“Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1” Review by Comicon.com
Comicon.com has added a new review for Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges‘s “Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1”:
If you ever wanted to know what happened just after Star Trek: Voyager returned to Earth, this is the limited series for you. The familiar characters are put into some overly familiar situations, though, so the story lacks a little originality. Still, it feels like Trek.
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Opinion: Susan Wild: Here’s why it’s important to vote ‘yes’ on judicial retentions
The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
By Susan Wild
The post Opinion: Susan Wild: Here’s why it’s important to vote ‘yes’ on judicial retentions appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Prayer service held for removed Northwest High School assistant football coach
WKRN (Nashville, TN)
By Kelly Milan
The post Prayer service held for removed Northwest High School assistant football coach appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Lake Local instructs coaches not to lead students in prayer following complaint
The Alliance Review (Alliance, OH)
By Amy Knapp
The post Lake Local instructs coaches not to lead students in prayer following complaint appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
School Coaches Shouldn’t Be Pushing Religion
The Progressive Magazine (Madison, WI)
By Mickey Dollens
The post School Coaches Shouldn’t Be Pushing Religion appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Lake Local Schools instructs coaches not to lead prayer after complaint
Jordan Miller News
By Jordan Miller
The post Lake Local Schools instructs coaches not to lead prayer after complaint appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Atheist group’s complaint leads Ohio school district to warn coaches not to lead prayer
The Christian Post
By Michael Gryboski
The post Atheist group’s complaint leads Ohio school district to warn coaches not to lead prayer appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Charlie Kirk Assassination Details, Athiests Warn Of Prayer In Schools, ‘Triumph Of The Heart’ Film
The Christian Post
By Staff
The post Charlie Kirk Assassination Details, Athiests Warn Of Prayer In Schools, ‘Triumph Of The Heart’ Film appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“Star Trek: Red Shirts #2” Review by Aiptcomics.com
Aiptcomics.com has added a new review for Christopher Cantwell‘s “Star Trek: Red Shirts #2”:
Continues to lean into its darkly funny premise with surprising heart.
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“Star Trek #1” Review by Themindreels.com
Themindreels.com has added a new review for Dick Wood‘s “Star Trek #1”:
I always love my Trek, but there are times when I just cannot get enough of it. I’ve been listening to the scores, whistling Fred Steiner, watching Strange New Worlds, revisiting The Original Series, digging back into the novels, and it struck me… I haven’t really done much on the blog with the comics.
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Star Trek Books Coming In The Next 30 Days, as of September 14th, 2025
Fiction
By: David Mack
October 7, 2025
When murder and sabotage imperil the time-sensitive and top-secret mission of a team of civilian scientists, Starfleet deploys Captain Christopher Pike and the Enterprise crew to Kathara Station, a classified research facility located above the accretion disk of a black hole. Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley soon discovers the station’s director, Valkeya, is hiding secrets—but so […]
October 15, 2025
For nearly 60 years, Star Trek
has celebrated exploration as its central theme, using it as a vehicle for storytelling and social commentary in time-honored science fiction fashion. This Exploration Guide is essential reading for any Star Trek Adventures crew interested in expanding their characters, missions, and campaigns into the final frontier and creating new […]
Comics
By: Derek Charm, Ryan North
September 16, 2025
The crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is back in a new ongoing comic series that’s a big, fun adventure from the hit TV show Star Trek: Lower Decks. Hot off their Eisner nomination for the Lower Decks tie-in Shaxs’ Best Day, stellar duo Ryan North and Derek Charm are kicking off a brand-new ongoing series… […]
By: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
September 24, 2025
The Federation has fallen. Hope is fading. One last starship remains to fight for the future…unless a resurrected James T. Kirk dooms it first. Fresh off the run Screen Rant calls one of “the greatest eras in the history of Star Trek comics,” writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly along with rising star and artist […]
September 30, 2025
Arc five of the acclaimed Star Trek ongoing comic series, and the build-up to Star Trek: Lore War, continues here! The android Lore has done the unthinkable: He has detonated the Orb of Destruction, unmaking the universe! After an extragalactic tumble on the ensuing shockwave, the U.S.S. Theseus sinks into fluidic space. There, the crew […]
By: Dave Baker, Paul Allor
September 30, 2025
Join Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew in four tales of adventure and intrigue! First, in Seven’s Reckoning, a chance encounter with a reptilian alien race draws Seven of Nine and the rest of the U.S.S. Voyager crew into an ancient class conflict that’s on the brink of exploding into all-out war! Set during Star […]
By: Christopher Cantwell
October 1, 2025
It’s a race to the top as the anti-Federation spies and the Red Shirts summit the towering antenna on Arkonia 89. The spies seek to escape a transporter disrupter and make it back to their ship with their stolen data, and Raad, Grash, Vesta, and Miller will try to stop them by any means necessary. […]
By: Tim Sheridan
October 8, 2025
The Lower Deckers and Cetacean Ops officers Kimolu and Matt continue their mission to replenish Earth’s population of humpback whales! The krill situation is getting out of control, and the songs they sing are just too good to let them die out. There’s also the pesky situation where Ronald (the last whale!) has to occasionally […]
October 14, 2025
Can’t get enough of the Picard series? Read two graphic novel adventures that provide more context, with one story taking place before season one and the second taking place after season two! Witness the events leading to the epic series Star Trek: Picard. Before he retired to his vineyard, Jean-Luc Picard was the most decorated […]
Happy 2025 Birthday to Christopher Sequeira!
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Happy birthday to Christopher Sequeira!
A Sydney-based Australian editor, writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction, super-hero) and mystery realms.
His published work includes poetry, prose (especially short fiction), and comic-book scripts. Sequeira’s creator-owned work includes “Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective” (with co-creators Dave Elsey and Philip Cornell), Pulse of Darkness, Rattlebone: The Pulp-Faced Detective and The Borderlander and SuperAustralians.
He has also written for American publishers, notably contributing a Dazzler story, “I’m Gonna Stake You, Sucka” in X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – X-Men vs. Vampires No. 1. This story also features a character, Sheba Sugarfangs, invented by Sequeira for Marvel Comics. 1n 2023 he wrote “Star Trek Holoween” for IDW.
In 2010 Sequeira released Pulse of Darkness: The Vampire Syndrome graphic novel, a 140-page graphic novel illustrated by Kurt Stone, and also featuring inkers and pin-up artists representing some of Australia’s best, including Mark Morte, Bryce J. Stevens, David ‘Hyperdave’ Richardson, Ashley Riddell, Gary Chaloner, W. Chew ‘Chewie’ Chan, Paul Abstruse, and Jan Scherpenhuizen.
He has self-published and published the works of others under the imprints of Opal Press Australia and Sequence Productions Pty Ltd. Sequeira has been a regular guest at comics and pop culture expos in Australia including Supanova Pop Culture Expo[2] and Armageddon.
Sequeira’s wedding ceremony in 1999 was covered on Australian national TV due to the celebrant and bridal party being dressed in costume, including Dracula, and Batman villains Penguin, Two-Face and Riddler.[citation needed] Sequeira lives with his wife and two children in Sydney.
Check out the Christopher Sequeira credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!
Find Christopher Sequeira’s work on Amazon.com
Happy 2025 Birthday to Walter Koenig!
()
Happy birthday to Walter Koenig!
Walter Koenig is the actor that portrayed Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series and in the first seven Star Trek movies.
He also wrote the comic Chekov’s Choice for DC Comics and has appeared as Chekov in several Star Trek video games.
Although he never reprised his role for the tightly budgeted TAS series, Koenig did serve as director for “The Infinite Vulcan”. The Retlaw plant, for example in the episode was his first name-spelled backwards.
Check out the Walter Koenig credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!
Find Walter Koenig’s work on Amazon.com
Court issues 2nd injunction to block 10 Commandments displays in Ark. district
A federal court has issued a second preliminary injunction blocking Arkansas’s Act 573, the law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks extends protections to families in the Conway School District, where the district placed Ten Commandments posters in classrooms even though the court had already made clear that Act 573 is unconstitutional. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is representing the plaintiffs in the case as part of a coalition.
