News Release Archive
FFRF Contests New Mexico "Faith Pod"
December 6, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation's federal lawsuit challenging "a 24/7 bible-based residential program" at the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants, N.M., is being briefed for judgment by the court ...
Supreme Court Accepts Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation
Dec. 4, 2006 The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation challenging the government preference for religion shown by the creation of the White House Office of Faith-based Initiatives ...
FFRF Solstice Message Returns to Wisconsin Capitol
December 1, 2006 (MADISON, WI) 'Tis the season . . . for the Freedom From Religion Foundation's gilt "Winter Solstice" message, which is back in the first-floor rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol for the month of December. It is believed to be the only nonreligious display in any state capitol, and this marks the 11th year of its display ...
State/Church Watchdog Groups Seeks Plaintiffs to Sue Over Dixie County Decalog
December 1, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog group, is looking for Dixie County residents willing to join a lawsuit challenging the placement of a 6-ton monument of the Ten Commandments on the steps of the Dixie County Courthouse last week ...
Help Keep Freethought Radio on the Air!
November 14, 2006 Freethought Radio, the only weekly freethought radio broadcast in the nation, has been airing on the local Air America affiliate in Madison, Wis., Progressive Talk The Mic 92.1, for more than half a year ...
A Major Victory for FFRF!
October 27, 2006 In response to a legal challenge by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Federal Bureau of Prisons quietly canceled its plan to open at least five "single faith" programs at federal penitentiaries ...
IRS Needs to Enforce Prohibition Against Partisan Politicking by Churches
October 11, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation complained to the Internal Revenue Service today about campaign signs for Ken Blackwell, Ohio's controversial Secretary of State who is running for governor, spotted on the property of a Cincinnati church ...
"Infidel Gala" Meeting in Irreverent San Francisco
September 28, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation's largest atheist/agnostic association, is putting on an "infidel gala" in San Francisco on the weekend of Oct. 6-7 ...
"He Who Is Without Sin"
September 20, 2006 The Pope's "faux pas" on Muhammad is the proverbial case of someone who lives in a glass house throwing the first stone ...
Shabaz Rules FFRF Lawsuit Against VA May Proceed
September 6, 2006 Judge John C. Shabaz, U.S. District for the Western District of Wisconsin, ruled yesterday that a major lawsuit filed in April by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, challenging the pervasive integration of "spirituality" into health care by the Department of Veteran Affairs, has merit and may proceed ...
She Leaves Legacy to Protect and Inspire
August 24, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation staff is very sad to report the news that Foundation Honorary Officer, Vashti Cromwell McCollum, 93, died Sunday night, Aug. 20, in a nursing home in Champaign, Ill ...
Congress Makes Monumental Mistake
August 2, 2006 The Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to thwart the court-ordered removal of a huge cross from public land in San Diego, by approving a scheme to transfer the city land to federal control ...
Hollow House Action on Pledge Reveals Enmity toward Unbelievers
July 21, 2006 Statement by the Freedom From Religion Foundation: The ludicrous vote by the House on Wednesday to "protect the Pledge of Allegiance" from the purview of federal judges was all show, over one of those meaningless "gotcha" issues the Religious Right excels in promoting ...
FFRF Blasts Doyle's "Faith Based Initiative" Office as Election-Year Pandering
June 15, 2006 The national Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has taken the national lead in challenging Pres. Bush's "faith-based initiative," blasted Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle's surprise announcement today that he is joining Bush by outfitting a state faith-based office ...
Freethought Radio's Second Show Airs Saturday, May 6
May 5, 2006 Listeners can wake up Saturdays to Freethought Radio from 8 - 9 a.m. on 92.1 FM, "The Mic, Madison's Progressive Talk," in Madison ...
FFRF Sues Federal Bureau of Prison over Faith-based Prison Programs
May 5, 2006 . . . The lawsuit challenges previous multifaith programs set up by the Bureau, as well as the Justice Department's announced plans to expand "single-faith" programs into as many as six more federal prisons ...
White House Faith-based Office Challenge Headed to Supreme Court?
May 4, 2006 The 11-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago voted 7-4 not to rehear the question of standing in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's federal lawsuit challenging creation of faith-based offices in the White House and at the Cabinet level...
FFRF Takes to the Airwaves!
