Time to tear the #voucher system up by its abhorrent roots #education

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LZb7BY4yIDQ

 

One Nation, Indivisible with Andrew Seidel (Andrew Seidel; One Nation, Indivisible podcast Episode #037)

Trump and Mike Johnson are denying food to needy Americans and the story is being covered everywhere, but nobody is covering this: denying SNAP benefits is about advancing Christian Nationalism. Andrew explains. Plus, Florida politicians discover that vouchers are not just for Christians and they’re pissed off; and judges in Texas can now refuse to marry LGBTQ couples. Why? Because god.

Hemant Mehta covers the Florida vouchers kerfuffle.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-677sw-288acc97

Florida Republicans are furious that Muslims are using a voucher program meant to boost Christianity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R1WEPXIfrI

How to Stop Trump’s Bad Terrible Bill (Andrew Seidel; One Nation, Indivisible podcast Episode #016)

Happy Pride! 

It's time to take action. Andrew covers a $20Billion boondoggle buried in Trump's Big Beautiful Bill. But we have a chance to stop it. If you take some action. Andrew tells you how. Visit NoVouchers.org for more ways to fight back. 

Then, Andrew covers Rep. Mary Miller's prayerful bigotry in Congress around the Sikh prayers. 

Finally, Andrew's wraps up a bad, but not terrible (?) Supreme Court decision on religious exemptions to the social safety net. 

Buckle up.

Interview: 

https://onenationindivisible.supercast.com/subscriber_v2/feed_items/507286

Supreme Court deadlocks on allowing faith-based public charter schools - The Washington Post

The outcome was also welcome news for many charter school advocates, who fear that allowing religious charters would upend the legislative and political support for their model in some states. It may only be temporary, however. 

Legal and education experts said other religious public charter school cases could eventually also come to the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority has boosted the role of religion in schools and public life in a series of decisions over the last decade...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/22/supreme-court-oklahoma-religious-charter-schools/

Supreme Court says Oklahoma can't launch taxpayer-funded religious charter school

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anE48OSwdAY

 

BREAKING: US Supreme Court deals SURPRISE LOSS for Trump, Republicans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETuKRoAIEtY

 

Billionaires Are Dismantling Public Education in Texas. Your State Could be next

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oUItPqK8P0

 

There is nothing more un-Christian than stealing from the poor to give to the rich

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ejY5DKHsjD0

Evangelical education nearly ruined me. Now the Christian right is coming for public schools

Trump's secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has characterized the growth of US Christian schools as an "educational insurgency" collecting "recruits" to build an underground army "with the opportunity later on of taking offensive operations in an overt way", Hegseth said in a podcast appearance... 

"If you gave my students on the west side of San Antonio an $8,000 or $10,000 voucher, there's still no way they can afford a $20,000 a year private school," Talarico says. "But because the voucher program is universal, the wealthy family that is sending their kid to that private school will now get an $8,000 or $10,000 discount on their tuition, at the expense of the working-class kids on the west side."  

Talarico adds that the voucher program includes funding for home-school students, up to 90% of whom are Christian and whose curriculum is often poorly regulated. "So we taxpayers will be funding homeschool programs that teach students the earth is flat," he says...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/12/christianity-schools-republicans

Trump executive orders target indoctrination, vouchers and antisemitism - The Washington Post

"This order hijacks federal money used to level the playing field for poor and disadvantaged kids and hands it directly to unaccountable private operators," she said in a statement...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/01/29/trump-education-orders-indoctrination-school-choice-antisemitism/

Tax dollars paid for this failing Mormon school in Arizona!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUht_u8NIhs

The "New Atheist" War on Trans People (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #564)

— FFRF, Jerry Coyne, and why the “New Atheists” have waged war against trans people. (1:45)

— Taxpayers funded this trashy, failing Mormon-based private school in Arizona. (46:45)

— Oklahoma’s new social studies standards go all in on Christian Nationalism. (57:15)

— Texas book ban backfires after school removes Bible over “sexually explicit” content. (1:06:27)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2025/01/02/the-new-atheist-war-on-trans-people/

SC Supreme Court strikes down voucher scheme giving tax dollars to private schools

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L30C93U0z7o

Pope Francis: Both Candidates are ”Against Life” (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #549)

— Pope Francis pushes false claim that both presidential candidates are “against life.” (3:15)

— Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear courageously bans “conversion therapy” on minors. (14:08)

— Pastor claims he miraculously cured a man hospitalized due to voting for Democrats. (26:05)

— In Ohio, taxpayer dollars are being used to expand Christian schools. (36:56)

— South Carolina Supreme Court strikes down voucher scheme giving tax dollars to private schools. (47:40)

— Atheists to court: It’s okay to ban “faith statements” in taxpayer-funded Minnesota program. (55:31)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2024/09/19/pope-francis-both-candidates-are-against-life/

The Non-Religious Candidates on the Ballot (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #546)

— Why Hemant didn’t publish a story he worked on. (0:25)

— Tulsa mayoral candidate who wished all public officials were Christians loses race. (7:20)

— If Amendment 2 passes, Kentucky would waste taxpayer dollars on religious schools. (19:33)

— Christian pastors were told to start private schools since taxpayers would foot the bill. (32:03)

— Here are the openly non-religious candidates for state/federal office in 2024. (44:55)

— Teacher sues school district after getting fired for refusing to respect trans students. (1:02:24)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2024/08/29/the-non-religious-candidates-on-the-ballot/

Christian Nationalists Are Opening Private Schools. Taxpayers Are Funding Them. – Mother Jones

A prerequisite for students and their families to attend some of the schools that currently receive voucher money is that they accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. In March, the education blog Notes from the Chalkboard highlighted one such school. Students attending North Carolina's Daniel Christian Academy, are trained to "enter the Seven Mountains of Influence," a main tenet of a Christian Nationalist movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. Its adherents believe that the faithful are called to seek Christian control of the "seven mountains" of society: family, education, media, government, business, arts & entertainment, and religion. Many New Apostolic Reformation followers believe that waging "spiritual warfare" is justified in achieving these goals, though Daniel Christian Academy specifies that its endorsement of the Seven Mountains Mandate "in no way includes violence or manipulation at any level."…

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/06/christian-nationalists-are-opening-private-schools-taxpayers-are-funding-them/

Oklahoma’s Bible Class ”Released Time” (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #534)

— After proselytizing at graduation, did a Kentucky student deserve his diploma? (0:21)

— If Oklahoma allows Bible class “released time,” Satanists are ready to pounce. (13:00)

— Voucher programs are expanding, propping up religious schools with tax dollars. (32:00)

— Southwest Airlines: We didn’t fire that flight attendant because of her Christianity. (42:44)

— Christian zealot who destroyed Satanic display in Iowa Capitol accepts plea deal. (56:35)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2024/06/06/oklahomas-bible-class-released-time/

Billionaires targeting Texas schools, says former far-right hard-liner | The Texas Tribune

"It's all about destroying the trust with the citizens to the point where they would tolerate something like doing away with public schools," he said in an interview...

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/15/texas-tim-dunn-wilks-brothers-vouchers-courtney-gore/

Supreme Court neo-voucher ruling blasted by FFRF | Freethought Today

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down an alarming decision June 30 on school voucher programs that imperils true religious liberty, asserts the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “The ruling eviscerates a founding principle of our secular republic — that citizens must not be taxed to support religion, including religious schools,” comments FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. She adds that the ruling would appear to severely undercut specific safeguards in state constitutions prohibiting the union of state and church.
https://www.freethoughttoday.com/vol-37-no-06-august-2020/supreme-court-neo-voucher-ruling-blasted-by-ffrf