 | Actions to Take This Week |
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| | Let's start with some good news: Of the 1,800+ bills introduced this session, only about 150 remain. Now the less-good news: You won't be surprised to learn that many remaining bills push a white Christian nationalist/Project 2025 agenda. Please take a minute to log into RTS, contact committee members, or contact your own representatives and speak out against these harmful bills that threaten the wall between church and state: - Oppose SB1694: Makes higher education institutions ineligible for state funding if they teach information on gender identity, systemic racism, whiteness or other forms of discrimination. Use RTS and contact members of House Education Committee before Tuesday.
- Oppose HCR2042: Would prevent school districts from specifically hiring BIPOC educators or having clubs related to DEI (e.g. LGBTQIA+), prevent state contracts to BIPOC-owned companies, and ban content related to history, DEI, and certain topics such as diversity and inclusion from schools. Use RTS and contact members of Senate Government Committee before Wednesday.
- Oppose HB2113: Would ban certain flags, such as LGBTQ+ rainbow, Black Lives Matter, etc. from public property. Only flags approved by legislature could be flown. Use RTS and contact members of Senate Government Committee before Wednesday.
- Oppose HB2439: Refers to a website that isn’t required to discuss the full range of reproductive health; such as abortion care, and promotes fake “pregnancy clinics.” Use RTS and contact members of Senate Government Committee before Wednesday.
- Oppose HB2547: Bars state funding to any healthcare provider that promotes or performs abortion, even to save the mother’s life, or tells a patient they have the legal right to obtain abortion services; direct violation of Prop 139. Use RTS and contact members of Senate Government Committee before Wednesday.
- Oppose HB2681: Adds requirements to medical providers before and after prescribing abortion medication, including that it must be prescribed at an in-person visit. Use RTS and contact members of Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee before Wednesday.
- Oppose HB2670: Requires health education in grades 7-8 to include fetal development, but doesn’t include info about birth control, abortion, consent, etc. Use RTS and contact members of Senate Education Committee before Wednesday.
- Oppose HB2438: (House Rules Committee, Monday 1p) Bans judges from amending birth certificates in an attempt to prevent accurately reflecting transgender individuals’ identities — a form of legal erasure. Use RTS and contact members of Senate Health and Human Services Committee before Wednesday.
Thank you for defending separation of church and state. |
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| |  | Let's take a break from our weekly "rage Fridays" and have a "science Friday" instead! Please join us on March 21 at noon as we welcome special guest Bethany Brookshire, PhD, an award-winning science journalist. She'll discuss her latest book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. Click here to register for this virtual event. |
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 | Last week, we welcomed Religion News reporter Jack Jenkins to speak about his book American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the County. If you missed this interesting and inspiring talk, you can watch it on the Secular AZ YouTube channel. Click here to watch our interview with Jack Jenkins. |
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| |  | Jesus Will Healus Last week in Education Committee, Arizona Republicans pushed a slew of falsehoods in lieu of facts. As detailed by the Arizona Mirror, GOP representatives claim that irreligiosity is the cause of societal problems such as mental health, failing schools, and violence. Their "solution"? Replacing trained mental health professionals with religious chaplains in public schools. “I think Jesus is a lot better than a psychologist,” says Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake. The bill that would make this happen, SB1269, comes from Wendy Rogers, the Flagstaff Senator who calls separation of church and state a myth. Secular AZ Legal Director Dianne Post wrote a letter laying out the facts: Scientific studies do not support the religious right's talking point that more religion leads to less violence, better mental health, et al. Tell your representatives how you feel about forcing religiosity on students. Read Our Legal Director's Letter to Representatives |
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 | Secular AZ Sightings Secular AZ Staff, Board, and Volunteers had so much fun at events around the state, including the Encanto/Palmcroft Home Tour in Phoenix and the Tucson Festival Of Books. We love meeting all of the rational, reasonable, intelligent people who support the Establishment Clause, and welcome the new members that signed up last weekend in support of church:state separation. (And a big shout-out to the pro-forced-birth guy carrying two sticks nailed together into a big 't'. All of that yelling about "sin" and "hellfire" and "eternal punishment" drew more attention to our booth, helping us spread the good word! Thanks, bud...we owe ya one. 😘) One of our favorite authors, Katherine Stewart, spoke at the Festival about her new book Money Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. We're happy to announce that Katherine will give a virtual presentation for us on May 16 at 11:30a! More details to come. |
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| | March 18, 6:30p: Emergency Townhall on Education Cuts with SOSAZ (virtual event) March 20, 5:30p: Game Night in Mesa with FFRF-VS March 21, 12p: Bethany Brookshire: "Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains" (virtual event) March 22, 6p: Prescott Freethinkers Monthly Potluck Social March 23, 9a: Breakfast at Cafe Jose with Red Rock Rationalists March 23, 10a: Sunday Coffee Klatsch with Flagstaff Freethinkers March 25: Equal Pay Day marks the extra days in which (white) women have to work to make the same amount (white) men earned in the same job with the same qualifications; LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Day is June 17, Black women's EPD is July 9, Latina women's EPD is October 8, Disabled women's EPD is October 23, Native/Indigenous women's EPD is November 18... you get the picture. 😡 March 26, 6:30p: Sinematic Satanists with The Satanic Temple March 28, 12p: EducateUS & Jaclyn Friedman: The Importance of Comprehensive Sex Ed (virtual event) |
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| | | | Secular AZ
PO Box 47756 | Phoenix, Arizona 85068
6023804810 | info@secularaz.org |
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