Oklahomans challenging nation’s first religious public school declare victory, end lawsuit

Americans United
By Staff

The post Oklahomans challenging nation’s first religious public school declare victory, end lawsuit appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

White House Action Ensures Churches ‘Can No Longer Be Intimidated’ by IRS for Endorsing Candidates

The Washington Stand
By Ben Johnson

The post White House Action Ensures Churches ‘Can No Longer Be Intimidated’ by IRS for Endorsing Candidates appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Star Trek Gateways Demons of Air and Darkness Book Review

DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of July 15, 2025

Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.

Star Trek: Exploring the Final Frontier – Emily Strand Author Visit

Let’s talk about Peter David’s “Double or Nothing”.

Oklahomans challenging nation’s first religious public school declare victory, end lawsuit

Declaring victory in the legal effort to block what would have been the nation’s first religious public school, a group of Oklahoma faith leaders, public school parents and public education advocates today filed a notice dismissing their lawsuit to stop Oklahoma officials from sponsoring and funding St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.

The notice was filed with the District Court of Oklahoma County in the case OKPLAC Inc. v. Statewide Charter School Board. The substantive claims brought in the OKPLAC case were resolved when the U.S. Supreme Court, in May, let stand the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision that it would be an unconstitutional violation of church/state separation for St. Isidore to operate as a religious public charter school. That decision was issued in a lawsuit similar to the OKPLAC case that was subsequently brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, which was fast-tracked and heard first.

The plaintiffs were represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and Education Law Center, and supported by Oklahoma-based counsel Odom & Sparks PLLC and J. Douglas Mann.

“We are pleased that the courts have put a stop to the nation’s first religious public charter school,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “This outcome upholds the core constitutional principle of state/church separation and affirms that public schools should remain just that — public.”

“OKPLAC has been resolved to stand for students, taxpayers, and religious freedom from the beginning as the original plaintiff in a lawsuit opposing the state’s use of tax dollars to operate a religious public charter school,” said Misty Bradley, chair of OKPLAC, the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition. “We are grateful for the organizations and individuals who stood with us and for Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s successful efforts to uphold Oklahoma’s constitution and protect its taxpayers and public schools.”

“Americans United is proud to work closely with Oklahomans to protect inclusive public education and religious freedom,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “While we celebrate victory in this case, AU continues to litigate two other church-state separation lawsuits in Oklahoma to stop Ryan Walters and his Christian nationalist allies from imposing their religious beliefs on public school children. We won’t let them turn Oklahoma’s public schools into Sunday schools.”

“The very notion of a religious public school is a legal contradiction in terms,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.  “We’re pleased that the courts stopped this direct assault on public education and religious freedom. Public schools must remain secular and welcome all students, regardless of faith.”

“We are gratified that the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling that charter schools, like all public schools, must be open to all students,” said Robert Kim, executive director of Education Law Center. “We will continue to work with public school advocates, parents and faith leaders to ensure that all students across Oklahoma and the nation have the right to attend public schools without barriers to admission.”

The OKPLAC case was the first lawsuit to challenge the state’s approval of St. Isidore. It was filed in July 2023 on behalf of faith leaders, public school parents and public education advocates who objected to their tax dollars funding a public charter school that intended to indoctrinate students into one religion, planned to discriminate against students, families and employees based on their religion and LGBTQ-plus status, and wouldn’t commit to adequately serving students with disabilities.

The plaintiffs include OKPLAC (Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition), Melissa Abdo, Krystal Bonsall, Brenda Lené, Michele Medley, Dr. Bruce Prescott, the Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall, the Rev. Dr. Lori Walke and Erika Wright.

The plaintiffs also filed amicus briefs in the attorney general’s case, Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, before both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s opinion incorporated many of the arguments made in the amicus brief that was submitted to it.

The team of attorneys that represented the plaintiffs was led by Alex J. Luchenitser of Americans United and included Luke Anderson of Americans United; Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the ACLU; Robert Kim, Jessica Levin and Wendy Lecker of Education Law Center; Patrick Elliott of FFRF; Benjamin H. Odom, John H. Sparks, Michael W. Ridgeway and Lisa M. Mason of Odom & Sparks; and J. Douglas Mann.

Media contacts: Requests for information or media interviews should be directed to:

• FFRF: Sara Tetzloff, tetzloffs@ffrf.org, 608.256.8900
• Americans United: Moisés Serrano, media@au.org
• ACLU: ACLU Media, media@aclu.org
• Education Law Center: Sharon Krengel, skrengel@edlawcenter.org, 973.624.1815, x240

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

Americans United is a religious freedom advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, AU educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. Learn more at www.au.org.

For more than 100 years, the ACLU has worked in courts, legislatures, and communities to protect the constitutional rights of all people. With a nationwide network of offices and millions of members and supporters, the ACLU takes on the toughest civil liberties fights in pursuit of liberty and justice for all. For more information on the ACLU, visit www.aclu.org.

Education Law Center pursues justice and equity for public school students by enforcing their right to a high-quality education in safe, equitable, non-discriminatory, integrated, and well-funded learning environments. We seek to support and improve public schools as the center of communities and the foundation of a multicultural and multiracial democratic society. For more information about ELC, visit edlawcenter.org/.

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New Star Trek Book: “Star Trek: Ashcan #1”

Star Trek: Ashcan #1 by has been added to the Star Trek Book Club!

Previews of:

• • Star Trek: The Last Starship #1
  • Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming #1
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Seeks of Salvation #1

The book is currently scheduled to be published on July 2, 2025

Buy on Amazon.com
Buy On Books-A-Million.com

Booktrek 2025 : Star Trek annual 1979 review

Lower Decks comic books, Issues 9 & 10

Texas Families Sue to Block Law Mandating Ten Commandments in Public Schools

On July 2nd, 2025, FFRF and a coalition filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of sixteen multifaith and nonreligious Texas families to block a state law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

Texas Senate Bill 10 requires all public elementary and secondary schools statewide to display either a “durable poster” or “framed copy” of the Ten Commandments in a conspicuous location within every classroom. The law specifies a particular Protestant version of the Ten Commandments.

The plaintiffs include Jewish, Christian, Baptist, nonreligious, Hindu, and Unitarian families. The complaint argues that SB 10 violates both the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the separation of church and state and guarantees religious freedom.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, American United for Separation of Church & State, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and FFRF. Legal Director Patrick Elliot, Senior Litigation Counsel Sam Grover, and Staff Attorney Nancy Noet are serving as co-counsel. 

• Complaint
  • Press Release

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First Liberty Institute takes defendants’ side in 10 Commandments lawsuit in Arkansas

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Fayetteville, AR)
By Edward McKinnon

The post First Liberty Institute takes defendants’ side in 10 Commandments lawsuit in Arkansas appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

‘Unshackling the pulpit’ or ‘a brazen attack’?: 7 reactions to IRS letting pastors endorse politicians

The Christian Post
By Michael Gryboski

The post ‘Unshackling the pulpit’ or ‘a brazen attack’?: 7 reactions to IRS letting pastors endorse politicians appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

IRS lifts ban on churches getting involved in politics and endorsements: What to know

USA Today
By BrieAnna J. Frank and Angele Latham

The post IRS lifts ban on churches getting involved in politics and endorsements: What to know appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Local Courier-Journal Doggedly Maligns Us Yet Again

Answers in Genesis
By Ken Hamm

The post Local Courier-Journal Doggedly Maligns Us Yet Again appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF opposes DoD’s coercive bible study classes at Walter Reed Hospital

Photo by Diego González on Unsplash

 The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the Defense Health Agency, the Department of Defense and staff at Walter Reed Hospital to end coercive religious programming and activities. 

A Walter Reed employee informed FFRF that during the week of March 17, an email went out to all Walter Reed Hospital staff inviting them to a recurring “Soul Care Bible Study.” The program was billed as “a spiritual readiness program that supports the Defense Health Agency Director’s spiritual pillar of readiness.” The invitation asserted that the “Department of Defense recognizes that Spiritual Fitness is an essential area that requires some training and development for DoD personnel to be healthy, fit and resilient.” The invitation describes “Spiritual Fitness” as “one of the major components of the Total Force Fitness Framework, first established by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” FFRF learned that chaplains would encourage staff members to wash their hands with Holy Water. 

“The overtly religious practices taking place at Walter Reed are unnecessarily divisive and coercive,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg writes. 

By offering bible study, Walter Reed and the Department of Defense show that Christians (especially those who subscribe to their selected bible version) have preferential status in the nation’s armed services. Blatant endorsement of Christian beliefs disrespects our proud military community — especially those who do not share the DoD’s belief. About 30 percent of individuals in the armed forces have no religious affiliation or identify with a religious belief other than Christianity. 

Discussing religion risks dividing the armed forces community among different sects and between believers and nonbelievers. It can disrupt unit cohesion and distract from the “shared purpose” of protecting American interests and freedoms. The Department of Defense cannot express religious favoritism or sponsor religious activity. It cannot contort the mission of the armed forces to support religious beliefs that align with those of its leaders. DoD and DHA policy should focus on universal, secular directives and their shared purpose of constitutional freedom.

Religion by compulsion further defies the ideals that our armed forces community stands by and defends. DHA signals that to reach full “readiness” and military excellence, individuals must pass faith-based standards. In essence, the DHA policy denotes that good soldiers are Christian soldiers; fitness for duty requires fitness of faith. Such mandated orthodoxy is plainly un-American and unconstitutional. DHA’s sponsorship of religious activity would require more from its employees than is necessary and more than the Constitution allows.

To respect the Constitution and the First Amendment rights of all members of the military community, FFRF asserts that the DHA must refrain from sponsoring bible studies.

“Theocrats are embedding Christian nationalism into the highest levels of government, and the effects are already being felt,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “America is not a Christian nation, and it certainly does not need members of the armed forces to be ‘spiritually fit’ in order to serve.”

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. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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Freethought Radio – July 10, 2025

We criticize Texas Governor Gregg Abbott for using the flood devastation as an opportunity to preach his personal religious views. We point out that in spite of the IRS decision not to punish two churches for politicking from the pulpit, the Johnson Amendment prohibiting such action is still the law of the land. After honoring the life of our friend, the Pulitzer-Prize winning political cartoonist Steve Benson, who died this week at age 71, we talk with attorney Kat Grant about their Freethought Now “Pride Month” blog: ”Don’t make sacrifices on the altar of authoritarianism.”

The post Freethought Radio – July 10, 2025 appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Happy 2025 Birthday to Steve Mollmann!

(no image available)

Happy birthday to Steve Mollmann!

Steve Mollmann is a writer, author of a number of Star Trek stories.

Check out the Steve Mollmann credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Steve Mollmann’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Hans Beimler!

(no image available)

Happy birthday to Hans Beimler!

Hans Anthony Beimler is a writer, producer, and script editor of many Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. He also appeared in Deep Space Nine’s final episode, “What You Leave Behind”, as a holographic guest at Vic’s Las Vegas Lounge.

