Freethought TV celebrates the “real” American Revolution with special July 4 programming
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The truly revolutionary idea behind the Declaration of Independence wasn’t simply breaking away from Britain. It was establishing the first secular democracy in human history. This Independence Day, Freethought TV celebrates that revolution with six hours of special July 4 programming exploring America’s freethought heritage and constitutional commitment to religious liberty.
“The founders proclaimed that political power comes from the people, not from the divine right of kings,” said FFRF co-president Dan Barker. “Omitting heavenly power from our founding document — and refusing to establish a religion in the First Amendment of the Constitution they would go on to draft — put this nation firmly on a secular path.”
“That’s an uncomfortable truth for the Christian nationalists who currently run the government, but we don’t intend to let them forget it,” Barker added.
Among the programs Freethought TV is presenting on July 4:
- Constitutional law professor Steven K. Green looks back at the invention of American religious freedom.
- Two eminent historians reveal why the founders felt the need to create a “Godless Constitution.”
- A look at the effort to erect a monument to the “forgotten founder,” freethinker Thomas Paine, in the nation’s capital.
- A recreation of Robert G. Ingersoll’s electrifying July 4, 1876, speech proclaiming, “One hundred years ago, our fathers retired the gods from politics.”
- Former FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel challenges revisionist attempts to portray America as a “Christian nation” in his book, “The Founding Myth.”
Freethought TV is FFRF’s streaming video service, bringing the best in secular programming to your smart TV, smartphone or streaming device. The service is available on Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Google, Amazon Fire and LG TVs, as well as Android phones and iPhones.
The Freethought TV app is free, easy to install from your platform’s app store, and includes user-friendly features such as closed-captioning and customizable watchlists. For more information or to download the app, 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 more than 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 Co-President on America’s secular founding runs nationally
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
Photo by Charles “Duck” Unitas on Unsplash
A timely op-ed by Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor rebutting President Trump’s Christian nationalist claim that America is “one nation under God” has been published by The Progressive — and picked up by several newspapers and outlets around the country as well!
The column, “America is Not ‘One Nation Under God,’” originally ran in The Progressive on June 18 and was distributed by The Tribune News Service. It has since appeared in TribLive, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Qoshe, the West Central Tribune and The Henderson Dispatch.
Gaylor’s op-ed arrives as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and as President Donald Trump and Christian nationalist allies seek to exploit the occasion to promote revisionist religious history.
“This July 4, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that throws off the yoke of a divinely appointed ruler,” Gaylor begins. “But President Donald Trump is exploiting this occasion to promote a revisionist history of America as ‘one nation under God.’”
Gaylor points out that the phrase appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, while “In God We Trust” became the national motto in 1956 — both Cold War-era additions pushed by religious interests.
The op-ed dismantles the frequent Christian nationalist claim that the Declaration’s passing deistic references somehow make the United States a Christian nation. Gaylor notes that Thomas Jefferson’s original draft contained only one deistic reference, “nature’s god,” reflecting Enlightenment Deism, not Christianity. The final Declaration contains no mention of Christianity, Jesus, the bible, the Ten Commandments, a church or a sect.
More importantly, Gaylor emphasizes, the Declaration is not the nation’s governing document. That role belongs to the U.S. Constitution, which begins with “We the People,” contains no references to a deity and explicitly bars religious tests for public office.
“The declaration was tantamount to divorce papers, but the Constitution is like vows for a new marriage,” Gaylor writes.
The column closes by calling on Americans to reclaim the nation’s original motto, “E Pluribus Unum” — out of many, one — as the country prepares to mark its semiquincentennial.
“‘Christian nation’ zealots have never understood its wisdom: that unity requires inclusion, pluralism, and freedom of conscience,” Gaylor concludes.
You can read the full op-ed at The Progressive.
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 applauds Supreme Court ruling preserving birthright citizenship
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation welcomes the Supreme Court ruling striking down President Trump’s attempt to end the 14th Amendment guarantee of birthright citizenship.
In a 5-4 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court held that children born in the United States are guaranteed citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Roberts was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
The 14th Amendment, passed in 1868, guarantees citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States.” It clarified, in part, that freed enslaved people were citizens. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order seeking to deny birthright citizenship for the children of temporary visitors or undocumented immigrants.
Justice Kavanaugh concurred with the result but dissented from the majority’s conclusion that the Constitution protects birthright citizenship for temporary and undocumented immigrants. In his view, the executive order violates existing immigration statutes but Congress could amend federal immigration law to restrict citizenship on the same grounds without violating the 14th Amendment.
FFRF, as a state/church watchdog working to uphold constitutional provisions, has been closely monitoring the case.
“We’re relieved that even this highly conservative Supreme Court agrees that the Constitution means what it says,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “The 14th Amendment’s language is remarkably clear, and more than 150 years of precedent confirms its meaning. Constitutional rights cannot simply be erased because a president disagrees with them. If this administration can rewrite one constitutional guarantee by executive order, no constitutional protection is truly secure.”
The case also reaffirmed the court’s landmark 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which held that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly all children born on American soil, regardless of their parents’ nationality. Roberts wrote that the court has “repeatedly understood the rule of Wong Kim Ark to guarantee citizenship to all children born in the United States and subject to its power,” adding that the justices saw “no reason to depart from that view today.”
Trump broke with presidential protocol by appearing in person to hear oral arguments, which many interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the justices, three of whom he appointed. He stayed to listen to U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s argument against birthright citizenship, but left when ACLU attorney Cecilia Wong began her argument in defense of the constitutional principle.
“The Citizenship Clause was written to remove this issue from political debate and place it beyond the reach of changing administrations,” adds FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “The court rightly recognized that presidents cannot rewrite the Constitution by executive order simply because they disagree with its plain language or longstanding precedent.”
Adds Gaylor, “We at the Freedom From Religion Foundation are glad to say the Constitution survives, and we’ll be doubling down on our work to defend its secular and democratic principles.”
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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