Kentucky Archives - American Atheists

Stop State Lawmakers from Using Beliefs to Deny Healthcare

American Atheists — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 21:03:07 +0000

As a Kentuckian, it’s disappointing to see that my state legislators are prioritizing discrimination over some of the most pressing issues in our commonwealth. In the middle of a pandemic, when healthcare is so critically important to all of us, the Kentucky Senate is advancing a Denial of Healthcare Law, Senate Bill 83. It’s even more disappointing to see similar bills popping up in other states, like Arkansas, Montana, New Mexico, South Carolina, and South Dakota. Kentucky Senator Stephen Meredith’s bill would allow any worker in a healthcare setting—from doctors, nurses, and therapists, to nutritionists, physical therapists, nursing home faculty, hospital custodians, and more—to refuse to provide any service based on a philosophical or religious belief. Essentially, a healthcare worker could refuse to do their job and their employer could take no action against them. Even worse, this bill allows hospitals and payers to also refuse to provide or cover healthcare—including employers and insurance companies! Can you imagine all the services that could be denied and all the different “religious/philosophical beliefs” workers, employers, and insurers might have? Remember Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused to do her job and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples? Imagine if everyone working in a healthcare setting—or even your boss—had a legal right to deny you medical services. Here are a few examples in which “religious/philosophical beliefs” could be used to deny medical care. Receptionists could refuse to check in any patient they disapprove of: a single woman receiving pregnancy care, an overweight person receiving care for heart disease, a person living with HIV, a young person receiving a vaccine, or a smoker receiving care for lung cancer. Nursing homes would be able to refuse elderly people their ongoing treatment that they disagree with, such as contraception to prevent STIs, HIV care, or end-of-life palliative care. A pharmacist would be able to refuse to fill any prescription with which they disagree, ranging from contraception to HIV medication and beyond, and then refuse to refer the prescription to allow the patient to get it filled elsewhere. A medical researcher could refuse to publish the results of a government funded study if the results conflict with that individual’s personal beliefs. Your employer could refuse to cover pregnancy care to encourage women not to have children and take maternity leave. Think of all the harm to you, your friends, and family who are women, older Americans, living in rural areas, living with HIV, LGBTQ, or impoverished. Religious or philosophical refusals are not merely a matter of individual rights because they always affect someone else’s health or access to care, including your loved ones. There is simply no evidence that health care workers are regularly forced to provide health services that violate their religious beliefs. In fact, the opposite is true. Hospitals and other healthcare institutions regularly accommodate the desire of workers to avoid certain procedures that do not align with their beliefs. The number of instances where a worker has been purportedly forced to engage in such activities unwillingly is shockingly low. At the federal level, the Department of Health and Human Services for Civil Rights […]

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Kentuckians: Please Help Stop Dangerous Religious Exemptions in Health Care!

American Atheists — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 15:00:43 +0000

Last week the Kentucky Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill (SB 83) that creates dangerously broad religious exemptions for health care providers, institutions, and payers, allowing them to deny care based on their beliefs. This bill opens the door to widespread denial of care and discrimination. We need your help to stop it now! The Kentucky Senate will soon vote on this bill, so NOW is our chance to stop it in its tracks. Please contact your state senator and ask them to OPPOSE SB 83! This dangerous bill will allow health care providers, hospitals, insurers, and even employers to deny needed services, risking the health and safety of all patients in Kentucky. SB 83 will have unpredictable and far-reaching negative consequences, affecting health care such as contraception, end-of-life care, vaccination, pregnancy & reproductive services, counseling & behavioral health, fertility treatment, PrEP & HIV treatment, and many others. This is especially devastating to women, older Americans, LGBTQ people, people living with HIV, people with disabilities, and those living in rural areas. Please act now — ask your state senator not to put the personal beliefs of providers and hospitals above patients’ health and safety! P.S. — We are working with the Fairness Campaign to oppose this bill. If you are interested in helping to fight this terrible measure, please sign up for their alerts!

