Separation of church and state is not anti-religion. It is a shield that protects the rights of everyone, religious or not.
The government should not sponsor prayer, display religious symbols, or fund religious activities, nor should it give houses of worship special exemptions to engage in partisan political activity or ignore public-health measures, putting other people in harm’s way. Doing so favors some faiths over others and religion over non-religion.
When religion is used to justify actions that harm or exclude others, it breaks our social compact, and divides and polarizes our society.
President Trump vowed to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits houses of worship endorsing or opposing political candidates. AU led a coalition that fought to preserve this vital law — and won.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, AU filed more than 50 amicus briefs in courts arguing that states could limit in-person gatherings, both secular and religious, to stop the spread of COVID-19 if they treated all gatherings the same.
AU contacts scores of municipalities, school boards, state legislatures, and other government bodies every year to stop them from injecting religion into public education, government programs, and public property.
