Dear AU Supporter,

What would you do if your second-grader told you about her teacher coaxing the class into reciting the Lord’s Prayer before lunch? Or that your teenager’s public school sports team was taken to a church for a team dinner, complete with prayer and proselytizing by clergy? What if you attended the local city council meeting to learn about a new recycling program and were required to stand for a prayer? Or if a government-contracted psychologist declared you unfit to hold a government job because of your religious beliefs? What if your child’s school choir performed religious music for a grade at a Sunday worship service in a church? How about if your local county courthouse displayed lighted crosses over every entrance to the building?

All of this happened to real people and these families reported the violations to Americans United. And I stepped in to fight for their rights. I’m here to do the same for you—but I need your help. 

Will you make a matched, year-end gift today to ensure we have the resources to respond to violations reported in your community?

I’m one of AU’s attorneys, but you probably haven’t heard much about my work. AU spends a lot of time in courts, Congress, state legislatures, and with our allies advocating for true religious freedom and the separation of church and state. 

My work is a bit different. I’m fighting in the trenches. On the ground with everyday people. People just like you. Citizens around the country notify AU of possible church-state violations and I step in to defend them, and our Constitution, by writing letters to government officials demanding that they follow the law.

We don’t often talk about this crucial work because it could be counterproductive. Drawing attention to these fights runs the risk of hurting the people who report the violations to us. And if we trumpeted every victory—we’ve had almost 300 in the last 10 years—it would galvanize the opposition to undo these important victories. 

Americans United receives about 500 complaints like this every year, and 75 percent of the reports are about our public schools. The one place that should be safe for kids. And because the Supreme Court has emboldened those willing to abuse their power to impose their personal religion on your children, we expect even more complaints on the horizon. 

If you make a tax-deductible gift today to help defend vulnerable students, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar. Support AU today to protect public schoolchildren.

You might be thinking we should sue every time there’s a violation, but we simply don’t have the resources for that. We’re fighting a billion-dollar shadow network in the courts on a shoestring budget. The only lawyer on our team dedicated to handling these out-of-court issues is yours truly. 

Thank you for your support.

Ian Smith
Staff Attorney

*Online contributions will be matched through Dec. 31, 2022, up to a limit of $100,000. All gifts made in excess of this limit will still provide valuable funding for AU’s efforts to defend church-state separation.