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Kentucky “Denial of Care” Bill Puts Kentuckians’ Lives in Jeopardy

American Atheists — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 19:32:08 +0000

Frankfort, KY—Today, the national religious equality watchdog organization American Atheists expressed grave concern about SB 90, a controversial bill that authorizes the denial of medical care based on the religious beliefs of insurance companies, providers, and institutions. Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced this denial of medical care bill. “SB 90 is the worst denial of care bill we’ve ever seen. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, and even insurance companies could refuse patients essential health care services and then justify this based on religious belief,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists, who submitted testimony opposing the bill. “Patients’ health care must always come first, particularly when lives are at stake,” said Johnny Pike, American Atheists’ Kentucky State Director. “Denying patients care in the name of someone else’s religious beliefs attacks patients’ own religious freedom.” “Kentucky’s Denial of Medical Care bill encourages abuse,” added Gill. “The potential ramifications of this poorly thought-out legislation are troubling.” Under Kentucky’s Denial of Medical Care bill, a receptionist could refuse to check in a single woman receiving pregnancy care, doctors could opt-out of providing any medical care without warning and without referral to a different provider, nursing homes could deny elderly people HIV treatments, pharmacists could refuse to provide contraception or medication, and insurance companies would have a ready excuse to deny any claim under the pretext of religious beliefs. The American Medical Association has condemned denial of medical care in the name of religion, citing “concern for vulnerable patient populations and asserting that conscience rights for physicians are not unlimited.” “Kentucky’s Denial of Care bill is not about religious liberty. It’s about Kentuckians’ lives,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “This dangerous bill is unconscionable, unethical, and un-American. If it becomes law, people will die.” Kentucky residents, act now to oppose this healthcare refusal bill.

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Atheists: “In God We Trust” School Displays Misinform and Harm Children

American Atheists — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 15:05:36 +0000

Frankfort, KY—Today, American Atheists and Kentucky atheist groups denounced the state’s new “In God We Trust” school display requirement as harmful to children. With 42% of 13 – 18 years olds identifying as non-Christian, “In God We Trust” displays stigmatize nearly half of all students. “When non-Christian students are confronted with this divisive motto in every classroom, every day, they are left with the unmistakable impression that they aren’t fully American,” said Nick Fish, President of American Atheists. “The public education system should be focused on one thing: Educating young people. These political fights have no place in our nation’s schools.” On March 25, 2019, Governor Matt Bevin signed the “In God We Trust” bill into law. Representative Brandon Reed, the bill’s sponsor, said that we need God now more than ever and that “In God We Trust” is an essential part of what it means to be an American. “As a Kentucky parent, I owe it to my three children to protect them from this sort of forced religious indoctrination,” said Johnny Pike, American Atheists’ Kentucky State Director and a U.S. Army veteran. “It attacks my family’s patriotism. Even if we do not ‘trust in God,’ we are just as American as anyone else.” “‘In God We Trust’ is a divisive, exclusionary motto that has nothing to do with our nation’s founding. It only became the official motto in 1956 after it replaced the unifying E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one), which was first proposed by Thomas Jefferson,” added Fish. “Kentucky’s students deserve all the facts.” To inform Kentucky parents, teachers, and children about the true origins of our national motto, American Atheists launched the NationalMotto.org website and created its own historically accurate “In God We Trust” posters that are available free-of-charge. “Not just Kentuckians, but all Americans deserve to know that ‘In God We Trust’ bills throughout the country are all part of Project Blitz, a Christian nationalist campaign to attack civil rights,” said Alison Gill, American Atheists’ Vice President for Legal and Policy. “These bills are the first step in an escalating campaign to attack religious equality, LGBTQ rights, and access to reproductive healthcare.” To learn more about Project Blitz, visit BlitzWatch.org.

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Kentucky Residents: Oppose Religious Coercion in Public Schools!

