Christian nationalists want to drain money out of Phoenix school districts via lawsuit

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The religious right seems to have exposed its latest strategy in Phoenix school boards: drain money out of public schools by attracting as many lawsuits as possible.

This is most apparent in Peoria Unified School District (PUSD), where we’ve counted 7 lawsuits that the district could face over constitutional violations, discrimination, and mistreatment of teachers.

Last week, members Rebecca Hill and Heather Rooks invited defamation lawsuits by entertaining accusations of misconduct levied against three teachers singled out by name. One was accused of showing vaguely-defined “sexually explicit” material (information about reproduction in a biology class); another for simply promoting International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Hill and Rooks tried to remove these teachers’ names from a rehire list under consideration at the meeting, then voted against approving the list altogether if they remained on it—effectively trying to hold 1,500 other employees’ contracts hostage.

Later, Hill and Rooks called for a policy to ban trans students from restrooms of their gender identity. Hill cited religious belief as justification, with no objective evidence of this being a problem that requires a solution through policy.

To cap it all off, Rooks once again illegally quoted scripture to students—despite having been advised several times not to.

That’s only part of the insanity at this meeting. Read about the whole thing in detail here.

Meanwhile, the north valley’s Washington Elementary School District (WESD) did the right thing a couple weeks ago by unanimously cancelling a contract with discriminatory religious school Arizona Christian University (ACU). The district is now being sued by ACU, but the public still has the district’s back, with lots of people (including a clergy member) speaking at last week’s meeting in support. There was also a tremendous outpouring of solidarity with board member Tamillia Valenzuela, who has been targeted by right-wing media over the issue because of her LGBTQ+ identity. Tamillia put the matter succinctly:

“Nobody on this board has stated that Christian teachers will no be allowed in this district. What has been said—because it appears that listening to actual words is not happening—is that an agreement with an institution that allows bigotry within its core values is what was terminated. There is a difference between institutional discrimination and personal discrimination. […] We are talking about an institution that has caused harm.”

WESD is a shining example of a place where voices like yours are making a huge difference in the fight for equality. Let’s keep board members in both districts hearing from us!

What you can do:

PUSD’s meeting schedule can be found here and board member contact info can be found here.

WESD’s meeting schedule can be found here and board member contact info can be found here.

Show up, contact members, and get involved. If we don’t, the religious right will!

 

If you need help, we’re here for you at info@secularaz.org

Regarding official government prayer

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On April 18th, 2017, State Representative Athena Salman offered a humanist invocation written by a member of her community, the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix. House leadership then ruled that, despite Salman’s assertion that her higher power is “the goodness in humanity,” Salman broke house rules by not praying to a higher power.

 

112 prayers have been recorded in the AZ House and Senate floors this year, 91% of them theistic and 80% specifically Christian or Judeo-Christian. Only six overtly secular invocations have been given this year, and three—including Rep Salman’s—prompted immediate reprovals or calls to order at the time they were delivered.

 

“The Arizona House of Representatives is the people’s house,” Salman said at a recent press conference. “Opening prayers in the House should represent Arizonans of every faith perspective. This includes the hundreds of thousands of Arizonans who, like myself, do not believe in a supernatural God but do believe in the power of humanity to do good in the world.”

 

We agree: Legislative prayers—if they are to be held—must be open to Arizonans of every faith’s perspective, even those who do not subscribe to a supernatural power.

 

If you live in Arizona: call your legislators and tell them that lawmakers must be treated equally regardless of faith, and this includes expressing their beliefs during the opening prayer. Encourage them to seek better understanding of their nontheist colleagues’ viewpoints, to find common ground.

