The weekly report on US and International policy
by Edwina Rogers

U.S. Supreme Court on Same-Sex Marriage

This past┬áTuesday, arguments regarding the constitutionality of same-sex marriage were made before the Supreme Court. In stark contrast to┬átraditional┬ápoints of view on the matter, the arguments suggested that the Court will mandate┬ástates to both recognize and license same-sex marriage. The Court should ÔÇô and probably will ÔÇô stay away from pontificating about marriage or philosophizing on the nature of rights. The Fourteenth Amendment does not explicitly address the issue of┬ámarriage, as well as all other possible objects of state regulation. What it speaks to instead is the equal protection of all individuals under┬áthe law.

Arctic Chairman

The chairmanship of the eight-member Arctic Council formally passes from Canada to the US, where it will be led by Secretary of State John Kerry.

As the Washington Post reports, the US leadership comes amid significant┬áclimate changes┬áthat are creating new environmental challenges, as well as new economic opportunities and competition in the region. The SPI will address the future of Earth’s climate during its World Future Forum.

SPI and Foundation For Critical Thinking to Meet with Congress

On June 17-18th, SPI will host Dr. Linda Elder, President of SPI affiliate, Foundation of Critical Thinking. Together, we will attend meetings with congressional members, the Department of Education, and the White House to discuss the importance of critical thinking in education. 

Proposed Rule for US Department of Health and Human Services

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed a rule to amend its acquisition regulation, which outlines policies for entering into/awarding contracts. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) worked with Guttmacher, Center for Health and Gender Equality (CHANGE), National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU), Pathfinder, and National Partnership to propose that┬ácertain HHS contracts and solicitations include language regarding:

• non-discrimination in service delivery
• non-discrimination for conscience under President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR, a global HIV/AIDS program)
• restrictions on the use of federal money for abortion

The text of the relevant sections are pasted below for reference.

If you have any questions about the rule or the template comments, please contact Kashif Syed (kashif.syed@ppfa.org), Davida Silverman (davida.silverman@ppfa.org) or Caitlin Horrigan (caitlin.horrigan@ppfa.org).

Relevant Sections Regarding the Proposed Rule

352.270-9: Non-Discrimination for Conscience
(a) Section 301(d) of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act, as amended, provides that an organization, including a faith-based organization, that is otherwise eligible to receive assistance under section 104A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, under the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, under the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, or under any amendment to the foregoing Acts for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, or careÔÇöShow citation box
(1) Shall not be required, as a condition of receiving such assistance, toÔÇö
(i) Endorse or utilize a multisectoral or comprehensive approach to combating HIV/AIDS; or
(ii) Endorse, utilize, make a referral to, become integrated with, or otherwise participate in any program or activity to which the organization has a religious or moral objection.
(2) Shall not be discriminated against under the provisions of law in subparagraph (a) for refusing to meet any requirement described in paragraph (a)(1) in this solicitation.
(b) Accordingly, an offeror who believes this solicitation contains work requirements requiring it endorse or utilize a multisectoral or comprehensive approach to combating HIV/AIDS, or endorse, utilize, make referral to, become integrated with, or otherwise participate in a program or activity to which it has a religious or moral objection, shall identify those work requirements it excluded in its technical proposal.
(c) The Government acknowledges that an offeror has specific rights, as cited in paragraph (b), to exclude certain work requirements in this solicitation from its proposal. However, the Government reserves the right to not make an award to an offeror whose proposal does not comply with the salient work requirements of the solicitation. Any exercise of that Government right will be made by the Head of the Contracting Activity (emphasis added).

352.237-74: Non-Discrimination in Service Delivery
As prescribed in 337.103ÔÇô70(e), the Contracting Officer shall insert the following clause in solicitations and contracts:

Non-Discrimination in Service Delivery (Date)

It is the policy of the Department of Health and Human Services that no person otherwise eligible will be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in the administration of HHS programs and services based on non-merit factors such as race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability (physical or mental). By acceptance of this contract, the contractor agrees to comply with this policy in supporting the program and in performing the services called for under this contract. The contractor shall include this clause in all sub-contracts awarded under this contract for supporting or performing the specified program and services. Accordingly, the contractor shall ensure that each of its employees, and any sub-contractor staff, is made aware of, understands, and complies with this policy. (End of clause)

352.270-13: Continued Ban on Funding Abortion and Continued Ban on Funding of Human Embryo Research.

