Press Releases

Today, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) introduced the Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act, a bill that would prohibit corporal punishment in all public and private schools that receive tax dollars. Currently, only two states ban corporal punishment in both private and public schools, though 30 states ban the practice in public schools. The Secular Coalition for America heralded the bill’s introduction as a positive step toward ending religious privilege in policy affecting and harming children.   Read more »

Justice John Paul Stevens has been a historic champion of our constitutional separation of church and state. He has consistently sought to strike down special privileges for religion and its impositions on the rights of others. President Obama's choice to replace him, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, does not appear to embrace the fundamental American principle of church-state separation with the vigor and force of Justice John Paul Stevens.   Read more »

The man who introduced the world to handheld computing is now lending his considerable talents toward advancing the interests of Secular Americans and the separation of church and state. Jeff Hawkins, serial entrepreneur and inventor of the PalmPilot, has joined the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America.   Read more »

Last night the Secular Coalition for America and its allies discovered that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill that would allow chaplains in the military to use specifically-Christian prayers at official military events. The Secular Coalition for America unequivocally opposes this measure, and released the following statement:   Read more »

The Secular Coalition for America expressed great concern over President Obama’s choice of Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, as she has sided with the likes of Justice Antonin Scalia on an issue of church-state separation, and has characterized the reasonable positions of justices such as John Paul Stevens and Thurgood Marshall—positions she herself helped to author—as “dumb.”   Read more »

One-fifth of U.S. House Members are co-sponsoring at least one of two resolutions that falsely assert the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer, an event that the Secular Coalition for America today decried as divisive and in violation of America's founding principles. The lobbying group representing the interests of atheists, agnostics, and all other secular Americans called upon Members of Congress to reject the resolutions and upon President Obama to end government-sanctioned religious events.   Read more »