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Reason Foundation Issues Commentary: Louisiana Adopts Reforms to Provide Released Inmates With Identification Documents
LOS ANGELES, California, July 16 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary by Director of Criminal Justice Policy Vittorio Nastasi:
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Louisiana adopts reforms to provide released inmates with identification documents
House Bill 167 codifies a clearer role for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in helping inmates obtain necessary documents before they leave prison.
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Before a person can get a job, rent an apartment, or open a bank account, they typically need a valid form of identification. Yet many people leave prison without one. Louisiana House Bill (HB) 167,
... Show Full Article
LOS ANGELES, California, July 16 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary by Director of Criminal Justice Policy Vittorio Nastasi:
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Louisiana adopts reforms to provide released inmates with identification documents
House Bill 167 codifies a clearer role for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in helping inmates obtain necessary documents before they leave prison.
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Before a person can get a job, rent an apartment, or open a bank account, they typically need a valid form of identification. Yet many people leave prison without one. Louisiana House Bill (HB) 167,signed into law June 8 by Gov. Jeff Landry, will help ensure prisoners gain access to identification documents prior to their release.
Sponsored by Rep. Barbara Freiberg (R-Baton Rouge), HB 167 directs the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) to work with the Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) to provide inmates with a state identification card, along with copies of their birth certificate, Social Security card, and work and training records before they leave prison. The new law will take effect on Aug. 1.
As Rep. Freiberg noted during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on HB 167: "We have over 1,000 folks leave our prisons every month, and in order to get employment, in order to get housing, they need identification. They need documentation of what they've completed while in prison."
The process of acquiring a state-issued photo ID is often complicated by red tape, requiring documents such as a birth certificate or Social Security card that can be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain without an ID in the first place. Because corrections departments already verify the identities of the people in their custody, they are well-positioned to help inmates obtain IDs before release rather than leaving them to navigate a labyrinth of state agencies alone on the outside.
Prior to HB 167, state law already directed DPSC to designate a transition specialist at each facility responsible for ensuring inmates receive a photo ID card upon release, along with a card documenting any vocational training or certifications they completed while incarcerated. However, there was no formal requirement for DPSC and OMV to coordinate on issuing IDs.
The existing statute was also silent on birth certificates and Social Security cards, but the department's catalog of rehabilitative programs lists "regional reentry programs," operated with local sheriffs, that may help inmates obtain those documents. However, nothing required it, and the level of assistance likely varied by facility and parish.
HB 167 adds a formal handoff between DPSC and OMV. Under the new law, the department must identify whether an inmate already holds a state ID or driver's license and begin gathering the paperwork needed for a special identification card as early as nine months before release. For eligible inmates who don't have a current identification, DPSC and OMV must coordinate to issue a special ID card by the time they walk out. The law also requires DPSC to provide every eligible inmate with a copy of their educational and vocational credentials earned in prison, their work record, and--where obtainable--a copy of their birth certificate and a Social Security card or replacement card. Taken together, these provisions give released Louisianans a more complete documentation packet before they leave DPSC custody.
The law allows an inmate's birth certificate and "master prison record," a DPSC-maintained document detailing an inmate's sentence, release date, and credit for time served, good behavior, and program participation, to serve as valid photo identification for obtaining this special ID card. This flexibility helps address the chicken-and-egg problem of needing additional secondary documents (such as a Social Security card, a utility bill, pr an out-of-state ID) that a standard Louisiana ID application demands. OMV may charge a reasonable fee, and the department can draw on inmate trust funds, existing appropriations, and donations to cover costs. The resulting card is valid for six years.
Louisiana's move follows a wave of similar reforms in states such as Georgia and Virginia, which have also strengthened requirements for helping released inmates obtain identification documents. As more states recognize that a driver's license or state ID is often the first practical step toward a job, housing, and a bank account, Louisiana's approach of linking DPSC's existing prison records directly to the OMV's ID-issuance process offers a template other states can adapt.
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Vittorio Nastasi is the director of criminal justice policy at Reason Foundation.
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Original text here: https://reason.org/commentary/louisiana-adopts-reforms-to-provide-released-inmates-with-identification-documents/
Michigan School District Bars Missionaries, Gideons After FFRF Complaint
MADISON, Wisconsin, July 16 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release:
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Michigan school district bars missionaries, Gideons after FFRF complaint
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has persuaded Michigan's Fremont Public Schools to end two unconstitutional religious practices after learning that Christian missionaries were recruiting students during lunch and that Gideons International planned to distribute bibles on campus.