As prescribed in 370.304(e), the Contracting Officer shall insert the following clause:

Continued Ban on Funding Abortion and Continued Ban on Funding of Human Embryo Research (Date)

(a) The Contractor shall not use any funds obligated under this contract for any abortion.

(b) The Contractor shall not use any funds obligated under this contract for the following:
(1) The creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or
(2) Research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury of death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under 45 CFR part 46 and Section 498(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g(b)).

The term ÔÇÿÔÇÿhuman embryo or embryosÔÇÖÔÇÖ includes any organism, not protected as a human subject under 45 CFR 46 as of the date of the enactment of this Act, that is derived by fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means from one or more human gametes of human diploid cells.

(c) The Contractor shall not use any Federal funds for the cloning of human beings. (End of Clause)

Last month, we reported to you that Oklahoma will no longer issue civil marriage certificates from clerks offices, in an attempt to stop gay weddings. As a side effect, it would also prevent atheists from getting married.

Now the Oklahoma House has approved legislation that grants immunity from civil liability to ministers who refuse to officiate a same-sex marriage.

House members voted 88-7 Thursday for the bill by Republican Rep. David Brumbaugh. The measure now goes to the state Senate.

What they don’t know is that Humanist chaplains are happy to marry anyone!

Learn more on NewsOK.com.

The weekly report on US and international public policy
by Edwina Rogers

SPI Invited to Prague Conference On Free Markets And Future Of Humanity

SPI CEO Edwina Rogers was invited to serve on a panel in Prague on April 16 the discuss Secular Stagnation (zero interest rates) and the Future of Humanity with regard to Urbanization. She met with Ambassador Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, the Austrian Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Ms. Rogers was hosted by the Hayek Institute in Vienna, Austria.

U.S. President On Earth Day

President Obama traveled for the very first time this Wednesday to The Everglades, one of our country’s most unique and treasured landscapes. But Wednesday’s trip was about more than touring an iconic National Park on Earth Day. Here’s why.

The Everglades are flat, and they border a rising ocean. As the sea levels rise, the shorelines erode, and that salty water travels inland, threatening the aquifers supplying fresh drinking water to Floridians. That doesn’t just destroy a beautiful and unique national landscape. It threatens an $82 billion state tourism economy, and drinking water for more than 7 million Americans — more than a third of Florida’s population.

Over the last eight years, the United States has cut more carbon pollution than any other. Recently, the Surgeon General presented a powerful conversation about the real impacts of climate change on the health of our families. The White House is taking on climate issues, so that means preventing more asthma attacks and premature deaths, billions in revenue loss, and the potential disappearance of natural habitats for wildlife.

The Secular Policy Institute will host a panel of experts to discuss Earth’s Climate at its World Future Forum on October 26 in Washington, DC. This topic was the most requested by Congressional Members and their staff.

What can you do? Share your personal story regarding your favorite natural habitat on the US Whitehouse website, on the SPI Facebook page and on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #ActOnClimate. If you need to find a national park, you can do that at www.findyourpark.com.

View Earth For Earth Day

NASA astronaut Terry Virts captured unbelievable footage of the earth rotating beneath the International Space Station in this first ever GoPro video taken during a spacewalk in February.

U.S. Congress – Senate To Vote On Lynch

The US Congress is in session and in week 2 of a 6-week work period, ending with the Memorial Day Recess.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that negotiators had reached a bipartisan deal on a bill to fight human trafficking, clearing the way for a vote to confirm attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch. Mitch McConnell said that “as soon as we finish the trafficking bill,” senators will take up Lynch’s confirmation vote.

As Leader McConnell has noted, a vote on the Loretta Lynch nomination to be Attorney General will be the next item of business after completion of the anti-human trafficking bill. Also, following completion of S. 178, the Senate will begin consideration of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which the Foreign Relations Committee reported out unanimously last week.

Looking ahead the remaining four weeks of this work period, issues include:

• Ambush Elections Rule Veto Override
• Budget Resolution Conference Report
• Cybersecurity
• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization
• Highway authorization legislation (authority expires end on May)
• Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)

The Secular Policy Institute was pushing for limitations on religious refusals in the human trafficking bill. Federal tax dollars are passed on to religious and neighborhood charities who are the providers of services to victims of human trafficking. Some religious charities use the consciousness claim to refuses certain services that they object to due to their religious beliefs. Next the SPI will shift to lobbying on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization to ensure sound public education for all.

