News From The Week Of July 8 - July 12, 2019
Friends:
It’s always fantastic to be able to report on a win for true religious freedom, and we’ve got one for you this week thanks to the excellent lawyers of AU. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Brevard County, Fla., Commissioners' invocation policy of preferring Christians and locking out nontheists and many people who practice minority religions from opening any public meeting is unconstitutional.
Brevard County Commissioners’ exclusive policy has been going on for years: Out of 195 invocations over six years, 188 of them were given by Christians. Americans United, joined by the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, took Brevard County to court and on Monday, the court ruled in our favor.
As Judge Stanley Marcus wrote in his opinion: “We need go no further today than to say this: in selecting invocation speakers, the Commissioners may not categorically exclude from consideration speakers from a religion simply because they do not like the nature of its beliefs.” Obvious to us, right? But sadly not to everyone.
With you behind us, AU’s staff just put one more win on the board for true religious freedom.
I’ll leave you with one last update: This week, I had the pleasure of appearing on an episode of The Bill Press Podcast called “We are not a Judeo-Christian nation.” Another obvious-to-us, but not-obvious-to-everyone statement. Bill is not only a longtime big-shot TV and radio host, he’s an AU member! Click here to listen to our fun discussion (well, it was fun for me at least!): [link removed]
With gratitude for all of you,
Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO
Embracing An Important Lesson: Learning When To Let Go:
Just as I must let go and let my adult children make their own decisions, our American principle of church-state separation is rooted in the notion that religious beliefs are stronger when the government lets go and people come to them on their own.
READ MORE » www.bit.ly/AULettingGo
It’s Time To Celebrate Secular Government:
A secular state allows its people to explore religious questions as guided by individual conscience but does not take sides itself. In an ideal secular state, your decision to worship one, five, twenty or no gods is irrelevant to your standing as a citizen.
READ MORE » www.bit.ly/AUSecularGov
Public Schools And Fringe Beliefs: A Bad Mix:
All too often, kids’ education is put secondary to discredited beliefs, whether that is teaching a version of creationism or promoting bogus 'Christian nation' views in social studies classes.
READ MORE » www.bit.ly/AUNoGodBanners
In A Fuss Over Flags, Fort Worth Vandals Attack ‘No God’ Banners – And Free Speech:
The Fort Worth government in this case treated a non-religious viewpoint the same as a religious one. It was the right thing to do. It’s too bad the vandals don’t agree.
READ MORE » www.bit.ly/AUPublicSchools
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