A concerned parent reported that, over the last few months, NET Ministries missionaries had been coming to Fremont Middle School twice
... Show Full Article
MADISON, Wisconsin, July 16 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release:
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Michigan school district bars missionaries, Gideons after FFRF complaint
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has persuaded Michigan's Fremont Public Schools to end two unconstitutional religious practices after learning that Christian missionaries were recruiting students during lunch and that Gideons International planned to distribute bibles on campus.
A concerned parent reported that, over the last few months, NET Ministries missionaries had been coming to Fremont Middle School twicea week during the lunch hour to talk to students about Christianity. One of the missionaries reportedly told their child that the missionaries were there "to talk about anything you want to talk about, and of course spread the word of God." The NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries website says that Discipleship Teams are the missionaries who "attend school lunches" and that they "focus on evangelistic outreach." The parent explained that this made their child and other students feel "uncomfortable" and "othered" by the obvious presence of a proselytizing group during the school day.
Additionally, the parent reported that Gideons International sent permission slips home with students to distribute bibles the following week at school. The parent also reported that fliers advertising the on-campus bible distribution were posted around the school.
"The district cannot offer religious organizations unique access to its schools in order to proselytize, recruit, or distribute religious materials to students," FFRF Patrick O'Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote to the district.
FFRF noted that granting outside religious organizations special access to students during the school day constitutes unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. Such practices also marginalize students who are nonreligious or members of minority faiths. Research shows that 38 percent of Americans are non-Christian and that 43 percent of Generation Z are nonreligious.
Following FFRF's letter, Superintendent Brad Reyburn confirmed that both religious groups would no longer be permitted on campus.
"The Gideons did not end up passing out any bibles in the district and will not be allowed to return to Fremont Middle School. This was the first time that they were ever allowed in the district and it won't happen again," Reyburn confirmed via email. "The group that came to the lunches was not presented to the administration as this kind of group. They also will not be back to Fremont Middle School."
FFRF applauds the district's prompt action to protect students' religious freedom.
"Public schools exist to educate, not to provide outside ministries with a captive audience for evangelism," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "The district made the right decision by ending these unconstitutional practices. Students deserve to go through the school day free from religious recruitment and coercion."
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 41,000 members, including over 1,100 members in Michigan, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Original text here: https://ffrf.org/news/releases/michigan-school-district-bars-missionaries-gideons-after-ffrf-complaint/
[Category: Religion]
Lumina Foundation Issues Commentary: Your Best Student Success Strategy? Let Advisors Advise
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, July 16 -- The Lumina Foundation issued the following commentary by strategy officer for student success Katy Launius and Wendy Sedlak, strategy director for research and evaluation:
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Your best student success strategy? Let advisors advise
Advising is human work, and our systems should reflect that
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Advisors are among the most consequential professionals on a college campus. But often the systems in place around them don't reflect that reality.
They wait in line at food pantry distributions to pick up groceries for student parents who take evening classes and
... Show Full Article
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, July 16 -- The Lumina Foundation issued the following commentary by strategy officer for student success Katy Launius and Wendy Sedlak, strategy director for research and evaluation:
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Your best student success strategy? Let advisors advise
Advising is human work, and our systems should reflect that
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Advisors are among the most consequential professionals on a college campus. But often the systems in place around them don't reflect that reality.
They wait in line at food pantry distributions to pick up groceries for student parents who take evening classes andcan't make it during distribution hours. They walk students to the financial aid office and stay until they're seen, because an unanswered question at the wrong moment can cost a student their eligibility for next semester. They toggle through six or more tabs to complete a single advising appointment--documenting, cross-referencing, and copy-pasting across systems that were never designed to talk to each other.
They show up at classroom doors to make sure a student made it to class. They attend games and performances. They cheer from the bleachers. They contribute to GoFundMes.
They do this because they understand something the system hasn't fully caught up to: for many students, an advisor is the institution.
And yet, a significant chunk of their time is spent on registration logistics instead of advising students.
A new brief from Persistence Plus--based on 10 months of action research at Queensborough and Quinsigamond Community Colleges--puts a name to the problem. Current enrollment systems default to withdrawal: do nothing, and you're out. That's not a neutral design choice. It's a structural barrier that falls hardest on students with the least bandwidth to fight it, and it pulls advisors away from the work that actually moves the needle.