Check out the Hans Beimler credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Hans Beimler’s work on Amazon.com

DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of July 10, 2025

Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.

Shore Leave 45 Returns July 11–13, 2025, in Lancaster, PA

Lancaster, PA — Shore Leave, the longest-running fan-run science fiction media convention in  the U.S., is back for its 45th year. The event will take place July 11–13, 2025, at the Wyndham  Lancaster Resort and Convention Center. Organized by the STAT Club of Maryland, Shore  Leave offers a weekend filled with celebrity guests, panels, workshops, and unique fan  experiences.  

Celebrity Guests  

This year’s lineup includes stars from beloved sci-fi franchises:  

• Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead, The Suicide Squad)
• Michael Ironside (Top Gun, Total Recall, Starship Troopers)  
• Adrianne Palicki (The Orville, Agents of SHIELD, Friday Night Lights) 
• J. Lee (The Orville, American Dad, Family Guy)  
• James Frain (Star Trek: Discovery, True Blood, Tron Legacy)  
• Melissa Navia (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Billions, Dietland)  
• Casper Van Dien and Dina Meyer (Starship Troopers)  
• Seth Gilliam and Cooper Andrews (The Walking Dead)  
• Tracee Cocco and Stephanie Czajkowski (Multiple Star Trek Series) 
• Kathy Coleman and Wesley Eure (Land of the Lost)  

Attendees can participate in photo ops, autograph sessions, and the “Fest With Our Guests”  dinner event, featuring an Italian buffet and opportunities to dine with select celebrities.  Proceeds from this event support St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and the Navy &  Marine Corps Relief Society.  

Programming Highlights  

Shore Leave 45 offers a diverse range of activities:  

• Panels on Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and more  
• Science presentations from institutions like NASA and the Space Telescope Science  Institute  
• Over 40 Authors performing readings, panels, and autograph sessions   Writing workshops led by professional authors  
• Stargazing sessions on Friday and Saturday nights 
• A 15,000 sq ft Vendor Hall featuring unique merchandise  
• A gallery of sci-fi and fantasy artwork  
• Gaming rooms, cosplay events, and the “Ten Forward” all-ages dance party  

Registration and Accommodations  

Weekend memberships are available at the door for $140. Single-day passes and discounted  rates for teens and youth are also offered. Active-duty military personnel receive a $10 discount.  

Discounted hotel rates are available at several nearby hotels, including the Cartoon Network  Hotel and Fairfield Inn & Suites.  

For more information, visit www.shore-leave.com.

July 2025 Traffic Just Beat 2024 Total Traffic

Thank you for stopping by, I’m happy you were here!  We’ve been on an upward trajectory for the last 3 or 4 years, but I was surprised to notice that with 4 months left in the year, we’ve already beaten 2024.  I’m going to be dropping business cards and stickers at Shore-Leave, so if you see me there, be sure to ask for a sticker.  I’m sure that this will double the traffic as well!

IRS says pastors endorsing political candidates doesn’t violate Johnson Amendment

The Christian Post
By Leonardo Blair

The post IRS says pastors endorsing political candidates doesn’t violate Johnson Amendment appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Sorry, FFRF — IRS says churches can give political endorsements from the pulpit

1819 News
By Craig Monger

The post Sorry, FFRF — IRS says churches can give political endorsements from the pulpit appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Out Today: “Star Trek: Lower Decks #9”

Out today: “Star Trek: Lower Decks #9“, by Tim Sheridan.

On a mission to collect gormangander excrement, the U.S.S. Cerritos is attacked by a Ferengi warship! The Ferengi are hot on the tail of a debt dodger who owes them a fortune-D’Vana Tendi. But as a member of Starfleet, Tendi has no way to earn the money to pay them back, and if she tells her family in the Orion Syndicate, they’ll simply murder her to clear the account. One thing is for certain: If Tendi can’t devise a way to clear her ledger, the Lower Deckers are going to find themselves in deep doo, regardless of whether they find any gormaganders.

Buy From Things From Another World
Buy on Amazon.com
Buy On Books-A-Million.com

IRS refusal to act doesn’t repeal Johnson Amendment, FFRF asserts

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sharply condemning the IRS’s stunning decision to openly abandon enforcement of the Johnson Amendment when it comes to churches, which could effectively turn them into unregulated political action committees subsidized by taxpayers.

But the state/church watchdog advises that this action, while unconscionable, does not and cannot repeal an act of Congress. Furthermore, the IRS action technically only applies to the two litigating churches, FFRF points out. The case involves a challenge by the Sand Springs Church and First Baptist Church of Waskom in Texas. The IRS is stipulating that it will not fight the lawsuit.

In its recent court filing, the IRS admitted that it will no longer pursue legal action against churches that endorse political candidates from the pulpit to their congregants. This action stems from the baseless lawsuit brought by right-wing Christian organizations, which claim they are being unfairly silenced. Instead of defending its own rules, the IRS folded, asserting that “communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services” do not violate the Johnson Amendment.

“This is not the repeal of the Johnson Amendment — this is the IRS choosing to ignore it when churches violate it,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “If the IRS is saying that churches and only churches are being given a pass from the Johnson Amendment, this clearly discriminates against other similarly situated 501(c)(3) tax-exempt groups, such as FFRF.”

The Johnson Amendment, enacted in 1954, prohibits all 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits — including churches — from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The obvious rationale for the federal law is that political contributions are not tax-deductible; therefore, tax-exempt organizations cannot use their tax-exempt resources for electioneering purposes. The Johnson Amendment ensures equal footing on the political battlefield and ensures that tax-deductible charitable donations, intended to serve the community, are directed to charitable works rather than political campaigns.

While the rule has long been unevenly enforced, it remains a cornerstone of the legal firewall separating religion and government. Now, under the Trump Administration, the IRS has not only abandoned its duty to enforce the law, but it has also twisted its interpretation to claim that church endorsements are tantamount to “family discussions,” as the IRS motion puts it, and a matter of religious freedom.

Churches already receive favored treatment over secular nonprofits but they are not entitled to ignore the other rules and laws that apply equally to all 501(c)(3) educational nonprofits. Already, churches are automatically tax-exempt, don’t have to file annual financial disclosures (Form 990s) that all other tax-exempt groups, including FFRF, are required to file and they’re rarely audited. Now, the IRS is telling churches that they can also engage in politics from the pulpit, so long as they cloak their campaigning in religious language. The motion says such endorsements are “on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith.”

Polls routinely reveal that a majority of Americans think religious institutions should stay out of politics. In 2022, Pew Research found that “about three-quarters of U.S. adults (77 percent) say that churches and other houses of worship should not endorse candidates for political offices. Two-thirds (67 percent) say that religious institutions should keep out of political matters rather than expressing their views on day-to-day social or political questions.”

While secular nonprofits like FFRF must adhere to the law or risk losing their tax-exempt status, the IRS is now granting churches a religious loophole: claiming that endorsements during sermons are akin to private, faith-based discussions and thus protected. The result is blatant favoritism toward religious organizations and unequal treatment under the law.

In 2017, FFRF sued Trump and the IRS after Trump signed an executive order that falsely claimed to “get rid of the Johnson Amendment.” FFRF’s attorneys successfully persuaded the Trump administration to acknowledge in court that the president lacked the authority to revoke a congressional statute by executive fiat. The current action by the IRS similarly cannot invalidate a law passed by Congress. FFRF successfully sued the IRS in 2012 to compel it to enforce its own regulations barring tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofits from engaging in partisan political activity.

While the IRS under the Trump administration may choose not to enforce this provision, the law remains on the books — and so does the possibility of future accountability.

“The law hasn’t changed — but the will to enforce it has,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “This decision is just the latest item checked off the Project 2025 wish list — the Christian nationalist plan to reshape the U.S. government. The administration is signaling to churches that they can be involved in elections without consequences.”

FFRF remains committed to holding tax-exempt organizations accountable and is exploring all legal avenues to respond to this abdication of responsibility. In the meantime, it urges members of the public and elected officials to demand congressional oversight, press the IRS to reverse course, and support efforts to restore robust, even-handed enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. Vigilance and public pressure are essential to preserving the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government, FFRF asserts.

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 Co-President’s op-ed defines stakes of Ryan Walters lawsuit

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor has written an op-ed featured in Oklahoma’s Tulsa World newspaper detailing the threat to the state/church watchdog’s First Amendment rights posed by a lawsuit from State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

“For the first time in our nearly 50-year history, our nonprofit group, dedicated to the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government, has been taken to court by a public official — a move that challenges the very essence of our work,” Gaylor writes. “Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education are currently suing the Freedom From Religion Foundation in federal court because we contacted several Oklahoma public schools on behalf of parents over our constitutional concerns.”

Gaylor continues her examination of the dangerous legal threat by detailing how FFRF stays well within the law when receiving complaints:

This attack on free speech should alarm every Oklahoman who values the First Amendment. Walters has essentially filed a “SLAPP” (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) lawsuit, which is used to weaponize the legal system to punish and silence constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment. The Bill of Rights protects our right to speak up and criticize the government directly when we think it is violating the law, and it likewise protects our ability to advocate for change.

Notably, Walters’ lawsuit fails to identify any actual violation of law. That’s because FFRF has not violated the law — in fact, we’ve worked diligently to uphold the First Amendment itself.

FFRF concentrates on a particular section of the First Amendment: the establishment clause, which, as President Thomas Jefferson explained in a famous metaphor, builds “a wall of separation between Church and State.” But we could not accomplish our advocacy on behalf of our 42,000 members nationwide (including hundreds in Oklahoma) and those in the public who rely on our assistance without the other essential rights embodied in the First Amendment. Beyond the establishment and free exercise clauses, the First Amendment promises freedom of speech and of the press and the right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.

When parents or other members of the public contact our state/church watchdog over entanglements of religion and government, FFRF reviews the complaint, and if we find it likely that a First Amendment violation has taken place, FFRF contacts public officials to remedy it or seek more information.

Many Oklahoma parents have contacted FFRF over such concerns since Walters became state superintendent. Since individuals encountering promotions of religion by a government official are fearful of reprisal, particularly if the violation involves their vulnerable children in a public school setting, FFRF steps in to defend their rights and our views. Our attorneys often remind officials that our nation was founded on a secular Constitution and that honoring true religious liberty requires that the government and its public schools may not take sides over religion.

The piece concludes with a final rebuke of the lawsuit, warning of its true dangers: “FFRF’s defense against Superintendent Walters’ frivolous lawsuit is crucial for the protection of the free speech rights of all organizations, including organizations with which Walters agrees. Walters is attempting to set a dangerous precedent — that government officials have the right to legally muzzle advocacy critical of their policies. This the First Amendment does not tolerate. Rather, it protects the rights of all people to petition the government for a redress of grievances and to hold public officials accountable.”

You can read the full op-ed here. 

