Dear Friend, It’s been a busy week and a concerning one for folks, like us, who care about public education, secular government, and civil rights. Here are some of the top stories we’ve been tracking: SCOTUS decision undermines public schools, pluralism. Yesterday, we strongly condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which allows…
Dear Friend, As the Board Chair of American Atheists, I’m writing you today with some difficult news: Due to escalating threats to civil liberties, human rights, and international relations under the Trump Administration, the board and staff of American Atheists have withdrawn our organization as host of the 2026 World Humanist Congress, originally scheduled to…
Dear Friend, This week, the Trump Administration announced it will no longer fund the national suicide prevention hotline for at-risk LGBTQ+ youth, a service that has helped 1.3 million callers since its launch in 2022. Two years prior, bipartisan legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump required the national 988 Lifeline…
Dear Friend, When Victor Hugo finished writing Les Misérables, he was living in political exile, having been an outspoken opponent of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte’s self-coup and the subsequent dissolution of France’s democratic republic. Hugo’s novel was based on the Paris Uprising of 1832, an anti-monarchist rebellion against a newly enthroned king. His heroes were revolutionaries…
Dear Friend, The New York State Assembly is currently considering S 3486, which would require all hospitals to be transparent with patients about which services they provide — and which they don’t. We need your help to pass it! Did you know New York allows medical facilities to deny necessary services to patients for nonmedical…
Dear Friend, Later this month will mark three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its landmark Dobbs decision. That ruling triggered dangerous abortion bans across the nation, upending decades of legal precedent and progress to improve Americans’ access to lifesaving health care. But we always knew religious, anti-abortion extremists wouldn’t stop…
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…
Dear Friend, This week brought a significant victory for public education and the separation of church and state, as well as some stark reminders of how perilously close we are to losing both. The Supreme Court narrowly let stand a ruling that blocks public funding for religious schools in Oklahoma and revealed just how divided…
Dear Friend, American Atheists’ policy team spent the week poring over House Republicans’ budget megabill. Today, let’s talk about the three most concerning aspects of this proposal and then do something about it, too. First, we knew the “nonprofit killer bill” (formerly H.R. 9495) would be back, and here it is: Section 112209 would grant…
Dear Friend, One of the biggest stories this week was the white plume of smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel to signal the conclave’s selection of the new pope. Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, will be the 267th person to fill the role and the first U.S.-born, though he’s spent most of…