Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a 501(c)(3)

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that advocates for the disassociation of religion and religious organizations from government. The

separation of church and state in the United States "Separation of church and state" is a metaphor paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in discussions regarding the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which reads: ...

is often accepted to be provided in the

Establishment Clause of the First Amendment In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

to the United States Constitution, which states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." AU has been labeled "liberal" by the

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(AP).

Organization

Americans United describes itself as officially non-sectarian and non-partisan. According to ''The Praeger Handbook of Religion and Education in the United States'' "It includes members from a broad religious, and non-religious, spectrum, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists." Its national headquarters are in

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Its former executive director, Barry W. Lynn, is an ordained minister in the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...

, as well as an attorney involved with civil liberties issues.

History

Americans United for Separation of Church and State was founded on January 11, 1948,"New Protestant Group Seeks Taylor Recall From Vatican". ''The Baltimore Sun''. January 12, 1948. p. 1. as Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State (POAU) by a coalition of religious, educational and civic leaders. It was made in response to proposals pending in the U.S. Congress to extend government aid to private religious schools, particularly Catholic parochial schools, which was at the time, and continues to be, the largest system of private schools in the United States. They believed that government support for religious education would violate church-state separation and force taxpayers to subsidize sectarian education. The decision was made to form a national organization to promote and defend this point of view. It successfully protested against the appointment of a U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. They denounced the Catholic Church for disdaining democracy in the U.S. and worldwide. Officially incorporated on January 29, 1948, the organization aimed to influence political leaders, and began publishing ''Church & State'' magazine in 1952 and other materials in support of church-state separation to educate the general public. Its original founding members were Charles Clayton Morrison, Glenn L. Archer, Edwin McNeill Poteat, G. Bromley Oxnam, and Joseph Martin Dawson.

Notable work

Americans United was one of three national organizations that opposed the teaching of

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

Dover, Pennsylvania Dover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,953 at the 2020 census. History James Joner purchased in 1764 and laid out the town of Dover. It was known generally as Joners Town until 1815, when a Dover po ...

, public schools. A federal judge struck down the policy in December 2005 (see '' Kitzmiller v. Dover''). AU supports the right for gays and lesbians to marry, and opposes laws that would permit government officials, such as county clerks, from invoking religious freedom when refusing to issue such marriage licenses. AU started a "Protect Thy Neighbor" project to oppose such conscience legislation. Americans United represented residents of

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, who opposed that town's practice of opening its council meetings with mostly Christian prayers. AU lost the case, ''

Town of Greece v. Galloway ''Town of Greece v. Galloway'', 572 U.S. 565 (2014), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the court decided that the Town of Greece, New York may permit volunteer chaplains to open each legislative session with a prayer. The plaintiffs ...

'', when the

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held that legislative prayers do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. After the decision was issued, Americans United launched Operation Inclusion to advocate for making prayers "inclusive". Americans United has worked to uphold the federal law that bars non-profit groups, including houses of worship, from intervening in partisan politics. In 1992, the group reported a New York church, the Church at Pierce Creek, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after the church ran newspaper ads telling people not to vote for

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. The IRS subsequently stripped the church of its 501(c)(3) determination letter. After the church filed suit in federal court to get the determination letter back, the court noted, "because of the unique treatment churches receive under the Internal Revenue Code, the impact of the revocation is likely to be more symbolic than substantial.... Contributions will remain tax deductible as long as the donors are able to establish that the Church meets the requirements of section 501(c)(3)." Churches do not need a tax-exempt determination letter to receive all of the benefits of tax-exempt status. In May 2013, Americans United released a parody video starring

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series '' Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recog ...

and Jordan Peele as "Church" and "State", respectively, undergoing a humorous musical breakup.

Reception by religious community

In its first years, a main focus of AU's activity was opposition to the political activities of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and was thus seen by critics as a Protestant-based anti-Catholic organization. AU's executive director for 25 years, Barry W. Lynn, is a critic of religious fundamentalism on the

Christian right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with ...

and described himself as a member of the

Christian left The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...

. Professor Daniel Dreisbach argues: :In the mid-20th century, the rhetoric of separation was revived and ultimately constitutionalized by anti-Catholic elites, such as...Protestants and other Americans United for the Separation of Church and State...who feared the influence and wealth of the Catholic Church and perceived parochial education as a threat to public schools and democratic values. The Catholic

lay apostolate The lay apostolate is made up of laypersons, who are neither consecrated religious nor in Holy Orders, who exercise a ministry within the Catholic Church. Lay apostolate organizations operate under the general oversight of pastors and bishops, b ...

Church Militant In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into: *the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim which consists of Christians on earth who struggle as soldiers of Christ against sin, the devil, and "the ...

classifies AU as a "hate group" based on the claim that AU advances "the hateful policies based on wrong interpretations of the relationship between Church and State."

References