This column is part of FFRF’s initiative, this time through its legislative arm, to engage with pertinent national and state issues and spread the messages of freethought and nontheism to a broader audience.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 42,000 members nationwide, including hundreds of members in Oklahoma. 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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Most Americans Back Chaplains in Schools

Finish the Race
By Eric Thompson

The post Most Americans Back Chaplains in Schools appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Sen. Phil King predicts legal victory as Texas schools begin displaying Ten Commandments

Fort Worth Report (Fort Worth, TX)
By David Montgomery

The post Sen. Phil King predicts legal victory as Texas schools begin displaying Ten Commandments appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Senate Bill 10 signed into law for school districts

South Texas News
By Landan Kuhlmann

The post Senate Bill 10 signed into law for school districts appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Lawsuit filed against Texas SB 10 requiring Ten Commandments in public school classrooms

Amarillo Globe-News (Amarillo, TX)
By Michael Cuviello

The post Lawsuit filed against Texas SB 10 requiring Ten Commandments in public school classrooms appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Texas families sue to block law requiring Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom

Double Mountain Chronicle (Rotan, TX)
By Staff

The post Texas families sue to block law requiring Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Chattanooga Now Events – Leighann Lord: The Scopes Trial Centennial Conference

Chattanooga Times Free Press (Chattanooga, TN)
By Staff

The post Chattanooga Now Events – Leighann Lord: The Scopes Trial Centennial Conference appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Texas families file suit over Ten Commandments law

The Victoria Advocate
By Michael Milliorn

The post Texas families file suit over Ten Commandments law appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Annie Laurie Gaylor: Free speech at stake in Superintendent Ryan Walters’ suit against us

Tulsa World (Tulsa, OK)
By Annie Laurie Gaylor

The post Annie Laurie Gaylor: Free speech at stake in Superintendent Ryan Walters’ suit against us appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of July 8, 2025

Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.

FFRF condemns Abbott’s call for prayer after Texas flood disaster, urges investment in science

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is strongly criticizing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for issuing yet another hollow “Day of Prayer” proclamation and for making insensitive remarks following the devastating flooding that claimed dozens of lives in Central Texas.

In a formal letter sent to Abbott today, FFRF criticizes the governor for using a natural disaster to promote religion instead of taking meaningful, science-based steps to address future crises. “Your prayer proclamation does nothing to help those currently suffering or prevent similar devastation in the future,” the letter states. “As governor, you have many tools to actually help prepare for weather-related disasters, and you should use these tools rather than using your office and state resources to promote your personal religious beliefs.”

At least 80 people, including 27 children, most of them in Kerr County, have died in the flooding. Many were attending a Christian girls’ camp along the Guadalupe River when the floodwaters surged.

Instead of focusing on tangible actions or solutions, Abbott used his press conference to praise his own response, thank President Trump and encourage prayer: “Prayer matters.” Prayers “could have been the reason why water stopped rising,” he insisted. ”Those prayers are answered in so many ways. … All we know is that prayer does work. Your prayers have made a difference. … We thank God almighty. God has blessed Texas and will continue to bless our great state.”

Abbott also issued an official proclamation declaring Sunday, July 6, as a statewide “Day of Prayer,” asking Texans “to turn to God for comfort, healing, and strength.” It states, “I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday—for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines.” The proclamation, addressed to “Texans of all faiths and religious traditions and backgrounds,” pointedly ignores the 26 percent of state residents who identify as nonreligious — atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.”
Responds Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president: “Abbott’s statements are part of the ‘God always gets the credit, never the blame’ phenomenon.” She adds, “If God was watching out, why did he allow the Guadalupe River to rise 22 feet over a couple of hours in the first place? Why did this all-powerful, all-seeing deity allow 27 campers and counselors at a Christian camp to be tragically swept away? Abbott can’t have it both ways.”

FFRF’s letter reminds Abbott of his constitutional obligations, stating: “You have taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, an entirely godless and secular document, and are charged with great responsibility over citizens, including those who may not share your personal religious viewpoints.” It concludes: “Leaving religion as a private matter for private citizens is the wisest public policy. Observing a strict separation of church and state offends no one and honors the First Amendment.”

FFRF is also deeply concerned that the Trump administration is echoing this misplaced reliance on prayer. On July 6, the official White House X account posted: “The White House Faith Office asks you to join us in prayer for the precious lives lost in the Texas floods. Amidst this tragedy, our nation must come together to pray for the victims, their families, and the first responders conducting rescue missions to find those still missing. May God wrap his loving arms around all those in Texas.” The message was accompanied by a Bible verse: Psalm 34:18, ‘The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.’

FFRF points out that while Americans are free to pray if they choose, it is not the role of the government — including the White House — to issue religious calls to action on behalf of the entire nation. In times of crisis, Americans deserve policy, preparedness, and science — not scripture.

Gaylor adds that the focus on prayer distracts from real questions about public safety and preparedness — such as whether vacancies at the National Weather Service (NWS) contributed to the scale of the disaster. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has called for an investigation by the Commerce Department’s inspector general.

As The New York Times reports, key positions at local offices of the National Weather Service were unfilled: “The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday’s flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union that represents Weather Service workers,” according to the Times.

The San Antonio office also had significant vacancies, including individuals who work with local emergency managers on flood planning, warnings and evacuation. The warning coordination meteorologist took the early retirement package used by the Trump administration to reduce the number of federal employees, the Times reports. At both offices, the vacancy rate doubled after Trump took office.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation points to the role of white evangelical Christians, 80 percent of whom voted for Trump, in enabling a political climate that continues to undermine climate science and emergency preparedness. Last week, Trump called to zero out all climate research at NOAA. Although white evangelical Christians are also the most skeptical of human-made climate change, a third accept the science.

“Without crucial research, science, climate-change mitigation or even proper alert systems, these weather-related tragedies will continue and multiply, kill more Americans and wreak destruction,” Gaylor warned.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members nationwide, including 1,800 members and a local 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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Preview of “Star Trek: Lower Decks #9”

Here’s a preview of Star Trek: Lower Decks #9 by Tim Sheridan which is due to be released this Wednesday on July 9, 2025 at your local comic shop and digital retailers:

On a mission to collect gormangander excrement, the U.S.S. Cerritos is attacked by a Ferengi warship! The Ferengi are hot on the tail of a debt dodger who owes them a fortune-D’Vana Tendi. But as a member of Starfleet, Tendi has no way to earn the money to pay them back, and if she tells her family in the Orion Syndicate, they’ll simply murder her to clear the account. One thing is for certain: If Tendi can’t devise a way to clear her ledger, the Lower Deckers are going to find themselves in deep doo, regardless of whether they find any gormaganders.

Happy 2025 Birthday to Susan Wright!

(no image available)

Happy birthday to Susan Wright!

Susan Wright is an author who has written many Star Trek books, all published by Pocket Books.

Wright founded the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom in 1997, which promotes BDSM and sex positivism, and continues to serve as the organization’s spokesperson. She currently resides in New York.

Check out the Susan Wright credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Susan Wright’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Rick Sternbach!

(no image available)

Happy birthday to Rick Sternbach!

Richard “Rick” Michael Sternbach was the (senior) production illustrator/designer for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the first two seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. He was also the scenic artist for Star Trek Nemesis, providing designs for everything from the Argo shuttle to a Romulan Valdore-type sculpture. Sternbach’s most recognized work by far has been the designs of the PADD, Deep Space 9 and USS Voyager.

Check out the Rick Sternbach credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Rick Sternbach’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to John Byrne!

(Image © Luigi Novi, used with permission.)

Happy birthday to John Byrne!

John Lindley Byrne is a British-born American comic book artist and writer. Since breaking into the industry in the early 1970s, he has worked on almost every major comic superhero. His most famous works were on Marvel Comics’ X-Men (with Chris Claremont) and Fantastic Four titles and on the DC Comics Superman relaunch in the mid-1980s. In 1992, he teamed up with Larry Niven to produce the graphic novel Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale.

Check out the John Byrne credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find John Byrne’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Ronald D. Moore!

(Photo by Keith McDuffee)

Happy birthday to Ronald D. Moore!

Ronald “Ron” Dowl Moore is a writer and producer of several Star Trek series and films, as well as several other science fiction and genre programs. Moore was recognized for his writing work on the Star Trek franchise with seven award nominations, winning two of them. In his post-Star Trek years, he greatly added to this list of laurels.

While residing in Los Angeles as a struggling and budding writer, Ron Moore started to date a woman who worked on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 1989, Moore, an avid fan of the original Star Trek, convinced her to take him on a tour of the lot. He had written a script for the show, which the producers liked enough to actually film. It became “The Bonding”, and Moore was soon hired as a staff writer.

He remained at that position until the end of the series. He co-wrote 27 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation including the series finale, “All Good Things…” for which he won the Hugo Award for excellence in science fiction writing along with Brannon Braga. Moore and Braga also co-wrote two films featuring the Next Generation cast, Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. As producer of TNG in 1994, Moore shared an Emmy Award nomination when the series was nominated as Outstanding Drama Series that year.

Check out the Ronald D. Moore credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Ronald D. Moore’s work on Amazon.com

No Book Sales for July 2025

For the first time in nearly a decade there’s no Star Trek book sales from Simon & Shuster. I’ve reached out to a couple people that may know a thing or two, or at least pass me on to someone that does. I’ll be sure to pass on any information that comes my way, officially or not.

Shore Leave 45 is just one week away!

Shore-Leave 45 is just a few days away, running July 11-13, 2025. David Mack, Dayton Ward, and Christopher Bennett have posted their schedules on their sites. I’m going to be heading there myself, this time I’m bringing my wife, who’s going to be acting as my intern and emotional support human.

If you remember last year, I did a series of fun interviews with authors that gave me a solid plan on how to experience the show.  Now that I’m experienced at it, I didn’t need to talk to them about that, but it would have still been nice if I had the presence of mind to set up the interviews again this year.  The combination of me starting a new mentally heavy job as a project manager and the death of the Shore-Leave coordinator meant that I didn’t even have it in my mind.  Luckily my intern was on top of her assignments and has procured hotel, cars, and flights!

Freethought Radio – July 3, 2025

FFRF announces another Ten Commandments lawsuit, this one in Texas. After covering state/church news at the federal, state and local levels, we talk with Joe Gerstein, MD, founder of SMART recovery, a secular program for dealing with alcoholism and other addictions that is based on science and evidence, not faith.

The post Freethought Radio – July 3, 2025 appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Texas’ Ten Commandments School Display Draws Another Suit

Bloomberg Law
By Ryan Autullo

The post Texas’ Ten Commandments School Display Draws Another Suit appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Civil liberties organizations sue Texas over law requiring Ten Commandments display in public schools

Houston Public Media (Houston, TX)
By Andrew Schneider

The post Civil liberties organizations sue Texas over law requiring Ten Commandments display in public schools appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Texas Families Sue to Block Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Every Public-School Classroom

ACLU
By Staff

The post Texas Families Sue to Block Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Every Public-School Classroom appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Lawsuit challenges Texas law requiring 10 Commandments in classrooms

The Hill
By Lexi Lonas Cochran

The post Lawsuit challenges Texas law requiring 10 Commandments in classrooms appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF calls for Wash. school district to keep curriculum secular

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the Quilcene School Board not to adopt a proposed “Bible-based curriculum.” 

