Hi Tylar,

Thank you for your reply. We don’t get many negative replies because most Christians don’t support Christian nationalism. However, negative replies allow me to raise awareness of our organization and what we stand for.

The Maine Chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation supports everyone’s freedom of religion. We are also aligned with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. AU, founded by clergy whose president and CEO Rachel Laser is Jewish, is quoted in the article as saying public funds should only go to public schools. Neither group is rooted in hatred for religious people.

We monitor local, state, and federal governments for laws made based on religious beliefs, laws everyone must follow. Unfortunately, multiple laws based on a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, an interpretation most Christians do not share, are being made across the country.

At first glance, public funding of religious schools appears to be a positive ruling; allowing parents to send their children to a religious school and have their taxes pay for it is religious freedom. However, the article digs a little deeper. It raises awareness that public funding of Christian schools violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and public funding of private Christian schools is not Christian nationalism’s main goal.

The article exposes that goal: “Christian Fundamentalists divide the religious world into two categories: theirs and all the others. They regard their religion as the one true religion and all others, including mainstream religions, as teaching the religion of atheism.”

Mainstream Christians oppose Christian nationalism’s goal. They want to practice their freedom of religion by continuing to worship as they have always done. Mainstream Christians realize that if Christian nationalism is successful, only Christian nationalists will have freedom of religion.

For further reading on mainstream Christians who oppose Christian nationalism, I refer you to “Christians Against Christian Nationalism” (https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/). Their statement, “Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State,” supports the article’s contention that requiring Maine to fund Christian education is not religious freedom; it is religious privilege.

The Maine Chapter and Christians Against Christian Nationalism both help raise awareness that Christian privilege “implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our Christian brothers and sisters to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and our nation.

Tylar, I invite you to join us in the struggle to preserve everyone’s freedom of religion.