Deadline: March 8 – Sign into “Request to Speak” against SB1439

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Speak up for End-of-Life Choices- DEADLINE: MARCH 8 @ 2PM – SIGN INTO THE LEGISLATURE’S “REQUEST TO SPEAK” SYSTEM IN OPPOSITION TO SB1439

We invite you to join us on March 8 at 2pm at the Arizona House of Representatives, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, Hearing Room 4 to share your stories and your views on end-of-life choices.  You must sign into the legislature’s “Request to Speak” system if you wish to speak in Committee.  If you can’t be at the Capitol, or you just don’t want to speak, you can still sign into the “Request to Speak” system and make your coments without physically being at the Capitol.

This bill allows heath care providers to opt out of end-of-life care without consequence.  Having this bill in committee is a rare opportunity for advocates of end-of-life choices to be heard at Legislature.  Come and speak to the importance of honoring end-of-life choices, including the very popular Advanced Directives. 

Step-by-step guide on Legislature’s “Request to Speak” System (RTS)

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You’ve heard us ask you to sign into the “Request to Speak” system in support or opposition to bills we are following at the Arizona State Legislature.  Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use this system from the comfort of your own home.  A few reminders about the limitations of the system:
1. You may only comment on bills that are currently assigned to a committee agenda; once the bill is heard in the committee you may not add a comment
2. You must activate your account the first time you use it at the AZ State Capitol.  We can help you with this if you are not able to get to the Capitol or Tucson Legislative office.

 

Weekly Update from the AZ Capitol

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First: we’re continuing to fight two subjective morality bills that just passed the Senate.

The CAP-written S1367 forces doctors to perform life-saving procedures on aborted and preterm births, even when it is clear resuscitation is futile and no matter the gestational age.  

Our professional allies from the OB/GYN community testified that in cases of hopeless miscarriages, “comfort care” is critical: allowing the mother to cradle the dying life in its final moments alleviates intense psychological trauma. This same trauma can be exacerbated by forcing the mother to witness pointless mechanical revival attempts. Read the entire powerful testimony in the attachment, below.

This is a crucial argument we are hoping to emphasize as the bill moves to the House. 

If you or anyone you know has a personal story about this and can share it with lawmakers (in private or on the floor), we need you. 

Please contact Tory Roberg if you can help: tory@secularaz.org. 

Meanwhile, S1439 affects the other end of the life cycle: creating legal escape hatches for health care providers who refuse end-of-life care. 

This is a subversive attack on Advance Directives, fueled by religious morality. Organizations like Death With Dignity and Compassion & Choices are already in our corner, but we need your suggestions for other potential allies as well as your personal stories.

Again, please contact Tory above if you can be of any assistance.  

Momentum on the ESA bills is temporarily halted as they lack the critical votes to go further. They’re not dead yet, though, so don’t let your guard down. Call your Representatives to urge them to vote no on SB1431 and HB2394.

Finally, our science education license plates bill (H2354) is in committee in the Senate next week. We support this bill because we support science.  The Science Education Fund is largely expected to benefit the Arizona Science Center. 

Secular AZ to Corporation Commission: All or nothing when it comes to prayer

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In a January 10, 2017 press release, the Corporation Commission announced that it will start a new practice: starting meetings with a prayer. Contrary to the statements of Chairman Tom Forese, prayer in any form does not encompass all faiths and beliefs. In fact, prayer before government meetings is a divisive act that only serves to set people apart. That was immediately evident by the comment of Forese to a reporter that if the Satanists requested to do a prayer, “Satan has no place at the commission.” This is exactly the kind of discrimination that is prohibited under the First Amendment.

Read the full text of our letter to the Corporation Commission in response to their January 10, 2017 press release in the attached file.

Opening Day Rally & the Anti-Hate Pledge

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On Monday, January 9, 2017, Secular Coalition for Arizona stood in unity with over 40 groups at an anti-hate rally for the opening day of the 53rd Arizona State Legislature.  

Watch video of our Government Affairs Director, Tory Roberg, as she represented Secular Coalition for Arizona and our constituency.