A concerned parent reported that the Quilcene School Board is considering adopting a “Bible-based curriculum,” but has not yet voted on or adopted the proposed materials. FFRF’s complainant stated that the board claimed that a bible-based curriculum “will raise the test scores of our students.” 

The complainant explained that their family “does not resonate with Christianity in the form of organized religion” and that if people wished to participate in bible study, they can do so at church, religious schools and in their own homes and private clubs. FFRF learned that the proposal to bring a bible-based curriculum to the district is “causing division amongst community members,” and the complainant believes that “education should unite, not divide” because the school “is the heart” of the community.

FFRF is urging the district to refrain from adopting a religious curriculum for the district’s schools.

“Students are a vulnerable and captive audience,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence writes to the legal counsel for the school district. “The school environment is ripe for coercion, particularly for younger students.”

Public schools may not provide religious instruction, FFRF emphasizes. Here, the board is reportedly seriously considering implementing a curriculum based on the Christian bible. This would unconstitutionally indoctrinate students, coercing them to learn about Christianity and the bible in a religious, devotional manner.

This school-sponsored Christian indoctrination would also needlessly marginalize students and families who do not subscribe to Christianity. A full 38 percent of adult Washingtonians are religiously unaffiliated, and 10 percent belong to a non-Christian faith. At least a third of Generation Z (those born after 1996) has no religion, with a recent survey revealing almost half of Gen Z qualifies as religiously unaffiliated “Nones.” 

In order to respect the rights of all students, as well as adhering to constitutional dictates, FFRF is asserting that the district must not approve an explicitly Christian curriculum.

“Any religious instruction must be left to the family, not our public schools,,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “Shaping the curriculum to include bible study is a blatant abuse of power.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit with more than 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 1,800 members and a chapter in Washington. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.

The post FFRF calls for Wash. school district to keep curriculum secular appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Happy 2025 Birthday to Mel Gilden!

(no image available)

Happy birthday to Mel Gilden!

Mel Gilden has written over forty books for adult and children, and over a hundred original TV scripts. He earned his BA at the California State University and currently lives in California.

Check out the Mel Gilden credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Mel Gilden’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Marc Okrand!

(Image Credit: Lieven L. Litaer)

Happy birthday to Marc Okrand!

Marc Okrand is the inventor of the Klingon language. He initially created the Vulcan dialogue in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He was hired by Paramount Pictures to invent the language and coach the actors on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Okrand’s basis for the Klingon language came from the few samples spoken in Star Trek: The Motion Picture which were made up by James Doohan. He is also famous as the author of The Klingon Dictionary and all its addenda.

On Disc 2 of the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock DVD, Okrand said he was asked to create Klingonese for scenes that had already been shot in English. During post-production, he turned off the sound and observed the actors’ lip movements as they spoke their lines. From these movements, he developed new vocal “sounds” for the actors to dub over their original English. He was asked to do the same for Spock and Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, during their brief discussion about Kirk in the Torpedo Bay. Okrand was also interviewed on 21 August 1991 for the TNG Season 5 DVD special feature “Alien Speak” (“The Klingon Linguist”).

Okrand previously worked with Native American languages, from which he borrowed the unusual Klingon tlh [IPA: /t͡ɬ/] sound (common in North and Central American indigenous languages, in which it is usually transcribed as tl; this is the sound at the end of the word “Nahuatl” as the Aztecs pronounced it themselves).

Recent work includes the Atlantean language which he was hired to do for Disney’s film Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which featured the voice of Leonard Nimoy. He also contributed Klingon and Vulcan dialogue for several episodes of the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise. He was a consultant for the Klingon, Romulan and Vulcan languages on 2009’s Star Trek and served as an uncredited consultant on Star Trek Into Darkness.

Check out the Marc Okrand credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Marc Okrand’s work on Amazon.com

Out Today: “Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 3: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Kelvin Timeline)”

Out today: “Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 3: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Kelvin Timeline)“, by .

When the big screen version of Star Trek was rebooted in 2009, the creators redesigned the Enterprise to look sleeker and sexier than ever. As director JJ Abrams said, this was the “hotrod” version of the ship. This version also appeared in Star Trek: Into Darkness before it was modified for Star Trek Beyond.
This Enterprise was designed by Ryan Church, who is famous for his work on the Star Wars movies.

The model is part of Master Replicas new range of 4 to 5-inch long die-cast models, and is accompanied by a 48-page book, which slides into the base to make a display.

The model is part of Master Replicas new range of 4 to 5-inch long die-cast models, and is accompanied by a 48-page book, which slides into the base to make a display.

Buy on Amazon.com
Buy On Books-A-Million.com

DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of July 3, 2025

Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.

Transportation secretary delivers Christian sermon and insults nonbelievers

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is castigating Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for hijacking the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy commencement to deliver a Christian sermon and denigrate the nonreligious.

Speaking in his official capacity before more than 200 graduates on June 23, Duffy delivered in part a sectarian sermon rather than an inclusive or inspirational speech. He promoted prayer, invoked the Virgin Mary, and offered an unmistakably Christian message, concluding with, “Stay faithful and never underestimate the power of prayer.”

Duffy even went so far as to insult nonbelievers. In offering “a few life lessons I learned along the way,” he stated: “There are two kinds of people in life: those who believe in God and those who think they’re God.” This rhetoric, FFRF notes, is a blatant attempt to cast nonreligious Americans who reject religion for intellectual reasons as arrogant or morally deficient. He declaimed:

There are two kinds of people in life: those who believe in God and those who think they’re God. There’s something beautiful, humbling, and properly ordered about a man and woman who understand that there is a power greater than themselves. That everything is not in their control. And that they are the beloved child of a merciful God who hears their prayers. …

No one knows the unpredictability and storms of nature and life like a sailor. A good sailor knows that in the end, only God can calm the seas and bring them to safety. So stay faithful and never underestimate the power of prayer.

“As a representative of the federal government speaking in your official capacity, you are bound by our secular Constitution to remain neutral on matters of religion.” FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line writes to Duffy. “Instead, you sent an exclusionary message to non-Christian graduates, including the many atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims and others who have chosen to serve their country.”

FFRF reminds Duffy that public officials have a constitutional duty to remain neutral on matters of religion and may not use their positions to promote their personal faith. Citing landmark Supreme Court cases, FFRF writes, “Americans have a constitutional right to be free from government coercion to observe religious practices.”

“This was a moment for unity and shared purpose,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “Instead, Duffy used it to impose his personal religion and imply that nonbelievers aren’t just wrong — they’re dangerous. That kind of thinking has no place in our government.”

FFRF is calling on Duffy to refrain from using official events to promote religion in the future and to remember that he serves all Americans, including the third of the nation that is religiously unaffiliated.

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. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

The post Transportation secretary delivers Christian sermon and insults nonbelievers appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Texas families sue to block law requiring Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom

A group of 16 multifaith and nonreligious Texas families filed suit in federal court today to block a new state law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to display a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The plaintiffs in Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District are represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. In their complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the plaintiffs, who are Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, Hindu or nonreligious, assert that SB 10 violates the First Amendment’s protections for the separation of church and state and the right to free religious exercise.

The plaintiffs also plan to file a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to prevent the defendants from implementing the law pending the resolution of the litigation.

Plaintiff Allison Fitzpatrick (she/her) says: “We are nonreligious and don’t follow the explicitly religious commandments, such as ‘remember the Sabbath.’ Every day that the posters are up in classrooms will signal to my children that they are violating school rules.”

“As a rabbi and public-school parent, I am deeply concerned that SB 10 will impose another faith’s scripture on students for nearly every hour of the school day,” says plaintiff Rabbi Mara Nathan (she/her). “While our Jewish faith treats the Ten Commandments as sacred, the version mandated under this law does not match the text followed by our family, and the school displays will conflict with the religious beliefs and values we seek to instill in our child.”

“Posting the Ten Commandments in public schools is un-American and un-Baptist,” says plaintiff Pastor Griff Martin (he/him). “SB 10 undermines the separation of church and state as a bedrock principle of my family’s Baptist heritage. Baptists have long held that the government has no role in religion — so that our faith may remain free and authentic. My children’s faith should be shaped by family and our religious community, not by a Christian nationalist movement that confuses God with power.”

“SB 10 imposes a specific, rules-based set of norms that is at odds with my Hindu faith,” says plaintiff Arvind Chandrakantan (he/him). “Displaying the Ten Commandments in my children’s classrooms sends the message that certain aspects of Hinduism — like believing in multiple paths to God (pluralism) or venerating murthis (statues) as the living, breathing, physical representations of God — are wrong. Public schools — and the state of Texas — have no place pushing their preferred religious beliefs on my children, let alone denigrating my faith, which is about as un-American and un-Texan as one can be.”

Enacted last month, SB 10 requires the scriptural postings to be a minimum of 16 by 20 inches in size and hung in a “conspicuous place” in each classroom. The commandments must be printed “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the room.” The law also mandates that a specific version of the commandments, associated with Protestant faiths and selected by lawmakers, be used for every display.

“One need only read the First Commandment (‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’) to see how this state-imposed injunction is the antithesis of the First Amendment and its protections of religious liberty,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor (she/her), co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “The state of Texas has no right to dictate to children how many gods to worship, which gods to worship or whether to worship any gods at all.”

“SB 10 is catastrophically unconstitutional,” says Heather L. Weaver (she/her), senior counsel for the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “States may not require children to attend school and then abuse their access to those children by imposing scripture on them everywhere they go.”

“In a state as diverse as Texas, families from both religious and nonreligious backgrounds are coming together to challenge this unconstitutional law. Their message is clear: Our public schools are not Sunday schools,” says Adriana Piñon (she/her), legal director of the ACLU of Texas. “Politicians do not get to dictate how or whether students should practice religion. We’re bringing this lawsuit to ensure that all students, regardless of their faith or nonreligious beliefs, feel accepted and free to be themselves in Texas public schools.”

“Our Constitution’s guarantee of church-state separation means that families — not politicians — get to decide when and how public-school children engage with religion,” says Rachel Laser (she/her), president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “This law is part of the nationwide Christian nationalist scheme to win favor for one set of religious views over all others and over nonreligion — in a country that promises religious freedom. Not on our watch. We’re proud to defend the religious freedom of Texas schoolchildren and their families.”

“The right to be free from government establishment of religion enshrined in the First Amendment is a bedrock principle of our republic,” says Jonathan Youngwood (he/him), global co-chair of Simpson Thacher’s Litigation Department. “This law — in requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom throughout a child’s entire public school education — violates both the ban on establishment of religion as well as the protections the First Amendment gives to free exercise of religion.”

The Supreme Court has long prohibited displays of the Ten Commandments in public schools. Forty-five years ago, in Stone v. Graham, the court struck down a similar Kentucky law. More recently, in Roake v. Brumley, a federal district court reached the same conclusion regarding a similar law in Louisiana. That ruling was unanimously affirmed last month by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And just last week, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court held that a public school “burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses a very real threat of undermining the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill.”

