Photoshop # White Will Barrett Winners of Ed Asner: It’s join the grievance grad student essay not easy to conservatives? contest announced challenge religion PAGE 11 PAGES 14-19 PAGE 28 Vol. 38 No. 1 Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. January / February 2021 FFRF special report Christian Nationalist takeover of the federal judiciary A new Freedom From Religion Founda- interpretation of the Constitution and its tion report issued on Dec. 15 exposes the impact on our rights, FFRF underscores in Christian Nationalist takeover of the federal its report. The judges on the federal bench courts and the damage this is causing to the are appointed for life, which may be up to separation of state and church. four or five decades. Their influence often Over the past four years, President lasts even longer. Trump has stacked the federal courts with To make matters worse, political calcula- ultraconservative judges, thanks to the tions have dictated Trump’s judicial appoin- blocking of President Obama’s judicial tees. In 2016, 81 percent of white evangeli- appointments and the holding open of va- cal Christians voted for him, and in return cant seats by Senate Majority Leader Mitch they’ve gotten a federal judiciary willing to McConnell. Trump has made three Su- codify religious privilege while stripping the preme Court appointments, 53 appellate rights of minorities. That’s why the federal court appointments and 170 district court judges that have been appointed by Trump appointments, drastically outpacing his are religious ideologues who are dramati- predecessors. In fact, the outgoing presi- cally redefining religious liberty and under- dent vowed to continue nominating judg- mining core, cherished constitutional prin- es through the end of the lame-duck 116th ciples that keep religion out of government. congressional session. “We are only seeing the early stages of the The capture of the courts is alarming, given the power the courts hold over the See Judiciary on page 20 Unmasking the FFRF’s legal team role of religion notches another in the pandemic great year in 2020 By Rebecca Markert importance of state/church By Annie Laurie Gaylor separation. FRF’s Legal Department vangelist Franklin Graham has start- has been busy ensuring Staff changes ed off the New Year with a doozy of a the wall of separation There were some staffing warning. Fbetween state and church is changes in 2020. Our legal team EIn a pair of tweets on Jan. 1, he wrote: “Joe high despite all the obstacles bid farewell to our legal fellow, Biden has warned of a ‘dark winter’ for our thrown our way in 2020. The Dante Harootunian, whose fel- nation. But the dark winter we’re facing is not pandemic changed how and lowship ended in August. just due to Covid-19, it’s due to the moral de- where we work, but it hasn’t We welcomed a new legal cline and political corruption we see through- changed what we do. Last fellow, Joseph McDonald, out the U.S.” and “We year, as our who recently graduated from could face a dark period homes be- the University of Wisconsin of history as God turns came our with a dual degree: a Juris his back on our nation offices, we Doctorate and a Master’s in because of its sins and our Photo by Chris Line still contin- Public Health. Our team wel- politicians embracing, The mannequin of Charles Darwin in the Free- ued to ad- comed a new intake legal as- Science and even flaunting, sin.” thought Hall library shows off FFRF’s “In vocate for sistant, Stephanie Dyer, who Biden, of course, pre- I Trust” face mask. your rights is also a recent graduate from dicted a “very dark winter” religion-embracing ways? and work the University of Wisconsin. Annie Laurie Gaylor if pandemic mitigation Graham has also unctuously praised President to keep Rebecca Markert Both Joseph and Stephanie measures dictated by sci- Trump’s sanctimonious remarks on Dec. 31 that our gov- were onboarded remote- ence, such as mask-wearing and social distanc- “a society without religion cannot prosper.” ernment free from religion ly and have adapted to our ing, continue to be politicized. But isn’t it theo- Shouldn’t the question instead be whether a through litigation, persuasive “work from home” office en- cratic leaders who have led America astray, who letters to government agen- vironment well. should be “repenting” their science-denying, See Religion on page 6 cies asking them to resolve vi- olations, and education on the See Legal team on page 20 Page 2 FFRF | FREETHOUGHT TODAY | Madison, Wisconsin | January / February 2021 IN MEMORIAM Ben Bova The bright was science life of Paul fiction author Science fiction author and editor Geisert Ben Bova died of complications of COVID-19 and a stroke on Nov. 29 in Many in the