Strongly Stated 
By: Ryan Jayne, Senior Policy Counsel
Ryan Dudley, State Policy Manager
Mickey Dollens, Regional Governmental Affairs Manager
As a majority of state legislatures across the country adjourn “sine die,” Latin for “without a day,” signaling the end of legislative session, it’s time to assess the damage, celebrate the victories and brace for what Christian nationalist lawmakers have lined up for next year.
Across the country, we saw another flood of bills pushing the Ten Commandments into public school classrooms, inviting chaplains into schools, carving out prayer or bible-reading time during the school day, mandating released-time religious instruction, imposing extreme abortion bans, and funneling tax dollars to private religious schools. At the same time, some state lawmakers pushed so-called “anti-Sharia law” bills, frantically warning that Islamic law could somehow overtake American courts. (Hello, heard of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause?)
Since January, our state policy team has issued more than 40 action alerts to stop bad bills and advance good ones. While some bad bills became law, the majority of bills we fought back against failed, thanks in large part to your advocacy.
That kind of effective rapid response advocacy takes months of tracking, legal analysis, and organizing. If you value this work, please consider donating to the FFRF Action Fund so we can keep stepping up and pushing back the moment they appear.
Thankfully, we celebrated victories too, like helping pass an Oklahoma law banning child marriage (18-plus with no exceptions) and introducing our own proactive model legislation, the KPOP Act (Keep Proselytizing Out of Public Schools), also known as the Student Secular Bill of Rights, in multiple states with our partner organizations.
We want to give sincere appreciation to everyone who signed up for our action alerts and called their lawmakers. This is why rapid-response advocacy works!
Here’s your 2026 end-of-session Strongly Stated roundup:
Alabama
Let’s get the bad news out of the way. Alabama was ground zero in 2026 for Christian nationalist legislation. Lawmakers advanced a full slate of bills injecting religion into public schools from every angle.
HB 8 (school chaplains) Action Alert
SB 99 (mandatory Ten Commandments displays) Action Alert
SB 248 (released-time for religious instruction) Action Alert
SB 209 (“sexual risk avoidance” sex ed)
All four became law. This is the full package: religious figures in schools, religious texts on display, religious instruction tied to the public school day and abstinence-only sex education shaped by religious dogma. Stay tuned for our response.
Arizona
Arizona kept the so-called “religious freedom” bills rolling. We have so far successfully opposed HB 2110, which would have forced school boards, charter boards, and higher-ed governing bodies to allow prayer at meetings upon request.
We also fought SB 1016, another bad bill that would have expanded religious exemptions from Covid-19 vaccines to a broader range of “medical products” and that, thankfully, hasn’t passed yet. Despite movement early in the session, momentum behind these bills seems to have slowed. We hope the close of the legislative session comes without further consideration of these troubling bills.
Delaware
Delaware delivered some encouraging news. We’re supporting SB 5 (and its Senate substitute), a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom, including decisions on pregnancy, abortion, contraception and related care. That bill is still moving through the Legislature.
Indiana
Indiana tried to sneak Ten Commandments displays into schools via HB 1086. After submitting our testimony in opposition, it was scaled down to add the commandments to a list of “protected writings” and bar teachers from reading them aloud with students present. Thanks to your action on our action alerts, we are glad to report that the bill is DEAD.
Kansas
HB 2431 and SB 424 are Kansas versions of our Keep Proselytizing Out of Public Schools “KPOP”/Student Secular Bill of Rights model bill. These would’ve protected students from school-sponsored religious coercion. Both died in committee, but introducing them helped raise awareness in Kansas. And this is only the beginning of our push for this protective legislation.
We also scored a defensive win when SB 515 had Christian calendar-based sports restrictions amended out after pushback. And we supported HB 2352, adding clergy as mandated reporters for child abuse (with an unfortunate exception for confessions). It passed the House and moved to the Senate, but regrettably died. We’ll keep pushing for this next year.
Kentucky
We supported SB 240, the Student Secular Bill of Rights (Kentucky’s KPOP version), but it never made it out of committee. We are gathering more supporters and look forward to the bill returning next year.
We opposed SB 72, a broad medical refusal bill that would have let providers deny care based on religious objections. Fortunately, this bill died as well, and hopefully we will not see it again!
Louisiana
We opposed SB 307, which would have authorized a privately funded Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol grounds, ludicrously framed as an “educational document.” The debate on the bill highlighted a basic problem: Even Christian theocrats can’t agree on which version of the Ten Commandments to use.
Maryland
Maryland took a promising shot at protecting elections from church electioneering. We supported SB 4, which would let officials revoke tax-exempt status from 501(c)(3)s, including churches, that violate the Johnson Amendment by politicking from the pulpit. Churches shouldn’t get to run as unregulated political machines while keeping their tax breaks. The bill passed the Senate and awaits House action. We also submitted testimony in opposition to HB 24, which authorizes chaplains as volunteer aides in schools. It failed in committee and is officially dead.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts made progress on public health. We are part of a broad coalition supporting H 2554 to eliminate nonmedical (including religious) exemptions from school vaccine requirements. Student health shouldn’t play second fiddle to religious exemptions.