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, including over 1,800 members in Texas, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

The post Texas families sue to block law requiring Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Gov. Cox insults Utahns with a ‘Day of Prayer and Fasting’ for rain

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is once again calling out Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s show of governmental piety in proclaiming a day for Utah citizens to “pray for rain.”

“Utah is facing a tough season, and we need both divine help and practical action,” Cox recently remarked. “I invite every Utahn, whatever your faith or belief system, to join me this Sunday [June 29] in a unified fast and prayer for rain. And while we look heavenward, let’s do our part here at home — fix leaks, water lawns less and use every drop wisely. Small actions, taken together, can make a big difference for our state.”

Mark Twain once quipped: “It is best to read the weather forecast before we pray for rain,” advice Cox failed to heed — since Utah’s coming weekend is predicted to be hot and dry.

In a letter to Cox on behalf of its hundreds of nonreligious Utah members and its Salt Lake City chapter, FFRF, a state/church watchdog, notes that whether to pray, and whether to believe in a god who answers prayer, is an intensely personal decision protected under our First Amendment as a matter of conscience.

“While we are sorry about the continuing drought situation in Utah and the hardships it creates, that is no excuse for disrespecting the First Amendment,” say FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker.

The prayers will not increase the small chance of rain, but Cox’s show of piety scores some cheap political points while giving the illusion of doing something to address the crisis. It improperly inserts religion into state governance, placing the state’s stamp of approval on a religious practice in disregard of the constitutionally mandated separation between state and church.

Instead of calling for “thoughts and prayers,” Cox should focus on combating climate change and water shortages by investing in reason-based science. Belief that the environment and rainfall are controlled by a supernatural deity who listens to our pleas is one of the stumbling blocks that prevent our country from addressing challenges underlying environmental disasters, such as global climate change, FFRF asserts.

Pew’s new Religious Landscape Survey reveals that Utah has a higher than average number of “Nones” at 34 percent. They, too, are Cox’s constituents, and care as much about the future of Utah as religious residents. However, they do not believe in the efficacy of appealing to supernatural forces in response to human-made climate change or any other challenges — and should not be subjected to the government instructing them to believe otherwise.

This is neither the first time Cox has “prayed for rain,” nor is Cox the first governor to turn to wishful thinking when facing a drought. In 2007, Georgia’s then-Gov. Sonny Perdue infamously led a prayer meeting to beseech God for rain. Needless to say, that prayer was ineffective. Still, this embarrassing spectacle did not stop the U.S. Senate from confirming Perdue as President Trump’s secretary of agriculture. Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s three-day “Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas” was followed by a horrific drought.

FFRF notes: “Nothing fails like prayer. Wishful thinking cannot suspend natural law, much less cause precipitation. Utahns do not need prayers, they need real solutions.” Cox should pray on his own time and dime.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with about 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including hundreds of members and a chapter in Utah. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

The post Gov. Cox insults Utahns with a ‘Day of Prayer and Fasting’ for rain appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Karmelo Anthony advocate sues over Ten Commandments displays that teach ‘slavery is acceptable’

The Christian Post
By Ian M. Giatti

The post Karmelo Anthony advocate sues over Ten Commandments displays that teach ‘slavery is acceptable’ appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

ACLU Wins Court Ruling Over Ten Commandments Display

The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC)
By Laura Mitchell

The post ACLU Wins Court Ruling Over Ten Commandments Display appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF applauds decision ending threat of 19th century abortion ban in Wisconsin

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is commending the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision today that a draconian 19th century statute can’t be used to ban abortions.

In a 4-3 decision, the state high court ruled that the pre-Civil War near-total abortion ban is unenforceable. Writing for the liberal majority, Justice Rebecca Dallet explained that the Wisconsin Legislature effectively repealed the 1800s law by passing numerous other abortion-related laws over the past 50 years.

After the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the state’s few clinics halted abortion care out of fear of prosecution under a state statute dating to 1849, adopted long before women won the right to vote. The penalties included years of imprisonment.

“That was a difficult, painful 15 months for women and reproductive rights in the state of Wisconsin that we would never want to return to,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We’re so pleased that reason and justice have prevailed.”

Thankfully, abortion care resumed after a county judge ruled in December 2023 that the pre-Civil War statute actually banned feticide (an assault resulting in death of a fetus) rather than elective abortion. That challenge was brought by Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul, who asserted the law did not ban “consensual abortions” and that even if it did, it had been superseded by modern laws, such as one criminalizing abortion at 20 weeks, enacted in 2015.

Janet Protasiewicz, who supports reproductive rights, won a high-stakes election to the state high court in 2023, replacing a conservative and tilting the court toward support for legal abortion. During oral arguments in November 2024, Justice Jill Karofsky suggested that applying a 175-year-old ban with almost no exceptions to the present day was a sign of a “world gone mad.”

In February 2024, Planned Parenthood filed its own lawsuit contending that the Wisconsin Constitution protects the right to bodily autonomy, including abortion. The state’s Supreme Court has agreed to decide that case, but has yet to hear arguments in it. Likely, the court was waiting to hand down today’s decision before turning to Planned Parenthood’s challenge.

Although this is a great victory for reproductive rights in Wisconsin, Christian nationalists and anti-abortionists have enacted bans in 12 states and severe restrictions in seven others. A number of surveys have found that atheists as a group are by far the most supportive of the right to abortion, which makes sense since organized religion has been abortion’s greatest foe. It will take perseverance and political might to undo these bans, protect bodily autonomy and ensure that the will of the American people (nearly two-thirds believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases) prevails over minority rule based on religious ideology.

FFRF is a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Wisconsin with more than 42,000 members across the country, including over 1,800 members in Wisconsin. 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.

The post FFRF applauds decision ending threat of 19th century abortion ban in Wisconsin appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Happy 2025 Birthday to Rich Handley!

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Happy birthday to Rich Handley!

Rich Handley has written, edited, and contributed to numerous books and magazines for multiple publishers, including DC Comics, IDW, BOOM! Studios, Topps, Dark Horse, Titan Books, Eaglemoss, West End Games, and more. He edited 100 volumes of the Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection; has penned licensed Star Trek, Star Wars, and Planet of the Apes fiction; and currently writes articles for Star Trek Explorer magazine, as well as books for Magnetic Press’s Planet of the Apes Role-Playing Game.

Rich has written about many pop-culture franchises, including the above, as well as Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Watchmen, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Dark Shadows, Red Dwarf, Batman, Godzilla, classic monsters, and more. He has 25 years’ experience as a B2B magazine editor in the tech sector, and he now works with the IEEE as a publications administrator of academic peer-review manuscripts. View Rich’s publications, blog and résumé.

–Used with permission from richhandley.com

Check out the Rich Handley credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Rich Handley’s work on Amazon.com

Out Today: “Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 2: U.S.S. Cerritos NCC-75567”

Out today: “Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 2: U.S.S. Cerritos NCC-75567“, by .

The U.S.S. Cerritos is a California-class starship that is tasked with making second contact, offering engineering support and making supply runs. It’s the star of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and is where Mariner and Boimler served their time as ensigns.
The Cerritos was designed by Eric Nyquist, who worked with Lower Decks’ creator Mike McMahan. The design was finalized by Joseph Martinez and Bobby Walker.

The model is part of Master Replicas new range of 4 to 5-inch long die-cast models, and is accompanied by a 48-page book, which slides into the base to make a display.

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FFRF cheers poll showing most oppose religion in public schools

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is pleased that a new survey shows majorities or pluralities of the public still favor keeping most aspects of religion out of public schools.

Laudably, nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) polled by Associated Press-NORC believe that the separation of church and state is extremely or very important, even if other First Amendment protections rate higher in comparison.

Among the findings showing support for secular schools and policies:

• 60 percent oppose a mandatory period during school for private prayer and religious reading  — which remains the legal status quo.
• 55 percent believe teachers should not be allowed to lead a class in prayer, which also has been deemed unconstitutional in several vaunted high court cases since the 1960s.
• 43 percent — a plurality — oppose allowing religious schools to become tax-funded public charter schools, the subject of a recent Supreme Court decision, in which the tie vote kept in place a state court decision ruling it unconstitutional. Only 23 percent favor such a scheme.
• 45 percent, another plurality, oppose religious exemptions for childhood vaccines otherwise required to attend public schools. Only a quarter of Americans support these religious exemptions.
• 38 percent, yet another plurality, oppose tax-funded vouchers for support of private, largely religious schools. A third overall support vouchers, which state legislatures unfortunately have increasingly adopted across the nation.

The most disturbing showing for support for some religion in schools was response to a question about whether to allow religious chaplains to provide support services in public schools: 58 percent support them. The question, however, did not explicitly indicate that chaplains were providing religious support. (Read more about the dangers of this new legislative campaign in this statement by FFRF Action Fund).

Other findings showing some nuanced support for religion in schools include:

• A  narrow majority, 51 percent, believes public schools should provide parents with a list of books made available to students, a pet project of groups like the misnomered Moms for Liberty, which leads book banning campaigns.
• 57 percent weighed in that there is too much federal government influence on public schools, a MAGA talking point.
• A plurality of 38 percent thinks religion has too little influence on what children are taught in schools, compared to 32 percent who think there’s too much.
• Roughly half of the public, even those with no religious affiliation, thinks major religious groups have the right level of influence on American public schools, a finding that is open to interpretation considering that current precedent forbids religious indoctrination in public schools.

Notably and not surprisingly, those with no religious affiliation show the strongest support for keeping religion out of public schools.

For instance, 59 percent of “Nones” oppose chaplains in schools, the only group in which a majority did so. In question after question, those with no religious affiliation were far more concerned about religion in schools, with 84 percent opposing a teacher leading a class in prayer, 76 percent opposing a mandatory period for private prayer, 52 percent opposing vouchers, 60 percent opposing vaccine exemptions for the religious and 61 percent opposing religious public charter schools. Even so, a plurality of Nones had no opinion about requiring public schools to provide parents with book lists, which may indicate general lack of familiarity with the issue.

“White evangelical Christians, nonwhite Protestants, and Catholics are all more likely than those who are not affiliated with a religion to approve of religious chaplains providing support services, teachers leading prayer in class, and mandatory periods for private prayer and religious reading at public schools,” reports Associated Press.

A plurality of Americans overall, 41 percent, says that religion has too much influence on Donald Trump. Another plurality, 37 percent, says that religion has too much influence on the U.S. Supreme Court. In this set of questions, “Nones” also distinguished themselves, with a majority indicating that that religion has too much influence on both.

Most people polled were not concerned that the religious freedom of atheists or Christians is under threat. Those without a religious affiliation were more likely than white evangelical Christians to be at least somewhat concerned about the religious freedom of atheists (45 percent versus 27 percent).

Although the survey did not ask about Ten Commandments postings in public schools, which is one of the current major attacks on secular education, it can be deduced from the findings above that a majority of Americans seemingly would disapprove. FFRF is party to two lawsuits against Ten Commandments postings in public schools in Louisiana and Arkansas, and is preparing with a coalition to file a challenge against Texas’ new law requiring a Protestant version of the bible edicts to be posted in every classroom.

