The '''Freedom From Religion Foundation''' [[File:Annie Laurie Gaylor.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|Annie Laurie Gaylor is an [[American]] [[atheist]]/[[humanist]] organization in Madison, [[Wisconsin]]feminist. Its purpose She is to promote "freethought," meaning a focus on [[science]] and [[logic]] rather than [[dogma]] and tradition. However, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation downplays the achievements of [[religion]] in order to push this point.
Gaylor’s husband, [[Dan Barker]], who heads the organization along with her, is usually the person invited to speaking engagements, despite her longer tenure as the organization’s leader and her many books on atheism.<ref>Bekiempis, Victoria (Summer 2011). [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/26/new-atheism-boys-club "Why the New Atheism is a boys' club"]. Bitch Magazine, no. 51. Retrieved from September 26, 2011 edition of The Guardian/CommentaryIsFree.</ref>]]The '''Freedom From Religion Foundation''' is an [[American]] [[atheist]]/[[humanist]] organization in Madison, [[Wisconsin]]. Its purposes are to [[censor]] or prevent:<ref>http://ffrf.org/purposes/</ref> *"Prayers in public schools" *"payment of public funds for religious purposes" *"government funding of pervasively sectarian institutions" *"the ongoing campaign against civil rights for women, gays and lesbians led by churches" It describes its agenda has promoting "freethought", when in practice it amounts to [[censorship]] of religious truths. The Foundation publishes a [[newspaper]] called ''Freethought Today'', broadcasts Freethought Radio (also carried on [[Air America]]), engages in litigation (it has lost nearly double the number of cases it has won) and sponsors and hosts other activities to educate the public about atheism, humanism, and "freethought." The Foundation often demands that taxpayers pay its own legal fees in its lawsuits against governmental entities. == Leadership == The [[atheism|atheist]] [[Dan Barker]] and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor serve as co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. === Gaynor's complaint about speaking engagement invitations === Writing on the [[sexism]] within the atheist community, atheist Victoria Bekiempis wrote in a ''Guardian'' article entitled ''Why the [[New Atheism]] is a boys' club'': {{cquote|Annie Laurie Gaylor, who founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation with her mother, Anne Nicol Gaylor, in 1978, sums it up succinctly: “One word — sexism.” Gaylor’s husband, Dan Barker, who helms the organization along with her, is usually the one invited to speaking engagements, despite her longer tenure as the organization’s leader and her numerous books on atheism.<ref>Bekiempis, Victoria (Summer 2011). [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/26/new-atheism-boys-club "Why the New Atheism is a boys' club"]. Bitch Magazine, no. 51. Retrieved from September 26, 2011 edition of The Guardian/CommentaryIsFree.</ref>}} == Failure to meet the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance standards == See also: [[Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance review of the Freedom From Religion Foundation]] and [[Atheist nonprofit scandals]] and [[Atheism and leadership]] According to the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance's website, the Freedom From Religion Foundation fails to meet the Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance's standards as of May 4, 2018.<ref>[http://www.give.org/charity-reviews/national/law-and-public-interest/freedom-from-religion-foundation-in-madison-wi-18414 CHARITY REVIEWIssued: June 2016 Expires: September 2018 Freedom from Religion Foundation]</ref> The Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance's website indicated on May 4, 2018:{{Cquote|Freedom from Religion Foundation does not meet the following 2 Standards for Charity Accountability: Standard 1 (Oversight of Operations and Staff)Organizations shall have a board of directors that provides adequate oversight of the charity's operations and its staff. Indication of adequate oversight includes, but is not limited to, regularly scheduled appraisals of the CEO's performance, evidence of disbursement controls such as board approval of the budget, fund raising practices, establishment of a conflict of interest policy, and establishment of accounting procedures sufficient to safeguard charity finances. FFRF does not meet this Standard because its board of directors does not: Review the performance of the chief executive officer at least once every two years. Standard 7 (Board Approval of Written Report on Effectiveness)Submit to the organization's governing body, for its approval, a written report that outlines the results of the aforementioned performance and effectiveness assessment and recommendations for future actions. FFRF does not meet this Standard because: Although it has produced a written effectiveness assessment report in October 2015, the report did not include recommendations for future actions.<ref>[http://www.give.org/charity-reviews/national/law-and-public-interest/freedom-from-religion-foundation-in-madison-wi-18414 CHARITY REVIEWIssued: June 2016 Expires: September 2018 Freedom from Religion Foundation]</ref>}}
==The name of the Foundation==
The Constitution guarantees us rights to free exercise, such as free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms. The name of the Foundation, "Freedom ''From'' Religion Foundation," does not reflect a Constitutional right. For example, no one has freedom ''from'' speech; likewise, the idea of freedom ''from'' religion is fallacious.
