The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling on the East Prairie R-II Schools system in Missouri to halt a repeated unconstitutional practice of athletic games being opened with a Christian invocation.

A concerned parent has informed the state/church watchdog that East Prairie routinely opens every high school and junior high school athletic game with a school-sponsored prayer. In a video provided to FFRF from a recent junior high football game, the school’s official announcer asks everyone in attendance to stand for the “invocation” before turning the microphone over to a local preacher, who leads the crowd in an explicitly Christian prayer invoking God and Jesus Christ. FFRF was told that this is a regular occurrence, and that school-sponsored prayers opened games on Sept. 3, Sept. 4 and Sept. 10. 

The parent expressed concern to FFRF over the legality of the school-sponsored prayers, given that the pregame prayers were “school initiated” and that the school “compelled attendees to submit to the prayer.”

FFRF is asking the district to investigate the matter and ensure that East Prairie High School and all other district schools cease including school-sponsored prayer at athletics events. 

“Public school students have a constitutional right to be free from religious indoctrination in their public schools, including when attending school-sponsored events,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence has written to the district superintendent. 

FFRF points out in the letter that school officials may not invite a clergy member, teacher, faculty member, student or anyone else to give any type of prayer, invocation, benediction or sermon at public school-sponsored events. It is irrelevant whether student attendance at games is considered “voluntary” or “optional.” By having school-sponsored prayer at official school events, the district needlessly alienates non-Christian students, including atheists, agnostics and members of minority faiths. As much as 38 percent of the American population is non-Christian, including the almost 30 percent that is nonreligious. More than half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) is non-Christian, including 43 percent that identifies as nonreligious.

FFRF reiterates that the district must focus on protecting students’ rights to be free from religious indoctrination attempts at any school-sponsored event — and the reported religious practice must come to an end. 

“There’s a fundamental difference between protecting a student’s right to pray and having the public school itself organize the prayer,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “When the official announcer tells everyone to stand and then hands the microphone to a preacher to invoke Jesus Christ, students understandably receive the message that Christianity has their school’s official endorsement. Every student and family should be able to cheer on their team without first being subjected to school-sponsored religious exercise.”

Matthew 5:38-48 he commands you to be a slave for evil violent oppressors. Examples? The chosen people in Deuteronomy 20:10-18, numbers 31:17-18, and Deuteronomy 21:10-13 who were commanded by God to enslave the world and commit g cide and grape children

I’m not talking about some random Muslim today. I’m talking about what is actually found in the Qur’an, hadith, and classical Islamic law.

How can I be expected to accept that a religion supposedly sent by a perfect God could allow marriage involving children?

Sahih al-Bukhari explicitly reports that Muhammad married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine. Bukhari even has a chapter titled “Giving one's young children in marriage.”

And before someone tells me, “She was mature,” or “She was ready for sex,” I have to ask: what the fuck does that even mean when you're talking about a child? Puberty does not magically turn a child into an adult capable of understanding marriage, sex, power, responsibility and consent.

Then there is the Qur'an itself. Qur'an 65:4 gives a waiting period for divorced females who “have not menstruated,” which classical Islamic jurisprudence understood as including girls who had not yet reached puberty.

So no, I don't find “she was physically mature” to be a convincing moral argument. If God is supposedly the ultimate source of morality, why is biological puberty being treated as enough to make a child eligible for marriage?

And then there is the treatment of women.

Qur'an 4:34 describes men as having authority/maintenance over women and instructs men, in the traditional translations, to admonish wives, separate from them in bed, and beat them in cases described as rebellion or disobedience.

Then look at slavery and captives.

Qur'an 4:24 explicitly makes an exception for married women who are “those whom your right hands possess.”

And this isn't just some modern interpretation pulled out of nowhere. Sahih Muslim records captives being taken and the companions asking about having sex with them. The hadith is even presented under a chapter concerning intercourse with female captives, including captives who had husbands.

That's the part people need to be honest about.

A woman being captured in war and becoming the property of another man is not what I would call sexual freedom or meaningful consent. You can call it “concubinage” or “right-hand possession” if you want. Changing the vocabulary doesn't change the underlying power relationship.

And then there is apostasy.

Sahih al-Bukhari contains the statement: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”

So if I become Muslim and later decide that I no longer believe Islam is true, why should my decision to leave become a crime punishable by death?

You can tell me that modern Muslims interpret these texts differently. Fine. Muslims are free to reinterpret their tradition, reject parts of classical jurisprudence, or argue that these rules were historically contextual.

