the convocation that were reportedly explicitly Christian. FFRF’s complainants stated that North would sermonize between gospel songs to emphasize the religious points being made. The event lasted roughly 190 minutes, with about two hours devoted to gospel music and sermons.
One employee stated that as the convocation progressed, it “became increasingly more Christian and religious” and that North’s remarks over the course of the event reminded them of a pastor. They “tried to tune it out” but “became increasingly more uncomfortable.” They further explained:
I felt like I wasn’t free to get up and leave because every person in the district was there, and I would look rude or bad to them. I felt my employment was in jeopardy if I didn’t comply because my school’s principal told me that morning that it was a district mandated event, and that I would not be paid if I didn’t attend.
Another employee stated that they felt “like the odd ball out because I didn’t conform to [the superintendent’s] narrative of religion,” while a third stated that they “felt heavily coerced to participate in a religious service as a condition of [their] employment.”
FFRF wrote to the district asking it to put a stop to the proselytizing and religious coercion of employees.
“In this case, [North], and thus DCSS, displayed clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion, and Christianity over all other faiths, by preaching to employees in [North’s] official capacity during the convocation,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to North.
It is unconstitutional for a public school district to require employees to observe, listen to and reflect upon religious music and messaging as part of an official district event, FFRF stressed in its letter. Requiring employees who are nonreligious or members of minority faiths to make a public showing of their lack of religious belief by not participating in a prayer or else display deference toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe is coercive, embarrassing and intimidating. The religious performances needlessly marginalized employees who are nonreligious or members of minority faiths. Up to 26 percent of Georgians are nonreligious, and by keeping employee events secular, the district excludes no one and welcomes everyone.
FFRF is pleased to report that the district has changed course to be more inclusive.
“I discussed and explained with the superintendent the principle of separation of church and state specifically addressing the First Amendment as it relates to Free Exercise Clause and the perception of promoting or inhibiting a particular religion during staff meetings,” the district’s legal representative responded. “I am confident that the superintendent is now cognizant of this matter and has assured me this will not occur again.”
FFRF is glad to see its advocacy having a positive impact.
“District employees should not be made to feel like outsiders at mandatory work events,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor states. “Keeping events free from religious coercion is a constitutional requirement for all public school districts. While this never should have happened in the first place, FFRF is glad to know it won’t happen again.”
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 across the country, including over 600 members in Georgia, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
The post FFRF ensures Ga. superintendent will not sermonize at employee events appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
August 23, 2026 – Apostate’s Picnic by Minnesota Atheists Meetup Group (Bloomington, MN)
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
Join us for the August Freethought Picnic honoring Apostates – those who have left religion. All atheists/agnostics/non-religious are welcome, of course, regardless if you had to leave a religion or were lucky enough to be raised without religion.
It will be a potluck picnic at the brand-new net-zero Bryant Park Shelter in Bloomington which has seating both indoors and outdoors. The interior space is really nice, with bathrooms, a kitchen, and plenty of windows to outside. A charcoal grill is available. There is a playground nearby.
International Apostasy Day is the day before, so to honor this day, we are we are pairing up this picnic with a Debaptism Ceremony performed by our own Secular Celebrant, Steve Adams. Affirm your status as an apostate by becoming debaptized with a hair dryer. We will provide certificates to commemorate the event.
We will have a short program featuring FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott, who will discuss FFRF’s most recent legal actions and his personal journey to atheism.
We will also hold a School Supply Drive.
Many local families are still recovering from Operation Metro Surge. Donate a backpack (or other school supply) to ensure no student starts the year behind.
Donations will go to CLUES (Spanish for: Latino Communities United in Service), Minnesota’s largest Latino-led nonprofit organization, founded in 1981 by and for Latinos to provide culturally and linguistically relevant services. Their mission is to advance social and economic equity and well being for Latinos by building upon their strengths and cultures, uplifting the community, and enabling leadership for systemic change.
Donate New and unused:
- Backpacks
- #2 Pencils
- Crayons
- Colored pencils
- Washable markers
- Glue sticks
- Scissors
- Folders
- Spiral notebooks
- Composition notebooks
- Corded headphones (no bluetooth)
Bryant Park (Bloomington)
1001 West 85th St · Bloomington, MN
We will be in the picnic shelter
The post August 23, 2026 – Apostate’s Picnic by Minnesota Atheists Meetup Group (Bloomington, MN) appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