“We welcome the court’s injunction, which further protects the rights of students,” says Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The judiciary is affirming the secular underpinnings of the U.S. Constitution.”
“This decision is another important victory for Arkansas families and for the Constitution,” says John Williams, legal director of the ACLU of Arkansas. “The court saw through the state’s attempt to justify this unconstitutional law and reaffirmed that students have the right to attend public schools free from government-imposed religion. We are proud to stand with our clients and will continue fighting to ensure every child’s rights are protected.”
“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” says Heather L. Weaver, senior counsel at the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “This ruling affirms that school districts may not flout the First Amendment by posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.”
“All Arkansas public school districts should heed the court’s clear warning: Displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms is ‘obviously unconstitutional,’” says Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “Families in Conway School District, throughout Arkansas, and across the country get to decide how and when their children engage with religion – not politicians or public-school officials.”
“This latest decision underscores the duty of public schools to protect the constitutional rights of every student,” says Jon Youngwood, global co-chair of the Litigation Department at Simpson Thacher. “By issuing a second preliminary injunction prohibiting schools in the Conway School District from displaying the Ten Commandments, the ruling reinforces a fundamental truth: the First Amendment safeguards the rights of individuals to choose whether and how they engage with religion, and that protection extends to every classroom.”
Families in other districts who encounter Ten Commandments displays in classrooms are encouraged to contact the ACLU of Arkansas at www.acluarkansas.org/get-help. All public schools have a constitutional obligation to respect students’ and families’ First Amendment rights.
A copy of the order can be found here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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‘Unconstitutional coercion’: Trump’s new prayer push sparks backlash
AlterNet
By David Badash
The post ‘Unconstitutional coercion’: Trump’s new prayer push sparks backlash appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit by Walters and SDE against ‘atheist’ organization
Southwest Ledger (Lawton, OK)
By Mike W. Ray
The post Federal judge dismisses lawsuit by Walters and SDE against ‘atheist’ organization appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Trump Unveils School Prayer Guidance Amid Uproar
Grand Pinnacle Tribune
By Evrim Ağaci
The post Trump Unveils School Prayer Guidance Amid Uproar appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Public Education as a Political Weapon: The Rise of Ryan Walters
American Oversight
By Staff
The post Public Education as a Political Weapon: The Rise of Ryan Walters appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Christian nationalism’s bad influence comes to Maine | Opinion
Portland Press Herald (South Portland, ME)
By Ray Vensel
The post Christian nationalism’s bad influence comes to Maine | Opinion appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Happy 2025 Birthday to Robert T. Jeschonek!
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Happy birthday to Robert T. Jeschonek!
Robert T. Jeschonek lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. He writes in genres as diverse as horror and poetry, and for young adults, and a lot of his more recent material is e-published.
Check out the Robert T. Jeschonek credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!
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FFRF amicus appeals court brief charges religious bias in death penalty case
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a brief before an appeals court to refute the state of Texas’ contention that a defendant’s religious beliefs can be taken into account when sentencing him to death.
The case is Davis v. Guerrero, which is before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The petitioner, Irving Alvin Davis, was entitled to a sentencing hearing free of bias and prejudice, but the state of Texas fell short of that guarantee. Texas first introduced evidence that Davis, while in prison, read satanic literature, jotted notes and drawings, and briefly joined the Church of Satan. Texas then introduced generic evidence “that some members of the satanic religion advocate violence” and “that various people had committed murder and mutilation ‘in the name of Satan.’” Davis was a self-described Buddhist at the time of his crime and claims to have recently reverted to Buddhism.
That state-proffered stereotyping violates the First Amendment in three major ways, FFRF points out in its friend-of-the-court brief. Those three errors in sum cast serious doubt on the fairness of Davis’ sentencing.
First, the introduction of religious materials and broad statements about those materials to show bad character constitutes impermissible hostility toward religion in violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Davis did not join the Church of Satan or read satanic material before his trial, so his crime could not have been in furtherance of the Church of Satan’s mission. Aware of this fact, Texas nevertheless introduced evidence of Davis’ more recent beliefs, then argued that he should die, rather than spending the rest of life in prison.
Second, inviting a jury to determine core tenets of a religion excessively entangles the government with that religion, violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The First Amendment requires courts to decide criminal sentencing “without resolving underlying controversies over religious doctrine,” to quote the U.S. Supreme Court. Submitting warring interpretations of doctrine to a jury entangled the state courts with the Church of Satan and transformed Davis’ penalty hearing into a heresy trial — strictly forbidden by the First Amendment.
And third, the state’s evidence cited in the case is true of nearly any religion, and was introduced for shock value. Christianity and Islam boast over 1 billion adherents each and have had countless acts of violence committed in furtherance of those faiths. It would be inappropriate for any prosecution to bring up those acts of violence and a Muslim or Christian’s affiliation with a specific church or masjid to conclude that members of that house of worship are likely to be dangerous in the future. And yet, Texas was not even this specific. The state’s expert witness did not recount a notable instance of violence done by a member of the Church of Satan.
For all these reasons, Davis’ death sentence should be vacated, the Freedom From Religion Foundation contends.
The FFRF brief can be read in full here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s purposes are to educate the public about nontheism and to preserve the cherished constitutional principle of separation between religion and government. FFRF works as an umbrella for those who are free from religion (freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, and nonbelievers). FFRF currently has over 42,000 U.S. members and several chapters throughout the country, including more than 1,800 members and a chapter in Texas.
Government-sponsored hostility toward a religion, or those without religion, undermines the constitutional guarantee that church and state be separate. Our judicial system cannot mistreat parties simply because they are members of a minority religion, viewed unfavorably by the majoritarian religion. FFRF does not support or endorse the Church of Satan. But its adherents are afforded constitutional protection under the First Amendment.
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Freethought Radio – September 11, 2025
Christian nationalists in government are ramping up the rhetoric. We report how FFRF is protesting the White House “America Prays” initiative and a bill to put “In God We Trust” on federal buildings. Then, we speak with journalist Haley Cohen Gilliland, author of A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children, about right-wing Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, whose government kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands of protesters and stole hundreds of their babies to be raised with “Western Christian values.”
The post Freethought Radio – September 11, 2025 appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
FFRF protests HUD’s Christian nationalist event
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is denouncing Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner’s promotion of religion during a federally sponsored National Mall event.
In a letter to Turner, the state/church watchdog has criticized HUD’s “faith-based disaster recovery event” at the National Mall on Sept. 6, in which Turner prayed publicly and proclaimed “faith is back in our government.” The event prominently featured worship leader Sean Feucht, a Christian nationalist activist known for divisive rhetoric and political organizing, alongside other faith leaders.
“HUD’s role is to serve all Americans in times of need — not to privilege one faith or host Christian nationalist worship on federal property,” writes FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line. “When a cabinet official declares that ‘faith is back in our government,’ it sends a clear message of exclusion to millions of Americans who are nonreligious or non-Christian.”
While private religious groups often play a role in disaster response, the Constitution forbids the federal government from favoring or promoting religion. By centering Christian worship at an official government event, HUD has violated its obligation of neutrality under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
FFRF’s letter cites long-standing Supreme Court precedent requiring government neutrality between religion and nonreligion. It also reminds HUD of the Framers’ deliberate creation of a secular Constitution, free from religious tests or references to deities, bibles or faith.
“America’s strength lies in its secular Constitution,” the letter emphasizes. “True religious liberty requires that the government remain free from sectarian favoritism. HUD must represent all Americans, not serve as a pulpit for Christian nationalism.”
Turner previously spread Christian nationalist mythology at a recent meeting of the Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission in the Museum of the Bible.
“What if 1 million people prayed for our country every single week between now and next July Fourth?” Turner asked. “More specifically, what if believers all across this great nation got together with 10 people — friends, family members, colleagues, work associates — 10 people each week to pray for our country and for our fellow citizens?”
Turner then cited as precedent the suggestion by delegate Benjamin Franklin to hold a prayer during the Constitutional Convention, a prayer which FFRF points out never took place: “Yes, Benjamin Franklin, at one acrimonious point, suggested a prayer, but the convention adjourned and none was given, showing the clear intent of the Framers of our Constitution not to entangle religious belief with government.”
