Editor’s note: This blog post by AU President and CEO Rachel Laser originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of AU’s Church & State magazine.
The Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF, like “surf”) did it again. At yet another hard moment in time, SRF 2025 brought joy, knowledge, tools and new friendships to a large group of church-state separation advocates.
I wish every one of you could have been there, but I’m delighted that more than 300 people joined in person and over 400 more participated online — representing all 50 states and D.C. for the third year in a row. We came from different belief systems, age groups, ethnicities, races and related causes, but we shared a passion for church-state separation. Across those few days, we built a connected community.
There is too much to say about how great SRF was — including our successful first Organizing Institute, the three gripping keynotes, the informative workshops, the SRF bookstore and Hill Day. So, I’m going to share some personal highlights but please know this list is woefully deficient.
In preparation for SRF, I enjoyed calling some of AU’s legal plaintiffs, allies and members to hear more about their personal stories related to church-state separation and to get permission to share them in my opening remarks. Stories illustrate the importance of our issue. Two of the people I featured told me they were moved to tears as I told their stories to the large crowd at SRF. I was moved to share them.
During our Saturday night members and allies reception, it was a delight but also emotional to honor the incredible Rob Boston, who is retiring at the end of this year after 38 years of devoted service to AU. Rev. Barry Lynn — AU’s former leader of 25 years — was the perfect person to present Rob with the Rev. Barry W. Lynn Defender of the Wall Award.
Rob has been a titan for AU and our cause, a fountain of institutional and church-state separation knowledge, and the best team player any workplace could hope for. I’m going to sorely miss working on a daily basis with Rob, but he has generously made clear that he will continue to be a resource for our work when we need him.
If you attended in person, you might have noticed the helpful security team stationed at the entrance of the conference to keep us all safe. On the last day, these staff requested a photograph with our staff because they believed so much in our cause and wanted to share it on their company intranet. Pretty cool!
My 81-year-old mom and 87-year-old dad came to SRF for the second year in a row and raved about it. Mom left saying: “I loved it. I can’t wait until next year.” Speaking of moms, I enjoyed seeing many other mom/daughter pairings at SRF, including a newer AU staffer and her mom, our high school essay contest winner and her mom, our David Norr Youth Activist Awardee, Tatiana Chance, and her mom, and our keynote speaker April Ajoy and her daughters.
Tatiana, upon receiving her much-deserved award, blew us all away — not only with her impressive record of advocacy at such a young age, but also with her inspiring commitment to doing good. I will never forget how she described her own calling to do this work: “I stopped asking why God would allow people to suffer and started asking why are we allowing people to suffer?”
I cannot possibly do our three keynote speakers justice here, but I can say that a member called me after he attended SRF virtually to say he was going to have a “watch party” featuring videos of the keynote addresses in his senior community. All three speakers shared different and illuminating perspectives to help us better understand the white Christian Nationalism that we are witnessing today — and inspired us with strategic calls to action.
A sold-out Hill Day was a deeply meaningful close to SRF. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin and two other members of Congress opened with inspiring remarks. We chanted “Se-pa-rate Church and State” as we walked to take a photograph in front of the U.S. Capitol. Many of you, including some of our keynote and social media influencer guests, let us know that it was your first time visiting your members’ offices and talked about how powerful it was to connect to democracy in this direct way. I agree!
I hope my reflections help you feel a little bit like you were there with us, or remind you of your own SRF experience. Please know how grateful we are for your support, which enables AU to do amazing things like SRF.
Photo: AU President and CEO Rachel Laser (r) with AU Events Manager Ashley Hunt-Martorano (l) and plaintiff Gabe Rutan-Ram at SRF 2025. Photo credit: Americans United/Chris Line.
