State Legislative Roundup with Rachael Stryer

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca welcome AU Public Policy Counsel Rachael Stryer to review what came out of the state legislative sessions this year. They survey the laws state legislatures passed to force religion into public schools, use religion to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and divert public money to private religious schools.

Show Notes

• Rachael Stryer's AU Bio

• Organized Power in Numbers

• American Atheists - State of the Secular States

• Legislative trackers

• AU

• ACLU

• Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures

• Congressional Scorecards

• See your state ACLU for regional legislative tracking

• Action Alerts

• FFRF AF

• AU

• National Women's Law Center

• ACLU

Bills and Cases Discussed

• Ten Commandments Displays in Schools

• Alabama (SB 99)

• Tennessee (HB 47)

• Ongoing Lawsuits

• FFRF

• AU

• Prayer in Schools

• Alabama (HB 511): Requiring public schools to allow student-led prayer and requiring the pledge of allegiance

• Idaho (HB 623): Requiring a 60 second moment of silence for prayer or meditation at the beginning of the school day

• Chaplains

• Alabama (HB 8): Permitting school boards to adopt policies allowing volunteer school chaplains into schools

• Release Time

• Info on LifeWise

• AU: "Release time is a problem for church-state separation"

• FFRF Action Fund: "State Issue: LifeWise Academy/Release Time"

• Classroom Instruction and Curriculum Policies

• Tennessee (SB 1828): Requires public school history curriculums to teach about the positive impact of religion on American history and the influence of Judeo-Christian values

• Idaho (S 1336) and Utah (HB 312 and SB 268): Requiring curricula to teach the influence of Christianity in American history

• Vouchers

• Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)

• Carson v. Makin (2022)

• Columbus City School District v. State of Ohio

• Wisconsin PTA et al vs. Wisconsin State Assembly et al

• Healthcare Refusal

• Utah (SB 174) and Iowa (HF 571): Gives healthcare providers and religious healthcare institutions the right to refuse to provide services that violate religious beliefs.

• Foster Care and Adoption

• Indiana (HB 1389): Allows government-funded child placement agencies to use religion as a justification for refusing to work with families, youth in care, and prospective parents. And to allow adoptive or foster parents the right to "raise a child in a manner consistent with [their] sincerely held religious beliefs."

• Elizabeth Rutan-Ram et al. v. Tennessee Department of Children's Services et al (AU)

• Anti-Sharia law

• Tennessee (HB 2279), Florida (HB 1471), Iowa (HF 2695), and Idaho (H 602)

• Arkansas (SR 21)

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.