FFRF is urging HUD to immediately cease incorporating religious messaging into its events and communications, and to provide written assurance that the agency will comply with its constitutional obligations. FFRF has filed a FOIA request for more information regarding the event.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
The post FFRF protests HUD’s Christian nationalist event appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of September 11, 2025
Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.
FFRF to State Department: Stop promoting Christian nationalism
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that the State Department immediately remove unconstitutional Christian nationalist posts from its official social media accounts.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FFRF objects to recent posts on the Department’s official X account that falsely promote Christianity as the foundation of the government of the United States and promise to eradicate policies that “demean the Christian faith.”
One post reads:
“Our nation was founded on the recognition that moral virtue and a steadfast faith in God are necessary preconditions of freedom. Yet under the Biden Administration, U.S. foreign policy belittled Christianity and weaponized government against faith. That era has ended. Under @POTUS’s leadership, the State Department will eradicate practices that devalue and demean the Christian faith.”
Another post vows that the department will “never apologize for our God-given rights”:
“At @POTUS’s direction, @SecRubio is taking action to secure religious liberties both at home and abroad, including terminating unlawful State Department policies targeting Christians and addressing the violent repression of Christians overseas. We will never apologize for our God-given rights.”
“These statements send a dangerous and unconstitutional message that the State Department serves Christians first and reduces millions of other Americans to second-class citizens,” writes FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line. “U.S. foreign policy should defend human rights, not elevate one religion above all others.”
FFRF’s letter points out that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment requires strict government neutrality between religion and nonreligion. FFRF underscores that America’s Founders deliberately created a secular government — investing sovereignty in “We the People,” not a deity. The U.S. Constitution contains no reference to God and expressly prohibits religious tests for public office, religious oaths, and any establishment of religion by government.
“America’s strength lies in its secular Constitution,” the letter emphasizes. “True religious freedom requires a government free from sectarian favoritism.”
With nearly 37 percent of Americans now identifying as non-Christian — including almost 29 percent who are religiously unaffiliated — FFRF stresses that the State Department is obligated to represent all citizens equally, not to promote Christian nationalism.
FFRF is urging the State Department to delete the unconstitutional posts and confirm in writing what steps it will take to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
The post FFRF to State Department: Stop promoting Christian nationalism appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Out Today: “Star Trek: Lower Decks #11”
Out today: “Star Trek: Lower Decks #11“, by Tim Sheridan.
Sqeak, squaw, sssskkkaaa, eh, eee.
[Translation: Cetacean Ops here! Matt and I have brought the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos back to the year 1987 for a top-secret mission of great import.]HHHkkkeeeeee, ska, ska, EeeEEAaa. Squaw, squaw. *Click, cliiiiick*
[Translation: That’s right, Kimolu. We need their help to fix what that blowhole Kirk messed up by bringing the whales George, Gracie, and Ronald to Earth without a way for them to repopulate its oceans. What was Ronald supposed to do, have babies with his mother?]
Skkkesaw. Eehhh, ee, ee, AaaaaAa. AH, AH, EeeEE! Sqqqqaw.
[Translation: But the remaining humpbacks have all heard freaky conspiracy theories about what happened to the last pod who went to Earth. To save the species, the Lower Deckers will have to dissuade them of the rumors and convince them Earth is worth inhabiting. Ah-yikes.]
This issue kicks off the penultimate arc of this season’s run, so be sure to order whale ahead of time!
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FFRF calls White House ‘America Prayers’ project an ‘outrageous’ entanglement with religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is condemning the White House’s “invitation to prayer and rededication of the United States as one nation under God,” and its unveiling of an “America Prays” webpage that explicitly promotes Christian worship.
The White House claims the “America Prays” campaign is preparation for the 250th birthday of the United States. The “America Prays” campaign was announced along with a promise to insert more religion in public schools at yesterday’s White House Religious Liberty Commission meeting held, inappropriately, at the private Museum of the Bible. HUD Secretary Scott Turner opened the event, saying, “We have a godly, faithful Cabinet … that prioritizes prayer.”
More than 70 faith organizations are listed on the White House website as having joined with the White House in asking Americans to join together “10 people each week to pray for one hour for America.” These groups include Christian nationalist or conservative evangelical organizations such as WallBuilders, Jack Posobiec (termed a white supremacist by the Southern Poverty Law Institute), the Southern Baptist Convention, National Religious Broadcasters and the Faith and Freedom Coalition, “Think about the miracles that would take place” if everyone would pray, intoned Turner.
Au contraire, says the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“As we say at FFRF, ‘Nothing fails like prayer,’” comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The answers to humanity’s problems will not come from above. Wishful thinking cannot alter the natural laws of the universe much less improve our nation. We instead urge pious politicians to get off their knees and get to work.”
The “resources and ideas for times of prayer” offered by the White House website are overtly Christian, including invoking the oft-misquoted 2 Chronicles 7:14. (Read FFRF Co-President Dan Barker’s blog about the misuse of this New Testament quote or watch this “Freethought Matters’ video dedicated to debunking the dishonest misrepresentation of this bible verse.)
That the “America Prays” campaign is based on disinformation is apparent from the illustration of General George Washington supposedly praying at Valley Forge that graces the webpage. There is no evidence that Washington ever prayed at Valley Forge — it’s the claim of 19th-century master of disinformation Mason Lock Weems, whose 1808 biography of Washington is full of bogus tales. Weems credited a Quaker named Isaac Potts, who claimed to have witnessed Washington praying in the woods even though Potts had spent the winter of 1777–1778 20 miles from Valley Forge.
The White House website includes a document compiling prayers and proclamations “throughout American history” that cherry-pick some events that included prayer, as well as debunked claims, such as that George Washington added “So help me God” to his presidential oath, even though the Constitution, which provides the wording, has no such mention. While Washington, a fairly orthodox Deist, peppered some remarks with deistic references, he also warned: “Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause” (Washington letter to Edward Newenham, June 22, 1792).
Most egregiously, the document dishonestly implies that there was prayer during the Constitutional Convention that adopted our godless and entirely secular Constitution. Yes, Benjamin Franklin, at one acrimonious point, suggested a prayer, but the convention adjourned and none was given, showing the clear intent of the framers of our Constitution not to entangle religious belief with government. The White House document dishonestly tries to conflate a private July 4, 1787, prayer by a minister with the convention itself.
Trump and the White House notably ignore the robust secular views of James Madison, the primary architect of the Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson, who demanded the addition of a Bill of Rights. Jefferson, as president, refused to issue proclamations of prayer or thanksgiving. As he wrote Rev. Samuel Miller, “one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, & mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the U.S. and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.”
President Trump has no civil, legal or moral authority to tell America to pray or otherwise direct our religious exercises. The “America Prays” program is blatant pandering to his evangelical base and a defilement of the Constitution Trump swore to uphold.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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“Star Trek: Khan” Review by Trekmovie.com
Trekmovie.com has added a new review for David Mack and George Takei and Kirsten Beyer and Maury Sterling and Mercy Malick and Naveen Andrews and Nicholas Meyer and Olli Haaskivi and Sonya Cassidy and Tim Russ and Wrenn Schmidt and Zuri Washington‘s “Star Trek: Khan”:
Episode 1, “Paradise,” is an amazing start. Our first “glimpse” of Khan, played by Naveen Andrews (Lost), from a recording made late in the history, is as a man driven nearly to madness by the hardships he’s endured. But when the story rewinds back to the day he and his people first set foot on Ceti Alpha V, he is a man brimming with confidence, hope, and vision. What could have so thoroughly transformed this titan into a cackling madman?
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DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of September 9, 2025
Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.
Trump turns ‘Religious Liberty’ hearing into Christian nationalist rally
Trump in Washington, D.C., September 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is condemning President Trump’s remarks today at the Museum of the Bible, where the second meeting of his “Religious Liberty Commission” turned into a Christian nationalist rally under the guise of safeguarding religious freedom.