== Freedom From Religion Foundation and the War on Christmas ==
[[File:Atheist Dan Barker.jpg|thumbnail|left|175px|Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, says his group is opposed to the nativity scenes and other Christian symbols that appear on public spaces during the holiday season.<ref>[https://thehornnews.com/you-wont-believe-this-atheist-attack-on-christmas/ You won’t believe this atheist attack on Christmas], The Horn News]</ref> ]]
The [[War on Christmas]] refers specifically to the controversy surrounding the celebration or acknowledgment of the [[Christmas]] [[holiday]] in government, media, advertising and other [[atheist|secular]] environments.
''The Telegraph'' reported about the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the War on Christmas:
{{cquote|Across the United States, many of the FFRF’s 23,000 members have mobilised to ban Jesus from classroom plays, silence school choirs and take down nativity scenes.
At this time of year, Mr Barker said, his office is transformed into a war room: "It really ramps up. Our legal staff get ready, writing template letters for each state and district, ready to deploy them at any moment."<ref>[American atheists go to war against Christmas], The Tegraph</ref>}}
The ''Horn News'' reported:
{{cquote|For the seventh year in a row, the anti-religion activists at the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) have erected an outrageous sign outside the Illinois state house denouncing Christmas and Christianity.
[[Dan Barker]], FFRF co-president, said his group is opposed to the nativity scenes and other Christian symbols that appear on public spaces during the holiday season. So the atheist organization wants equal space to spread its anti-religion rhetoric during the Christmas season.
The Illinois state house grounds now feature an offensive red and green sign that reads, “At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”
And the FFRF is not stopping at Illinois.
FFRF has announced plans to erect similar signs at the Texas and Florida state houses.
This isn’t the only attack to remove Christmas from the public view, either. Already this month the anti-religion organization put up a “Reasons Greetings” (an attack on the term Season’s Greetings) display at the Warren, Michigan city hall.
The organization also recently announced a lawsuit that has banned the Concord Community Schools in Indiana from performing their traditional live nativity scene at the school’s 2015 Christmas Spectacular holiday concert.<ref>[https://thehornnews.com/you-wont-believe-this-atheist-attack-on-christmas/ You won’t believe this atheist attack on Christmas], The Horn News]</ref>}}
==Misleading information on website==
"Our Constitution was very purposefully written to be a godless document, whose only references to religion are exclusionary."
*America was built upon the [[Mayflower Compact]] which began with the words "In the name of God, Amen," and the [[Declaration of Independence]], which acknowledges [[God]] as the source of rights and freedom. The Constitution is not "godless" but secular, and its only major reference to relgion religion is to say that the state shall not ''interfere'' with relgious religious practice. The only other reference to religion is one that states that the President shall not be held to a religious test. This means freedom ''of'' religion.
"It [The Constitution] is vital to buttress the Jeffersonian "wall of separation between church and state" which has served our nation so well."
*The "Jeffersonian 'wall of separation between church and state'" is not in the US Constitution at all! In fact, it was written in a letter by Jefferson ''over ten years after the First Amendment was ratified'', and furthermore, Jefferson was the least religious of all the early Presidents. Jefferson himself played no role in the formation of the Constitution. A better guiding principle is that expressed in George Washington's Farewell Address: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."
==Wisconsin and Washington State Capitol signs==
[[Image:SigninCapitol.png|right|thumb|200px]]
In the mid-1990s, the Foundation began displaying a sign at the Wisconsin State Capitol during the Christmas season. It reads:
In response to the display of a nativity scene at the Washington State Capitol, the Foundation placed an identical sign there as well.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,461424,00.html</ref>
==Billboard and bus sign campaigns==
In many cities across the nation, the FFRF has sponsored the display of "thought-provoking,"<ref>http://www.ffrf.org/news/2009/sleep_madison.php</ref> anti-Christian billboards. Some of the slogans on these billboards include:
*"Beware of Dogma"<ref>http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/jan/10/atheist-organization-lands-billboard-nlr-20090110/</ref>
*"Imagine No Religion"<ref>http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/123199170457020.xml&coll=7</ref>
*"Praise Darwin. Evolve Beyond Belief."<ref>http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/435401</ref>
*"Don't believe in God? You are not alone."<ref>http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A63903</ref>
*"Sleep in on Sundays."
In late 2008, the FFRF began sponsoring the display of anti-Christian signs on and in Madison, Wisconsin, buses. These signs included quotations from famous atheists like Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain and Richard Dawkins.<ref>http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/02/25/new_anti-religion_ad.php</ref> This sign campaign was inspired by a similar campaign begun in Europe.
A church in Monroe, Wisconsin, responded by sponsoring its own signs, which read (from Psalms 14:1): "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."<ref>http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/41142042.html</ref> The Foundation refers to this psalm quotation as a "biblical insult to atheists",<ref>http://www.ffrf.org/news/2009/sleep_madison.php</ref> yet their slogans, especially "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief," contain implicit insults.
== See also ==
*[[Atheist organizations]]
*[[Atheist nonprofit scandals]]
==References==
<References/>
[[Category:Atheist organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations]][[Category:Atheism]]