Why is FFRF’s Focus Largely Directed at Christianity?

Beware of Dogma

Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American non-profit organization which promotes the separation of church and state and protects the First Amendment rights of all people. The question about FFRF’s orientation to Christianity is emphasized by Todd Starnes, an American conservative columnist and commentator for television and radio, who writes in his article about a public school in Maryland that supposedly indoctrinated children into Islam:

Why hasn't the Freedom From Religion Foundation weighed in? What about the American Civil Liberties Union? Their silence is peculiar. I suspect their reaction would have been a bit different had La Plata High School been baptizing children and forcing them to memorize John 3:16.

In the case of the school in Maryland, the complaint alleged that the school promoted Islam by "requiring students to profess the five pillars of Islam and to write out faith statements of the religion." But there is a difference between teaching about a religion and preaching a religion as divine truth. Todd Starnes is obviously quick to see indoctrination when it's not his religion being promoted.

The fact is that FFRF is an organization which acts on complaints of their members and no one had complained about the above situation. Freedom From Religion promotes the separation of church and state no matter which religion threatens that principle. They don’t support either Christians or Muslims; they are protectors of civil rights. As the majority, Christians are simply more likely to violate the Constitution. According to “Religious Landscape Study” published by Pew Research Center, self-identified Christians make up 70.6 percent of the US population, while US Muslim population is around 1 percent, Jewish at 1.8 percent and Hindu at 0.7 percent.

When FFRF receives any bona fide complaint about any Establishment Clause violation, they research it and try to take action, depending on the facts and the legal precedent. FFRF prefers to work with schools to determine what actually happened in a given case and to resolve these issues without going to court whenever possible. They "go after" violations of the Establishment Clause, not after any particular religion.

Some of the types of violations involving minority religions that FFRF have taken action against could be found on FFRF’s website and include:

  • The Muslim college professor they challenged for promoting his personal religion in the classroom. FFRF sent out a press release on this complete with audio clips and PowerPoint slides, to Starnes' Fox News buddies but he didn't report on it.
  • Their protests of a Buddhist shrine on public land in California.
  • Letters to the mayors of Philadelphia and Dallas for hosting Iftar events to honor Ramadan, or to public libraries that planned on closing for the Dalai Lama.
  • Their complaint about prayer "rooms" in a New Jersey school where Muslim students were dismissed from instruction to pray, clearing up the confusion on the law regarding accommodating religious students, including Muslims, in public schools like those in Frisco, Texas.
  • FFRF’s notice to a Brooklyn school that their play, which emphasized Islam and the importance of having faith especially during difficult times (to be performed in front of elementary school students), was unconstitutional.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia

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