Dear Friend,
This week, I am filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with seven federal agencies: Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the State Department. Our goal is to find out how extensively this Administration is forcing religious content on these departments’ employees and contractors, and how those employees have responded.
Reports about social media posts and internal emails promoting religious messages were everywhere on Easter weekend. These reports unnerved not just us, but also a number of observers, both religious and secular.
We are demanding these records to shine a light on how these emails were distributed, how federal employees responded, and to get access to other documents the Administration is trying to keep the public from seeing.
Our members make this work possible. Please make a tax-deductible contribution today to help us demand accountability and transparency.
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If you’ve ever wondered what goes into a FOIA request, here’s what you need to know:
Originally passed in 1967, the Freedom of Information Act remains the way for the public to get access to federal government records.
Preparing FOIA requests takes time, strategy, patience, and yes, money. For them to be effective, it’s crucial to know exactly what documents are available to begin with, since the government will not create new documents (or reports or summaries) in response to a request. And sometimes, the federal government just refuses to respond. When that happens, we have to be ready to take them to court. Your support helps us do exactly that.
In addition, agencies often require payment in advance to cover costs per copy or hours spent identifying and reviewing the requested information. Depending on exactly what we request, the government might produce one document, or thousands of pages requiring significant time on our part to review.
We here at American Atheists use FOIA requests carefully and only when there is reason to believe that the documents obtained will yield actionable information. And you can help make this work possible by setting up a new monthly donation, or by increasing an existing one.
From $5 to $5,000 and everything in between, every gift helps us hold this government accountable for their outrageous Christian Nationalist agenda and actions. And with your help, you have my word that we will.
In solidarity,
Geoffrey T. Blackwell
Legal Director
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.
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