Congress Extends Abstinence Only Education

HR 2, which includes the “doc fix” for Medicaid reimbursement rates, children’s insurance funding for two-years, and numerous other health care provisions, includes a two-year extension of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) at the current funding level, $75 million per year, through fiscal year (FY) 2017. It is positive to have two years of funding stability to continue providing adolescent sexual health promotion and adulthood preparation programs across the country. SPI thanks PREP supporters in both the House and the Senate for their continued commitment to ensuring investments in medically accurate and evidence-based based efforts to equip young people with the sexual health information, including topics such as abstinence, healthy relationships, and contraception, they need to make healthy decisions throughout their live.

The compromise bill package also included a two-year extension of the Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) program that enables the implementation of ineffective and stigmatizing curricula. More alarmingly, the program received a funding increase, bringing its annual funding to $75 million. In addition, a policy rider provision in HR 2 now also requires unobligated Title V AOUM funds be made available to states implementing programs that adhere to the full A-H definition of “Abstinence Education,” as opposed to returning any unobligated funds to the general treasury as before.

An original Secular Policy Institute report published this week, Abuse in AmericaÔÇÖs Faith-Based Initiative System: A Secular Policy Institute Report, demonstrates that abstinence-only sex education is harmful, driving up rates of teen pregnancy, making STDs more likely, and making teens with STDs less likely to get treatment.

Given the state-match requirements of the program, this has the potential to surpass more than $130 million per year in public dollars wasted on AOUM programs that have consistently proven to be ineffective. While there is an unfortunate track record of funding increases for ineffective AOUM programs through multiple funding streams, this is the first ever increase for the 18 year-old mandatory Title V AOUM program.

SPI is incredibly disappointed by this wasteful funding increase and the expansion of AOUM programs. Since 1982, more than $1.7 billion in federal dollars have been spent on these programs that are damaging to young people, especially those who are already sexually active, engaged in same-sex relationships, and/or survivors of sexual abuse or assault, and fail to provide opportunities to learn the health information and skill that young people will use throughout their lives.

New Malawi Law Discriminates Against LGBT Community

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) raised serious concerns about discriminatory provisions in a law signed by Malawi’s President Mutharika that is expected to go into effect shortly. The Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Law creates new forms of legal discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals. While the law raises the minimum marriage age to 18-a positive move to combat child marriage-it also promotes a policy of exclusion against LGBTI Malawians that would likely translate into discrimination in education, housing, jobs and elsewhere.

Openly Secular Day April 23

Numerous Secular groups are hosting Openly Secular events on April 23. Openly Secular Day is the fourth Thursday in April.

Join hundreds of others and pledge to Tell One Person. One of the best ways to combat the stigma against secular people is to be open about your secular identity.

Louisiana Effort To Repeal Creationism Legislation

Senate Bill 74, dubbed the “Intelligent Outcomes Wanted Act,” would, if enacted, repeal Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:285.1, which implemented the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act, passed and enacted in 2008. Governor Bobby Jindal told NBC News in 2013 that the LSEA permits the teaching of creationism, including “intelligent design.” The bill to repeal the LSEA was introduced by Karen Carter
Peterson (D-District 5), who sponsored the similar SB 70 in 2011, SB 374 in 2012, SB 26 in 2013, and SB 175 in 2014. Those four bills were all eventually shelved by the Senate Committee on Education. SB 74 was prefiled in the Louisiana Senate on March 31, 2015, and subsequently referred to the Senate Committee on Education.

The law targeted for repeal calls on state and local education administrators to help to promote “critical thinking skills, logical
analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning”; these four topics were described as controversial in the original draft of the legislation.

It also allows teachers to use “supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze,
critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner” if so permitted by their local school boards. A sponsor of the bill told the Hammond Daily Star (April 6, 2008) that the bill was aimed at promoting the discussion of “scientific data related to creationism.”

Endorsers of the repeal effort include a group of seventy-eight Nobel laureates in the sciences (representing nearly 40% of living Nobel laureates in the sciences), the National Association of Biology Teachers, the Louisiana Association of Biology Educators, the Louisiana Coalition for Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society for Cell Biology, the Society for the Study of Evolution together with the Society of Systematic Biologists and the American Society of Naturalists, the Clergy Letter Project, the New Orleans City Council, and the Baton Rouge Advocate.

