Since 1947, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has defended the constitutional protection of the separation of government and religion. Americans United vigorously advocates in the courts, legislatures, and the public square to protect everyone’s freedom to believe as they choose — and stop anyone from using their beliefs to harm others. Americans United aggressively opposes Christian Nationalism and fights for the preservation of our democratic principles. Americans United envisions a nation where our government does not promote any religion or spiritual belief and where we come together as equals to build a stronger democracy. Visit Americans United at au.org. Below is a recently featured article from Americans United’s monthly magazine.
Church & State
America’s Second Revolution: How the Declaration of Independence’s Secular Framing Made Freedom of Religion and from Religion Possible – Part 1
Nathaniel Saunders of Culpeper County, Va., had long been fighting in a freedom revolution; not freedom from tyrannical Great Britain, but freedom from religious tyranny in his Anglican-controlled colony. READ MORE…
March 2026 Church & State Magazine
Three New Lawsuits and More: American United’s Most Prominent Legal Work So Far This Year
Americans United’s Legal Department kicked off 2026 by continuing the same brisk pace that was set last year when the organization filed seven lawsuits within 10 weeks. Already in the new year, AU has filed two new lawsuits against the Trump administration, fought two new proposed religious public schools, and argued in support of church-state separation and secular public education during a crucial, nationally watched federal appeals court hearing. READ MORE
March 2026 Church & State Magazine
Americans United CEO Rachel Laser appointed to U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
In December, Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser was appointed by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to the nine-member U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government commission established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the president, the secretary of state, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion or belief. READ MORE
January/February 2026 Church & State Magazine
America’s Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State
At the first meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, John Adams recalled many years later, a motion to open the gathering with prayer “was opposed because we were so divided in religious sentiments — some were Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Congregationalists — so that we could not join in the same act of worship.” Samuel Adams, John Adams’s cousin and a firebrand from Boston, finally rose and broke the deadlock. Pronouncing himself “no bigot,” he allowed that he “could hear a prayer from any gentleman of piety and virtue, who was at the same time a friend to his country.” READ MORE…
October 2025 Church & State Magazine
First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
150 Years Ago: Words from a U.S. President that Ring Loudly Today
General Ulysses S. Grant, having played a pivotal role in defeating the Confederate States of America, afterward won the 1868 and 1872 presidential elections. A century after the beginning of the America Revolution — and six months after signing the Civil Rights Act of 1875 — Grant, addressing the men he had earlier led into battle, argued that the separation of religion and state was necessary for true freedom. READ MORE…
November 2025 Church & State Magazine