We did it! This week, the Biden Administration acted to have nine agencies once again protect vulnerable people from discrimination in the name of religion.
In December 2020, the Trump Administration pushed through changes to let federally funded service providers discriminate against people, force religious programming on them, and refuse to refer them to a non-discriminatory provider.
No one accessing food banks, shelters, job training, and other federally funded programs should face religious discrimination.
Alongside a broad coalition of civil rights and religious equality groups, American Atheists sued to prevent these Christian nationalist regulations from going into place. As a 100% member-funded organization, this was only possible because of your support.
Not only that, in total, you submitted nearly 25,000 comments opposing this religious discrimination. Had the Biden Administration only heard from the other side, things could have turned out differently.
We are seeing progress. Christian nationalists aren’t able to pass extreme bills at the federal level if President Biden doesn’t sign them.
That’s why extremists are targeting state legislatures and trying to force their religion on all of us. We must stop these dangerous bills.
And, in some states we have opportunities to pass positive legislation that protects our rights.
To help advocates and lawmakers with their legislative efforts, this week we released our fifth annual edition of our State of the Secular States report. It focuses on opportunities and threats in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. and is the most comprehensive analysis of how well states protect church-state separation and religious equality in existence.
Want to find out more about our State of the Secular States report and how it can help you start out in activism—or take your activism to the next level? Join us on Wednesday, January 18, at 8 pm ET.
I’ll see you there.
Sincerely,
Nick Fish
President
P.S. From pushing the Biden Administration to take our rights seriously to providing atheist activists with the tools they need to make progress, we do as much as we can with our budget. But we are outspent more than tenfold by many Christian nationalist organizations. At the start of 2023, help fight back with a tax-deductible donation of $15, $50, or even $500. With so much on the line, we can’t afford to let Christian nationalists win.
American Atheists is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization that relies on the support of members like you. Contributions are tax-deductible. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 74-2466507 and our Combined Federal Campaign number is 52217.
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