“This poll shows at least a majority understands the importance of keeping religious ritual and proselytizing out of our public schools,” comments Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “But it also shows that the Freedom From Religion Foundation and other state/church proponents need to step up education about why it’s so important to protect the right to freedom from religion for a captive audience of students, as well as the right of taxpayers not to be forced to support religious indoctrination.”

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. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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Supreme Court Religious Opt-Out Ruling ‘Could Wreak Havoc on Public Schools’

Common Dreams
By Julia Conley

The post Supreme Court Religious Opt-Out Ruling ‘Could Wreak Havoc on Public Schools’ appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Biblical storm brews

The Herald (Scotland)
By Chris Brennan

The post Biblical storm brews appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Superintendent Walters calls SCOTUS ruling a victory despite uncertainty for state’s Bible directive

KOCO News 5 (Oklahoma City, OK)
By Kilee Thomas

The post Superintendent Walters calls SCOTUS ruling a victory despite uncertainty for state’s Bible directive appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The Ten Commandments enter the classrooms: Trump and his allies push for religious education

El País
By Jesús Jank Curbelo

The post The Ten Commandments enter the classrooms: Trump and his allies push for religious education appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Out Today: “Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 1: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701”

Out today: “Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 1: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701“, by .

This version of the U.S.S. Enterprise made its debut at the end of Star Trek: Discovery’s first season before going on to star in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds where it is commanded by Captain Pike.
The ship is a reimagining of Matt Jefferies’ original design combined with elements of the motion picture version of the Enterprise and some subtle nods to the NX-01. It was designed by John Eaves, Scott Schneider and William Budge.

The model is part of Master Replicas new range of 4 to 5-inch long models, and is accompanied by a 48-page book, which slides into the base to make a display.

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DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of July 1, 2025

Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.

Kennedy’s new vaccine advisers mean ‘people are going to die’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary presents a clear and present danger to public health on multiple fronts.

He recently removed all 17 members of the esteemed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in a “clean sweep” and replaced them with handpicked proxies. The first official committee meeting last week shows how Kennedy and his lackeys are threatening preventive health care. Three of the new members oppose using mRNA in vaccines, two have been witnesses in lawsuits against vaccine makers and one served on the board of the nation’s oldest anti-vaccine group, according to the Washington Post.

The new panelists’ first shocking recommendation and discussions have received justifiable censure from the medical science community. Last week, at the formal meeting, all but one of the seven new advisory panelists recommended pulling flu vaccines that contain thimerosal, which Kennedy and the anti-vax movement falsely link to autism. Thimerosal has not been used in most childhood vaccines for over 20 years and remains in only one flu vaccine.

Scientific studies have thoroughly debunked the connection between the preservative and autism, but the accusation has been one of Kennedy’s pet causes. Only one panelist, Dr. Cody Meissner, a pediatrician with Dartmouth’s School of Medicine, dissented, saying, “The risk from influenza is so much greater than the nonexistent risk, as far as we know, from thimerosal.” While the impact of this particular vote will be slight in the United States, it shows that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices as a body is willing to defer to Kennedy’s anti-vax, anti-science ideology.

Also shocking was Kennedy’s invitation to include Lyn Redwood — the former leader of Children’s Health Defense, the very anti-vaccine group Kennedy started — as an expert speaker before the panel. Redwood insisted that thimerosal is toxic. The New York Times reports that scientific evidence of thimerosal’s safety was posted last Tuesday by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists, then removed.

Among other concerning developments at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting was a proposal by panel chair Martin Kulldorf, an epidemiologist who opposed the Covid-19 vaccine mandates, to review the entire childhood immunization schedule at a future meeting. Another panelist, Retself Levi, drew criticism from observers for raising concerns about clesrovimab, a monoclonal antibody (not a vaccine) approved by the FDA earlier this month that protects infants from R.S.V. infection, the leading cause of infant hospitalization. Fortunately, the new antibody was narrowly approved.

Shockingly, after a CDC advisor speaking before the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel documented that 250 U.S. children died during the last flu season, the highest number in a nonpandemic year for some time, panelist Dr. Robert Malone called that “a modest number.”

Also shocking, the panel did not even discuss the fall Covid booster, and it is not on the agenda for its next meeting in October. It is unclear what this means for the rollout of a Covid booster. In late May, Kennedy recklessly announced the CDC is no longer recommending the updated Covid vaccine for healthy children, adults who are not senior citizens and even for pregnant women, despite their serious increased risks. He demanded that booster shots for Covid go through unnecessary, time-consuming placebo-controlled clinical trials before approval, which is expected to delay their release.

The advisory panel is charged with reviewing the childhood vaccination schedule. Critics contend many on the new panel seem unaware of how the Vaccine for Children program runs, which provides free immunizations for about half of all U.S. children. Medicaid and insurance companies are required to cover CDC-recommended vaccines, and states base school mandates on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendations, giving the panel recommendations enormous power.

In response to the firings of the 17 seated committee members earlier this month, the physician overseeing surveillance of viruses resigned last week, warning that “people are going to die” as a result. Dr. Fiona Havers wrote colleagues: “I no longer have confidence that these data will be used objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions.”

The 17 removed committee members wrote in an article published by JAMA: “We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses.”

As FFRF has continually pointed out, Kennedy’s worldview has been worrisome on various fronts. Cases of measles, one of the most contagious diseases in existence, continue to climb in the United States. Bird flu remains a threat at home and abroad. The virtual dissolution of USAID is already killing South Africans who can no longer obtain medicines against HIV/AIDS. PEPFAR, started under Republican President George W. Bush, is credited with saving 26 million lives, and now that its “soft diplomacy” outreach program has ended, 1.6 million could die unnecessarily within a year. Not only AIDS but tuberculosis, polio, Ebola and other mostly contained diseases could break out — also endangering American health in our global society. Last week, Kennedy cruelly announced the United States is pulling its support from Gavi, a vaccine alliance including WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank that is credited with saving 18 million lives. The United States has been one of its major supporters, and Kennedy’s announcement revokes then-President Biden’s pledge of $1 billion through 2030.

It is intolerable that the fate of vaccination policies at this critical time is in the hands of a deluded fraudster who has thrown his support to a Christian nationalist agenda.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation encourages everyone who values medical science over unfounded conspiracy theories to speak up in opposition to Kennedy’s malevolent policies,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president.

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. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

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FFRF urges Tenn. school district not to allow religious indoctrination class

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the Bedford County Schools system in Shelbyville, Tenn., to reject a proposed “bible” class for the upcoming school year.

A concerned district parent informed the state/church watchdog that Community High School proposed adding a “bible” class to its course offerings for the 2025–26 school year. FFRF urged the district to drop the course or if it proceeds to ensure that students are not being indoctrinated because the curriculum that treats bible stories as historical fact or a source of moral instruction.

“Were it to adopt a bible curriculum, the district would display apparent favoritism for religion over nonreligion and Christianity above all other faiths,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg wrote to Bedford County Schools Superintendent Tammy Garrett. “This not only violates students’ First Amendment rights, but it needlessly excludes and marginalizes those students who are a part of the 49 percent of Generation Z who are religiously unaffiliated.”

A fundamental principle of jurisprudence around the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause  is that public schools may not advance, prefer or promote religion, FFRF emphasizes. Public schools may not provide religious instruction, and if the district disregards any impermissible religious curriculum, it becomes complicit in a constitutional violation and breach of trust. 

FFRF settled a lawsuit a few years ago against a West Virginia school district after it allowed “Bible in the Schools” classes for elementary students. As part of the settlement, the district assumed responsibility for $225,000 in costs and attorney fees. Bedrock County Schools can avoid the risk of a similar fate by rejecting the proposed class.

FFRF is urging the district not to approve this bible class to respect the religious rights of high school students.

“We’re calling on the district to adhere to our secular Constitution and keep religious indoctrination out of public education,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Bedford County Schools must take action to protect its students from religious coercion.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 500 members and a chapter in Tennessee, FFRF East Tennessee. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.

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Happy 2025 Birthday to Jeri Taylor!

(no image available)

Happy birthday to Jeri Taylor!

Jeri Cecile Taylor is a television writer and producer best known for her contributions to the Star Trek franchise. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Indiana University in 1959 , and her Master’s degree in English from California State University at Northridge. She is the mother of two time Star Trek: The Next Generation guest star and recurring Star Trek: Voyager actor Alexander Enberg.

Prior to joining Star Trek, Taylor was a producer, story editor, and occasional director on the hit medical series Quincy, M.E., on which Trek guest performers Robert Ito and Garry Walberg were regular cast members. She went on to serve as producer and writer for such series as Magnum, P.I., In the Heat of the Night, and Jake and the Fatman. She also directed episodes of the latter series. In addition, she co-wrote the 1987 CBS TV movie A Place to Call Home, for which she also served as supervising producer. She was also a producer of the short-lived TV adaptation of the film Blue Thunder, whose guest stars included Tracy Scoggins, Sam Anderson, Ray Wise, John Hancock, Robert DoQui and Kurtwood Smith.

She joined the staff of Star Trek: The Next Generation as supervising producer in 1990 and held that position through the show’s fifth season. She then served as co-executive producer for the show’s sixth season, and was then promoted to executive producer for its final season, and served as showrunner for the final year, as Michael Piller was primarily occupied with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at the time. She also co-wrote three episodes of Deep Space Nine during the latter period. Additionally, she assisted in the production of the Trek films Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, receiving special thanks notices in each of the film’s end credits for her contributions. Working in the business since 1976, Taylor was asked to join the staff after rewriting the episode “Suddenly Human”. (“Chronicles from the Final Frontier”, TNG Season 4 DVD special feature)

Check out the Jeri Taylor credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Jeri Taylor’s work on Amazon.com

Out Now: “Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek”

Out now: “Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek“, by Aaron M. Peterson and Bradley O. Browne and Bradley Stewart Chilton and Claude Berube and David Smith and Derek Tyler Attico and Drew Nichols and Emily Strand and James Beggan and James LeDuc and Jason A. Kaufman and Jason von Stietz and Jim Johnson and Kelli Fitzpatrick and Michael Dismuke and Michael Wong and Scott Allison and Scott Maravilla and Sebastian Stoppe and Ulster Laurie.

‘Star Trek’ provides an opportunity to explore the final frontier of leadership through its nearly six decades of series and films. With its basis in Enlightenment thinking (reason coupled to compassion) and its encouragement of diversity in its myriad forms, ‘Star Trek’ offers guidance on how to improve the human condition that has application in leadership across academic and professional fields. Leaders are constantly called upon to solve problems, direct institutional growth, and, on occasion, even solve humanitarian crises. Leadership development need not be complicated or overly staid. It should be engaging. ‘Star Trek’ provides us a venue through which to make it so. The proposed edited book will explore the application of Star Trek to the practice of leadership across a diverse array of professional and academic fields. ‘Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek…

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Out Today: “Inspired Enterprise”

Out today: “Inspired Enterprise“, by Glen E. Swanson.

