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Thoughts from volunteer leaders and supporters of Jews for a Secular Democracy. If you have something to share, please be in touch, we would welcome your contributions to the blog!
Supreme Court of the United States

Should The Public Fund Religious Schools?

27 Dec 2019
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The upcoming Supreme Court case of Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue In January, the United States Supreme Court will hear a case that could erode the separation of church and state and allow for state governments to increase support for religious private schools using public funding programs. The Montana State Legislature in 2015 enacted a law creating a tax credit for citizens and businesses who donate to fund scholarships for K-12 students in private schools. The credit is equal...
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Jews for a Secular Democracy

Contextualizing Trump’s Executive Order on Judaism

13 Dec 2019
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On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump was preparing to sign an executive order redefining Judaism in the eyes of the federal government as a race or a nationality, not just an religion, with the intent of providing additional ammunition for the Department of Education to withhold funding from colleges and universities that do not act sufficiently to combat anti-Semitism and critics of Israel, including the BDS movement. The text of the executive order, leaked on...
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BlitzWatch

What is Project Blitz and why should Jews care?

26 Nov 2019
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Project Blitz is a coordinated effort by Christian Nationalists to inject religion into public education, attack reproductive healthcare, and undermine LGBTQ equality using a distorted definition of “religious freedom.” Watch the state legislatures of more than twenty states and you’ll notice a nefarious trend: in Texas, Florida, Missouri, and more states, conservative, evangelical lawmakers have introduced nearly identical bills that would impose Christian theology and values on U.S. citizens. These bills are the product of Project Blitz, a well-organized and...
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“The Founding Myth” by Andrew Seidel: A Review

07 Nov 2019
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It is difficult to write a review of a book with which you mostly agree. The Founding Myth is one of those books for most secular non-Christians and those literate in American history and civics. While the conclusions that Andrew Seidel reaches in the book are common wisdom for those of us who value a secular government, its importance lies in the evidence he produces to demonstrate that the Christian nationalist position is founded on myth, erroneous assumptions, emotion, and...
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The Jewish Imperative for Church/State Separation

28 Oct 2019
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In a recent article for the Times of Israel, Paul Golin, the Executive Director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism (our parent organization!), celebrated Rosh Hashanah by explaining the need for American Jews to make clear our belief in science and opposition to religiously based government policy. “Almost all American Jews accept the scientific method as the way to uncover facts about our universe. So why would I bother advocating for us to be loud and proud about not taking...
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Why “Judeo-Christian” Values are Problematic

23 Oct 2019
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Listen to any religious-right pundit discuss the intersection of governing and faith, and you’ll likely hear them refer to Judeo-Christian values. Take Focus on the Family (FOTF), for example, a fundamentalist Christian advocacy organization with a public policy approach self-described as “drawn from the wisdom of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian ethic.” Under this guise of Judeo-Christian values, FOTF opposes same-sex marriage and LGBTQ equality, staunchly lobbies against abortion and reproductive freedom, and promotes creationism and abstinence-only sex education. In...
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JFASD Program Coordinator Lincoln Dow

Welcoming Lincoln Dow, Our New Community Organizer

09 Sep 2019
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Lincoln Dow is the new Community Organizer and Program Coordinator of Jews for a Secular Democracy! Lincoln, a native of Houston who now resides in New York, is the first staffer dedicated solely to Jews for a Secular Democracy, a pluralistic initiative of the Society for Humanistic Judaism. Prior to joining Jews for a Secular Democracy and the SHJ, Lincoln worked in state level politics in Texas, most recently focusing on voter registration for Jolt Initiative and before that serving...
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Ten Modern Plagues That Threaten America’s Separation of Religion and Government

17 Apr 2019
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DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE PDF HERE. No, we didn’t invent the concept of writing “Modern Plagues” to call attention to social issues during Passover, a holiday intended to remind us of injustices. We do have a unique entry into the field, though: plagues that threaten America’s church-state separation, which is supposed to be protected by our Constitution’s First Amendment. Please download and print the PDF for use at your Seder, or cut-and-paste from below to share: Ten Modern Plagues That Threaten...
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