The brief argues for Continuous Enrollment--automatically placing students in the courses they need each term and shifting the default from "prove you want to come back" to "we expect you to succeed." Reducing registration friction frees advisors to focus on students' goals instead of navigating bureaucracy.
That's also the thinking behind Lumina's advising investments. Across our partnerships, we're working to remove administrative barriers so advisors can spend more time doing the work only humans can do, like building relationships, helping students plan for the future, and connecting them with support.
With NASPA, we're elevating advisors as campus leaders, identifying practitioners already driving change, and giving them a platform to shape the field. Jobs for the Future's Educational Plans at the Center of Holistic Advising is helping institutions redesign advising around students' goals instead of administrative checklists. And with One Million Degrees, we're investing in holistic coaching while helping colleges build sustainable financial models and thoughtfully integrate AI in strategies that strengthen the advisor-student relationship.
At Lumina, we're betting on advisors because these investments share a common premise: when we reduce friction for students, we expand capacity for advisors. A system that assumes students intend to persist--rather than requiring them to prove it every semester--allows advisors to do the job they were trained to do.
The Persistence Plus brief shows that if the only reason students see an advisor is because registration forces them to, that's a design problem worth solving, not a feature worth protecting.
We agree. Let advisors do what they do best: advise.
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About the Authors
Katy Launius, Ph.D., is a strategy officer for student success, helping to shape and drive Lumina's community college success strategy.
Wendy Sedlak, Ph.D., is the strategy director for research and evaluation at Lumina Foundation, which works to help all Americans continue to learn and train after high school. Before joining Lumina, Sedlak worked at Equal Measure, where she directed projects to benefit students, including many complex national systems-change evaluations.
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Original text here: https://www.luminafoundation.org/news-and-views/your-best-student-success-strategy-let-advisors-advise/
Landmark ECOG-ACRIN ENDURANCE Study Co-Authored by International Myeloma Foundation Leaders Provides Evidence for Optimal Duration of Maintenance Therapy
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California, July 16 (TNSjou) -- The International Myeloma Foundation issued the following news on July 14, 2026:
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Landmark ECOG-ACRIN ENDURANCE Study Co-Authored by International Myeloma Foundation Leaders Provides Evidence for Optimal Duration of Maintenance Therapy
STUDIO CITY, CA -- Study results from the randomized, prospective phase III ENDURANCE (E1A11) trial, designed and conducted by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN), were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study was co-authored by several members of the International Myeloma
... Show Full Article
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California, July 16 (TNSjou) -- The International Myeloma Foundation issued the following news on July 14, 2026:
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Landmark ECOG-ACRIN ENDURANCE Study Co-Authored by International Myeloma Foundation Leaders Provides Evidence for Optimal Duration of Maintenance Therapy
STUDIO CITY, CA -- Study results from the randomized, prospective phase III ENDURANCE (E1A11) trial, designed and conducted by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN), were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study was co-authored by several members of the International MyelomaFoundation (IMF) leadership who also serve on the ECOG-ACRIN Myeloma Committee, which led the study.
These investigators include Dr. S. Vincent Rajkumar, Chairperson of the IMF Board of Directors (Mayo Clinic -- Rochester, MN); Dr. Shaji Kumar, Member of the IMF Scientific Advisory Board (Mayo Clinic -- Rochester, MN); and Dr. Sagar Lonial, Vice Chairperson of the IMF Board of Directors (Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University -- Atlanta, GA).
The phase III ENDURANCE trial results showed that two years of maintenance therapy with lenalidomide provides the same long-term survival benefit as indefinite treatment until progression for patients with standard-risk multiple myeloma.
The trial enrolled 516 patients who have completed initial treatment but were not candidates for upfront stem cell transplantation. Participants were randomly assigned to receive lenalidomide either until progression, which is the current standard of care (indefinite duration group) or for a limited duration of 2 years. After nearly seven years of follow-up, overall survival rates were virtually identical: 68.6 percent in the indefinite treatment group versus 69.0 percent in the two-year limited duration group.
Compared to the limited duration group, indefinite duration of therapy was associated with higher rates of side effects, including fatigue, anemia, and diarrhea. The study also found a slightly higher incidence of second primary cancers over five years among patients who took the drug until progression.
