Amy Couch, (202)-238-9088, acouch@americanhumanist.org Monica Miller, 202-238-9088, mmiller@americanhumanist.org (Washington, D.C., October 30, 2017)—The American Humanist Association’s (AHA) Appignani Legal Center filed a reply brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision upholding a Texas school district’s practice of subjecting its students to prayers at school board meetings. For nearly thirty years, the Birdville Independent School District’s school board has been inviting students as young as six to open its meetings with prayers and lead the pledges. Students are present at every meeting, and often mandatorily for school
For Immediate Release Contact: Amy Couch, 202-238-9088, acouch@americanhumanist.org David Niose, 202-238-9088, dniose@americanhumanist.org (Washington, DC, October 18, 2017)—A federal appellate court ruled today, in a case brought by the American Humanist Association (AHA) and three of its members, that a large Christian cross on government property in Bladensburg, Maryland, violates the US Constitution. The ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns an earlier decision by a federal district court upholding the cross. “The court correctly ruled that the cross unconstitutionally endorses Christianity and favors Christians to the exclusion of all other religious Americans,” said M
For Immediate Release Contact: Amy Couch, 202-238-9088, acouch@americanhumanist.org (Washington, D.C., October 3, 2017)—A federal court struck down a Florida county’s practice of denying atheists, humanists, and other non-theists the opportunity to offer invocations at the start of the county commission’s meetings. Two Humanist Society Celebrants, Keith Becher and David Williamson, were plaintiffs in the case. According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled the policy of Brevard County’s Board of County Commissioners to allow only monotheistic, overwhelmingly Christian invocations, violated both the U.S.
