Our team at American Atheists is busy preparing for the upcoming legislative session. One of my colleagues has called what’s coming a “firehose.” She’s right insofar as we expect to be inundated with a constant stream of harmful policy proposals from all levels of government and almost every state.
The thing about a hose, though, is that it snuffs out fires. In this case, I’m hopeful the onslaught will spark something not so easily extinguished: a powerful, nationwide coalition of secular advocates motivated to push back against the campaign to unravel progress, privilege religion, and dismantle the separation of church and state.
In just a few weeks, we’ll be releasing the seventh edition of our State of the Secular States report. Since American Atheists first launched this one-of-a-kind analysis, we’ve tracked thousands of bills impacting religious equality and freedom in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Many of these policies are being proliferated by a well-funded network of groups that have coalesced around a regressive and religiously motivated political agenda.
The 2024 legislative session was marked by particularly visible and persistent efforts to insert religion into public schools and divert public dollars to religious schools. We fully expect public education will continue to be a primary target in the new year. Just recently:
- In Texas, a slim majority of the State Board of Education approved a Bible-infused curriculum for elementary students. Whether the materials are ultimately used is a district-level decision, but the $60/student incentive to do so could appeal to the state’s many, many underfunded schools.
- In Ohio, we’re monitoring two proposals (HB 445 and SB 293) that are actively advancing during the Statehouse’s lame-duck session. If passed, either one would require all school districts to adopt a released time policy allowing students to leave campus during school hours to receive religious instruction. In response, the Satanic Temple announced it will offer the “Hellion Academy of Independent Learning” to some Ohioans seeking alternative programming.
- In Oklahoma and Missouri, bills to display the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms were pre-filed this week. A similar law in Louisiana continues to face legal challenges and widespread criticism. Also in Oklahoma, American Atheists issued a Freedom of Information Request seeking additional information about the State Superintendent’s newly created “Office on Religious Liberty and Patriotism.”
At the federal level, we have similar questions — and serious concerns — about the president-elect’s repeated promise to establish a “task force on fighting anti-Christian bias.” In a country where Christians enjoy outsized political influence and special treatment under the law, what could that mean? When it comes to our nation’s classrooms, we have a pretty good idea:
- Trump’s Agenda 47 outlines a “freedom to pray” initiative that threatens to undo protections for students who don’t adhere to the majority faith by allowing teachers, coaches, and other authority figures to proselytize at kids.
- The Educational Choice for Children Act (or ECCA) would decimate funding for public schools by diverting billions of tax dollars every year to private, mostly parochial schools even as voters continually reject voucher schemes.
- And we will, of course, have to keep fighting state- and district-level efforts to control what information our kids and teens have access to — from banning books and censoring speech to displaying the Ten Commandments and teaching from the Bible.
What’s fueling all of this is an emerging and unfortunately ascendent reinterpretation of the very concept of religious freedom. In Christian Nationalists’ retelling, this liberty is not the inclusive pluralism our Founding Fathers envisioned for “all men,” but a privilege reserved for them. In the only-slightly-paraphrased words of Rep. McCaul: Religious freedom is not for the nonreligious.
That’s some of what we’re up against in 2025. Understandably, a lot of Americans, including members of our community, are already feeling pretty burnt out. But I hope, in the coming weeks and months, you’ll get fired up. And when you do, let us know, because we’ve got our work cut out for us. With your support, I know we’re ready.
In solidarity,
Melina Cohen
Communications Director
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