Dear Friend,
This week we celebrate an anniversary — 238 years since our U.S. Constitution was signed — by sounding an alarm: The First Amendment is under attack.
While the White House issued a proclamation about “upholding our constitutional heritage,” the same administration that promised on Day One to “restore free speech” spent Constitution Week doing the opposite: waging lawfare against the free press; proposing to revoke visas and passports for political speech; threatening “liberal” nonprofits; declaring anti-fascist resistance to be terroristic; and generally promising to weaponize the full force of the federal government against any perceived dissidents.
These aren’t the actions of a healthy democracy but the unmistakable hallmarks of authoritarian rule. As Benjamin Franklin, under the pseudonym Silence Dogood, warned in 1722: “Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech.”
Had Franklin expressed that sentiment this week, he may have lost his job, as dozens of Americans have in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. A comedian indefinitely suspended. Government workers, military personnel, medical professionals, journalists, and educators terminated, placed on leave, or otherwise disciplined (and doxxed) for their speech.
It’s a chilling crackdown that has received the full-throated endorsement of this regime. And it is far from over. Vice President JD Vance, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and President Donald Trump himself have all vowed to “go after the left-wing organizations” they falsely blame for Kirk’s killing.
Let me be very clear: Our organization condemns political violence and vigilantism. But we will never censor ourselves, compromise our values, or capitulate our mission in a futile attempt to appease religious nationalists and unconstitutional edicts. We have defended the First Amendment since 1963, and we will continue to guard and exercise our constitutional rights now.
Freethought is the antidote to and the antithesis of fascism. Freethought rejects dogma, inquires critically, and demands evidence. Fascism demands conformity, punishes skepticism, and silences dissent. Fascism doesn’t dare allow you or I to make our own conclusions, so it offers only its own. One encourages the debate of ideas, the other bans books. One promotes progress, the other extinguishes it.
Our Founders knew free thought and free speech were indispensable to discovery and democracy. They understood that without both a people could not truly be free. Because it was the ideals of the Enlightenment — free thought, inquiry, and expression — that guided the authors of our Constitution — not religious doctrine, as Christian Nationalists contend.
With congress, the courts, and the private sector largely abdicating any authority to push back, it is more crucial than ever that nongovernmental organizations like ours and our coalition partners are ready and able to serve as potentially the last line of defense against widespread repression.
And yet we are, right now, awaiting an Executive Order regarding political speech and nonprofits that could hand this administration sweeping powers to brand nonprofits “terrorists,” strip organizations like ours of tax-exempt status, and bury us in McCarthy-esque investigations. This is nothing less than an assault on civil society itself and yet another tenet of tyranny.
That’s why your support is so vital. American Atheists will not bend, break, or back down. We will continue promoting freethought, defending civil rights, and protecting secular democracy. We will fight smart, we will fight strategically, and we will fight to outlast this regime.
But to do that, we need you with us. Your resolve — and your support. Today, in light of all that’s happening and all that’s yet to come, please make a special gift of $50, $100, or even $250 to fuel our resistance to these attacks on our constitutional rights.
Stay safe, smart, and strong. And know this: American Atheists will not be silenced.
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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