Dear Friend,
In Washington this week, a group of Catholic bishops filed suit to overturn a new law requiring clergy to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Represented by Becket and First Liberty Institute — two major players in the Christian Nationalist movement’s legal strategy — the bishops argue the mandatory reporting law is an attack on their religious freedom.
Their court filing states, “The object of this law is clear: subject Roman Catholic clergy to dictates of the state,” and it arrives just weeks after the Trump Administration launched a civil rights investigation into the same law, labeling it “anti-Catholic.”
Make no mistake: This case is not about defending religious liberty or combating antireligion. It’s about installing religious privilege, and our team will fight back.
American Atheists advocated for this legislation because we believe no belief system should be allowed to place anyone in harm’s way. Too many states have carved out special religious exemptions that shield abusers and endanger victims. Our nation’s laws should prioritize the safety, health, and well-being of all — not elevate the personal beliefs of a few.
What’s happening in Washington isn’t an isolated case. It’s part of a growing campaign to place religion above the law.
Take, for example, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s open flouting of the First Amendment last week. He hosted a “Christian Prayer and Worship Service” at the Pentagon during business hours, distributing government-sealed pamphlets and broadcasting the event across an internal cable network. While legal experts have called it “incredibly problematic” and a “clear violation” of the Establishment Clause, Hegseth and his aides have promised it’s only the first of many such events.
Last week’s featured Hegseth’s pastor, Brooks Potteiger, who called President Trump a “sovereignly appointed” bringer of “stability and moral clarity.” Potteiger is a frequent promoter of “sphere sovereignty,” the belief that Christian men must preside over the government, church, and family to maintain order and submissiveness. Both he and Hegseth are closely connected to the extremist Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), founded by self-described Christian Nationalist Doug Wilson.
CREC governing documents call LGBTQ+ people a “perversion,” promote creationism, denigrate public schooling, and reject women serving in combat. Wilson has called women’s suffrage “a mistake” and claimed slavery produced “a genuine affection between the races.” Two years ago, his publishing company printed The Case for Christian Nationalism, which advocates for segregation, homogeneity, and “theocratic caesarism.”
Troubling to hear, then, a Pentagon spokesperson say Hegseth “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.” Wilson also confirmed the two have recently met. Could that meeting have something to do with the lawsuit filed last Tuesday by the Department of Justice’s civil rights division against an Idaho town that denied a land use permit to Wilson’s church? We may never know.
We do know Wilson plans to open a new CREC church this July, just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. His stated goal? To “[rebuild] the walls of Christendom,” “bring Babylon into the New Jerusalem,” and “calibrate the Christians” working in government under the Trump Administration according to his worldview (which you can learn more about from the Sons of Patriarchy podcast).
The Washington lawsuit and the Pentagon prayer aren’t coming from some distant or disjointed periphery. They’re straight out of the Christian Nationalist playbook to reshape our nation’s most influential institutions — from public schools to the Pentagon to the presidency — into instruments of their theocratic agenda.
Just this week:
- President Trump shared a meme claiming he’s “on a mission from God” and “nothing can stop what’s coming,” reinforcing the dangerous and delusional idea that his authority is divinely ordained and, therefore, above any earthly or public accountability.
- The Religious Liberty Commission announced its first official advisory committee meeting will be held in D.C. at the Hobby Lobby-backed Museum of the Bible. Because nothing says celebrating “America’s peaceful religious pluralism” like discussing “the meaning of separation of church and state” at a venue dedicated to Protestantism! (Don’t worry about missing out; our team has already registered to attend.)
- House Speaker Mike Johnson once again told reporters Congress could defund or eliminate U.S. federal courts in response to judicial rulings unfavorable to his party.
- A Christian school in Tennessee that was approved to receive public dollars via the state’s neovoucher program suspended a student and withheld her diploma simply for being gay — highlighting one of many issues with allowing discriminatory religious schools access to public dollars with no public oversight.
All of this is the culmination of a decades-long and deep-pocketed effort to erode church-state separation, rewrite the Constitution, and place religious belief above democratic law.
American Atheists is fighting back in courts, legislatures, and the public square, but we can’t win without you. If you believe, as we do, that no religion should be above the law, please donate today to help us defend secular government and protect our rights from religious encroachment and extremism.
Thank you for standing with us during this critical moment.
In solidarity,
Nick Fish
President
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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