Before Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening, the storm had already broken records: In the Gulf, its rapid intensification was so extreme it evoked an emotional briefing from one weathercaster. Ahead of its arrival, the National Weather Service issued a record-breaking 126 tornado warnings. And when it reached Florida’s eastern shores, St. Petersburg received 18.87…
It’s been a busy week at American Atheists! I’m very proud of what our Legal & Policy staff and Secular Advocacy Team volunteers have accomplished in Colorado, where the Patients’ Right To Know Act was officially implemented on Tuesday. It’s the first comprehensive health care transparency legislation of its kind in the country, requiring all…
The reports from the Southeast are devastating. Whether you are immediately affected by Hurricane Helene, have friends or family who are dealing with the aftermath, or simply care for your fellow humans, please know that we are thinking of you and want to share useful information on how we can pitch in to help. Here…
Halloween season is just getting started, but this year’s scariest costume already belongs to Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who continues to masquerade his Christian Nationalism as bonafide American History. A former history teacher he may be, but a student of history he is not. Walters began his summer fuming about two Oklahoma Supreme Court…
A lot has happened since last week. Here are some of the developments we’ve been watching: On Thursday, CNN reported that North Carolina gubernatorial candidate and Christian nationalist Mark Robinson made a series of alarmingly racist and sexually explicit comments on a pornography site between 2008 and 2012. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear signed…
Earlier this month, I attended the annual meeting of Humanists International, a global membership organization of atheist, humanist, and other secular groups that American Atheists is proud to support. This year’s meeting in Singapore allowed us to connect with our international partners and learn more about the state of secularism and freedom of thought around…
Since 1954, the Johnson Amendment has prohibited nonprofit organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Courts have repeatedly upheld the amendment’s constitutionality. In the 1999 Branch Ministries Inc vs. Rossotti case, a D.C. District Court rejected a church’s claim that it was being persecuted because of its conservative views, determining: “The government has…
Earlier this month, Gallup released a troubling new poll. Among its findings: Only 40% of Americans say vaccinating their children is essential, down from 58% in 2019. Just 51% of Americans believe the government should require children to be vaccinated, down from 62% in 2019. 1 in 5 adults in the United States believe vaccines…
This Wednesday, the Colorado Board of Health unanimously adopted rules to implement the Patients’ Right to Know Act (HB23-1218). Although the Act was officially signed into law on May 10, 2023, its passage kicked off an implementation process that resulted in these rules. Now adopted, I am excited to announce this law will go into…
A couple weeks ago, we wrote to you about Trump’s repeated claims that American Catholics and Christians are being “persecuted” and “treated very badly.” He’s not alone in believing this. In 2017, the Public Religion Research Institute conducted a survey and found more than half of white evangelical Protestants felt “there is a lot of…