March 2026

You will not be surprised to hear that Americans United is not letting up in our efforts to stop the Trump administration and its Christian Nationalist allies around the country from undermining church-state separation and our democracy. Quite the opposite; we’re fighting back on every front.

This month we filed two new lawsuits against Trump’s Departments of Defense and Labor as part of our investigation into the monthly prayer services Secretaries Pete Hegseth and Lori Chavez-DeRemer are hosting. As I told The Associated Press, these officials are abusing the power of their government positions and taxpayer-funded resources to impose their preferred religion on federal workers. Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses.

The agencies have ignored our requests for public records into how they’re funding and organizing these overwhelmingly Christian prayer services. Federal law requires the government to release these records, so we’ve taken them to court.

We’ve now filed a total of six lawsuits against the Trump administration in the past year in an effort to hold it accountable to transparency requirements around its Christian Nationalist activity. Three of these cases – against the Departments of Health and Human Services, State, and Veterans Affairs – are part of our investigation into Trump’s mandate that agencies root out alleged “anti-Christian bias.” And another is against Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, both for its lack of transparency and the unlawful bias of its Christian Nationalist commissioners. 

At the same time, we’re continuing to fight for families’ religious freedom and public education. Earlier this month in response to our lawsuit on behalf of Arkansas families, a federal court permanently blocked Arkansas’ law that requires public schools to display a government-chosen version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. We also celebrated that, due in large part to our coalitions’ efforts, nearly all of Texas’ 1,200 school districts rejected state legislators’ efforts to create coercive periods of prayer and Bible reading during the school day.

Thanks to your continued support, we’re not taking our foot off the gas. You’ll hear more about another legal effort to protect secular, inclusive public education very soon.

Meanwhile, there are actions you can take to defend church-state separation and our democracy. Today, No Kings protests are happening around the country. AU is a partner in this movement, and we encourage our supporters to find a nearby No Kings event and peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights. You can learn more here.

AU’s Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF) also is rapidly approaching! I hope you’ll join us April 25-27 in Alexandria, Va., and Washington, D.C., for several days of learning, skill-building, idea-sharing, and friend-making with diverse people from around the country who are dedicated to church-state separation and the issues that depend on it. Go to thesrf.org to learn more and register. If you can’t come to D.C., there is also a virtual option. 

And, on April 9, we’ll host the next SRF365 webinar on “Religious Freedom for All: Rethinking Liberty Beyond Belief.” You can RSVP here to join our expert panel live or watch the recording afterward. 

I hope you’ll take advantage of these opportunities to be in community with like-minded activists who are equally as committed to church-state separation and our democracy. Let’s continue to be Americans United for freedom without favor and equality without exception.

With hope and determination,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO 

March 2026

This is a selection of just a few of Au’s recent media appearances:

• The Associated Press: “At Pentagon Christian service, Hegseth prays for violence ‘against those who deserve no mercy’” 
• MS Now (formerly MSNBC): “Defense and Labor departments face lawsuits over prayer services
• ”The Hill: Rachel Laser’s op-ed, “The bright side of the 5th Circuit’s disturbing Ten Commandments decision
• ”Slate’s “Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick” podcast: “Church and State are Being Reunited, Thanks to SCOTUS” 
• “Faithful Politics” podcast: “Church, State, and the Courts: Rachel Laser on the Fight for Religious Freedom”
• “We Dissent” podcast: “The Supreme Court Tackles Trans Sports Bans with Shiwali Patel”
• “Broken Law” podcast: “Bringing the Constitution to the Classroom”

March 2026

This is a selection of AU’s most popular recent blogs; find all of our blogs here.

• Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission ignores actual religious discrimination in foster care: The latest meeting of Pres. Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission failed to address the real harms to religious liberty in foster care & other social services.

• The taxpayer tithe: How anti-poverty dollars are bankrolling religious crisis pregnancy centers: AU Youth Organizing Fellow Imani Laird explains how a proposed federal bill would divert anti-poverty funds into the coffers of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, the majority of which are religious.

• Blurred lines: Church-state separation, Indiana’s RFRA, and the politics of belief: AU Youth Organizing Fellow Sabene Rizvi examines how religious freedom, including Indiana’s RFRA, can be weaponized by politicians.

Upcoming Events

Find additional details and a full list of events here. 

April 9 at 12:00 p.m. ET (Virtual): “SRF365 Webinar Series — Religious Freedom for All: Rethinking Liberty Beyond Belief” will examine how religious favoritism harms both believers and nonbelievers and offer a more inclusive vision of religious freedom grounded in civil liberties and human rights. Sign up here.

April 25 – 27, 2026 (Virtual & In Person): The Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF) is a collaborative conference that will unify supporters, activists, organizers, policy and legal experts, academics, political and religious leaders, and committed people of faith and of no religion to fight for religious freedom. Register here.