Atheists Give Parting Gift of Lawsuits to Trump Administration

On a day of hope, a reckoning awaits.

• Two groups that work to protect the civil rights of atheists, American Atheists and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, are suing Secretary Betsy DeVos for making a policy change that forces colleges to “financially support religious student groups that discriminate.” She didn’t think she was going to slink away that easily, did she?

  In a similar but separate lawsuit, American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation are suing the Trump administration for lifting restrictions that previously prevented discriminatory religious groups that offer social services from receiving tax dollars.
  
  Democrats could reverse those policies legislatively, but until then, we’ll have to use the courts to fix the problem.

• Speaking of FFRF, they’ve aired an ad featuring Ron Reagan (son of the former president) on a number of TV networks… except CBS. That finally changed tonight:

  FFRF @FFRF

  Hurray! After 6 years of national @CBS refusing to run @FFRF's ad with Ron Reagan saying he's "not afraid of burning in hell," it finally aired on the @colbertlateshow . . . and the sky did not fall in. Join us in changing the world, one ad at a time @FFRF.org.

  

• It was a minor mention, but Joe Biden included people without religion in one of his executive orders. (More on this tomorrow.)

  Hemant Mehta @hemantmehta

  Biden didn't *entirely* ignore Secular Americans today...

  

  SecularStrategies @SecularStrats

  .@potus Executive Order reversing the Muslim Ban: “Those actions are a stain on our national conscience and are inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and none.” #ReligiousFreedom #InaugurationDay https://t.co/Pofjnoke95

• Another reason to celebrate today’s political realignment!

  Niraj Warikoo @nwarikoo

  The U.S. Senate today had its first leader in history who isn’t Christian.

• Just for funsies, here’s a compilation of all the Christian “prophets” who predicted (with God-given certainty!) that Trump would win re-election.

  In an ideal world, these “prophets” would lose followers, maybe close up shop, and definitely stop trying to predict God’s will. Unfortunately this world is far from ideal as long as Kat Kerr is in it.

  Right Wing Watch @RightWingWatch

  "Prophetess" Kat Kerr, who has claimed countless times that God personally told her that Trump would be reelected, now declares that Biden's inauguration tomorrow is "fake" and doesn't count because "it's not what's real."

  

• Having the benefit of hindsight now, and knowing his political future is dashed, and knowing he's left the nation in ruins, and knowing his religion now has a permanent stain on it because of the Trump administration, I want to know what Mike Pence thinks he got out of being VP. When I asked that question on Twitter, many people said “judges,” but Republicans in the Senate could’ve confirmed them all without Pence.
  
  Part of me thinks he believed God wanted him to take that job because there was just no way Trump would last four years… but he did. And Pence will now go down in history as the guy who sat by Trump’s side as he killed hundreds of thousands of people through sheer incompetence, praised white supremacists, spread countless lies, and attempted to destroy our democracy.
  
  There’s no “mysterious ways” here. The Trump presidency is over. Pence, like his partner, will forever be part of our political Dark Age.
  

• Last night we told you about an exaggerative, fear-mongering newsletter written by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. Tonight we’ve taken the liberty of reading it to you— while tearing it apart line-by-line.

• Evangelist Franklin Graham’s selective attention span is a little too convenient for having missed the viral video of Christian terrorists praying at the head of the House chambers.

  The Capitol, when it was attacked on the 6th, I know that a lot of media are trying to spin this, that Christians were behind it. I’ve been interviewed where they said there were Christian [symbology] out in the crowd, where there were people that said — that held signs that says “Jesus Saves.” They said the people attacked the Capitol. 

  I’ve watched many long videos of the attack on the Capitol. I saw American flags. I saw Trump flags. I saw one Rebel flag. But I didn’t see any “Jesus Saves” flags or signs inside the Capitol. I saw them out on the Mall. And so I know there were Christians… Our goal is not to attack or to burn or to destroy. Our goal, as Christians, is to build up and to strengthen. And we want to build up America. We want to strengthen America.

• Sometimes you save screenshots… and then the time comes to unleash them.

  Hemant Mehta @hemantmehta

  Hey, @pastorlocke, I just happened to have these lying around...

  

  

  

  

• Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter has sunk to a new low— low ticket sales, that is.

• Finally…

  The Daily Show @TheDailyShow

  INAUGURATION FUN FACT: Biden's inauguration marks the first time in four years that a President has appeared with a Bible in public without the aid of tear gas