Lawmakers were asked to sign the following pledge: 

People’s State of the State Pledge

I PLEDGE on this first day of the 53rd Session of the Arizona State Legislature, January 9, 2017, that I commit to protect the human and civil rights of all people of the State of Arizona. I believe that every individual is entitled to dignity and respect, without prejudice toward race, color, gender, identity, disability, language, religion or lack thereof, creed, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and economic status. 

I will do everything in my power to discourage prejudice and hate by others at every opportunity, personally and politically. Under my leadership, I ensure that I will advocate and encourage my colleagues to advocate for legislative policies that promote dignity and respect, and discourage any type of legislative policy that institutionalizes any practice of social injustice.  I will strive daily to honor this pledge, accepting responsibility for my leadership and its influence over national, state, and local policy. 

– United Against Hate Coalition, January 9, 2017

The Religiously Unaffiliated: An Important and Growing Group

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Read more or click here to see the original post written by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) about their latest national survey that highlights an important and growing group: The religiously unaffiliated. This is why secular activism and political involvement is so important at all levels of government: local, state, and national.

Original post from PRRI, below:

As religion in America experiences a period of seismic shifts, a new PRRI/RNS national survey highlights an important and growing group: The religiously unaffiliated.

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0018K87A_Kk5NriwBFP6fKdto3gVPjWVxnBY8WqG2wwR8zWQYjoDjHKFQHfbcrWFZChnEAvRMPnAs46RbAoWgP8VIEIjlW1WQ5IrXpF34xVB6AHQOgc6BVTGNs2bqKvsZu2XoNwdXhG0W5uBM6u_jBIAfLBeltPUAoUPucijPmoSGdkREJ5y5moOOAuZNkxP_3zoudaa3dJ7BeMr_RlC6tE6w4OGDKXF6x4Rq2yZKEQ0lXRxlNezJO-wJhNjOzS-tK7&c=b7FjK4C15VSy3szqHHOkBtK0dp4aq40m1tXxCYaE1SUW8vedcAYhng==&ch=rOHj85lfn2_bxxS6QYW5P2WojjFHb9nGdzOWBq07KKS381L5Z5hziQ==

Exodus: Why Americans are Leaving Religion — and Why They’re Unlikely to Come Back

 

A new PRRI/RNS survey finds one out of every four (25 percent) Americans — and nearly four in ten (39 percent) young adults (age 18-29) — now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a group that has quadrupled in size since the early 1990s and accounts for the fastest growing major group in the American religious landscape. The survey chronicles the growth of the unaffiliated, investigates factors behind the group’s growth and resiliency, and parses out three distinct subgroups within the unaffiliated: Unattached Believers, Apatheists, and Rejectionists.

 

The growth of the unaffiliated: At 25 percent, the religiously unaffiliated now constitute the largest group in the national religious landscape. The growth of the unaffiliated began in the 1990s: in 1991, only six percent of Americans identified with no religion in particular. By the end of the decade, that number had climbed to 14 percent and eventually reached 20 percent in 2012.

 

Factors behind the growth of the religiously unaffiliated: The most common reason unaffiliated Americans cite for leaving their childhood religion is a lack of belief in religious teachings: 60 percent say they stopped believing in their childhood religion’s teachings, while 32 percent say it was because their family was not that religious growing up, and 29 percent cite negative teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian people by religious organizations.

Why the unaffiliated are unlikely to come back to organized religion: Only seven percent of the unaffiliated report they are searching for a religion that would be right for them, compared to 93 percentwho say they are not. Religiously unaffiliated households are also on the rise. A majority (54 percent) of unaffiliated Americans who are married today report that their spouse shares the same religious background as they do.

Who are the unaffiliated?: The religiously unaffiliated are distinct from religious Americans in important ways, but there is also considerable diversity within this group. Using two separate questions that measure the personal relevance of religion and the social benefit of religion, PRRI identified three distinct groups among the unaffiliated: Rejectionists, Apatheists, and Unattached Believers.

Read the entire report, including a detailed breakdown of the three subgroups of the unaffiliated, here.

Rise of the religiously unaffiliated recent poll by Public Religious Research Institute