In his nearly hour-long speech, Trump attacked the Johnson Amendment — the law that prevents churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits from becoming partisan political machines — and pushed school voucher schemes to siphon public money to schools engaging in religious indoctrination. He repeated the false and irrational claim that public schools are “attacking religion,” and announced a pending new Department of Education guidance, which appears to be aimed at expanding religious influence in public school classrooms.
Claimed Trump: “For most of our country’s history, the bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools today, students are instead indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are punished for their religious beliefs. Very, very strongly punished.”
Trump piously declared, “To have a great nation, you have to have religion — I believe that so strongly. There has to be something after we go through all of this, and that something is God.” He alleged students are being “indoctrinated with antireligious propaganda” and touted his administration’s efforts to keep transgender students out of sports.
Without providing evidence, Trump expounded: “For most of our country’s history, the bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools today, students are instead indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are punished for their religious beliefs. Very, very strongly punished.” He capped his speech with a prayer led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and walked out to the strains of the Christian hymn, “Amazing Grace.”
“Today’s hearing looked more like a church service than a government meeting,” asserts FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “From the Christian prayers to the Christian nationalist lineup of speakers, this commission is not protecting religious liberty — it’s promoting Trump’s political agenda and a false narrative that America is a Christian nation.”
The commission, chaired by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick with Dr. Ben Carson as vice chair, also heard from parents and students handpicked by First Liberty Institute, a Christian nationalist legal group whose CEO, Kelly Shackelford, sits on the panel. One student, Lydia Booth, described her lawsuit over being barred from wearing a “Jesus Loves Me” mask in school, framing it as proof of religious persecution. “God can use even something as small as this mask to help ensure our amazing country remains free,” Booth said. Trump used the hearing to highlight similar stories while announcing that his family bible would be permanently displayed at the Museum of the Bible.
Trump’s rhetoric was saturated with grievance politics — from railing against “wokeness” at the Smithsonian to vowing to end “anti-Christian bias.” His administration also rolled out an “America Prays” initiative, inviting Americans to “rededicate ourselves to one nation under God.”
“This is not religious freedom,” adds FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “It’s a political stunt run by Christian nationalist activists, twisting the concept of liberty to mean government promotion of their faith and privilege at the expense of equality and rights of conscience for everyone else.”
FFRF predicts that the upcoming commission hearings on Sept. 29 (focused once again on teachers, coaches and school funding) and on Nov. 17 (on religion in the military) will continue this pattern of grievance-mongering and historical revisionism.
Mandating religion in schools doesn’t protect faith, it weaponizes it, FFRF states. The real danger is when public officials use their power to impose religion on children. That’s why the separation of church and state matters: to keep our public classrooms welcoming to students of all faiths and none.
FFRF will continue to monitor the commission’s work, defend the separation between government and religion and oppose efforts to erode true religious liberty — which entails the right to believe or not believe, free from government interference or religious coercion.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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FFRF urges Ohio school district to end coach-led prayer
Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is protesting an Ohio cross-country coach’s violation of the First Amendment right of student-athletes to be free from religious indoctrination.
A concerned district parent has informed the state/church watchdog that a cross-country coach at Lake Middle High School (Uniontown, Ohio) has been leading her team in prayer before meets. The coach reportedly told the team, “Let’s continue to pray before every meet like last year.” FFRF additionally learned that coach-led prayer is common across sports teams in the Lake Local Schools system. FFRF’s complainant reported that they and their child felt helpless, awkward and embarrassed that the child was forced to either pray against their own beliefs or risk ostracizing themselves from the team by stepping away from the illegal prayer.
FFRF has reached out to the school district to advocate for the right of students to be free from school-sponsored religious practices.
“Coaches are free to express their religious beliefs however they wish outside of their roles as public school coaches, but they cannot use their position to foist their personal religious beliefs onto students or encourage students to pray,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle J. Steinberg has written to Superintendent Brett Yeagley.
Student-athletes have the First Amendment right to be free from religious indoctrination when participating in their public school’s athletics program. Here, the coach has clearly crossed the constitutional line by pressuring them into engaging in prayer while acting in her official capacity as a district employee.
Student-athletes are especially susceptible to coercion, FFRF emphasizes. Students know that their coaches control their positions on the team, including who runs each race. When a coach directs students to participate in a prayer, they will no doubt feel that participating in that prayer is essential to pleasing their coach and being viewed as a team player. It is unrealistic and unconstitutional to expect student-athletes to choose between allowing their constitutional rights to be violated to maintain good standing in the eyes of their coach and peers or openly dissenting at the risk of retaliation from their coach and teammates. By promoting religion, the coach isolates nearly half of Generation Z members (those born after 1996) who are nonreligious, which includes the complainant’s child.
FFRF asserts that the district employees have an obligation not to promote religion in any official capacity, and as such, Lake Local Schools must take action to ensure this harmful practice comes to an end.
“Coaches may not coerce their athletes into praying to play in district sports,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “This is a blatant violation of the Constitution, a clear abuse of power from the coach and a strong case for why infusing religion into school sports is always a losing practice.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 1,100 members and two chapters in Ohio. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
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Hopefully, ‘Khan’ Opens Floodgates to Much More Audio Star Trek Storytelling
“Doctor Who” audio productions have been flourishing for years
Preview of “Star Trek: Lower Decks #11”
Here’s a preview of Star Trek: Lower Decks #11 by Tim Sheridan which is due to be released this Wednesday on September 10, 2025 at your local comic shop and digital retailers:
HHHkkkeeeeee, ska, ska, EeeEEAaa. Squaw, squaw. *Click, cliiiiick*
[Translation: That’s right, Kimolu. We need their help to fix what that blowhole Kirk messed up by bringing the whales George, Gracie, and Ronald to Earth without a way for them to repopulate its oceans. What was Ronald supposed to do, have babies with his mother?]
Skkkesaw. Eehhh, ee, ee, AaaaaAa. AH, AH, EeeEE! Sqqqqaw.
[Translation: But the remaining humpbacks have all heard freaky conspiracy theories about what happened to the last pod who went to Earth. To save the species, the Lower Deckers will have to dissuade them of the rumors and convince them Earth is worth inhabiting. Ah-yikes.]
This issue kicks off the penultimate arc of this season’s run, so be sure to order whale ahead of time!
Happy 2025 Birthday to Alex Kurtzman!
(Photo by Gabe Skidmore)
Happy birthday to Alex Kurtzman!
Alex Kurtzman is a producer and screenwriter who co-wrote the script for and executive produced the film Star Trek, along with writing partner Roberto Orci. Kurtzman and Orci later produced and (along with Damon Lindelof) wrote the screenplay for the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. After parting ways with Orci, he did not return for Star Trek Beyond, but will be serving as executive producer through his production company Secret Hideout on the next Star Trek series, expected for a January 2017 release.
Kurtzman also consulted on the Star Trek video game.
Check out the Alex Kurtzman credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!
Find Alex Kurtzman’s work on Amazon.com
“Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1” Review by Superpoweredfancast.com
Superpoweredfancast.com has added a new review for Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges‘s “Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1”:
The Rundown: Voyager’s return to the Alpha Quadrant will take a dangerous turn from a familiar foe.
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Shore-Leave 45 (belated!) Report: Day 4 (final)
I didn’t take any notes or have any schedule on the final day of Shore-Leave 45, but did attend a memorial for Peter David that was tear inducing and made it apparent that I would have really liked to have talked to him as a Trek author. There was also a “Bob and Howie Show” but with a missing Howie. It was interesting enough, but Robert Greenberger was the only person on the main stage and he looked super lonely up there. From what I remember these were the only things that I did at the event itself. As is tradition though, I spent the rest of the day visiting local comic shops, one of which was in an exceptionally odd location, but ended up being a great little shop that just happened to be under the bathrooms of the local Subway. Every time someone flushed you could hear it going through the pipes! The second store of the trip was Comic Shop West where I found a glorious treasure trove of Trek back issues. My wife was with me on this visit and she bought a single pack of Disney Lorcana and managed to pull an enchanted card, she was completely chuffed. With that satisfying end to the day, we had dinner and called it a night. We made it home the next day without much issue, but definitely needed some extended naps.