See the Louisiana Senate Bill 74 as introduced in PDF form.

Georgia Conscience Clauses Under Review

Georgia’s broad “conscience clauses” are under renewed scrutiny due to reports that a pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for a drug some abortion opponents don’t like. According to Brittany Cartrett, a Walmart pharmacy blocked her prescription for Misoprostol. Cartrett needed the drug to manage a natural miscarriage, but it is also often prescribed to induce medical abortions.

But Walmart insists that this isn’t a case of conscientious objection.
“The pharmacist exercised professional judgment about the medication and chose not to fill the prescription and reached out to customer’s doctor and shared that information,” said company spokesman Brian Nick. Nick also told Mother Jones that the pharmacist refused because the prescription didn’t follow FDA regulations.

The FDA, however, has approved Misoprostol for off-label use in managing miscarriages. Mother Jones also reports that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists determined the drug is effective in managing 99 percent of miscarriages.

Another commenter reported similar trouble, writing, “The pharmacist proceeded to lecture me about how I needed to verify I wasn’t pregnant first before taking it! I was already in tears (it wasn’t my first miscarriage) and she was clueless. After explaining the situation, she said she needed to speak to my doctor personally in order to fill it.” The woman chose a surgical procedure to deal with the miscarriage rather than face the pharmacist again.

Failure to remove the contents of a miscarriage can result in septicemia, or blood poisoning. It’s a life-threatening condition, as demonstrated by the infamous case of Savita Halappanavar, who died in 2012 after an Irish hospital refused to terminate her miscarriage. An inquest blamed hospital staff’s interpretation of the country’s strict abortion law as a significant contributing factor to her death; that law makes it illegal to “procure a miscarriage.”

Although there are grave consequences to impeding a miscarrying woman’s access to Misoprostol, conscience clauses don’t typically make exceptions for miscarriages. Some pharmacists even rely on the laws to block access to contraception.

According to a Yale University study that was cited by MSNBC in an article, medical professionals in California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington refused to fill prescriptions or perform procedures that violated their personal religious beliefs. In one particularly extreme case, a physician and midwife in Pennsylvania refused to recommend a patient receive an abortion even though her amniotic fluid had become infected.

The Secular Policy Institute has just released a major report about abuse in America’s faith-based initiative system. Abuse in America’s Faith-Based Initiative System: A Report by the Secular Policy Institute is a comprehensive report providing strong evidence that FBOs discriminate, proselytize, and provide false information that contradicts scientific facts, all while receiving government funding with lax oversight.

Faith-based organizations are often trumpeted with the assertion that they are morally superior, have more caring staff, and are better at addressing any issues that individuals may have. However, there is no evidence for this claim. Research indicates that FBOs do not perform these tasks any better than secular organizations. Catholic schools, for example, are lauded as providing superior moral instruction, better discipline, and producing students who score higher on standardized tests. However, when controlling for poverty, disability, and not being a native English-speaker ÔÇö variables that are more common in public schools ÔÇö Catholic schools were found to not excel in said areas. Moreover, many religious schools ÔÇö Catholic and otherwise ÔÇö teach false information in order to fit a faith-based agenda. Such ÔÇ£factsÔÇØ include that the universe is only 6,000 years old, Adam and Eve existed, and that intelligent design is supported by science.

Outside the school system, the report covers abuse with all other services that FBOs provide, highlighting problems with adoption agencies, AIDS services, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and drug treatment facilities. The whistleblowing report is also a call to action for further investigation into faith-based organizations benefiting from the system.

A great deal of damning information about other faith-based organizations is also revealed in this report. Crisis Pregnancy Centers tell pregnant women that abortion causes breast cancer. FBOs set up to help illegal immigrants do not provide emergency contraception to women who have been raped, let alone refer these women to family planning services. Sex education for teenagers continues to have an abstinence-only bias. Faith-based adoption agencies are allowed to refuse adoption services to same-sex couples.

Check out this startling new report to learn more!