"For years, patients and clinicians have been hesitant to stop lenalidomide maintenance because we didn't know how long was required for optimal benefit," said lead author Dr. Shaji Kumar, co-chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Myeloma Committee. "Our trial results show that two years is sufficient and that continuing the drug longer adds toxicity without extending life."
Dr. S. Vincent Rajkumar, senior author and chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Myeloma Committee, said: "Our findings suggest that a fixed-duration approach can become the new standard of care, at least for standard-risk patients, allowing us to pause treatment, monitor patients closely, with the option of potentially re-introducing lenalidomide or other new active treatments if the disease returns."
According to co-author Dr. Sagar Lonial, "this is the first randomized trial to show that limited duration lenalidomide maintenance does not sacrifice overall survival in the context of no transplant and triplet induction."
"The impact of these study results on patients cannot be overstated from a quality-of-life perspective," said Heather Cooper Ortner, IMF President and CEO. "For patients with standard-risk myeloma, knowing with confidence that they can safely discontinue treatment without compromising overall survival represents a remarkable advancement in personalized care. It means fewer side effects, less time on therapy, and greater freedom to focus on living their lives--not just managing their disease. This is exactly the kind of research that gives patients hope while bringing us closer to our ultimate goal: helping every patient live longer, better lives until we achieve a cure."
Multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells, has seen dramatic advances in treatment over the past two decades. However, prolonged therapy has raised concerns about cumulative side effects and financial burden. This trial addresses a critical gap by proving that shorter, fixed-duration maintenance may not compromise efficacy. The results are particularly relevant for patients without high-risk cytogenetic risk factors and those who did not undergo stem cell transplantation, representing a large portion of the myeloma population.
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The study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. Additional support was provided by Amgen. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01863550.
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ABOUT MULTIPLE MYELOMA
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells -- white blood cells that make antibodies. A cancerous or malignant plasma cell is called a myeloma cell. Myeloma is called "multiple" because there are frequently multiple patches or areas in bone where it grows. It often involves damage to bone and kidneys. Multiple myeloma is still incurable, but great progress has been made in terms of survival over the last two decades. The disease is twice as common and is diagnosed at a younger age in African Americans than white Americans. The most common presenting symptoms include fatigue and bone pain.
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ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL MYELOMA FOUNDATION
Founded in 1990, the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) is the world's leading organization dedicated to multiple myeloma. The IMF is steadfast in its mission: accelerating the prevention and cure of myeloma and improving the quality of life for patients and families.
The IMF serves people impacted by myeloma at every stage of the disease by combining world-class research, trusted education, global advocacy, and direct support. A cornerstone of this work is the International Myeloma Working Group(R) (IMWG)--a network of more than 380 internationally renowned researchers and clinicians who establish the guidelines that shape how myeloma is diagnosed, treated, and managed across the globe.
Through its global network of support groups, educational programs, its 24/7 generative-AI myeloma assistant Myelo(R), its InfoLine, and its advocacy for greater healthcare access, the IMF helps people living with myeloma and their care partners navigate diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. At the same time, the IMF ensures scientific advances translate into better care and outcomes.
Learn more at www.myeloma.org or contact the IMF InfoLine at (800) 452-CURE (2873) (U.S. & Canada), +1 (818) 487-7455 (worldwide), or infoline@myeloma.org.
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Original text here: https://www.myeloma.org/news-events/multiple-myeloma-news/landmark-ecog-acrin-endurance-study-co-authored-international-myeloma-foundation-leaders-provides
Foundation for Economic Education Posts Commentary on Why Life Clusters Into Outliers Instead of Averages
DETROIT, Michigan, July 16 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary by Harshit Singh, student of management studies at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi:
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The Geometry of Advantage
Applying the Pareto Principle.
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Anyone who has spent time in a group project recognizes an uncomfortable pattern. A small number of people end up carrying most of the work, while the rest contribute unevenly at best. Look at almost any workplace, and the same pattern emerges: a handful of employees are responsible for a surprisingly large share
... Show Full Article
DETROIT, Michigan, July 16 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary by Harshit Singh, student of management studies at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi:
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The Geometry of Advantage
Applying the Pareto Principle.