This was a good trip and the improvements that I saw in the show from last year give me high hopes for next year. I won’t be going next year though, I’m going to be a little busy on a different project:
Posts in this series:
Texas AG Paxton recommends public school students recite Lord’s Prayer ‘as taught by Jesus Christ’
The Christian Post
By Ian M. Giatti
The post Texas AG Paxton recommends public school students recite Lord’s Prayer ‘as taught by Jesus Christ’ appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Douglas County sheriff defies Freedom From Religion Foundation after it targeted Grandparents4Kids story hour
Rocky Mountain Voice (Durango, CO)
By Steve McKenna
The post Douglas County sheriff defies Freedom From Religion Foundation after it targeted Grandparents4Kids story hour appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Judge temporarily blocks Texas’ Ten Commandments requirement in 11 school districts
KXXV ABC 25 (Waco, TX)
By Jaden Edison, Eleanor Klibanoff and Alejandro Serrano
The post Judge temporarily blocks Texas’ Ten Commandments requirement in 11 school districts appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Atheists Demand Football Coaches Stop Praying
Todd Starnes
By Todd Starnes
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“Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: The Making of the Classic Film” Review by Treknews.net
Treknews.net has added a new review for John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto‘s “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: The Making of the Classic Film”:
In the world of filmmaking, some stories are just as compelling behind the camera as they are on screen. The new book, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – The Making of the Classic Film, makes that abundantly clear, inviting readers on a vivid journey into the heart of one of the most pivotal, if not universally beloved, films in the Star Trek franchise. This publication isn’t just a collection of facts; it’s a beautifully illustrated love letter to the creative process, filled with colorful pictures from all around the process that brought this film to life, and it makes you feel like you’re standing right there with the creative cast and crew of this movie.
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“Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1” Review by Thecomicbookspot.com
Thecomicbookspot.com has added a new review for Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges‘s “Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1”:
In this review of Star Trek: Voyager – Homecoming #1, after seven long years, the U.S.S. Voyager is finally back in the Alpha Quadrant, but what should be a joyous occasion rapidly devolves into a nightmare as the crew is once again propelled into a dangerous region of space as prisoners of an old enemy.
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Shore-Leave 45 (belated!) Report: Day 3
Saturday 9:00 AM Writing Military SF Cornwall
Saturday 10:00 AM Star Trek Comic Books Cornwall
Saturday 2:00 PM So You Want To Build A Puppet Ballroom A
Saturday 3:00 PM Starship Trooper Cast – Sat Lincoln Theater
Saturday 5:00 PM Star Trek Books Gab Session Ballroom A
Saturday 6:00 PM Trek Memorial Wheatland
Saturday 8:00 PM Masquerade Lincoln Theater
Saturday was a whirlwind of panels and vendor room visits, I had the opportunity to buy a pretty beat up Gold Key #1 for only $200, and while I’m happy I didn’t spend that money, I still have regrets. It’s just so much money to spend on one book! But it was a book I’ve never see in person before, so…. as I said. Regrets.
Posts in this series:
FFRF urges global action for Moroccan activist given 30 months for ‘blasphemous’ T-shirt
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sounding the alarm after a Moroccan feminist and human rights activist was outrageously sentenced to 30 months in prison for wearing a T-shirt.
Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, an atheist psychologist and co-founder of the Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (MALI), was arrested for posting a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt reading “Allah is lesbian.” She was put on trial for “insulting Islam.”
The sentence is especially alarming given Lachgar’s fragile health. She is battling cancer and requires urgent surgery in September. Prison conditions in Morocco are notoriously harsh, and her supporters fear she could die behind bars.
“This could be a death sentence for a courageous activist I have known for many years and who has spent her life bravely defending the rights of women, LGBTQ-plus people and nonbelievers in Morocco,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Betty’s only so-called crime is to express dissent — peacefully challenging religious dogma in a theocratic monarchy where blasphemy laws are used as weapons of repression.”
FFRF, which last week asked the State Department to intervene, is calling on its allies in the United States and international community to help Betty by:
- Publicly demanding her immediate release.
- Pressing Morocco to immediately release her and to drop blasphemy charges against her.
- Condemning Morocco’s criminalization of apostasy, blasphemy and same-sex relationships as violations of fundamental freedoms.
The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, which has led a “Free Betty” protest at the Moroccan Embassy in London, has resources, including a #Free Betty campaign with social media and petitions
FFRF notes that Morocco is violating the international human rights treaties it has signed guaranteeing freedom of conscience and expression. In 2020, Congress passed a resolution with overwhelming bipartisan support calling on the State Department to prioritize the repeal of blasphemy, heresy and apostasy laws worldwide.
“True religious liberty must include the right to reject religion, the right to criticize it and the right to live openly, whether as an atheist or advocate for LGBTQ rights, without fear of prosecution or prison,” adds FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “Blasphemy is a victimless crime — but blasphemy laws create many innocent victims.”
FFRF warns that Lachgar’s health and life now hang in the balance unless the international community acts.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Freethought Radio – September 4, 2025
We report on state/church victories and challenges in Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas, Morocco, Minnesota and Florida. Then, we hear Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ed Larson (Summer for the Gods) tell us the story of the 1925 Scopes Trial, the “Trial of the Century,” pitting science against religion in Dayton, Tenn., 100 years ago.
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FFRF denounces Trump’s climate change science denial
The Trump administration has released a report whitewashing science that is being properly blasted by 85 scientists.
The science group’s 439-page, peer-reviewed rebuttal, submitted at the conclusion of the government’s official comment period, is three times longer than the Energy Department’s report on climate change. Many of the scientists are especially indignant because their work is being cited in the misleading Energy Department report, written by five individuals who Energy Secretary Chris Wright handpicked. The official report, which was not peer-reviewed, essentially states that climate change is “less damaging economically than commonly believed.”
The rebuttal’s principal author, Texas A&M Atmospheric Sciences Professor Andrew Dessler, points out that the government report employs the strategy of using a “kernel of truth” taken out of context. Case Western Reserve Physics Professor Cyrus C. Taylor cites “graphical sleight of hand” and other scientists reveal that the Energy Department report cites a paper that doesn’t even exist.
Bizarrely, Secretary Wright told the New York Times that climate change is “a scientific, economic issue and people treat it too often as a religious issue.” Come again? The fact is that the Trump administration’s war on our environment and work to sabotage and undo climate mitigation efforts is blessed by Christian nationalism. The White House is taking a page from historic autocrats, repressive church leaders and despots. Evangelicals are most apt to deny climate change while “Nones” are most likely to accept it and want to combat it.
Notable among the Christian nationalist drive against climate change science is the Heritage Foundation Project 2025, which, according to an analysis by of Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, calls for:
• Dismantling the administrative state, especially the EPA.
• De-emphasizing efforts to address climate change.
• Freeing private activities from regulatory constraints.
• Promoting American energy and science dominance (and fossil fuels).
• And grabbing the reins of government.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is already using the Energy Department’s analysis to promote the repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding, which declared climate change a danger to human health. That finding has till now permitted regulations of greenhouse gas emissions, such as from cars.
The doctored Energy Department report is but a small part of Trump’s war on science. The assaults include an executive order (“Restoring Gold Standard Science”) condemned by Nobel laureates, as well as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s war on medical science, the elimination or downsizing of multiple scientific advisory panels, and the massive drop in federal support for basic science research.
A recent New York Times lengthy analysis, “Historians see autocratic playbook in Trump’s attacks on science,” reminds us of the prominent role of religion in the war with science: “The war on science began four centuries ago when the Roman Catholic Church outlawed books that reimagined the heavens. Subsequent regimes shot or jailed thousands of scientists. Today, in such places as China and Hungary, a less fearsome type of strongman relies on budget cuts, intimidation and high-tech surveillance to cow scientists into submission.”
Paul R. Josephson, emeritus professor of history at Colby College and author of a book on totalitarian science, is quoted in the article, noting: “Despots want science that has practical results. They’re afraid that basic knowledge will expose their false claims. Trump once said he wanted the generals that Hitler had. He’s certainly working on getting the science that Hitler and Stalin had.”
Comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, “Authoritarian regimes, which often tout religion to buttress their authority, need to sow distrust of contrary authorities, such as scientists. But the truth matters. We salute the 85 scientists speaking out and providing a true report on climate change, because not only our democracy but our planet’s future is at stake.”
FFRF urges its members and the public to continue to demand truth, not disinformation, from the federal government.
Pictured: A statue dedicated to monk Giordano Bruno, placed by freethinkers in 1889 at the Campo Dei Fiori in Rome. Bruno was burned at the stake in the year 1600 for the crime of defending the Copernican theory of heliocentrism. (Photo by Annie Laurie Gaylor)
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
The post FFRF denounces Trump’s climate change science denial appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Seeds of Salvation #1” Review by Getyourcomicon.co.uk
Getyourcomicon.co.uk has added a new review for Robbie Thompson‘s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Seeds of Salvation #1”:
The beauty of bringing Star Trek to comic books is that the opportunities are endless. Cross over with Doctor Who, doable. Integrating characters from series past and present. Done. But there’s also the opportunity to take a story which has no room in live-action and allowing it to span the pages of an elegantly written and charmingly rendered book. Today IDW Publishing begins a voyage which does just that with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Salvation.
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“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Asylum” Review by Selimpensfiction.com
Selimpensfiction.com has added a new review for Una McCormack‘s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Asylum”:
As an aside, I’m glad they gave Number One a name—really, they had to, didn’t they?—and I think they picked a perfect name, but after decades of knowing her as Number One, referring to her as Una is, well, a process.
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DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of September 4, 2025
Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.
FFRF tells Texas AG Paxton: Stop pushing Christianity in public schools
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling out Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for inappropriately using his secular office to promote Christianity in public schools.
In a letter sent today, FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line urged Paxton to retract a press statement in which he pressured Texas schools to set aside time for prayer and bible reading and even said students should recite the Lord’s Prayer, found in the New Testament. Paxton’s injunctions come under the color of the newly enacted Senate Bill 11, which allows school boards to adopt policies setting aside time for voluntary prayer and the reading of the bible or other religious texts. However, school boards must still vote on whether to do so.
“Texas public schools exist to educate, not indoctrinate,” writes Line. “When you use your official position to instruct children to pray ‘as taught by Jesus Christ,’ you send a message to Texas students and families that the state favors Christianity over all other religions and over nonreligion. This is precisely what the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment forbids.”
Paxton’s statement, released Sept. 2, declared that he wants “the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up” in classrooms. He further claimed that the nation was “founded on the rock of Biblical Truth” and denounced critics of his Christian nationalist efforts as “twisted, radical liberals.”
FFRF points out that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down government-sponsored prayer in schools, in decisions going back more than 60 years.
“Children are already free to pray on their own or read the bible privately,” Line notes. “But government officials may not pressure or coerce schoolchildren to participate in prayer, or promote one religion’s practices above all others.”
FFRF warns that Paxton’s rhetoric crosses a constitutional line and could embolden school boards to adopt coercive practices that marginalize nonChristian and nonreligious students.
“Ken Paxton is trying to turn Texas classrooms into Sunday schools,” comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Children deserve an education free from religious coercion. The Constitution, not the bible, is the foundation of our democracy — and it protects the freedom of conscience of every student.”
FFRF vows to monitor the implementation of SB 11 and support Texas families if their rights are violated.
“The solid foundation of our country is not biblical truth, but rather our secular Constitution that protects the rights of all Americans — Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, the nonreligious, and everyone else — to believe as they choose without government interference or favoritism,” the letter concludes.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 1,800 members and a chapter in Texas. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
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Charlotte Gude
Charlotte graduated from the University of Iowa in 2020 with a B.S. in Political Science, a B.A. in Social Justice, and a minor in American Sign Language. She then worked as a legal assistant for a small law firm before transitioning on to the University of Wisconsin Law School where she received her Juris Doctor in 2025. In her free time, Charlotte enjoys scrapbooking, watching hilariously bad movies, and getting outside.
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FFRF awards $19,150 to 2025 BIPOC student essay contest winners
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is proudly disbursing $19,150 in prize money in the 2025 essay contest for Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color students.
Entrants in the 2025 David Hudak Memorial Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color (BIPOC) Student Essay Competition were asked to write on the topic of “How white Christian nationalism endangers my rights.” They were directed to select a specific attack on civil liberties by white Christian nationalists and describe how it poses a threat and how that impacts them or others in the BIPOC community.
The three top winners and 10 honorable mentions of the contest, along with their ages, the colleges or universities they are attending and the award amounts, are listed below. (FFRF seeks to distribute essay scholarship monies to a higher number of students, so ties — such as sixth place in this contest — are not regarded in the typical tie fashion, where, in this instance, seventh place would be skipped.)
FIRST PLACE
Mekah’E LeClair, 20, DigiPen Institute of Technology, $3,500.
SECOND PLACE
Naveyah Boykin, 20, Lincoln University, $3,000.
THIRD PLACE
Gabrielle Williams, 20, Howard University, $2,500.
FOURTH PLACE
Henry Olango, 21, Penn State University, $2,000.
FIFTH PLACE
Jaianah Hightower, 20, Morgan State University, $1,500.
SIXTH PLACE (tie)
JoJo Huntley, 20, Temple University, $1,000.
Arianna Sukhdeo, 18, Johns Hopkins University, $1,000.
SEVENTH PLACE
Aryan Singla, 18, University of Connecticut, $750.
EIGHTH PLACE
Chris Previlon, 19, University of Central Florida, $500.
NINTH PLACE (tie)
Alayna Champ, 19, University of South Carolina, $400.
Lauren Nsele, 21, Boston University, $400.
TENTH PLACE (tie)
Gabrielle Telsaint, 18, Florida International University, $300.
Layla Vaughan, 19, University of North Carolina, $300.
HONORABLE MENTION ($200 each)
Blake Battle, 19, Georgia Southern University.
Akrit Burroughs, 18, Kennesaw State University.
Jendayi Guamerah-Oliver, 18, Xavier University.
Natalya Hagee, 18, Temple University.
Ava Heims, 19, Syracuse University.
Fiolajesurera Orelaja, 18, American University.
Bri’Kayla Person, 19, University of Central Oklahoma.
Jaydon Santiago, 18, UCLA.
Laiya Thorpe, 20, North Carolina A&T State University.
Donovan Tyler, 19, University of Virginia.
Miriam Zepeda Perez, 18, Northern Arizona University.
FFRF thanks Lisa Treu for managing the details of this and FFRF’s other essay competitions. FFRF would also like to thank our volunteer and staff readers and judges, including Dan Barker, David Chivers, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Susan Gould, Jeffrey La Vicka, Sammi Lawrence, Michael Luther, Katya Maes, David Malcolm, Jason Mosebach, Chris O’Connell, Andrea Osburne, Joanna Papich, Sue Schuetz, PJ Slinger, Kimberly Waldron and Karen Lee Weidig
This contest is named for the late David Hudak, an FFRF member who left a bequest to generously fund a student essay contest. FFRF has offered essay competitions to students of color since 2016. It has also offered essay contests open to all college students since 1979, high school students since 1994, grad students since 2010 and one for law students since 2019. FFRF’s four other essay contests for students are open to all eligible students. The Hudak competition was created to recognize and provide encouragement to a minority within a minority and also to showcase their unique freethinking perspectives and challenges.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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“Star Trek: The Next Generation: Collateral Damage” Review by Lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com
Lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com has added a new review for David Mack‘s “Star Trek: The Next Generation: Collateral Damage”:
Being a consumer of tie-in fiction is weird, to be honest. If you are a “normal” reader, you read books that interest you… and well, you don’t read ones that don’t interest you. Why would you? Why would anyone spend time and effort reading and reviewing something you don’t think you’ll like? Yet you do! I consume Big Finish audio dramas, and I used to review them for Unreality SF. I often knew going into a release written by (for example) Matt Fitton or Nicholas Briggs knowing I wouldn’t like it. I had learned I usually wouldn’t like these writers’ work, yet I would slog through it anyway.