Are you a fan of Star Trek? Do you want to know more about how the show was originally created and developed? Then you won’t want to miss this exciting new book, Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian and Others Helped Launch Star Trek. I’m a former Chief Historian for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and I used experience gained from conducting research and writing history for NASA to author a book that truly offers a fresh perspective on the creation of this iconic show.

In Inspired Enterprise, you’ll discover how a small but highly influential group of people worked behind the scenes to convey a high level of credibility, respect, and authenticity that helped convince network executives to fund production of Star Trek for three full seasons. This was important because having three full seasons helped qualify the series for syndication. Once syndicated, Star Trek achieved immortality, creating legions of new fans who brought about its growth and popularity.

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Faith leaders and families sue to block Texas’ new Ten Commandments in schools law

Washington Post
By Jim Vertuno

The post Faith leaders and families sue to block Texas’ new Ten Commandments in schools law appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF expresses solidarity with Wis. library’s Pride display against religious attacks

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the Waupun Public Library Board to resist religious pushback against its Pride Month display honoring the LGBTQ-plus community.

In a letter sent today, FFRF expresses strong support for the library’s decision to highlight Pride Month and is calling on the board to uphold a neutral and inclusive display policy that serves the entire community.

The letter was prompted by reports that a local pastor, Forsell Gappa, had launched a crusade against the Waupun Public Library’s decision to create a Pride display for Pride Month celebrating the LGBTQ-plus community. Gappa and others recently attended a library board meeting to protest the display, using inflammatory religious language to disparage LGBTQ-plus people for committing “sin.” Gappa claimed that “each letter in the LGBTQ acronym represents wrongdoing” while another attendee labeled the library a “grooming factory.”

FFRF strongly condemns these remarks and warns against allowing religious pressure to dictate public policy.

FFRF’s legal counsel Chris Line notes, “Calls to remove Pride materials are a form of viewpoint discrimination, often grounded in religious ideology. That’s not just unconstitutional — it’s also deeply harmful to LGBTQ-plus youth and families.”

FFRF has increasingly been forced to speak out as public libraries across the country face religiously driven campaigns to suppress information and silence marginalized voices. This is part of a larger movement to impose religious dogma in public spaces — and libraries are on the front lines.

In a statement last year marking Banned Books Week, FFRF warned that censorship is back with a vengeance, driven largely by religious and political ideologies targeting LGBTQ-plus themes and authors.

FFRF sees the Waupun controversy as yet another manifestation of this growing threat to free thought and secular governance.

“Public institutions like libraries must serve everyone and remain free from religious bias,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The library’s mission is to foster access to ideas and information — not to impose religious dogma or give in to those who wish to marginalize vulnerable communities.”

FFRF is urging the board to reject demands for censorship and to reaffirm its commitment to serving the full diversity of the Waupun community.

“There’s no true freedom of thought, conscience, or even religion,” the letter concludes, “unless our public institutions — schools, libraries, and local governments — are free from religious control over ideas.”

FFRF is a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Wisconsin with more than 42,000 members across the country, including over 1,800 members in Wisconsin. 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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Supreme Court hands religious parents an opt-out to LGBTQ+ inclusive curricula

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is appalled at the U.S. Supreme Court decision today in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which opens the door for parents to opt out of inclusive public school curricula on religious grounds.

“This is a deeply troubling outcome for public education, equality and the constitutional principle of the separation between state and church,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

The case involves a group of religious parents who objected to LGBTQ-plus characters in storybooks that were approved for use in a Maryland school district. The parents claimed that their religious beliefs require the school to exempt their children from being exposed to the inclusive stories, demanding the right to withdraw children from classes on days when stories with LGBTQ-plus themes are discussed. The lower courts rightly declined to issue a preliminary injunction that would require schools to notify the parents when the storybooks would be used and provide them a chance to opt out of instruction. The lower court noted the “threadbare” evidentiary record and affirmed that public schools are not required to tailor their curricula to individual religious preferences.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s extremist majority has now reversed that sensible approach and sided with the parents.

The court held in a 6–3 decision that LGBTQ-plus inclusive materials amounted to inculcation against faith and that not providing an opt-out to the plaintiffs violates their Free Exercise rights. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court, described the books as “clearly designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.” Alito found that these books created a substantial burden on the religious exercise of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian petitioners. Justice Clarence Thomas, in concurrence, wrote that almost all LGBTQ-plus books integrated into broader education would be considered hostile toward religion and create “ideological conformity.”

While the majority opinion paves a regressive path, the impassioned dissent in the judgment reaffirms that public schools exist to prepare students for life in a diverse and pluralistic society and not to shield them from it.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored the dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The dissent reiterated that public schools are the “symbol of our democracy.” Sotomayor wrote, “They offer to children of all faiths and backgrounds an education and an opportunity to practice living in our multicultural society. That experience is critical to our nation’s civic vitality.” She warned, “Yet it will become a mere memory if children must be insulated from exposure to ideas and concepts that may conflict with their parents’ religious beliefs.”

The dissent correctly points out that the majority opinion “constitutionalizes a parental veto power over curricular choices long left to the democratic process and local administrators.” Sotomayor concludes, “The reverberations of the court’s error will be felt, I fear, for generations. Unable to condone that grave misjudgment, I dissent.”

FFRF had filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the Supreme Court to support the Montgomery County School Board. The brief emphasized that the parents had not cited a single precedent in which a neutral curriculum policy was invalidated based solely on claims of hostility to religion. Courts have consistently ruled that parents do not have a Free Exercise or Due Process right to insulate their children from ideas they find objectionable in public education.

“As our brief detailed, for nearly a century, parents claiming that mere exposure to history, science or life skills that conflict with their religion have uniformly lost on that point,” adds FFRF Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi, who helped author FFRF’s amicus brief. “But every day is a new day to favor religion over decades of well-settled legal precedent.”

“This ruling threatens to give any religious parent veto power over public school curricula,” warns Gaylor. “If this dangerous logic is carried forward, it could unravel decades of progress toward inclusive education and equal rights. It has grave ramifications for the teaching of evolution, for example. Public schools must be grounded in facts and reality and not subject to religious censors.”

This decision undermines the First Amendment, emboldens religious interference in public education, and sets a harmful precedent for the future. FFRF will continue to fight to protect secular, inclusive and evidence-based education for all students — free from religious coercion and censorship.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the largest national association of freethinkers, representing atheists, agnostics, and others who form their opinions about religion based on reason rather than faith, tradition, or authority. Founded in Wisconsin in 1978 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, FFRF has more than 42,000 members, including members in every state and the District of Columbia. FFRF’s primary purposes are to educate about nontheism and to preserve the cherished constitutional principle of separation between religion and government.

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FFRF blasts high court birthright ruling

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is adding its voice to the widespread condemnation of Friday’s Supreme Court ruling in which the high court essentially barred lower courts from issuing nationwide injunctions to protect constitutional birthright citizenship.

The 6–3 decision means the high court has diminished the impact of the federal judiciary’s checks on executive power, requiring every victim of a blatantly unconstitutional executive order to litigate to vindicate their constitutional rights.

President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order revoking citizenship to most children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants will take effect in 30 days in some 28 states where the order hasn’t been challenged.

“The court’s decision to permit the executive to violate the Constitution with respect to anyone who has not yet sued is an existential threat to the rule of law,” warns Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her passionate separate dissent.

“Today,” her dissent continued, “six justices on the Supreme Court eliminated one of the most effective checks on Donald Trump, clearing a path for him to impose his extreme, anti-democratic agenda on any American who can’t afford a lawyer or doesn’t join the game of litigation whac-a-mole now required to protect their basic rights. This ruling should send a chill down every American’s spine.”

Comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor: “The ominous ruling has broad ramifications for FFRF’s legal work, as well as for general enforcement of the Constitution and the rule of law.”

“The extremist court majority, knowing its ruling will mean chaos and deportation for many citizens, shows that it cares more about rubber-stamping dictatorial powers assumed by Trump, than in upholding the Constitution,” Gaylor adds. “This action imperils our democracy, and it imperils FFRF’s work because our mission can only be achieved in a democracy that adheres to our Constitution.”

To be sure, nationwide injunctions can be problematic, and encourage judge-shopping, such as the case involving U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s universal injunction against the medication abortion pill mifepristone, which was overturned. Even Justice Elena Kagan, who joined the dissenters in today’s ruling, has previously questioned the idea that “one district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for the years that it takes to go through the normal process.”

However, the extreme, emergency nature of what’s at stake and the number of individuals affected nationwide makes a strong case for universal injunctions in this instance. As Jackson writes, “It is important to recognize that the executive’s bid to vanquish so-called ‘universal injunctions’ is, at bottom, a request for this court’s permission to engage in unlawful behavior.”

Jackson adds: “When the government says, ‘Do not allow the lower courts to enjoin executive action universally as a remedy for unconstitutional conduct,’ what it is actually saying is that the executive wants to continue doing something that a court has determined violates the Constitution.”

The language of the 14th Amendment could not be more clear: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

The Supreme Court decision today saying a federal judge cannot order the president to adhere to the Constitution amalgamates more power to itself by disempowering lower courts, but also grants the office of the president nearly unfettered powers. The decision will create acute misery and inequity across the land, clogging our courts and victimizing those without the means to sue, while eroding America’s precious constitutional principle of “equal rights under law.”

“With the stroke of a pen,” as Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes in her dissent joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, “the president has made a ‘solemn mockery’ of our 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.

The post FFRF blasts high court birthright ruling appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of June 26, 2025

Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.

DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of June 24, 2025

Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.

Last Chance: Star Trek Book Deals For June 2025

Here’s your final opportunity to grab this month’s ebook deals with 15 books on sale for $0.99 – $1.99 each:

Quotable Star Trek
Star Trek: 58 Faces of Fire
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: 12 The Laertian Gamble
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: 25 Rebels: Book 2 The Courageous
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Day Of Honor 2: Armageddon Sky
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Far Beyond the Stars
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers 35: The Demon Book 1
Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers 43: Paradise Interrupted
Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers 59: Blackout
Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers 7: Invincible Book One
Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers: Troubleshooting
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows Book 3: The Insolence of Office
Star Trek: Voyager: Captain Proton: Defender of the Earth
The Art of Star Trek

DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of June 19, 2025

Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.

Out Today: “Star Trek: Omega #1”

Out today: “Star Trek: Omega #1“, by Christopher Cantwell and Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing.

Two and a half years of comics spanning 60 years of Star Trek history, a fair few awards, and more than a few universe detonations, and it’s all been coming to this! Star Trek: Omega is the denouement of the critically acclaimed Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant storylines, and the first glimpse at what comes after. The crews of the Theseus, Defiant, and Enterprise set to work restoring the universe to what it should be after the evil android Lore’s intervention. Each hero finds their peace in preordained or unexpected ways, with individual scenes depicted by one of Star Trek’s or Defiant’s mainline artists! This finale pays tribute to all those involved in the series Screen Rant calls “the gold standard for ambitious comic book storytelling.”

