AU Mission Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. James Madison (1751-1836) is popularly known as the “Father of the Constitution.” He was one of the strongest advocates of church-state separation, and Americans United strives to honor Madison’s legacy every day. Because of his vision — and that of other Framers — Americans have more religious freedom than any people in world history. Our nation includes adherents of every faith tradition, as well as those who choose to follow no spiritual path at all. Contents 2 Letter from the Executive Director 4 Communications 14 Project Fair Play 18 Litigation 26 Legislation 32 Grassroots Outreach 42 Organizational Structure 44 Statement of Activities and Statement of Financial Position 48 Major AU Contributors Letter from the Executive Director 2010 was a year full of energy, relationship between religion and government. In 2010, our attorneys won an impressive first round Election night brought a sweeping change in House victory in Enfield, Conn., by obtaining an injunction excitement and activism leadership and losses of key legislative champions against the school system holding a high school of religious freedom. graduation in a mega-church after non-Christian for Americans United. Our No matter what the composition of government students and parents objected to use of a non-secular organization was challenged in at any level, Americans United uses both innovative facility. The Legal Department continues cases in- and time-honored strategies and tactics to remind volving sectarian prayer at meetings of government many ways, as attacks on church- the public of the essential role the First Amend- bodies, funding of religious activities by taxpayers ment has had in the preservation of the right of all and religiously motivated job discrimination. In state separation continued of us to believe whatever we want about religion, another arena, our staff writes to government bodies or reject it entirely, without facing the status of a violating separation and in over two-thirds of these apace. Through it all, we were second-class citizen. matters achieves a positive result without needing All one has to do these days is go out for a cup to set foot in court. able to win many victories for of coffee or ride a bus to realize that we are getting Our active Legislative Department was hard at information by plenty of non-traditional means. For work in 2010 in both Washington and, with the help the First Amendment while increasing numbers of us, young and older, the cell of our field staff and chapter activists, in many state phone is as much a source of instant news alerts as legislatures. It worked to stop reauthorization of harnessing new technologies it is a chat line for family and computers, and iPads a failed school voucher system for the District of to rally increasing numbers of are the way we read the same newspapers we used Columbia, to strip broad “spiritual care” reimburse- to spread out next to the coffee cup. ments from the healthcare reform legislation and Americans to our cause. Although AU staff still does hundreds of news- continued to work for change in the ill-advised paper interviews and dozens of radio and television “faith-based” initiative. (I testified at the House Some misguided pundits believed that the Religious appearances each year, we also recognize the need Judiciary Committee on the constitutional and Right was mortally wounded after the 2008 elec- to generate the mechanisms for putting out our civil rights changes the current administration has tions. In 2010, these opponents of true religious message directly. We have over 40,000 “fans” on the refused to make.) Americans United also played im- liberty and its corollary, the separation of church social media site Facebook; the AU page there is up- portant roles in battling state voucher bills in eight and state, came roaring back with surprising vigor. dated several times a day with breaking events. We states, battling anti-science and revisionist social The rise of the so-called “Tea Party” movement distribute Church & State magazine in an electronic studies curriculum in Texas and Louisiana and sparked efforts by long-established Religious as well as a print format. We do a daily radio feed. stopping Florida efforts to change its constitution to Right organizations to forge a new and powerful We do Internet “webcasts” where I can chat with permit government funding of religious ministries. alliance. Church-state separation was frequently hundreds of people from around the country at the Recognizing the diversity of our AU membership, in the crosshairs. same time and answer their questions. our Field Department works with both religious and Indeed, highly charged rhetoric, some of which On the other hand, there has been no diminution secular groups to promote constitutional advocacy, reverberated on the campaign trail, often embraced in the quality of our approach to more traditional believing that only by working together will we inaccurate, even dangerous, interpretations of the venues. Our Legal Department is still appearing maintain a strong wall of separation between First Amendment. There were repeated misrep- in court regularly (even if some of the briefs and religion and government. We currently facilitate resentations of American history regarding the other legal documents are now filed electronically). activities by 67 chapters in 34 states and connect 2 AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn with some 120,000 members and supporters. Local forums feature well-known authors and academics, and chapters engage in local activities from testifying at governmental bodies to setting up information booths at county fairs. As AU executive director, I am very proud of the extraordinary commitment of our 32 staff members, our 15-member Board of Trustees, our National Advisory Council and all of our chapters and members. Consistent and persistent reminders to the public and to elected leaders about the historical and contemporary significance of keeping a decent distance between the institutions of government and those of religion are essential. Without the support of all of you — including the financial support orchestrated by our Development team — we would not be able to preserve this principle for our children and grandchildren. We must and will remain vigilant about the inappropriate efforts by some religious leaders to receive government funding for what should be their privately funded missions and by some tax-exempt religious bodies seeking to illegally intervene in partisan political campaigns. We will stand up for the principles advanced by so many of the Framers who knew that the decision to create a new government, neutral on matters of faith, might turn out to be the greatest contribution to world thinking they would create. Barry W. Lynn Executive Director Americans United for Separation of Church and State 3 Communications Educating and Informing the People Americans United knows that education is the best way to achieve its mission of upholding the wall of separation between church and state. Americans must be made aware of the role freedom of conscience has played in building and securing our pluralistic nation – and they must understand why that must continue today. Thanks to the separation of church and state, our nation has largely avoided the interfaith strife that has troubled other nations. The principle has also secured religious freedom for all. AU Communications Staff Ilana Stern Communications Assistant (through March) Jon White Web Manager (through June) Joseph Conn Robert Boston Sandhya Bathija Susan Hansen Maria Matveeva Communications Director Assistant Communications Communications Web Associate Communications Director Associate Assistant The Communications Department is responsible The AU Communications Department is led by Church & State Magazine for spreading AU’s message – through a monthly Director of Communications Joseph L. Conn. Oth- magazine, daily blog, brochures, speeches, books, ers on the Communications team include Assistant Church & State remains AU’s single most effective media appearances, social networking, email alerts Communications Director Robert Boston, Communi- and time-tested means of communicating with AU and our website, www.au.org. AU’s Communications cations Associate Sandhya Bathija, Communications members and activists, as well as with key players team monitors all church-state developments, ready Assistants Susan Hansen and Ilana Stern (through in the academic, religious and political communities. to offer expert comment. We vigorously act to correct March), Web Manager Jon White (through June) and Each month, the magazine is mailed to thousands any misinformation about the separation of church Web Associate Maria Matveeva. of Americans and posted on the AU website. This and state. year, AU covered important stories that were often The Americans United Communications Depart- overlooked by the mainstream media, including ment takes a front and center role in keeping an features on: the Religious Right connection to the eye on the Religious Right. This movement seeks to 2010 Education Highlights Tea Party movement; a Kansas pastor’s protest impose a fundamentalist vision on all Americans by against improper proselytizing in public schools; law. This year, a team of AU staffers attended the Through various forms of media outreach, Ameri- Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s push to reauthorize D.C. so-called “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, D.C., cans United is able to reach a wide and diverse school vouchers; Fox News Host Glenn Beck team- which drew 1,000 attendees to strategize about ways audience. The Communications Department ing up with faux historian David Barton to push for to increase Religious Right influence during the 2010 worked diligently in 2010, educating the media and revisionist “Christian nation” history standards in election season.