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‘Ten Commandments for thee but not for me’: GOP senator mocks Texas’ MAGA attorney general
AlterNet
By Ailia Zehra
The post ‘Ten Commandments for thee but not for me’: GOP senator mocks Texas’ MAGA attorney general appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
A South Carolina lawmaker urged high schoolers to convert to Christianity
Friendly Atheist
By Hemant Mehta
The post A South Carolina lawmaker urged high schoolers to convert to Christianity appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Out Today: “Star Trek: Red Shirts #2”
Out today: “Star Trek: Red Shirts #2“, by Christopher Cantwell.
After weathering the deaths of their crewmates, the Red Shirts who survived hurtling to Arkonia 89 in torpedo casings have rendezvoused with Lieutenant Cromarty in his underground base. Their mission: to bed down and wait for enemy spies to take the bait they’ve laid in a data disk at the base of a subspace antenna. But little do the Federation officers know, they aren’t the only ones looking for unsuspecting prey…
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Out Today: “Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1”
Out today: “Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1“, by Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges.
Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew are back for one last adventure in celebration of Voyager’s 30th-anniversary! Picking up where the series finale left off, Voyager has just returned to Earth. Everyone is looking forward to reuniting with their friends and family after the crucibles they’ve faced-but there is a deadly secret in store, one that takes the crew far from home. Voyager delves back into the breach, all those aboard determined to make it back to their loved ones no matter what, even if there’s hell to pay.
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Star Trek Book Deals For September 2025
This month’s ebook deals have landed with 33 books on sale for $1.99 each, books that have never been on sale are in bold:
This may be the largest sale I’ve ever seen!
Star Trek: 49 The Pandora Principle
Star Trek: Cast No Shadow
Star Trek: Destiny Book 2: Mere Mortals
Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours
Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing
Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing
Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures
Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures
Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures
Star Trek: Discovery: Fear Itself
Star Trek: Discovery: Somewhere to Belong
Star Trek: Discovery: The Enterprise War
Star Trek: Discovery: The Way To The Stars
Star Trek: Enterprise: Daedalus
Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light
Star Trek: Picard: Firewall
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Asylum
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Day Of Honor 1: Ancient Blood
Star Trek: Titan: Fortune of War
Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified
Star Trek: Vanguard: Harbinger
Star Trek: Vanguard: In Tempest’s Wake
Star Trek: Vanguard: Open Secrets
Star Trek: Vanguard: Precipice
Star Trek: Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind
Star Trek: Vanguard: Storming Heaven
Star Trek: Vanguard: Summon The Thunder
Star Trek: Vanguard: What Judgments Come
Star Trek: Voyager: 19 Dark Matters 1/3 – Cloak And Dagger
Star Trek: Voyager: Day of Honor 3: Her Klingon Soul
Star Trek: Voyager: The Farther Shore
FFRF: Kennedy, a menace to public health, must go
When pharmacists are afraid of losing their jobs for doing their jobs, our public health is in deep trouble.
“Health” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently posted on X that the FDA’s new Covid policy, greatly curtailing who can get Covid shots, delivers “science, safety and common sense.” However, his policy is clearly neither based on science nor common sense, and it will not make people safer. It’s causing even more chaos and confusion. (If Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine advisory members approve the recommendations, only those 65 and older, or younger people with at least one underlying condition, will be readily eligible to be vaccinated against Covid.)
On Labor Day, President Trump was happy to sow further confusion by calling on pharmaceutical companies to “justify the success” of their Covid vaccines. Yet Trump had previously bragged about “Operation Warp Speed,” which, thanks to mRNA research, led to Covid vaccines that saved millions of lives.
“I’m hearing from pharmacists who are fearful they might be in legal jeopardy for providing vaccines,” Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, told the New York Times.
The recommendations were barely out before the White House fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monarez was sworn in just a couple months ago and was fired, after bravely refusing to resign, for not being “aligned with” Trump’s and RFK’s agenda. At least four other CDC leaders also resigned as a result, including the agency’s deputy director and chief medical officer. This leaves the vital CDC rudderless and awaiting the appointment of a MAHA sycophant.
Kennedy laments the “malaise at the agency,” a malaise of his own making, of course. He has undermined medical science, ended support for global vaccination programs protecting millions of children, supported legislation that will cause millions of Americans to lose Medicaid, overseen mass firings gutting the CDC and canceled vitally important research on mRNA technology.
Even more sinister threats to the ability to develop and obtain vaccinations are afoot. Kennedy has his eyes on the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which settles claims on bona fide injuries. Kennedy wants the program to pay out for immunizations linked to autism, even though such claims have been thoroughly debunked. The result? The compensation program could become bankrupt, and pharmaceuticals, to avoid expensive litigation, could stop producing vaccines altogether. Our nation’s public health is being imperiled by quacks, conspiracy theorists, Christian nationalists and anti-science advocates.
It’s gotten so bad that a bipartisan group of nine former directors or acting directors of the CDC have written a guest essay for the New York Times titled, “We ran the CDC: Kennedy is endangering every American’s health.”
Over the weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders called for Kennedy to resign, a demand that every responsible American and organization that cares about public health and evidence-based science must second. The Freedom From Religion Foundation concurs: Kennedy is a menace to public health and must go.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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John Tenuto on Trekmovie.com discussing “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – The Making of the Classic Film”
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John Tenuto was recently featured on Trekmovie.com to discuss Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – The Making of the Classic Film:
The academic award-winning sociology professor duo of John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto have been sharing their love of pop culture (and especially Star Trek) for years in articles, podcasts, on TV (including in The History Channel’s The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek docuseries), and even here as past contributors to TrekMovie.com. The pair spoke to TrekMovie via email about why the felt the story of Star Trek III needed to be told:
Check out the John Tenuto author page to view other sightings and a full list of books!
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Shore-Leave 45 (belated!) Report: Day 2
Day 2 arrived with me attending wall to wall panels with my wife for the entire day. Seriously, I sat through some really good discussions on the state of science fiction, tie in media, and the future of Trek in written form. I came armed with STBC stickers and business cards and left with a book full of notes and suggestions to myself.
Behold, my schedule:
Friday 2:00 PM My Tie-in White Whale Cornwall
Friday 5:00 PM “There are no small parts…” Cornwall
Friday 6:00 PM Streaming TV: Blessing or Curse? Cornwall
Friday 7:00 PM Superhero Fatigue or Poor Execution? Cornwall
Friday 8:00 PM 50 Years of Earth Observations Hopewell
Friday 9:00 PM Strange New Worlds: The Best Trek Now! Ballroom A
Friday 10:00 PM Meet The Pros Wheatland
Here’s some of the books I was able to pick up during the “Meet The Pros” session, just about all of them are autographed, which is a neat addition. After I was done with this meeting it was about 11pm, so I called it a night.
Posts in this series:
Out Today: “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: The Making of the Classic Film”
Out today: “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: The Making of the Classic Film“, by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto.
Over 40 years ago, in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Admiral Kirk and his crew embarked on a perilous mission to retrieve Spock’s body and reunite his soul with his physical form, defying Starfleet orders and facing off against Klingon enemies to save their friend.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – The Making of the Classic Film delves into the untold stories behind the making of one of the most pivotal films in the Star Trek saga. From the pressures of continuing the iconic story after The Wrath of Khan to Leonard Nimoy stepping into the director’s chair, this book explores the creative challenges, technical innovations, and behind-the-scenes drama that shaped the film. Featuring interviews with cast, crew, and production staff, it uncovers the intricate world-building, the special effects that brought Klingon battles and the Genesis Planet to life, and the emotional weight of Spock’s resurrection.
Featuring a foreword from Robin Curtis, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – The Making of the Classic Film is a must-read for Trek fans and film enthusiasts alike, celebrating the legacy of a film that solidified the franchise’s place in pop culture history.
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Out Today: “Klingon Next Door: Off Duty the Warrior’s Way”
Out today: “Klingon Next Door: Off Duty the Warrior’s Way“, by Joey Spiotto.
Quirky and humorous takes celebrating everything Klingon in an out-of-place existence
What does a Klingon warrior get up to in his downtime?
What song would he choose at a karaoke bar? How does a trip to the barber work out for him?
