Dear Friend,
This year marks a convergence of anniversaries that both celebrate our nation’s long tradition of religious liberty and warn of the threats to that freedom today.
In July, we’ll celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which articulated revolutionary ideas about liberty, equality, and inherent human rights. Last week, we observed the 250th anniversary of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which translated those ideas into a popular movement. And yesterday, on National Religious Freedom Day, we commemorated the 240th anniversary of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom that transformed freedom of conscience from philosophy into enforceable law and would become the basis of the First Amendment.
We held the first of our America: Beyond 250 speaker series this week with author and historian Professor Steven K. Green. It was an enlightening — and timely — conversation as political leaders continue their effort to dismiss church-state separation, revise our pluralistic history, and co-opt “religious freedom” as a privilege for themselves.
This is what theocracy looks like.
Just read the White House’s official “Religious Freedom Day, 2026” proclamation. Every single sentence contains a reference to faith, and the administration’s message is clear: Religious freedom is exclusively for the religious and “especially” for Christians.
It never once acknowledges that First Amendment rights extend to people of other faiths and none. It perverts the words, meaning, and intent of the Founders — declaring that “the revolution of common sense is incomplete without a resurgence of faith in God” — and promises to “restore America as a Nation of prayer” and “a country of faith,” concluding with a call for “families to gather at places of worship to praise Almighty God.” In other words: government promotion of Christianity.
At the same time, inflammatory rhetoric from extremist influencers and powerful politicians continues to spread disinformation, sow fear, and dehumanize entire communities. Government officials across the country are fueling anti-Muslim bigotry, in particular, by designating certain organizations as terrorists, blocking Islamic schools from voucher programs, and discriminating against mosques.
Back in December, members of the U.S. House launched the “Sharia Free America Caucus,” writing, “The American way of life is under siege by radicals from a culture waging war against our Constitution and Western values.” And later today in Minneapolis, a pro-ICE march is being coordinated by conspiracy theorist, convicted insurrectionist, and xenophobic influencer Jake Lang. Lang, a senatorial candidate from Florida, has said he will “ban Islam” if elected and has been promoting today’s rally by inviting “Christians” and “crusaders” to “take back” Minnesota from “certain communities.”
A government that privileges one faith and suppresses another is not defending secular democracy or religious freedom for all; it’s advancing sectarian supremacy that threatens us all. The same politicians clutching their pearls about “Sharia law” are enshrining their own theocratic beliefs into law. But Jefferson couldn’t have been any clearer in the Virginia Statute, when he wrote: “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
Thomas Paine, too, believed America’s “glory” was not the endorsement of a single creed, but refuge from forced belief. The Founders rejected the establishment of religion because they recognized it as a tool of tyranny. But the freedom of conscience they meant to safeguard for us all is now under siege by a regime that isn’t even attempting to disguise its authoritarian aims anymore.
American Atheists is fighting back in federal courts, state legislatures, local communities, and on the international stage. Yesterday, we joined more than 60 organizations worldwide in signing an open letter coordinated by Humanists International that condemns the administration’s decision to retreat from international cooperation and its repressive rhetoric attacking civil society.
Because defending secular democracy beyond 250 is going to require every one of us.
In solidarity,
Nick Fish
President
PS: If you weren’t able to join us for our first America: Beyond 250 event, you can watch a recording here. And don’t forget to register for “The Times That Tried Men’s Souls: Thomas Paine’s Service During the Revolutionary War” on January 29 at 7:00 PM ET.
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