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Captain Kirk Is Back from the Dead in New Star Trek Comic ‘The Last Starship’ (Exclusive)

Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, who earned an Eisner nomination for writing a previous Trek comic, are behind the new title from IDW.

Hollywood Reporter has embarrassingly put this in their “Tv’ section and not their “Star Trek Books” section.

DTI Treklit Investigation for the week of June 17, 2025

Here’s a look at the books printed this week in the past.

Out Today: “Star Trek: Red Shirts #1”

Out today: “Star Trek: Red Shirts #1“, by Christopher Cantwell.

The start of an all-new heartrending Star Trek five-issue miniseries by writer Christopher Cantwell (Star Trek: Defiant) and artist Megan Levens (Star Trek), featuring Starfleet’s most intrepid and doomed crewmembers: red shirts. Now, finally, they get their own story.Led by an experienced officer embedded on the snow-ridden planet Arkonia 89, the crew of the U.S.S. Warren has a small window in which to pin down spies seeking to steal classified secrets and keep Starfleet data out of their nefarious hands.

They face threats not only from their faceless enemies but from the brutalizing elements and wildlife of a planet far from home. The red shirts’ lives and Starfleet’s sanctity are on the line…and no one is safe.

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Preview of “Star Trek: Omega #1”

Here’s a preview of Star Trek: Omega #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing which is due to be released this Wednesday on June 18, 2025 at your local comic shop and digital retailers:

Two and a half years of comics spanning 60 years of Star Trek history, a fair few awards, and more than a few universe detonations, and it’s all been coming to this! Star Trek: Omega is the denouement of the critically acclaimed Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant storylines, and the first glimpse at what comes after. The crews of the Theseus, Defiant, and Enterprise set to work restoring the universe to what it should be after the evil android Lore’s intervention. Each hero finds their peace in preordained or unexpected ways, with individual scenes depicted by one of Star Trek’s or Defiant’s mainline artists! This finale pays tribute to all those involved in the series Screen Rant calls “the gold standard for ambitious comic book storytelling.”

Happy 2025 Birthday to Sondra Marshak!

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Happy birthday to Sondra Marshak!

Sondra Marshak is the author and editor of several early Star Trek novels, and also one of the biographers of William Shatner. She often collaborates with Myrna Culbreath.

Check out the Sondra Marshak credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Sondra Marshak’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Paul Kupperberg!

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Happy birthday to Paul Kupperberg!

Paul Kupperberg is a former editor for DC Comics, and a prolific writer of comic books and newspaper strips. While with DC, he wrote in excess of 600 individual issues in a wide variety of titles, including two in the first Star Trek line, #18: “Rest and Recreation!” and #30: “Uhura’s Story”. Other titles he wrote for include Action Comics, Aquaman, Batman, Captain America, The Flash, and Wonder Woman.

In July 2004, he revisited the Star Trek universe with the eBook Sargasso Sector which was published as #42 in the Pocket SCE series.

Check out the Paul Kupperberg credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Paul Kupperberg’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Ben Robinson!

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Happy birthday to Ben Robinson!

Ben Robinson is the English writer and editor of several Star Trek-related reference works and projects.

Robinson is the grandson of Bernard Robinson, most notably known as the production designer of most Hammer films made from 1957 until 1968. A 1991 University of York graduate holding a Masters degree in English and Related Literature, Robinson was an Original Series fan from an early age.

In 1996, Robinson’s first two years of working for GE Fabbri saw him serve as one of the initiators, editors, and writers of the comprehensive Star Trek Fact Files partwork magazine. He worked alongside Marcus Riley, Penny L. Juday, Larry Nemecek, Guy Vardaman, Tim Gaskill, and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens on this project.

Following the tremendous success of the Fact Files which sold over 50 million units, he was reassigned to edit its US counterpart called Star Trek: The Magazine in 1998. A noted contribution that he made for the latter publication was the extensive interview he conducted with legendary Original Series Art Director Matt Jefferies which was published over five issues during the 2000-2002 run of the magazine. Later, Robinson followed this up with an interview featuring Andrew Probert, one of Jefferies’ successors. Over this period, he conducted interviews with many of the actors, designers, directors, writers, and effects artists involved with the franchise. Nicholas Meyer, Leonard Nimoy, and Robert Wise were among his favorite interviewees. Along the way, Robinson also compiled a massive archive of Trek materials outside of Paramount’s vaults.

Check out the Ben Robinson credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Ben Robinson’s work on Amazon.com

Happy 2025 Birthday to Kevin Dilmore!

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Happy birthday to Kevin Dilmore!

Kevin Dilmore is a Kansas-based writer of many Star Trek novels and short stories, specifically in the Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. He often collaborates with Dayton Ward.

In 1997, he began writing for the Star Trek: Communicator. Before working there, he was a newspaper reporter and editor for almost fifteen years on a community newspaper in Kansas.

Check out the Kevin Dilmore credit page to view more updates and a full list of credits!

Find Kevin Dilmore’s work on Amazon.com

“Star Trek: Discovery: The Way To The Stars” Review by Akotsko.substack.com

Akotsko.substack.com has added a new review for Una McCormack‘s “Star Trek: Discovery: The Way To The Stars”:

My main travel reading for our trip to Mexico City was the tail end of the A Time To… series. On the flight home, though, I finished more quickly than anticipated and was thrown back on the resources of the random assortment of Star Trek novels that my Kindle had seen fit to download. I let My Esteemed Partner make the selection, and she chose Una McCormack’s Discovery: The Way to the Stars, which might be more accurately entitled The Tilly Novel. I found it to be an unexpected pleasure.

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DTI Comic Book Investigation for the week of June 12, 2025

Here are all the comics printed this week in years past.

Out Today: “It Rhymes With Takei”

Out today: “It Rhymes With Takei“, by George Takei.

Following the award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, George Takei’s new full-color graphic memoir reveals his most personal story of all—told in full for the first time anywhere!

George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing—one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared… and it rhymes with Takei.

Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger, now joined by the award-winning colorist José Villarrubia, for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the paralyzing fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes With Takei presents a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.

Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes With Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly—and legally—before the whole world.

Looking back on his own astonishing life on both sides of the closet, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid witness to how far America has come… and how precious that progress is. — a 328-page, full-color, HARDCOVER graphic novel with 3″ French flaps, 6.5″ x 9″

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New Star Trek Book: “Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek”

Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek by Aaron M. Peterson and Bradley O. Browne and Bradley Stewart Chilton and Claude Berube and David Smith and Derek Tyler Attico and Drew Nichols and Emily Strand and James Beggan and James LeDuc and Jason A. Kaufman and Jason von Stietz and Jim Johnson and Kelli Fitzpatrick and Michael Dismuke and Michael Wong and Scott Allison and Scott Maravilla and Sebastian Stoppe and Ulster Laurie has been added to the Star Trek Book Club!

‘Star Trek’ provides an opportunity to explore the final frontier of leadership through its nearly six decades of series and films. With its basis in Enlightenment thinking (reason coupled to compassion) and its encouragement of diversity in its myriad forms, ‘Star Trek’ offers guidance on how to improve the human condition that has application in leadership across academic and professional fields. Leaders are constantly called upon to solve problems, direct institutional growth, and, on occasion, even solve humanitarian crises. Leadership development need not be complicated or overly staid. It should be engaging. ‘Star Trek’ provides us a venue through which to make it so. The proposed edited book will explore the application of Star Trek to the practice of leadership across a diverse array of professional and academic fields. ‘Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek…

The book is currently scheduled to be published on January 1, 1970

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Out Today: “Star Trek: Lower Decks #8”

Out today: “Star Trek: Lower Decks #8“, by Tim Sheridan.

In a moment of mother-daughter bonding, Captain Freeman continues the story of how she was once a nobody screw-up just like Mariner! Where she last left off, Dr. Katherine Pulaski had taken the helm of the U.S.S. Illinois in its clash with a Romulan warbird-but, as feared, Pulaski’s brilliant track record of crashing spacecraft isn’t doing her any favors in the encounter. Freeman and Durango are called upon to save the day. If the crew is to survive, the two ensigns need to rise to the challenge of command… and fast!

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Star Trek Books Coming In The Next 30 Days, as of June 10th, 2025

Non-Fiction

Inspired Enterprise
By: Glen E. Swanson
June 28, 2025Are you a fan of Star Trek? Do you want to know more about how the show was originally created and developed? Then you won’t want to miss this exciting new book, Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian and Others Helped Launch Star Trek. I’m a former Chief Historian for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and […]

Star Trek: The Starship Library: Volume 1: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701

July 1, 2025

This version of the U.S.S. Enterprise made its debut at the end of Star Trek: Discovery’s first season before going on to star in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds where it is commanded by Captain Pike. The ship is a reimagining of Matt Jefferies’ original design combined with elements of the motion picture version of […]

The Art of Star Trek: Lower Decks
By: Megan Treviño
July 8, 2025Get a behind-the-scenes look at the art of this fan-favorite series! Climb aboard the U.S.S. Cerritos with its crew in this special look at the art of the critically acclaimed animated series. With special sections focusing on characters, ships, backgrounds, and scenery, you’ll know the lower decks better than the crew! Also included will be […]

Comics

Star Trek: Red Shirts #1
By: Christopher Cantwell
June 16, 2025The start of an all-new heartrending Star Trek five-issue miniseries by writer Christopher Cantwell (Star Trek: Defiant) and artist Megan Levens (Star Trek), featuring Starfleet’s most intrepid and doomed crewmembers: red shirts. Now, finally, they get their own story.Led by an experienced officer embedded on the snow-ridden planet Arkonia 89, the crew of the U.S.S. […]

Star Trek: Omega #1
By: Christopher Cantwell, Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
June 18, 2025Two and a half years of comics spanning 60 years of Star Trek history, a fair few awards, and more than a few universe detonations, and it’s all been coming to this! Star Trek: Omega is the denouement of the critically acclaimed Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant storylines, and the first glimpse at what […]

Star Trek: Lower Decks #9
By: Tim Sheridan
July 9, 2025On a mission to collect gormangander excrement, the U.S.S. Cerritos is attacked by a Ferengi warship! The Ferengi are hot on the tail of a debt dodger who owes them a fortune-D’Vana Tendi. But as a member of Starfleet, Tendi has no way to earn the money to pay them back, and if she tells […]

James Swallow on ‘Toward the Night’ – Strange New Worlds Gets Mysterious | Clonestar Podcast

My Epic Trek Comic Book Read #42

Gold Key issue 46 (August 1977), “Mr. Oracle,” by Arnold Drake, art by Alden McWilliams, has to be seen to be believed. Because if you thought “Spock’s Brain” had a, shall we say, questionable premise, “Mr. Oracle” is here to say “Hold my Romulan ale.” Before we dig into that, I should note that, yes,…

A Captain’s Log SE05Ep10 David Mack -Author, Scriptwriter, & Consultant for Star Trek’s Finest