The weekly report on the SPI Coalition
by Julie Esris

Last week, Las Vegas became the center of the secular movement as 7 national secular groups gathered to protest discrimination against atheists! Last year Wells Fargo Bank refused services to John Whiteside, leader of coalition member The United Church of Bacon, a real legal church with a funny name that was founded to highlight how religions get special privileges under the law and should not. The Secular Policy Institute took a lead role in running the protest with John, creating the website, writing press releases, meeting politicians, and co-organizing. See the video and read all the newspaper reports about the protest’s impact!

SPI Coalition member Atheist Ireland submitted a document to the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in order to challenge Ireland on its shortcomings in the realm of human rights. What does Atheist Ireland have to say about how Irish law affects human rights? Quite a bit, actually!

SPI Coalition member┬áThe Rationalist Society of Australia, Australia’s oldest freethought organization, was founded in 1906. For the past century, the RSA has promoted reason and evidence-based public policy. Their latest mission is to encourage the Victorian government to change a very important law. If this law is changed, Victoria will surely be on the right side of history.

Richy Thompson, campaigns manager┬áof SPI Coalition member┬áThe British Humanist Association┬áis campaigning against┬ástate-funding of Britain’s faith schools. Find out how you can help!

SPI Coalition member┬áCenter for Inquiry┬árecently recorded a new and exciting Point of Inquiry podcast. Host Josh Zepps interviewed┬áMiddle Eastern comedians┬áBassem Youssef and Ahmed Ahmed about their craft. Satire is┬áfunny, but what else is it good┬áfor? And what are the risks? Both funny men weigh in, while discussing– and laughing about– religion and politics.

Brian Whiteside, Director of SPI Coalition member Humanist Association of Ireland interviews Nichola Murphy, a non-religious mother. All she wants is to send her child to school. But what is standing in her way?

SPI Coalition member┬áThe Good Atheist Podcast┬áproduces shows that are both educational and entertaining.┬áThe most recent episode┬áfeatures an interview with God… and neuroscientist Matt Facciani! The former is fall-out-of-your chair funny, and the latter is interesting. Facciani offers thought-provoking┬áperspectives on evolutionary psychology, in-group/out-group mentality, and more.┬á

Canada’s Supreme Court may have ruled against prayer at city council meetings, but that didn’t stop Mayor Crombie at a recent meeting in the city of Mississauga, Ontario. SPI Coalition member, The┬áHalton Peel Humanist Society┬áwon’t be stopped, either.

You’ve heard the Biblical Ten Commandments hundreds of times, but do you know the Ten Commandments for Humanists, Freethinkers, and All Secularists? Canadian SPI Coalition member, The Humanist Association of London and Area offers some words of wisdom.┬á

The Weekly SPI Fellows Update

by Julie Esris

Recently a group of teachers in Atlanta, Georgia was sentenced to prison for falsely reporting their students’ test scores. Why would a group of teachers do something┬áso dishonest? SPI Fellow and President of Center for Inquiry Ron Lindsay explains why with his article in┬áThe Huffington Post.

Starbucks recently implemented its “Race Together” campaign to raise consciousness about racism. But it was brought to a grinding halt when it made customers uncomfortable. What is the best way to raise consciousness about racism and ease racial tensions? Lawyer, social critic, and SPI Fellow Wendy Kaminer┬áhas a few interesting thoughts on this issue in this┬áessay for NPR, and they’re┬ánot quite what you’d expect.

Stephen Law

What is happiness? What does it mean? How does it relate to morality, if at all? Philosopher and SPI Fellow Stephen Law provides great insights into these questions and more in an essay for the Center for Inquiry.

Religion is bigger than ever! Or does it just seem that way? Philosopher and SPI Fellow AC Grayling explores these questions and more in an original article in The Independent.

Evolutionary biologist and SPI Fellow Richard Dawkins joined Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Eugene Mirman, Jim Gaffigan, and Maeve Higgins in New York City recently for great discussions and laughs about everything science. This Startalk podcast of the event is now available! Part 1, Part 2

The weekly report on research and demographics of the secular movement
by Julie Esris

Last week, lawmakers in California introduced a bill that would require Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) to inform pregnant women about abortion services as an option. The measureÔÇö dubbed the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency (FACT) ActÔÇö is long overdue. CPCs are notorious for strategically setting themselves up near abortion clinics in order to deter women from terminating their pregnancies. Largely motivated by a religious agenda, which they employ alongside inaccurate information about pregnancy and reproductive healthcare services, many CPCs do not have medical licenses and do not even have licensed medical professionals on staff. The FACT Act would require these CPCs to post notices to inform women about this reality.

