John Irving: The High school Nancy Northup cruel history of the essay contest joins convention anti-abortion crusade winners speaker lineup PAGE 3 PAGES 12-17 PAGE 23 Vol. 36 No. 6 Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. August 2019 FFRF, others win atheist invocation case Court of Appeals says Florida cannot stand,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Governmental bodies that county policy is discriminatory open their meetings with invocations must not turn believers into insiders, and nonbe- The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on lievers into outsiders, by excluding dissenting July 8 unanimously ruled that the Brevard points of view.” County, Fla., commissioners’ policy of using The other litigating organizations agree. religious beliefs to determine who can offer Americans United Associate Legal Direc- invocations at public meetings is unconstitu- tor Alex J. Luchenitser, who is lead counsel tional, discriminatory and a violation of reli- in the case, says: “Brevard County Commis- gious freedom. sioners were using religion as the basis for The ruling came in the case Williamson discrimination by allowing only people of v. Brevard County, which was brought by the preferred faiths to offer invocations. Reli- Freedom From Religion Foundation, Amer- gious minorities and nonbelievers are equal icans United for Separation of Church and members of society and they must be treated State, the American Civil Liberties Union equally by their elected officials. The court’s and the ACLU of Florida on behalf of several decision today made clear that no one should nontheists whom commissioners have barred be excluded from civic affairs because of from offering invocations. their beliefs about God.” “The discriminatory procedure for selecting Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Pro- invocation speakers followed in Brevard Coun- gram on Freedom of Religion and Belief, ty is unconstitutional and it must be rejected,” says: “There should never be a religious lit- writes Judge Stanley Marcus in the opinion. “We mus test for participation in local government need go no further today than to say this: In se- Standing outside the Brevard County (Fla.) Government Center are meetings. The Brevard County Commission- lecting invocation speakers, the commissioners plaintiffs, from left, Ronald Gordon, David Williamson, Chase Hansel, ers have been playing favorites with faith, and may not categorically exclude from consider- Keith Becher and Jeffery Koerbel. we’re pleased that, once again, the courts ation speakers from a religion simply because have told them that enough is enough.” they do not like the nature of its beliefs.” Williamson v. Brevard County was filed in “The commissioners have favored some religions found at the heart of the Establishment Clause.” 2015 to challenge the Brevard County Board of over others, and barred those they did not approve of FFRF is obviously pleased at the ruling. County Commissioners’ unconstitutional policy of from being considered,” adds Marcus. “This plainly “We’re delighted the appeals court has asserted violates the principle of denominational neutrality that such blatant discrimination against nontheists See Invocation on page 10 A shameful legacy for the Supreme Court Says Bladensburg cross doesn’t violate the Establishment Clause It should have been an easy call, but the U.S. Su- preme Court blew it. The government-owned, gov- ernment-maintained, 40-foot-tall Christian cross dominating the landscape in Bladensburg, Md., does not violate the First Amendment, seven justices inexcusably decided on June 20. ‘Jesus’ sign removed One would expect to find a Christian cross — In 2015, the city council of Hawkins, Texas, agreed the pre-eminent symbol of Christianity — on gov- with the Freedom From Religion Foundation and voted ernment property in a Christian theocracy, not in to remove a sign saying “Jesus welcomes you to Hawkins” a country that was first among nations to separate from city property within 30 days. religion from government. Four years later, it was finally removed. The decision was fractured into seven separate a “National Day of Prayer”), some religious language Why did it take so long? FFRF Associate Counsel Sam opinions, concurrences and dissents over 87 pages, in the Northwest Ordinance, and reference to “reli- Grover, who, along with FFRF Senior Counsel Patrick with seven justices eventually voting in favor of the gion and morality” in President Washington’s Fare- Elliott, has been working on the case since 2013, said cross. The majority opinion written by Justice Samuel well Address. The central test for determining these “things got weird” after the city voted to take it down. Alito and joined by four other justices, declares that violations, known as the Lemon test, was set aside in But things were weird all along. the Bladensburg cross, originally erected on private favor of the