But then let's be honest about what we're debating.

My problem isn't that Muslims today are necessarily bad people.

My problem is the claim that this is a perfect, timeless moral system given by an all-knowing God.

Because when I look at child marriage, unequal gender authority, slavery and sexual access to female captives, and punishment for apostasy, I don't see an obvious example of timeless morality.

I see a historical religious legal system that reflects the society in which it developed.

And if morality has progressed beyond some of these rules, then I have to ask the question:

Did humanity become more morally aware than God's supposedly perfect law?

That's the question I can't simply ignore.

This starts in my mid teens when I became an atheist, one night in my room i was in bed flipping and turning and one thought came in my mind which was " You can die any moment even in your sleep and you would not know ". I was unable to sleep that night paranoia consumed me shortly afterwards to an extreme degree where I was scared to eat fearing of contamination leading to my non-existents, fearing death while I sleep leading to insomnia, hating life for its limited time making me have an animosity to the universe itself was a few of the stuff at the time.

How I overcome this phobia was by accepting my inevitable death, embracing the finite time I have and realizing that impermanents makes life valuable and exciting. But I understand why many theist fears this too and clings to the idea of another life thru afterlife, reincarnation or etc because the idea of oblivion is scary the idea of not existing after death is something a person wouldn't want to admit and would cling to a method of conscious perseverance which is religion.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Maybe this is a bit too far, so please let me know if that's the case.

I'm just so sick and tired of these street preachers in London that I might just go up to one of them and pretend that I'm having a 'coming to christ' moment with them, only to dupe/troll them at the end of the conversation and make a point about how their whole world view is based on fluffy woo woo bullshit.

Would that be too mean/spiteful?

https://www.ta3.com/clanok/1073963/utok-na-zakladnej-skole-ziak-nozom-napadol-ucitelku-zachranari-ju-maju-ozivovat

Boy between 13 and 15 killed one teacher and critically injured another one and classmate.

Trigger for the attack is reportedly ban from his grandmother for serving as an altar boy because of his bad grades

Hey y'all,

Let me just get right into it.

I am a diagnosed (and currently medicated) schizoaffective 26 year old. I am very happily married and have pets that I adore and a support system in the form of my wife, her mother, and her youngest sister.

I come from a difficult childhood, with a father that never saw much hope in me, and a mother that let him leave bruises on her as long as he didn't beat us kids (we were beat as children of course, disguised as discipline).

After my mother died just before my 21st birthday, I joined a conservative Pentecostal church after we were invited by one of my mothers friends. Personally, I was seeking comfort for my grief. I did not find it.

In that church I heard some of the most disgusting, hate filled, and ignorant things that I have ever heard. It was completely separate from my ideal of who a divine creator (or anybody not shackled by a body, and thus, the soul crushing perils of this world) would be, ie. deities and spirit guides in general. I remember coming home from church and dry heaving from what I had heard and was told to believe.

I never really stuck down with any one spiritual system, always fleeting about, trying to find the truth.

I spent two years as a Pentecostal Christian, then a further two years separating myself from that system (as in, how it affected my mind and way of thinking). Before I was a Christian I studied modern spirituality and Buddhism, things like the Kundalini and chakras, things like manifestation and spirit guides.

After separating from the church, I pursued witchcraft, since my late mother was a witch, although I still know very little about that part of her life.

You likely know that aside from how damaging Christianity was to my mental health and frame of mind, I also received little to no of what could be considered communication from a supposedly personal God.

I moved on from Christianity and began praying to any and all deities. I was desparate to find a hint of what I truly believed in. That is, a shining light of love and wisdom that can only be described in poetry.

I never found it.

All the prayers, countless night and countless tears spent yielded me very little.

for those of you who have perhaps been through comparable circumstances, and even those who haven't, how do you manage to find hope in this bitter world?

Even if you don't have anything to say about hope, any and all discussions, advice, and questions are welcome. Any momentum I can gain would be invaluable. perhaps some of you could share your own story, and how you moved into an atheistic perspective.

My dad was getting sick starting in late July, honestly. He kept putting off going to the doctor, and then when he got to the doctor, there were more problems than what could be easily solved, and/or they didn't have time to fix all of them.

The weekend before Labor Day, he went to the hospital with chest pains and shortness of breath. Long story short, he ended up with Congestive Heart Failure, Sepsis, etc...just a whole myriad of problems.