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Anyone who has spent time in a group project recognizes an uncomfortable pattern. A small number of people end up carrying most of the work, while the rest contribute unevenly at best. Look at almost any workplace, and the same pattern emerges: a handful of employees are responsible for a surprisingly large shareof what actually gets done. Walk through any city, and a few restaurants stay full while most sit half-empty. On streaming platforms, a small number of songs absorb most of the listening. Seen once, it looks like a coincidence. Seen everywhere, it starts to look like a law.
That's because it is one. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto first documented it in the 19th century while studying land ownership in Italy, and found that roughly 20% of landowners held about 80% of the land. He checked the rest of Europe and found the same lopsided pattern everywhere. It now carries his name: the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, the observation that a small share of any system tends to produce most of its outcomes.
This is a different shape from the bell curve most of us were taught to expect. In a normal distribution, most values cluster near the average, with few extremes, human height being the classic case. A Pareto distribution has no such ceiling. If 99 people in a town earn $100 a day and one person earning $10,000 moves in, the average nearly doubles, even though nobody else's life has changed. This kind of outlier is governed by what statisticians call a power law: as values grow larger, they become rarer, but not rare enough to rule out extremes. Of the millions of people who have ever acted in a film, a small number attract nearly all the audience attention any actor ever receives.
The pattern is also self-similar. A handful of cities dominate any country's population, a larger number are mid-sized, and a great many are small. Zoom into just the largest cities, and the same ratio reappears. Zoom into the mid-sized ones, and it appears again. The scale changes. The structure does not. Nature runs on the same logic: the sun holds 99.8% of the mass in our solar system, and a small number of major earthquakes release most of the energy that all earthquakes combined produce in a given year.
Part of the explanation is social: people are more likely to follow a social media account, cite a paper, or buy a book that already has an audience, regardless of underlying quality. Part of it is structural: network effects mean that a platform becomes exponentially more valuable as more people join it, which is why leaving for a smaller, better competitor rarely happens. And part of it is what sociologists call the Matthew Effect, after a biblical line about those who already have much being given more. A researcher with early recognition gets cited more, which brings more funding, compounding a small edge into a lasting one.
Compounding is the common thread, and humans are bad at intuiting it, since our minds evolved for linear systems: walk twice as far, cover twice the distance. Compounding breaks that pattern: $100,000 growing at 7% a year becomes roughly $196,000 after 10 years, $387,000 after 20, and $761,000 after 30, a result most people find surprising, since humans rarely lived inside compounding systems until industrialization began.
Perhaps the clearest illustration of the Pareto Principle at work is what might be called the square root rule of productivity: in any sufficiently large organization, roughly the square root of the total workforce produces about half of its total output. A company of 10 employees has about 3 carrying half the load. A company of 10,000 has around 100, just 1% of the workforce, producing half of everything the company makes.
This is not because the other 99% are lazy. It reflects ordinary variation in skill, reinforced by how work gets assigned: managers hand important tasks to people who have already proven that they can deliver, which gives them more chances to prove it again. It also explains why some companies collapse quickly after a leadership change. Drive out the most capable people, and since they disproportionately produce half of everything, output does not fall gradually. It falls by half. The same rule reapplies to whoever remains, and the spiral continues.
The same logic scales up to entire economies, and this is where the Pareto Principle stops being a curiosity and starts being uncomfortable. In the United States, the wealthiest 1% held about 23% of total wealth in 1970 and hold roughly 31-32% today. Globally, the richest 1% control an estimated 45-46% of all wealth, while the poorest half of humanity holds barely 1-2%.
The instinct is to treat this as a problem to be capped. But the same incentive that produces runaway wealth at the top is what drives most innovation everywhere else. A company that can no longer profit past a certain size has little reason to keep improving past that size. Profit motive is why better medicine gets developed, why better products get built, and why farms produce more food per acre than they did a generation ago. Anyone doubting how much a functioning profit motive matters need only compare the experience of a private business to a queue at a government office where no one's compensation depends on how quickly the line moves.
Attempts to flatten this distribution artificially have a poor track record. At best, they trade away growth. At worst, they are catastrophic, and for exactly the reason the square root rule predicts: when a state forcibly removes its most productive people, output does not dip; it collapses. Soviet dekulakization in the 1930s targeted the most successful farmers in the name of equality, and the resulting collapse in agricultural output contributed to a famine that killed millions, a brutal real-world demonstration of what happens when you remove the people responsible for half your output and expect the other half to compensate.