freethought world were Naples, Fla., at age 88. saddened to learn of the death of Paul He was the author of 140 books and Geisert, who succumbed Nov. 17 to edited some of science fiction’s best- COVID-19 due to an outbreak in the known publications and served as the congregate living community near Sac- president of the Science Fiction and ramento, Calif., where he had resided Fantasy Writers of America. the past year. In an interview on FFRF’s Free- An Ohio native, Geisert had a rather thought Radio (July 18, 2009, which eclectic career, living and holding jobs can be heard at ffrf.org/radio by scroll- in 11 states across his lifetime. Besides ing to that date), Bova said, “The Wikimedia Commons owning and running two businesses, all Catholic Church teaches that faith is Ben Bova in 1974 his creative work related in some man- a gift from God, and it’s a gift I never ner to education, with most positions Paul Geisert received apparently. It always seemed America and a science analyst on “CBS being as a teacher and/or instructional kind of strange to me that we’re de- Morning News.” He taught science developer. the need for civic neutrality between re- pending on this supernatural power fiction at Harvard and film courses He pursued undergraduate studies ligion and nonreligion. and there’s no real evidence that it at other institutions. He received the in biology at the University of Toledo, Among other products, he co-pro- exists. When I started understand- Lifetime Achievement Award from the did his master’s level graduate work at duced “Different Drummers: Non- ing how science works, it occurred to Arthur C. Clarke Foundation (2005), the University of Michigan, and then conforming Thinkers in History,” me that there just is no evidence that was elected a Fellow of the American received his Ph.D. in instructional sys- an instructional unit that California there is a God.” Association for the Advancement of tems at Florida State University, co-au- approved for classroom use. He also Attracted to science but fearing he Science (2001) and in 2008 won the thoring with his wife two college-lev- lobbied its Department of Education lacked the math skills for it led him to Robert A. Heinlein Award “for his out- el textbooks on instructional uses of to press for inclusivity of nonreligious study journalism at Temple University standing body of work in the field of computers. persons and points of view, thereby in Philadelphia, which landed him a literature.” He also authored numerous articles inducing new wording for the state’s job in 1954 as a newspaper editor. He Bova’s writings predicted solar pow- in science education and freethought curricular standards for social stud- then worked as a technical writer for er satellites, the discovery of organic publications, taking firm stances on ies teaching. Paul became active in an aircraft company and as a writer chemicals in interstellar space, the behalf of authentic science in the face Objectivity, Accuracy, and Balance In for educational films at MIT. He was space race of the 1960s, virtual reali- of creationist/religious intrusions into Teaching about Religion (OABITAR) working as a writer in 1969 for Avco ty, human cloning, stem cell therapy, public education. and wrote material for several of its Everett Research Laboratory, which the discovery of ice on the moon, elec- Besides his personal freethinking, projects, such as the website, “Teach- built heat shields for the Apollo 11 tronic book publishing and the Strate- Geisert was a nonconformist in sever- ing about Religion in Support of Civic module, when the first men landed on gic Defense Initiative (Star Wars). His al ways, almost approaching iconoclast Pluralism.” the moon. novel Mars Life (2008) explored the status. While on the faculty of the Uni- Atheists and Other Freethinkers, the He earned a master’s in commu- clash between science, politics and versity of Wyoming and being a highly local group that Geisert co-founded in nications from the State University religion. His 1980 article in Discover innovative member of its Science and 1993 and served as an early president, of New York at Albany and a Ph.D. magazine, “The Creationists’ ‘Equal Mathematics Teaching Center (he won continues to be active today (aofonline. in education from California Coast Time,’” became an inspirational clas- a national award for instructional devel- org), as do other nonprofits that he University. sic among freethinkers. opment in college level biology there), helped to get going, such as Sacramen- His increasing renown as a writer He married Rosa Cucinotta in 1953 he unpredictably departed academia to’s Reason Center (reasoncenter.org) in the 1970s brought him the role for while attending Temple University.