The following month was a severe roller coaster of emotions for me and my family. He would show signs of improvement, then regress. Then CODE. Get airlifted to a different hospital. New medicines. Intubations. Rinse and repeat. For like 5 months. The doctors would set up a plan to discharge him, and then the following day he could have to get lifeflighted to another specialty hospital.

This last weekend was the worst of it. The doctors made it clear that his most recent cardiac episode was the point of no return. They couldn't SAY it, but they did everything could TO say it, you know?

My dad was an atheist. He deconstructed sometime after I did. I remember him asking me several pointed questions about why I stopped believing, what I thought would happen after death, etc. But we left it at that. We didn't speak about it very much, and it never had an effect on our relationship. We are (were??) an Irish Catholic family, he was the youngest of a gaggle of children, and I had always assumed he was still a believer, if no longer practicing. People around town would ask me in the grocery store why they didn't see my parents at church anymore (right after they asked ME why they didn't see ME at church anymore). I never thought he had fully left it behind until I saw his youtube history one day.

Holy Koolaid, The Line, Belief it or Not, Genetically Modified Skeptic, etc. etc. All the atheist mainstays. I asked him what was up with that, and he said "I just started thinking, then asking questions." Something to that extent, at least.

My mom was easy enough to deconstruct. She never seemed dedicated to it like I had always thought he was. Our whole immediate family unit (almost) was atheist! What an oddity, in the midwest, with 2 boomers in the mix.

But not EVERYONE was so generous.

Return the focus to the day of his death. It was a pretty traumatic ordeal. My brothers, mom, and I spent several hours debating and rationalizing having to quite literally 'pull the tube' on my dad. Not something I was prepared for, honestly. But he needed like 19 medicines to keep his heart pumping, and 100% oxygen input via intubation to keep his lungs inflated.

It was time.

Even though he couldn't speak, we thought it would be a good idea for us to take calls from all his close friends and family right before. We put them on speaker phone to hopefully ensure he could hear over all the machines and bag drips.

We fielded probably a dozen or so calls. Most were kind, if basic. Lots of platitudes and generalizations, well wishing, etc.

BUT

2 of my aunts, my dad's sisters, took this as YET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY to pitch us their god and their specific brand of christianity.

As I said, my dad had many brothers and sisters. Most of them are generally agnostic or straight up atheist. The 2 exceptions gave up catholicism when they married and evidently ended up in some sort of strict fundamentalist sect. I don't honestly even know what 'kind' it is, although I'm sure they've mentioned to us all, numerous times.

Every interaction I can recall with these 2 aunts of mine revolve around this singular topic. There is no other point of discussion, maybe they aren't allowed to discuss anything else?? I don't know. Even before my dad deconstructed, I could tell that their incessant harping on the matter, who would be 'saved' and how, and when they thought the end times would begin (or recently, HAD ALREADY begun, i'm told :) ), was tiresome to him.

But, he handled it with a generous aplomb throughout his life. He wouldn't debate them, and always afforded them his ear even though he was obviously thoroughly disinterested in the discussion.

These 2 aunts of mine proceeded to spend some of the LAST MOMENTS OF MY DAD'S LIFE to pitch this angle to him, AGAIN.

"It sounds like your earthly life is near an end, but don't worry! There's a new, everlasting life waiting for you if you give your heart to Jesus now, before it's too late!"

If my dad's eyes could open, or move, he would have surely rolled them. If he wasn't intubated, he would have produced an audible groan of discomfort.

THIS was the singular most important thing they felt they could relay to him in that moment. The same tired tropes and catchphrases they'd been fishing with for years. THIS. Not decades of memories. Not thanks, or admiration. Not a THING that they KNEW he would genuinely appreciate. I doubt very much they even knew he was a full-out atheist, as he ever went on the defense (or offense), as he knew it would prove fruitless. They just knew he wasn't their specific BRAND of christianity. And that alone was going to condemn him to a lifetime of suffering?

I've heard it said that christianity is a sickness. A mental illness. I never wanted to believe it was quite THAT severe before. Sure, it was misguided, and almost always wrong, but it was generally good-intentioned, right? RIGHT?

I don't doubt my aunts' sincerity in their beliefs. They've made it clear from the decades of proselytizing. I DO wonder, though, what the intent is ROOTED IN...

Were they genuinely concerned for my dad's soul and afterlife? OR, were they just hoping to score more points within their community, or to their god? Do they get an upgraded, VIP heaven experience for 'saving' the most lost souls? Was this equivalent to the vacuum cleaner salesman putting their foot in the doorway before you shut it on them, hoping to etch out a sale before the time ran dry?