None of this means that rising inequality is costless. But the same period that produced today's wealth concentration also produced the fastest reduction in human deprivation on record: roughly 100,000 people a day lifted out of extreme poverty for 30 years running, infant mortality down from around 16% a century ago to under 3% today. Helping people dealt a genuinely bad hand is worth doing, but that help is funded by wealth generated inside this same lopsided system, and redistribution that kills the incentive to create it tends to leave everyone, including the people it was meant to help, worse off.
Once you notice the Pareto Principle, it is difficult to stop seeing it: in who does the work, in who gets the credit, in which companies survive a change in leadership, and in which nations manage to lift their people out of poverty and which do not. It is not a flaw in how the world works. It is closer to a description of how the world has always worked, whether we have found it fair or not.
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Harshit Singh is a final-year student of Management Studies (Honors with Research) at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi, with research interests in behavioral economics and decision-making.
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Original text here: https://fee.org/articles/the-geometry-of-advantage/
FFRF Stops Coach From Assigning Christian Journaling, Punishing Students Who Refused
MADISON, Wisconsin, July 16 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release:
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FFRF stops coach from assigning Christian journaling, punishing students who refused
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has persuaded a California school district to end a practice in which a high school basketball coach required players to complete Christian journal assignments or face extra conditioning during practice.
A concerned parent reported that the Enterprise High School basketball coach in the Shasta Union High School District was forcing students to complete daily affirmations
... Show Full Article
MADISON, Wisconsin, July 16 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release:
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FFRF stops coach from assigning Christian journaling, punishing students who refused
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has persuaded a California school district to end a practice in which a high school basketball coach required players to complete Christian journal assignments or face extra conditioning during practice.
A concerned parent reported that the Enterprise High School basketball coach in the Shasta Union High School District was forcing students to complete daily affirmationsand prayers in faith-based journals during the 2026 basketball season. The journals featured a Latin cross on the cover and were titled "The Empowered Christian Athlete Journal."
According to the parent, the coach would punish student-athletes by forcing them to run additional laps during practice if they did not complete their Christian journal assignments. In numerous text messages, the coach reminded students that they must complete the religious assignments or else face punishment, such as "running double." The parent further explained that they were "very angered and disappointed ... that a Christian based journal would be pushed at a public school" and that their "child would be disciplined for not participating" in the religious journal activities. They explained that they are not a religious family, and pointed out that the faith-based journal assignments crossed the constitutional line.
"When coaches direct students to complete Christian journal assignments or else face punishment at practice, student-athletes will no doubt feel that completing the religious journaling is essential to avoiding punishment, pleasing their coach, and being viewed as a team player," FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district.
FFRF noted to the district that public school coaches may not use their authority to coerce students into participating in religious activities or completing faith-based assignments. The coach clearly violated the First Amendment rights of student-athletes. Additionally, religious team assignments needlessly marginalize students, such as the parent's child, who are nonreligious or members of minority faiths. Forty-two percent of adult Californians are non-Christians, and 33 percent are nonreligious. Statistically, nearly half of Americans born after 1996 are nonreligious.
Following FFRF's complaint, the district investigated the allegations.
"Upon completion of the investigation, we informed the coach that the use of the journal in this context should not continue moving forward," Associate Superintendent of Human Resources Jason Rubin wrote. "In addition, the district will provide training and guidance to staff to ensure a clear understanding of expectations and to help prevent similar situations from occurring in the future."
FFRF welcomes the district's prompt corrective action and will continue working to ensure that public school students are free from religious coercion.
"This is one of the more egregious misuses of authority we have recently seen by a public school coach," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "Coaches wield enormous influence over young athletes, and that authority cannot be used to pressure students into participating in religious exercises. Public school athletics should build teamwork and character, not serve as a vehicle for religious indoctrination."
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 41,000 members, including over 5,000 members and two chapters in California, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Original text here: https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-stops-coach-from-assigning-christian-journaling-punishing-students-who-refused/
[Category: Religion]
FFRF Calls First Liberty's "Religious Liberty" Index a Christian Nationalism Scorecard
MADISON, Wisconsin, July 16 (TNSrep) -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release:
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FFRF calls First Liberty's "Religious Liberty" index a Christian nationalism scorecard
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is criticizing First Liberty Institute's newly released Religious Liberty in the States 2026 report (https://religiouslibertyinthestates.com/), arguing that it rewards states for expanding religious exemptions rather than protecting genuine religious freedom.