argument from history, though not ex- Back in 2015, before the council ever voted on the ground to commemorate some World War I soldiers, plicitly overturned by a majority of the justices. sign, Hawkins Mayor Will Rogers defended the sign with does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First “The passage of time gives rise to a strong pre- statements to the media such as, “Jesus is not a religion, Amendment. Alito argues that World War I history, sumption of constitutionality,” writes Alito. Jesus is in every religion across the globe. He’s in Islam, community and sacrifice can obscure the religious In an elegant and thoughtful dissent joined by Buddhism, Hinduism,” and “If you don’t believe that Je- sentiment of the Christian symbol, changing the Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Ruth Bader Gins- sus existed, then he would be fiction. If he’s fiction, and purposes of the monument over time. burg gets it right. (See page 7.) you want to remove his name from everything, then you Ominously, instead of focusing on legal princi- “Using the cross as a war memorial does not trans- need to remove every fiction name that there is across ples, Alito looks to “history for guidance,” trotting form it into a secular symbol, as the Courts of Ap- the country. That means we couldn’t say ‘Superman out typical Religious Right examples — such as leg- peals have uniformly recognized,” the dissent states. islative prayer, the day of thanksgiving George Wash- See Sign on page 9 ington declared (which the court erroneously called See Bladensburg on page 6 Page 2 FFRF | FREETHOUGHT TODAY | Madison, Wisconsin | August 2019 Chris Kramer wants to ‘spread the secular gospel’ Name: Chris Kramer. to foster freethinking in young people. There Is No God!’ if religion would just Where I live: Central Missouri. I’ve reached out to a local college free- leave people alone.” Where and when I was born: Louisiana, thought group and offered mentoring. • “We humans are nothing more than 1967. I participate in a local “intellectual social extremely evolved microorganisms, but Family: Married to Stacy. We have three group” and use that forum to win hearts at the same time so much more. We are wonderful kids, plus cats, goats and a dog. and minds. I engage with local religious animated collections of dead stars, shin- Education: A bachelor’s and master’s lay leaders to teach them reality and show ing with an internal light which expresses degree in geology, plus numerous mili- them a better path. I frequently interact itself in the form of wondrous creations tary and other educational and training with elected officials from the local to na- of art and architecture, prose and poetry, opportunities. Informally, I have a lifetime tional levels regarding constitutional vio- the exultation of the pursuit of knowl- of dedicated self-education in the sciences lations and religiously inspired legislation. edge, the love we feel for our families and and many other subjects, plus I have trav- I go to worship services to see what mes- the acts of kindness bestowed on others.” eled to multiple states and countries while sages are being spread that we freethinkers • “The lack of knowledge of their own Chris Kramer in and out of uniform. need to know about. I wear freethought-type and of other faiths is why the devotees Occupation: Retired military officer, risy, uncritical thinking. clothing, especially when traveling through of religion are called ‘believers’ and not still defending the Constitution against Where I’m headed: Hopefully to a airports or at large events. I donate to free- ‘knowers.’ They believe quite a lot, but all enemies, foreign and domestic, as a place where my writing has armed large thought organizations like FFRF and de- don’t actually know very much.” Department of Defense civilian employee, numbers of current and future freethink- fend their actions to local politicians and • “Religion is not a fact-based belief sys- FFRF Lifetime Member and aspiring free- ers with massive amounts of quickly usable citizens. I give freethinking and science tem; it is a belief-based belief system.” thinking writer and warrior for the truth. information and also inspired them to do books to those who are starting down the • “The average person living in the Military service: Served 23 years in their part in the fight against religion and path from religion to freethought. I started ancient Middle East during biblical times uniform. for secular humanism. Also, to a place a publishing company, Reality Publishing, knew about as much about physics, chem- How I got where I am today: Favorable where my words and as a vehicle to foster istry, psychology and other sciences as did genetics and a mother who showed what those assisted by my freethought and crit- the flint-knapping prehumans of a mil- true humanism really is. She also expect- words have convert- MEET A MEMBER ical thinking. I never lion years ago.