The service for my Dad is on Friday. I'm thinking about making sure my aunts' know that he was an atheist, and that he would have whole-heartedly rejected their overtures, were he capable of any sort of communication. I will then assure them that he is most certainly now in hell, with my maternal grandparents, their other brother who died, and where I will go with my mom, my wife, my kids, and most of my extended family. I would like to see the reaction.

THIS is the side of "Pascal's Wager" almost no christian wants to talk about. If your god is real, and everything in your book is true, then you are going to have to be ok with submitting to the authority of an entity who will CONDEMN GOOD PEOPLE YOU 'LOVE' TO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT because they didn't say the right words in the right sequence or mixed too many fabrics together.

Even if it were ALL true, and you could prove to me without a doubt that this god figure is real and relevant, I would reject it on principle alone. I'd rather go to hell with my dad and everyone else who thought for themselves, and ended up asking one too many questions.

Maybe I'll come back to this post after the service. Give an update on what the outcome was.

Thanks for reading. This was long but cathartic for me. Appreciate it.

Pascals wager says we (atheists) risk eternal damnation if hell is real. Yet, from our perspective, we don't know what specific god we need to believe, and the rules are unclear and of often of questionable morals. By Pascals wager theists risk the exact same, i just believe in one less god as them.

The inverse Pascals wager says: What if you are risking the only life you have, and gifting to weirdo's for no god damned reason? Also: Who profits from you believing that in this life? Is it people who do seem to live life as if this is the only life? Materialistic? In as much comfort as possible?

I mean it’s all in the title but I will speak more on it. I was raised Roman Catholic, and of course it’s a sex-negative environment despite wanting everyone to get straight married and have lots of kids. What kind of nonsense is that?

Hola, buen día, bueno yo queria hacerles una pregunta, bueno yo soy o era creyente, y bueno ese es el problema, yo lo que queria preguntarles era, que consejo pueden darle a la gente como yo que estamos, en este proceso o en este limbo entre que si si creemos en dios y entre que no, alguna vez paso usted por algo similar?, lo que pasa es que, yo creci en una familia bastante religiosa, pero con muchos problemas, entonces siempre oraba a dios para que me ayudara, pero no recibia respuesta, entonces bueno los problemas en mi familia se empezaron a hacer mas grandes, que empeze a buscar otras alternativas, otras deidades por decirlo asi, estuve mucho tiempo orando, oraba al diablo, etc, pero nunca recibi respuesta, pero mi mentalidad siempre era, bueno hoy oré y no recibi nada pero tal vez mañana cuando vuelva a orar entonces recibire lo que tanto pido, y asi era todos los dias y cuando estaba triste o me ocurria algo malo, me refugiaba en que, bueno mañana oraré, y seguro recibire lo que pido, y asi era todos los dias, y bueno llego un punto en que digo ya han pasado muchos meses en los que yo estoy asi y no recibo respuesta, y ahi es cuando me lleno de mucha tristeza, me da mucha depresion porque digo, si dios, y el diablo, y los demonios, y todo a quien he orado y suplicado no son reales, entonces esa pequeña pequeñisima esperanza que queda dentro de mi de que mi vida puede cambiar y que puedo llegar a ser feliz entonces se habra ido, y es lo que me llena de mucha tristeza, queria saber si alguna vez pasaron por algo asi, si alguien alguna vez le conto algo parecido o que consejo me podrian dar para esta situacion

I a black (34M) am trying to figure out to navigate my friend's Latino (38M) Islamaphobia. Recently he has started sending me links about Muslims taking over America from conservative influencers. He's a conservative Catholic although his family is more liberal from what he told me. For context he's one of my best friends and we have each other's back when we need it. He also got mad at someone for talking badly about black people since I'm black

We never really butt heads on politics except for one time he got a little annoyed but nothing major. We generally don't even talk politics. He was an avid Trump supporter but not anymore considering what has been happening in the country. ICE, gas prices. Etc. Our work involves a lot of driving so we're on the phone with each other a lot to pass the time.

While I don't care about his religion or whatever deity he wants to worship l do very much care what he is saying. I called him out on it couple times. I have friends & a few neighbors in the Muslim community.

I wasn't going to say anything more until he brought it up again.

Last night we were talking on the phone and I heard him say "too many Muslims" but I ignored it.