The report rewards states for enacting laws that allow religious individuals and organizations
... Show Full Article
MADISON, Wisconsin, July 16 (TNSrep) -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release:
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FFRF calls First Liberty's "Religious Liberty" index a Christian nationalism scorecard
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is criticizing First Liberty Institute's newly released Religious Liberty in the States 2026 report (https://religiouslibertyinthestates.com/), arguing that it rewards states for expanding religious exemptions rather than protecting genuine religious freedom.
The report rewards states for enacting laws that allow religious individuals and organizationsto opt out of generally applicable laws, including nondiscrimination protections, health care obligations and civil rights requirements.
"Americans already enjoy the constitutional right to believe, worship or reject religion as they choose," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "First Liberty's index isn't about measuring or promoting true religious freedom. It's about measuring assaults on the constitutional separation between state and church."
The report, released at an event hosted by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, crowned Arkansas the nation's top state for "religious liberty" after the state enacted legislation allowing businesses, religious organizations and others to refuse participation in weddings based on religious objections.
The report openly encourages lawmakers to use its rankings as a blueprint for passing additional religious exemption laws and invites legislators to work with First Liberty attorneys to enact them.
Sanders celebrated Arkansas' top ranking by erroneously declaring, "Our rights come from God, not government."
FFRF argues that the statement perfectly captures the ideological problem with this report, because constitutional rights are secured by the Constitution, which is godless, and enforced by civil, not religious courts.
"Americans enjoy freedom of religion precisely because our government does not claim to derive its authority from a deity," Gaylor adds.
Among the policies that improve First Liberty's ranking of states are laws that allow:
* Businesses to refuse participation in same-sex weddings.
* Government officials to decline participation in weddings because of religious objections.
* Healthcare providers to refuse to provide abortions, sterilizations, contraception, genetic counseling and other medical services.
* Religious foster-care agencies to discriminate while remaining eligible for funding by government programs.
* Expanded Religious Freedom Restoration Acts.
* Religious exemptions from labor union participation.
* Additional protections allowing religious entities to avoid compliance with generally applicable laws.
"These are not measures of religious freedom," Gaylor notes. "They are measures of religious privilege. The report consistently treats exemptions from following civil rights laws for religious reasons as if they are synonymous with liberty."
The report praises Arkansas' HB 1615, which allows government officials to refuse to participate in weddings for religious reasons, as model legislation for other states to copy. While public employees have limited religious accommodation rights, they cannot constitutionally deny members of the public equal access to government services.
The report celebrates Tennessee's sweeping medical conscience law as one of the nation's strongest religious liberty protections and encourages its adoption elsewhere. FFRF's legislative arm, the FFRF Action Fund, opposed the legislation, warning that it "allows health care providers and insurance companies to refuse treatment based on religious objections -- and even worse, patients wouldn't be informed that these treatments aren't available to them." The Action Fund further noted that the bill "blatantly enables religious-based discrimination, bringing real harm to reproductive freedom and LGBTQ+ rights in Tennessee."
While First Liberty portrays states such as Arkansas and Tennessee as national leaders, its report penalizes such states as New York, California and Connecticut, not because residents lack the freedom to practice their faith but largely because they have chosen not to enact expansive religious exemption statutes.
FFRF notes that the report arrives amid an increasingly coordinated Christian nationalist effort to reshape state law by granting religion, particularly conservative Christian adherents, preferential treatment.
Sanders, who crows about her state's ranking in this report, has embraced Christian nationalist rhetoric and repeatedly rejected Establishment Clause concerns. These include dismissing FFRF's objection to her proclamation closing state offices for Christmas with an explicitly theological account of the Christian story of Jesus' birth, divinity, crucifixion, resurrection and anticipated return "in glory," while instructing state employees to spend the holiday "giving thanks for Christ's birth."
"True religious liberty protects every American's freedom of conscience," Gaylor says. "It does not guarantee a religious right to discriminate, ignore civil rights laws or receive special treatment from the government. That's the distinction First Liberty's report intentionally obscures."
FFRF will continue monitoring and opposing legislation promoted by First Liberty and similar organizations as they seek to replicate these discriminatory religious exemption laws across the country.
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 41,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Original text here: https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-calls-first-libertys-religious-liberty-index-a-christian-nationalism-scorecard/
[Category: Religion]
