Introduction

Throughout its seven editions, our annual State of the Secular States report has shown that the white Christian nationalist movement has used state legislatures as the front line in their war against religious equality, pluralism, and democracy itself. And while all Americans pay the price, there is no question that certain groups have borne the brunt of the attacks carried out by this movement.

The legislative agenda of white Christian nationalist ideologues puts the lives of countless Americans at risk. Their anti-abortion extremism results in countless women — often with wanted pregnancies — being forced to choose between fleeing their home state to receive care or waiting until they are on the verge of death to receive the treatment they need. LGBTQ people, particularly trans young people and their families, are being scapegoated, seeing their rights rolled back, and facing explicit persecution and erasure from public life by their state governments. And millions of public school students are being subjected to coercive, divisive, and distracting intrusions of religion into their classrooms while teachers and librarians are harassed and threatened for having the “wrong” books on their shelves.

This language may seem alarmist, but it is the reality facing Americans in states where white Christian nationalism is ascendant and wielding power. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a concurring opinion addressing Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion, “Hospitals in Idaho have had to airlift medically fragile women to other States to receive abortions needed to prevent serious harms to their health.” Women in Georgia, Texas, and Oklahoma report waiting in hospital parking lots, bleeding, until their infections are deemed serious enough to receive care. Sadly, as in the case of 28-year-old Amber Thurman from Georgia, that care sometimes doesn’t come quickly enough and costs patients their lives.

The life and death consequences of these draconian abortion restrictions were not difficult to foresee. We, alongside countless other advocates, sounded the alarm from the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Undeterred, white Christian nationalist lawmakers and the well-funded movement backing them charged ahead. Since then, some states have attempted to ban interstate travel for accessing abortion. Infant and maternal mortality rates have skyrocketed in states with abortion bans. And rather than funding actual health care, these same states are directing billions of dollars to so-called “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” — religiously affiliated organizations that offer little to no actual medical care butinstead spread lies and misinformation about the pregnancy options of the people they purport to care for.

The acute threats posed to individuals living in these states are horrific and cannot be overstated. But the threats posed by white Christian nationalists extend even further — they’ve set their sights on undermining the institutions that are cornerstones of our communities and serve all Americans in a non-partisan, non-sectarian way. Whether that’s defunding public schools through privatization, injecting propaganda into classroom curricula, or attacking the foundations of our democracy itself, the white Christian nationalist movement is not satisfied with the damage they’ve already done.

Thankfully, in states with access to robust direct democracy options like ballot initiatives, measures to protect access to abortion continue to have strong support. And in states not controlled by anti-abortion extremists, legislation has been passed that expands access to abortion, protects the rights of trans and other LGBTQ people, and closes loopholes within civil rights laws. In Colorado, an innovative health care transparency law long championed by American Atheists was passed, signed into law, and implemented. A similar law passed in New York and is awaiting the governor’s signature. And our efforts to end child marriage state by state have continued to find success.

With the re-election of Donald Trump, these states will continue to be the only bulwark against increasingly extreme attacks on our secular community and our rights. The federal government, including the federal courts, will not be viable forums to vindicate our rights. Rather, the fight will occur in 50 state capitals. American Atheists will continue to invest in supporting grassroots activists on the ground as we prepare for what’s to come.