Ep. 454 - Interview with Rachel Laser, President of Americans United

Friendly Atheist Podcast

Religion & Spirituality, News Commentary, Politics, News

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this solo episode, I spoke with Rachel Laser, who became president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in February of 2018. She is the organization’s first non-Christian and female leader in its 75 year history. Rachel is a lawyer, advocate and strategist who has dedicated her career to making our country more inclusive. We spoke about her work with religious organizations, whether the Johnson Amendment will ever be enforced, what people still don't get about church/state separation, and more. 0:00 Intro 2:00 What did you take away from the results of the midterm elections? 5:16 What's the relationship between AU and religious organizations? 10:02 How does your strategy shift given the Supreme Court's right-wing shift? 17:23 How fundamental are lawsuits to AU's mission? 22:18 Are there ways to get Republicans to support church/state separation? 27:04 What misconceptions do Americans have about church/state separation? 32:57 Will new IRS funding lead to enforcement of the Johnson Amendment? 36:03 What are the biggest looming church/state issues we should be concerned about? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a Glassbox Media Podcast.
0:06.0	This is Hemant Mehta for the Friendly Atheist Podcast.
0:10.0	We would appreciate your support at patreon.com slash Friendly Atheist Podcast.
0:15.0	You will get bonus episodes and add free episodes.
0:19.0	Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
0:21.0	I'm solo this week.
0:23.0	But I have the chance to talk to someone I have a lot of respect for
0:27.0	and I hope you enjoy this interview.
0:29.0	It's with Rachel Lazer, the president and CEO of Americans United
0:34.0	for separation of church and state.
0:37.0	She became the president and CEO of AU in February of 2018.
0:42.0	She's the organization's first non-Christian and female leader in its 75-year history.
0:48.0	Rachel is a lawyer, advocate and strategist who has dedicated her career
0:53.0	to making our country more inclusive.
0:57.0	In her position at Americans United, Rachel oversees the organization's work to protect
1:02.0	freedom of conscience for all and ensure religion is not used to justify discrimination.
1:08.0	Prior to coming to AU, Rachel worked as an educator on white privilege and racism
1:14.0	and held positions as Deputy Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
1:21.0	Director of the Culture Program at Third Way and Senior Counsel at the National Women's Law Center.
1:28.0	Rachel is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.
1:33.0	She is also a former board member of Nairale Prochoice America.
1:37.0	We spoke about what the midterms revealed about America's views on church-state separation,
	...

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