| | Hello Secular FAM, As we go into this holiday week, we wish everyone a calm, peaceful time surrounded by the family and friends of your choosing... and if that's not in the cards, here are some "love hacks" for the holidays from Secular AZ's Board Chair, as well as tools to to help you deal with your fundie religious MAGA uncle (and others entrenched in strong, harmful belief systems!) This holiday season, so many are struggling, thanks to the administration's cruel policies. If you need help or are able to donate/volunteer, here's a list of food banks and mutual aid resources. Actions to take this week and beyond to stand up for a secular Arizona: - Oppose Superintendent Tom Horne's attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, which he's using as an excuse to gut Arizona teaching standards and bilingual education standards. Info on how to speak up here.
- The Secular Student Alliance at Glendale Community College is raising funds to support an in-person presentation by Dr. Ryan Burge on religious nones in the U.S. Contribute to the fundraiser here.
- 11/27-12/2 Boycott: Home Depot assisting ICE. Amazon supporting the Trump admin's cruel policies. Target cancelling DEI programming. Why spend your hard-earned dollars at corporations that are actively harming our neighbors? Boycott them and spend locally instead. We Ain't Buying It Resources.
- Nov. 29, 3p: Resistance Network of Arizona's Weekly Mutual Aid Potluck. Help neighbors in need. Info here.
- Tell your representatives that you oppose Trump's MAGA-driven, religious-dogma-heavy "patriotic" education plan. Info here.
- Vouchers harm public schools and funnel taxpayer dollars to private/religious schools that can discriminate without consequences. Tell Governor Hobbs to say no to the federal school voucher program. Info here.
- Demand oversight of ICE, now the largest federal law enforcement agency in the U.S. with the fewest checks on its power. Info here.
- Tell Congress to oppose the "Free Speech Fairness Act," which would (further) gut the Johnson Amendment and allow religious organization and other 501(c)3s to proselytize. Info here.
- Every year, Secular AZ distributes banned books at the Tucson Festival of Books. You can help by donating books to our library from our wish list; all books are sold locally through Changing Hands Bookstore.
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Monitor or attend school board meetings in your district. Info here. -
Set up a high school voter registration drive with CEBV and The Civics Center. Info here. -
Protect students; become a Hall Monitor with Just Schools. Info here. |
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| | | | | | | | | | The Kids are All Right If you're looking for hope for the future, this guest speaker definitely provides it: Last week, we welcomed Unity Rising USA's Executive Director Jacob George to tell us about the important work his organization is doing. Unity Rising is a youth-led organization that works to empower students on college and high school campuses to challenge far-right extremist narratives, mobilize their communities, and become the next generation of elected officials who will work for justice, democracy, and an economy that works for everyone. Watch here |
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Speaking Truth to Power If you need even more hope for the future, we recommend watching this 13-year-old resident of Fountain Hills speak out and speak up at a recent Town Council meeting. In his own words, "Don't teach the next generation — my generation — that democracy is something that can be suspended when it becomes inconvenient." We hope you're as inspired by his bravery as we are! Watch here |
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| |  TAKE ACTION NOW PUSD is such a circus, thanks to the Christian Nationalists that run the board. (Case in point: Have you seen the video of Board member Janelle Bowles blaming low enrollment rates on abortion? Clownshow!) Now thanks to the loss of their override, PUSD must steeply slash their budget, and they're calling for feedback from the public. We encourage you to share your concerns about recent comments made by board members, such as: - Blaming declining enrollment rates on abortion (rather than voucher expansion)
- Advocating for sharing PUSD teachers with charter schools
- Implying that parents just need to form booster clubs to fundraise for their public schools
- Forcing students to say the Pledge of Allegiance
- Policing staff members' free speech in their private time
We also recommend demanding that PUSD stop wasting precious funding on political witch-hunts, 8-hour long board meetings/study sessions/executive sessions, and forming calendar committees (or potentially any other committee or survey) that they immediately ignore because they think committee formation is flawed and/or data is unreliable. Take action: visit this page and scroll to the bottom to provide feedback |
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| |  Save the Dates On December 27 at 5:30pm, please join us for a celebration of our secular community at the annual Festival of Pies. We'll meet at the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix for conversation and community-building, to raise funds for Secular AZ, and (of course) to enjoy delicious pastry treats. Bring a pie to share and to raffle! RSVP required. Then we'll meet again at the Humanist Society on January 10 for the annual Secular Summit. This year, our focus is on mutual aid, because we are our own saviors. But wait, there's more! Secular Day at the Capitol takes place on February 17. We hope you'll join secular supporters from around Arizona for a day of fellowship and activism. More info coming soon, so mark your calendars now. |
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| | | | THIS WEEK'S NEWS Thou shalt n̶o̶t̶ commit election fraud: Former Arizona state representative and Turning Point Action leader, Austin Smith, has pled guilty to attempted election fraud. The charges stemmed from Smith forging signatures on his nomination petitions for his 2024 reelection campaign. Under a plea agreement, Smith admitted guilt to reduced counts of attempted fraudulent schemes and practices and illegal signing of election petitions. So much for the 9th commandment. Read more. Never forget: Despite eventually voting for the release of the Epstein files once it became politically expedient, all six GOP representatives initially voted against the release or used delay tactics, contrasting sharply with the consistent support from all Arizona Democrats. Odd, considering how loudly Reps. Biggs and Gosar condemn "grooming." Of course, there are the same lawmakers that previously voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and bills addressing child sexual abuse investigations, treating accountability for sexual abuse as a political issue rather than a moral one, and prioritizing the protection of wealthy pedophiles. We strongly encourage all Arizonans to remember the despicable and hypocritical actions of these lawmakers when election time rolls around again. Read more. Chipping away at the Establishment Clause: A new public elementary school near Pueblo, CO is using a Christian curriculum, in spite of the constitutional requirement of the separation of church and state and the use of taxpayer funds. But the story gets worse: Internal emails revealed this was a deliberate legal strategy orchestrated by the school's lawyer and the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (because of course). Their goal was to create a test case, following an unsuccessful attempt in Oklahoma, to challenge the legality of public funding for religious education. The school's religious nature was initially concealed from the Colorado Department of Education. This calculated effort is an attempt to leverage children to litigate and tear down the wall between church and state. Read more. Actual cancel culture: Over 600 Americans have faced punishment, including firings and suspensions, for making comments critical of far-right activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination. This "pro-Trump crackdown" was government-backed, with the administration encouraging a frenzied culture of fear against Kirk's critics. Teachers, academics, and university administrators were the most frequent targets, accounting for over half the incidents. Many were disciplined for simply criticizing Kirk's politics or invoking "karma." This widespread action, which included visa revocations and workplace discipline, looks a lot like an authoritarian purge. Read more. And so it starts: In the first of what's sure to be many, many cruel, hateful, bigoted and batshit crazy bills, Arizona Republican Senator John Kavanagh plans to bypass Governor Katie Hobbs' vetoes by taking new bathroom and gender restrictions directly to voters. His proposed ballot measures would mandate that public school students use restrooms matching their assigned sex at birth and restrict the use of non-conforming pronouns by school employees. Kavanagh, who has repeatedly pushed legislation that focuses on other people's genitals and bathroom habits, believes voters support his position and aims to have the measures on the 2026 ballot to potentially impact Hobbs' reelection bid. Read more. |
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