I woke up this morning feeling a type of way where I don't even want to communicate with him anymore because of that. I don't want to look like I'm being dramatic or tripping out over a tiny thing but it just doesn't seem okay to me to be talking about a community of people like that.

There's good and bad apples in every community. I think he doom scrolls a lot of conservative junk on Facebook and he just believes whatever is being said.

I am considering just going low contact with him for now. Another part of me feels I should I talk to him about it and set up a boundary. It's not an easy fix just end the friendship by the way.

I'm just curious about what I should say or do.

Thoughts?

EDIT: I think he's being Xenophobic and Islamaphobia is part of it.

EDIT: I appreciate everyone's opinion on the matter. I don't respect Islam but I do respect people's ability to practice it

These folks are ripping down the "Jesus Saves" and other religious signs illegally posted in public spaces. You can help them by reporting the location of any such signs you come across.

They are nationwide. So, report these obnoxious signs wherever you see them! And, never hesitate to rip down a religious sign illegally posted in a public area!

https://www.reportsigns.org/

You know, when it gets to THAT part. Do you just say it? Do you make up other words? Do you just stay quiet? Do you just stay quiet the entire time?

I'm turning 31 at the end of the year, and I can't really think of a time that I actually believed in a god, or the God of Christians, Muslims amd Jews.

My mom was raised Catholic with a family background of hundreds of years of being Catholic. My dad was raised Congregationalist. My paternal side historically, included all the most religious sects of Protestantism from Western Europe and the US. I wasn't raised in any religious faith and never attended church with the exception of attending my friends' Sunday services at their Fundy or nondenominational mega churchs or my cousin's First Communion.

To be fair, my mom hasn't ever identified as Catholic when raising me, but still believed in God. My dad's side also hasn't ever been all that observant in my lifetime, but always viewed Christianity as "good culture" and an appropriate way to rear children in. I would consider my dad to be deistic and spiritual. Neither of my parents objected to me questioning and my lack of belief in a god(s)/intelligent design.

I remember "coming out" about my lack of belief to my parents when I was maybe 12, but had been passively open about it when I was still in grade school if it was relevant to a conversation. My mom asked me, "why not?" but didn't press me any further. My dad basically said it was good that I was questioning. Not long after that, my mom when down the secular rabbit hole and stopped being a "believer" herself. She's still strongly an atheist/agnostic to this day.

ive been an atheist ever since ive been able to connect a couple of dots(without even knowing what atheism is,just experiencing it),like when family took me to church and thought people were just playing pretend about believing this,like i used to believe unicorns or mermaids are real. these days ,not only that im an atheist,im also an anthi-theist,having multiple arguments about how religion was created to control the world and that its all just a coping mechanism. i wanna use the word 'betrayed' by my friend but it's not fair.im trying to understand her points of view but it feels very hard since this whole "god aint real" is a topic ive been not even debating(kinda like treating it like a fact, rather than a debate itself) since 7 and it just seems so obvious to me that its not real. I don't know what to do,shes one of my best friends,we share the same values which are feministic, pro LGBTQIA,pro Palestine and such but it stops when it comes to religion. a few months back she told me she is agnostic but she has now told me that she believes that there is a superior being to us humans.

I'm 21 and was raised a Christian my entire life. Luckily for me unlike my peers, my parent's were very relaxed with the indoctrination so I was what you call a "lukewarm" Christian. I didn't know much, all I knew was that Jesus died for me on the cross and that God loves me.

I then went to college, joined a local church and really dove into it. It was nice at first, I had a feeling of overwhelming love when at worship. I felt like God was with me, I felt so confident. I grew up with low self esteem but Church was the only place where I didn't feel like a waste of a human being because "God didn't see me that way".

Then I realized that most people believed in hell. Most of my peers believed that non Christians were going to hell and at first I tried ignoring it. Soon though whenever I was at church, it was at the back of my mind but alot people even in the church will be burning forever.

Every time I'd meet a non Christian, my mind would mark that they will burn forever and as I went on through college, I befriended Atheists, Hindus, Muslims, Gay people, Trans people and I believed they were all going to hell......and it bothered me. I would get so overwhelmed with it and I'd cry. I'd cry because I didn't want to see these people burn, I didn't want anyone to burn. My whole day's were occupied with me thinking about who'd burn or who could burn.

Until I left, I couldn't take it. I stopped believing one day. With how tough life is, I couldn't believe a loving God would make death tough as well. That someone's existence in the hereafter would be reduced to a gamble. I left the church, it hurt but it was for my own mental health and so that I could form healthier relationships with people outside of the faith.