April 27, 2006 The feisty Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wis.-based national association of atheists and agnostics, is launching a new radio show, Freethought Radio, this week. Freethought Radio is believed to be the only weekly radio broadcast devoted to "the secular point of view" in North America ...
FFRF Sues Veteran Affairs Department Over Religion
April 20, 2006 In its seventh major lawsuit challenging the "faith-based initiative," the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit yesterday in federal court, challenging the pervasive integration of "spirituality" into health care by the Department of Veteran Affairs ...
Nonreligious Cold-Shouldered on Meet the Press Roundtable on Faith
April 19, 2006 Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, introduced an Easter Sunday "special edition: faith in America" examining religion and politics, on April 16. His six guests covered the religious gamut in America, but the nonreligious were pointedly not invited to the table ...
Isn't This What Theocracy Looks Like?
April 7, 2006 This morning President Bush shared the podium with various Roman Catholic officials at the "third annual National Roman Catholic Prayer Breakfast" in Washington, D.C. A fawning Bush told them he was "thrilled to be here with the cardinals of the church" ...
Educate Brunswick Board of Education
April 6, 2006 An FFRF complaint on behalf of parents with children in Brunswick County Schools (North Carolina) has resulted in a decision by the Board not to permit "passive distribution" of Gideon bibles in elementary schools, as originally intended ...
"Wake Up America" Ad Campaign Runs on National Air America
April 3, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national watchdog group whose members are atheists and agnostics working to keep church and state separate, is taking its "Wake up America" message to national airwaves ...
FFRF Calls on Catholic Conference President to Step Down
March 31, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has been monitoring "black collar crimes" since the late 1980s, is calling on Bishop William Skylstad to resign as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and as bishop of Spokane, Wash. ...
FFRF Blasts Rogue North Carolina School Board for Inviting in Gideons
March 31, 2006 On behalf of residents in Brunswick County, N.C., the Freedom From Religion Foundation has written its superintendent and Board of Education threatening to sue if the Board does not reverse a decision to let Gideons distribute New Testament bibles to schoolchildren ...
American Theocracy Here We Come?
March 24, 2006 There is a chilling echo in Missouri of the fanaticism of the mullahs calling to execute a man for converting from Islam to Christianity ...
Protest Student Fees for Catholic Worship
February 27, 2006 The University of Wisconsin-Madison student government voted on Feb. 15 to award $147,000 in student fees to the UW Roman Catholic Foundation, indicating for the first time that student segregated fees may be used for worship. Some of the funds will pay for "Lenten booklets" ...
South Dakota's Abortion Ban Threatens Secular Freedom Nationwide
February 24, 2006 The ban on legal abortion passed today by the South Dakota Legislature is an attempt to impose one religion's dogma on everyone, according to Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor ...
Religious Extremism Great Advertisement for Atheism
February 6, 2006 Commentary: Religious extremists are doing such a good job of demonstrating the harm of dogma and religion all by themselves that there is really very little left for rationalists to do ...
Celebrated Lyricist Yip Harburg's "Rhymes For The Irreverent" Released
February 2, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation, in collaboration with the Yip Harburg Foundation, has issued Rhymes for the Irreverent (2006) by Yip Harburg, lyricist of such iconic and beloved songs as "Over the Rainbow," "Paper Moon" and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" ...
Debunking the Historical Jesus
January 30, 2006 The question of the historical existence of Jesus has hit the news with the recent, intriguing lawsuit in Italy by Luigi Cascioli, who is suing a priest, Rev. Enrico Righi, over his published assertion that "Jesus did indeed exist" ...
FFRF Blasts Gov. Blagojevich Pledge of $1 Million to Rebuild Church
Jan. 30, 2006 The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national watchdog group working to keep state and church separate, has condemned Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pledge of $1 million in state money to help restore Pilgrim Baptist Church ...
Alito Confirmation Would Tip Court
January 17, 2006 A religious litmus test is being imposed in the selection of Supreme Court candidates--they must be pre-approved by the Religious Right, as the Harriet Miers debacle proves ...
Chicago Appeals Court Upholds FFRF's Right to Sue over Federal Faith-based Office
January 16, 2006 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, in a Jan. 13 decision, handed a significant victory to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in its quest to challenge the creation of the White House Office of Faith-based Initiatives ...
State Employees Should Not Be Paid to Proselytize
January 13, 2006 The University of Wisconsin System should continue to prohibit state employees living in dorms from holding bible studies in their publicly-paid dorm rooms ...