The FACT Act is a positive step. A research report newly released by The Secular Policy Institute reveals some disturbing information about Crisis Pregnancy Centers and what appears to be a government bias against abortion as an option. Many states have cut funding to Planned Parenthood while explicitly funneling money toward alternatives to abortion, which include CPCs. Texas, for example, allots $9 million per year on its Alternatives to Abortion program, 41% of which goes to CPCs. Another disturbing fact is that CPCs vastly outnumber abortion clinics, limiting the options of sometimes desperate and economically disadvantaged women with unwanted pregnancies. Using scare tactics, CPCs often give pregnant women inaccurate information, such as that abortion causes breast cancer, infertility, and miscarriage of future pregnancies.

It is also worth nothing that 49% of American pregnancies are unintentional. This is unsurprising when one considers the state of sex education in America, on which the Secular Policy Institute also reported. Millions of federal dollars per year are allotted toward abstinence-only education; in December 2014, $15 million was budgeted for this. Abstinence-only education does not provide information about contraception and instead implores teenagers to remain cellibate until marriage in order to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This type of education is largely religiously motivated, and research has repeatedly shown that abstinence-only education is not only ineffective but also dangerous. Teens receiving abstinence-only education are actually more likely to contract STDs and conceive a child. New Mexico, which is severely lacking in comprehensive sex education, has the highest teen pregnancy rate in America at 8%. Teen condom use in New Mexico is only 60%, below the 75% national average. Conversely, declines in pregnancy are largely attributed to increased contraceptive use. New Hampshire, which has a more comprehensive sex education curriculum that encourages condom use, has the lowest teen pregnancy rate (2.8%) in America.

It is clear that federal and state funding decisions are heavily influenced by religious belief, with idealism trumping reality. This is unacceptable in a country that was specifically founded on the separation of church and state. Between the prevalence of federal funds for abstinence-only sex education instead of sex education that teaches about contraception use, and for Crisis Pregnancy Centers instead of Planned Parenthood, girls and women are left with very few options. It is very easy to imagine the limited choices available for a teenage girl in New Mexico, for example, where there are only 12 abortion clinics but 18 Crisis Pregnancy Centers. If she is one of the 8% of teen girls who become pregnant, she will have an (admittedly only slightly) easier time finding a Crisis Pregnancy Center, which will give her inaccurate information. The FACT Act is an excellent idea for California, and an imperative for American society as a whole.

Last week, Johnny Monsarrat of the Secular Policy Institute spent a week in Las Vegas, which became the center of the secular movement for a protest against Wells Fargo.

Leaders of seven national secular groups gathered to support John Whiteside, the founder of the United Church of Bacon, a real legal church with a funny name, but a serious purpose. John has raised nearly $200,000 for AIDS, cancer, autism, and secular charities while taking no donations for himself. He also tries to end discrimination against atheists! In 2014, Wells Fargo refused him services with no explanation, a clear case of discrimination because they did not like his church’s funny name or the way it preached a philosophy with no God. An incident at one branch is no big deal, but then Wells Fargo corporate stonewalled John, as did the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.

The protest was a big success. We drew 72 people the first day and 50 the second day, with 9 journalists attending, including TV news crews! This resulted in dozens of articles, including two in the most prestigious Las Vegas newspaper and on two TV news stations. John was interviewed by NPR, and now the Huffington Post has called John to write a national article.

See the TV news video and sign the petition!

TORONTO (RNS) CanadaÔÇÖs Supreme Court has ruled that a small town in Quebec may not open its council meetings with prayer.

In a unanimous ruling Wednesday (April 15), CanadaÔÇÖs highest court ruled that the town of Saguenay can no longer publicly recite a Catholic prayer because it infringes on freedom of conscience and religion.

The case dates back to 2007, when a resident of Saguenay complained about public prayer at City Hall.

Council meeting or prayer meeting??

LANSING ÔÇô On 4-1 party-line votes, the Senate Families Seniors and Human Services passed three bills that will allow Faith-based adoption agencies to refuse to serve prospective parents based on their religious beliefs.

The bills, which would allow the agencies to refuse service to same-sex or unmarried couples if that goes against their religious beliefs, are moving as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments next week on whether same-sex marriage should be legal in Michigan and several other states.

Think of the children!