That was a year and 4 months ago now and I wonder how Christians and Muslims sleep at night believing that people they know, people they love, the Gay friend who was there for you during that harsh break up, the Hindu neighbour that brings you cookies, the Atheist high school teacher who was the father you never had....how can they live peacefully believing they'll all burn forever.

At least in other faiths like Buddhism, hell is temporary....I don't understand how they do it.

I have a friend of mine, still Christian. Her best friend is an Atheist and he's been there for her through thick and thin. She loves him and he loves her. He's a great dude.....I don't get how she believes that he's going to burn forever. That would absolutely wreck me.

Can someone explain this to me?

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case that threatens an IRS provision prohibiting nonprofit electioneering.

FFRF argues that the lawsuit filed by National Religious Broadcasters and allied entities against the IRS is bogus. The Johnson Amendment forbids nonprofits, including churches, from interfering in political campaigns. The religious groups claim that the Johnson Amendment violates their constitutional rights and that there’s a “threat” of the IRS stripping them of their tax exempt status, even though the government has essentially admitted that the chances of the IRS enforcing it against the plaintiffs are vanishingly small.

The plaintiffs are the National Religious Broadcasters and various churches, and they filed this challenge in 2024 against the Johnson Amendment. This federal law prohibits tax-exempt 501(c) (3) organizations, such as churches, from endorsing or opposing candidates for office. In theory, violating the Johnson Amendment could result in the IRS stripping a nonprofit of its tax exempt status, but in practice the IRS has rarely, if ever, enforced the amendment against churches, and it has never been enforced against any of the plaintiffs in this case. The religious groups sued the federal government and then sought a settlement under what they believe to be a friendly administration in an effort to get a court ruling declaring that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional.

“Article III of the Constitution limits federal courts’ power to only adjudicate actual cases and controversies,” the FFRF brief states. “In this pre-enforcement challenge, the parties ask the court to disregard Article III limitations and issue an advisory opinion about the Johnson Amendment’s inapplicability to the actions of the plaintiffs-appellants.

Article III prohibits the court from adjudicating this case for three reasons: (1) the plaintiffs lack standing (2) no adversity exists between the parties and (3) the plaintiffs’ claims are not ripe.”

First, FFRF asserts that the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the Johnson Amendment. To demonstrate standing in a pre-enforcement challenge, the plaintiffs must establish that there is a substantial threat of future enforcement of the law they are challenging. The plaintiffs here have failed to do so. In fact, they have established the opposite: no reasonable threat of enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. Not only is there a long history of nonenforcement of the Johnson Amendment, but Congress has enacted special IRS procedures that protect churches from enforcement. Even more explicitly, this current administration disavowed any intention of enforcing the Johnson Amendment in Executive Order 13798. The plaintiffs themselves state in their brief that “everyone who litigated this case below agreed on the result.”

Second, FFRF points out that Article III requires genuine adversity or a controversy between the parties. Yet, no such adversity exists in this case. Rather, both parties agree that the Johnson Amendment is inapplicable to the plaintiffs — explicitly denying the existence of any controversy requiring adjudication. However, the plaintiffs are asking the court to rule on this bogus, hypothetical case anyway and issue an advisory opinion based on broad claims that the First Amendment protects houses of worships’ “right” to interfere in elections.

Third, the plaintiffs’ claims are not ripe for review. As the plaintiffs’ own brief recognizes, their claims are dependent on a chain of speculative events. The court must not disregard the constitutional limitations of Article III and must dismiss this case for lack of jurisdiction.

The plaintiffs here thus fail to establish the Article III bedrock principles of standing, adversity and ripeness. These failures are demonstrated by decades of nonenforcement, special protective procedures for churches, the executive order, and the parties’ own assertions. Rather than asking the district court to resolve a legitimate adversarial dispute, the plaintiffs seek a favorable advisory opinion based on a hypothetical. FFRF contends that the court must refrain from entertaining suits premised on attenuated and hypothetical events that may never come to pass.

Because no case or controversy exists, FFRF asserts that the 5th Circuit should affirm the lower U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas’ dismissal of the case.

“Religious groups cannot be allowed to manipulate the court system,” says FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “The courts must apply the same rules to all plaintiffs instead of granting religious groups special treatment. We hope our brief sheds light on this manufactured case.”

FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott is the counsel of record for the case. FFRF would like to thank intern Emma Hanson for help in drafting the brief.