New Hampshire
We opposed CACR 28, a constitutional amendment that would have declared morality “grounded on evangelical principles” and would have allowed local governments in the state to pay for “public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality.” This shocking bill fortunately died. No state constitution should treat non-Christians as second-class or unconstitutionally establish evangelicalism as a preferred religion.
Ohio
We opposed HB 486, the “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act,” which encourages schools to push a historically inaccurate version of history. The bill claims to support “accurate historical instruction,” but its examples are riddled with historical errors. For instance, the bill claims that Ben Franklin told Thomas Paine to burn a copy of “The Age of Reason,” which Paine did not begin writing until after Franklin’s death. This mischief-making bill full of disinformation is stalled in the Senate Education Committee, where it hopefully will remain.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma delivered a big win, and some warnings. We strongly supported and advocated for SB 504, a child marriage ban raising the age to 18 with no exceptions. It became law without Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature on May 13. This is a major victory against religious and patriarchal justifications for underage marriage. Oklahoma is now the 17th state (plus Washington, D.C.) to fully ban it.
We also backed HB 3488 (Oklahoma’s KPOP bill), which died on the House floor as an amendment but offered a strong secular alternative to a “period of prayer” bill, which also died thanks to our collective efforts.
And SCR 19, a “Christ is King” resolution, was introduced but didn’t advance far. Even symbolic moves like this send a clear message to non-Christians: You’re outsiders here. Thankfully, this bill is DEAD.
We submitted testimony against HB 3240, a “period of prayer.” The bill failed, marking another important win for state/church separation.
On the downside, the state enacted SB 1679, the “Preserving Oklahoma Values Act,” which elevates vague “Judeo-Christian Western values.”
South Carolina
South Carolina pushed on two fronts. We opposed H 4762, bundling two of the worst Christian nationalist bills being hawked around the country: school chaplains with Ten Commandments displays. We also fought SB 1095, an extreme abortion ban stripping exceptions and criminalizing providers. Both bills are now DEAD, with the legislature out of session for the year! Yay!
Tennessee
We opposed HB 47 / SB 303, which would allow public schools to erect Ten Commandments displays. Very unfortunately, this bill passed, as did SB 1828, another “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act.”
We also battled HB 1491/SB 1714, which would have mandated public school daily prayer periods and required instruction on Israeli history, the bible, Jesus and early Christianity. Fortunately, this bill did not pass.
Utah
FFRF Action Fund was dismayed to see Utah pass HB 312, which requires public schools to incorporate selected bible passages into social studies for grades 3–12 even after we fought it. Students need accurate history, not Christian nationalist mythology repackaged as civics.
SB 268 further opens the door to religious indoctrination in public schools. This bill requires that all students explicitly examine “the fundamental role of religion in United States history and the primacy of religious liberty to American constitutional government.” While the bill pays lip service to prohibiting school officials from endorsing a particular religion, reality tells us that, at the very least, this bill muddies the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause waters.
Vermont
We are grateful to state Rep. Monique Priestley for introducing H 705, Vermont’s KPOP bill. It’s still pending, and we are actively gathering supporters for our model legislation.
West Virginia
We opposed SB 388, which would require schools to place a copy of the Aitken Bible in social studies classrooms. The Aitken Bible is a favorite of pseudohistorian David Barton, who regularly and falsely claims that Congress published and placed it into public schools. The bill deservedly died after passing the state Senate.
Wisconsin
We supported SB 634 to raise the marriage age to 18 with no exceptions. It failed. Frustrating, but the national momentum on banning child marriage continues. We are hopeful that next year, Wisconsin legislators will have a greater appetite for this and other good bills, including our model KPOP Act.
Federal voucher fight
We also pushed back against the federal voucher scheme, called the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, which funnels public money to (mostly religious) private schools. We supported S 4297, the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act, to repeal it, and our advocates contacted their governors in droves to urge them to opt out of the wrongheaded program.
The takeaway
This session, the FFRF Action Fund tracked and fought hundreds of harmful bills rooted in Christian nationalism. Thankfully, most were killed. We also played offense with KPOP bills being introduced in Kansas, Vermont, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Ohio. They didn’t pass because this is only the first year they’ve been introduced, but they shifted the conversation and set the stage for reintroduction next year.
What comes next
Expect more of the same in 2027, but slicker. Theocratic lawmakers are emboldened and will keep testing the courts. We’ll keep playing both defense and offense, pushing KPOP bills and introducing the CHARM Act in multiple states to repeal immoral religious exemptions that allow parents to withhold necessary medical care from kids.
To expand this work, we need the resources to ensure we build on the progress we’ve made before Christian nationalist groups set their agendas going into 2027. Please consider making a contribution to help us keep building momentum into next year.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who submitted an action alert by calling and emailing their state elected officials. Your proactive efforts in this fight to uphold state/church separation make all the difference. Lawmakers respond to this sort of input, even if it doesn’t always seem so, and it’s a big part of how we’ll continue protecting secular government in the years ahead.
😳 I’m sorry, what?!
“How old was Mary when she married Joseph?” “Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all. Does ‘among all’ mean now only those who are 18 and older?”
—Two Oklahoma lawmakers arguing against a bill to ban child marriage.
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The FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations, and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues. The FFRF Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog and the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics) with more than 41,000 members nationwide.
