News From The Week Of December 21 – December 25, 2020

Friend:

Last week, I asked you to let me know what worries you and what gives you hope as you look ahead to the coming year. I figured that I couldn’t be the only one finding myself in a particularly reflective mood this December. You didn’t disappoint!

I was so happy to read the many responses that came in from AU supporters all across the country – from Seattle, Washington, to Omaha, Nebraska, to Norfolk, Virginia. You expressed gratitude for all that you and your families do have, starting with your health, and you looked forward to getting the coronavirus vaccine. You were hopeful about a Biden-Harris administration protecting religious freedom, but you worried about the surge of hatred and bigotry we have witnessed these past four years and the state of our democracy, which feels more fragile than ever. You consider AU a “valuable part of the USA and our freedom” and you encouraged us to keep up our good work.

These words, and your being in touch, mean more than you know to me and our entire staff. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and updates.

Like you, I am so proud of the committed and talented team of people we have working at AU. We have the country’s leading experts in crafting and implementing legal and public policy solutions to keep religion and government separate. But we know that expertise at our headquarters, while crucial, is not enough. We are also educating and persuading the public, informed by cutting-edge public opinion research. And we are building a powerful and diverse movement of activists--people of all religious and nonreligious backgrounds, ages, races, sexual orientations and gender identities – united in our commitment to ensuring that America makes good on its promise of religious freedom for all of us.

In 2021, there is no question that AU’s work will be front and center in a big way.

As a nonprofit organization, our work is fueled at every level by individual supporters like you -- and a large part of the funding we receive each year comes in during the final week of December. This year, we are offering a dollar-for-dollar match on every gift, up to our ambitious goal of $75,000, donated before midnight on December 31st.

If you haven’t yet, please click here to make your year-end gift to support AU’s defense of church-state separation in the year ahead: [link removed]

Friend, thank you for weathering this unbelievable year with us, for believing in AU’s power to affect change, and for keeping religious freedom in your priorities as we close the year out. I wish we could all be together to tell 2020 an impolite goodbye. Wishing you, our country, our world and our planet a happy and healthy new year!

With hope and immense gratitude,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO

Top Church-State Separation Stories Of 2020:
There’s no getting around it: 2020 was a rough year, and freedom of religion wasn’t spared. As we look to 2021 with hope that we can restore and protect the separation of religion and government, here’s a reflection on the biggest church-state stories of 2020.
READ MORE » [link removed]

Even Pat Robertson Admits That Biden Won The Election:
Unlike other Religious Right leaders who have backed Trump’s daft conspiracy theories about stolen votes and hacked voting systems, Pat Robertson seems to realize that it’s time to move into the reality-based community and prepare for the Biden-Harris administration.
READ MORE » [link removed]

Celebrate Christmas – Or Not. It’s Up To You.
As long as there is Christmas, there will be people who are absolutely certain that they know how you ought to celebrate it – and darned if it isn’t always their way.
READ MORE » [link removed]

Mike Pence Had A Chance To Live Up To Values He Claims To Cherish. He Failed:
If Vice President Mike Pence believes his silence shields him, he is sadly mistaken; indeed, it speaks volumes about the kind of man he really is.
READ MORE » [link removed]

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Americans United for Separation of Church and State
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