By Rachel LazerNational President & CEO, AU I’m thrilled to announce that today (22 May 2025) the U.S. Supreme Court blocked whatwould be the nation’s first religious public school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic VirtualSchool in Oklahoma. This is a huge victory for church-state separation and public education—and I’m proudthat Americans United, with your support,…
On October 5, 2020 Dr. Caron Richard “Dick” Waits, past Chairman of the Economics Department at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, passed away. For nearly a decade, he served as Treasurer of our Chapter until February 2019 when, due to health reasons, he moved to New Braunfels, TX to be closer to family. We…
In October 2010 Bulverde resident and AUSA member Sandi Root sought assistance from AU in an effort to end a city council tradition of using Christian prayer to open meetings [as shown in the photo by Herald-Zeitung’s Laura McKenzie] AUSA President Eric F. Lane posted to several area newspapers, the text of which is shown…
Government is generally forbidden to deliver, sponsor, orchestrate, or encourage prayers. Since the nation’s founding, however, many legislatures have traditionally opened their meetings with prayer. Given this historical tradition, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that legislative prayers are constitutionally permissible if, but only if, they do not use language or symbols specific to one…
The National Day of Prayer (NDP) is not historical. It was created by Congress in 1952 during the anti-communist hysteria that gripped our nation. The scheduling of the event used to change but it was codified by Congress in 1988 (after pressure from the Religious Right) as the first Thursday in May. This year the…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In an Editorial which appeared in the Sunday, January 26, 2015 issue of the San Antonio Express-News, AUSA’s President Eric Lane spoke out against voucher legislation being proposed in the Texas legislature. Noting that approximatedly 90% of all students in kindergarten through 12th grade attend public schools and that 9 out of 10 private schools…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] On October 7, 1801, the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut sent a letter to the newly elected President Thomas Jefferson, expressing concern over the lack in their state constitution of explicit protection of religious liberty, and against a government establishment of religion. At the time, they were being persecuted because they did not…