From sports to shopping, hobbies to holidays, pets to personal grooming, discover how an honorable warrior takes on the challenges of day-to-day life, and learns how to relax, in this very funny collection of cartoons.
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DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of September 2, 2025
Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.
Preview of “Star Trek: Red Shirts #2”
Here’s a preview of Star Trek: Red Shirts #2 by Christopher Cantwell which is due to be released this Wednesday on September 3, 2025 at your local comic shop and digital retailers:
Preview of “Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1”
Here’s a preview of Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1 by Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges which is due to be released this Wednesday on September 3, 2025 at your local comic shop and digital retailers:
Happy 2025 Birthday to Scott Pearson!
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Happy birthday to Scott Pearson!
Scott Michael Pearson is a writer and an editor. He was first published in 1987 with “The Mailbox,” a short story about an elderly farming couple. In the years since, he has published a smattering of humor, poetry, short stories, and novellas. He contributed stories to the three ReDeus shared-world anthologies edited by Robert Greenberger and Aaron Rosenberg. His Lovecraft pastiche “The Squid that Came to Phil’s Basement” appeared in Space and Time Magazine. Scott has edited such books as Tales from a Tin Can: The USS Dale from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and Will to Murder: The True Story Behind the Crimes & Trials Surrounding the Glensheen Killings, which was featured on Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege, and Justice series on CourtTV.
As a freelancer, he has copyedited several Star Trek novels. He cohosts the Generations Geek podcast with his daughter, covering geeky movies, books, TV, and just about anything else that comes to mind. Guests have included Kevin Dilmore, Kevin Lauderdale, and Una McCormack. Scott lives near the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, fabled in story and song, in personable St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Sandra, and daughter, Ella.
Check out the Scott Pearson credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!
Find Scott Pearson’s work on Amazon.com
Happy 2025 Birthday to Allyn Gibson!
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Happy birthday to Allyn Gibson!
Allyn Gibson: Writer of various and sundry things. Baltimore resident. Chicago Cubs fan. Amateur historian. Political junkie
Check out the Allyn Gibson credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!
Find Allyn Gibson’s work on Amazon.com
“Star Trek: Klingon” Review by Deepspacespines.com
Deepspacespines.com has added a new review for Dean Wesley Smith and Hilary Bader and Kristine Kathryn Rusch‘s “Star Trek: Klingon”:
In today’s episode, Chancellor Gowron leads a conference to figure out how to give the galaxy a crash course in Klingons. But when the official talks start to melt like an unattended jumja stick, his stories at the lunch table might provide another path to victory. Can you even get a salad from a star system with no planets? How good an ace up your sleeve is the video game for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? And what one thing will secure its place in blessed Trek memory? All this and more in Star Trek: Klingon, the book that can get you two of some things.
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“Inspired Enterprise” Review by Ufplanets.com
Ufplanets.com has added a new review for Glen E. Swanson‘s “Inspired Enterprise”:
To begin, before even reading the book, I will say that Inspired Enterprise has a beautiful cover design, and removing the book sleeve also reveals a charming looking book. The presentation throughout is brilliant, the chapter headings, and page numbers look very LCARS inspired, and the included pictures dispersed throughout the book really bring life to everything. The hardest part about reviewing this book is a great fear of ruining its beauty.
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Donald Trump didn’t start this quiet war on woke
The Times
By Justin Webb
The post Donald Trump didn’t start this quiet war on woke appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Thou shall not? Schools in Texas and Arkansas caught between rulings
Baptist News Global
By Mark Wingfield
The post Thou shall not? Schools in Texas and Arkansas caught between rulings appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Judge orders Central Arkansas district to remove Ten Commandments displays
News From the States
By Antoinette Grajeda
The post Judge orders Central Arkansas district to remove Ten Commandments displays appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Judge orders Conway, Ark., schools to remove 10 Commandments after FFRF lawsuit
Less than 24 hours after the Conway School District was added to a federal lawsuit challenging Arkansas’s unconstitutional law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order requiring the district to take down all Ten Commandments displays from its classrooms and libraries by the end of the day.
The order follows the court’s directive on Aug. 27 permitting the plaintiffs to add Conway families and the Conway School District to the suit. In the temporary restraining order, Judge Timothy Brooks explained: “The court ruled that Act 573, if put into effect, was likely to violate the First Amendment rights of all Arkansas public-school parents and their children — not just those attending public school in Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville, and Siloam Springs. . . . The court assumed that the state would advise the other 233 school districts of the court’s ruling and caution them to refrain from displaying the Ten Commandments posters they received until a dispositive ruling was entered or these matters were resolved. Clearly, that did not happen.”
In issuing the temporary restraining order ordering removal by 5 p.m. today, the court pointed to its Aug. 4 ruling in Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1 that Act 573 is “obviously unconstitutional.” On Aug. 5, the plaintiffs’ attorneys sent letters to every school superintendent in Arkansas, notifying them of the federal court’s ruling and warning districts not to implement Act 573.
Despite the court’s ruling and the letter from the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Conway School District hung Act 573 displays in all classrooms before the first day of school on August 18, prompting swift legal action from families represented by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State,and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
“Imposing biblical edicts upon children in every public school classroom is antithetical to America’s Bill of Rights and respect for true freedom of religion, which necessarily guarantees freedom from religion imposed by the government,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “It’s quite simple: Our public schools must honor freedom of conscience and may not indoctrinate in religion or prescribe which religious dogmas to observe. That’s up to parents and churches.”
A copy of the order can be found online here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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FFRF awards $17,950 in prize money to 2025 high school essay winners
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is proud to announce the disbursal of $17,950 in scholarship money to the winners of the 2025 William Schulz High School Essay Contest.
College-bound high school seniors were asked to write a personal persuasive essay based on this prompt: “To do good is my religion. Write a first-person essay that asserts why ‘doing good’ is not dependent on religious belief.”
FFRF awarded 11 top prizes and 10 honorable mentions. (FFRF seeks to distribute essay scholarship monies to a higher number of students, so ties — such as eighth place in this contest — are not regarded in the typical tie fashion, where, in this instance, ninth place would be skipped.)
Winners are listed below, including the college or university they are currently attending and the award amount.
FIRST PLACE
Shaurya Bhartia, UC-Berkeley, $3,500.
SECOND PLACE
Benjamin Meerson, UC-Berkeley, $3,000.
THIRD PLACE
Ian Klimox, Yale, $2,500
FOURTH PLACE
Patrick Le Febvre, University of Connecticut, $2,000.
FIFTH PLACE
Alice Giambalvo, Texas A&M, $1,500.
SIXTH PLACE
Noelle Kim, California Institute of Technology, $1,000.
SEVENTH PLACE
Dong En Wu, Marquette University, $750.
EIGHTH PLACE (tie)
Kiera Robinson, Nova Southeastern University, $500.
Kennedy Cordle, North Carolina A&T State University, $500.
NINTH PLACE
Callum Wilford, University of Florida, $400.
TENTH PLACE
Chauntel Berry, Rochester Institute of Technology, $300.
HONORABLE MENTIONS ($200 each)
Isabella Cassells, Coastal Carolina University.
Ariana Delgado, University of Texas-El Paso.
Jayden Fernandez-Morales, University of California-Riverside.
Caleb Forehand, East Carolina University.
Anna Izquierdo, Colby College.
Jocelynn Malone, Heidelberg University (Ohio).
Eden Sterk, University of Florida.
Aliani Timmons, Carnegie Mellon University.
Sophia Wang, University of Florida.
Josiah Wiegrefe, Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
The high school contest is named for the late William J. Schulz, a Wisconsin member and lifelong learner who died at 57, leaving a generous bequest to FFRF.
FFRF warmly thanks FFRF’s Lisa Treu for managing the minute details of this and FFRF’s other annual student competitions. And we couldn’t judge these contests without the help of our volunteer and staff readers and judges.
FFRF has offered essay competitions to college students since 1979, high school students since 1994, grad students since 2010 and one dedicated to students of color since 2016. A fifth contest, open to law students, began in 2019.
Read the essays in the August issue of Freethought Today.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
The post FFRF awards $17,950 in prize money to 2025 high school essay winners appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.