American Atheists — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 15:40:00 +0000

Kentucky lawmakers are close to passing a controversial bill (HB 46), which would require every public school to prominently display “In God We Trust” posters. Mandating these posters unfairly excludes atheists, and religious coercion has no place in our public schools. Please tell the Senate Committee on Education to oppose this bad bill! These Senators are holding a hearing on HB 46 TODAY, and your emails could make all the difference. HB 46 will result in bullying and harassment of students with minority beliefs. According to a study on religion in America by the Pew Research Center, 22% of Kentucky residents are religiously unaffiliated. Younger Americans are even more likely to be nonreligious. Kentucky lawmakers should not stigmatize these students by promoting religious messages in school! National motto display bills like HB 46 are being pushed by special interests as part of Project Blitz, an effort by Christian nationalists to rewrite American history so that it favors their agenda. These bills aim to undermine the separation of religion and government and spread a false narrative that America was founded as a Christian nation. We cannot allow special interests to use our children to achieve their political goals. Please take a moment and ask the Senate Committee on Education to oppose this bill.

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American Atheists Warns States about “In God We Trust” Posters as Religious Propaganda

American Atheists — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 19:53:36 +0000

Cranford, NJ—Today, American Atheists submitted testimony opposing two “In God We Trust” display bills. Kentucky’s HB 46 and Indiana’s SB 373 would trample religious liberty by forcing public schools to display this Judeo-Christian language. Kentucky’s “In God We Trust” Display Bill Specifically, Kentucky’s HB 46 would require schools to display “In God We Trust” in a prominent location in schools. Not only would this bill force non-believing students to view this religious message daily, it would further stigmatize children of no faith or minority faiths. As a result, bullying and harassment would likely increase. Just as bad, Kentucky taxpayer dollars would be wasted on defending this unnecessary and divisive law. KY’s education dollars should go toward educating students, not supporting religious messages by special interests. Indiana’s “In God We Trust” Display and Creationism Bill Indiana’s SB 373 is even worse than HB 46. SB 373 would force public schools to display “In God We Trust” in each and every classroom. SB 373 goes further than HB 46 in three additional and disturbing ways: School districts could teach creation science or other so-called “theories concerning the origin of life” instead of legitimate science. Courts have repeatedly made clear that teaching creation science is religious indoctrination, and therefore such a curriculum is inherently unconstitutional. Schools would encourage students to attend religious instruction and receive educational credit. This is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Schools could not infringe “parental rights” on what is taught. This concept is so vague and the legal protections so uncertain that it would result in an unworkable educational system and a host of unintended consequences. “This bill is shockingly unconstitutional. We hope that lawmakers in Indiana are wise enough to halt this roiling mess of poorly conceived ideas, religious coercion, and unintended consequences before it becomes law,” wrote Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy. Christian Nationalism and Project Blitz Both bills are part of Project Blitz, a multi-state campaign by Christian nationalists to promote the false narrative that America was founded as a Christian nation. American Atheists is leading the charge against Project Blitz with its BlitzWatch campaign.

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Creationist Encourages Kentucky Schools to Violate Constitution After Atheist Advisory Letter

American Atheists — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 16:12:09 +0000

Grant County, KY—In response to a letter from American Atheists reminding Kentucky schools of their obligations under the constitution to maintain religious neutrality, creationist and Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham has responded by urging schools to violate the constitutional rights of students. Earlier this month, American Atheists Kentucky State Director Johnny Pike, sent advisory letters to all Kentucky schools that advised them of common constitutional issues and incidents that occur in public school classrooms and events. Ham, as president of Answers in Genesis, runs the Ark Encounter, a creationist attraction that features a representation of Noah’s Ark and is associated with the so-called Creation “Museum.” The Ark Encounter is located in Grant County, Kentucky, and has attempted to portray itself as an acceptable educational field trip for public school students. However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that creationism, and a rebranded version of creationism called “intelligent design,” are unconstitutional violations of the Establishment Clause. Ham responded to the letter from American Atheists by suggesting that teachers should violate the constitutional rights of students by leading trips to his attractions which offer no educational value and are instead filled with religious propaganda. “The letter we sent to Kentucky schools was intended to inform schools about their obligations under the constitution to protect the rights of students,” said Pike. “It is important that administrators know what is permitted under the law to ensure that valuable school resources are not being wasted on litigating the already-clear legal principle of government neutrality on religious matters.” “Public schools exist to do one thing: prepare students for the future. Religious propaganda of the sort Ken Ham peddles has no place in Kentucky classrooms,” added Pike.

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