Category: Event

April 23 and 24 was Earth Day at Forest Park in St. Louis. AU was there with an informational booth manned by Board members and volunteers on both days. The first day was warm and windy and the second was still warmish but not especially dry. A good crowd of people and dogs were there, just like old times. Many old and new friends dropped by to talk about church/state issues and to pick up literature. Volunteer Dave Eschmann and Board members Carol Bartell  and and Hal Harris are in the picture.

At 7:00 CST on March 16, AU’s long-time (1992-2017) Executive Director had a Zoom dialog with our chapter. It was a pleasure to see our old friend and to hear his views on the present state of church/state relationships and current supreme court cases.

You may have seen work by Professor Randall Balmer, historian at Dartmouth, in Church and State, or seen him interviewed on PBS, and he had an op-ed, “The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth”, in the October 7 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is author of a new book,  “Bad Faith and the Religious Right” (Erdmann’s, 2021). We were delighted to have him as our Zoom guest for a short talk, “Why Racism, Not Abortion, Birthed the Religious Right”,  and a question/answer session  on Thursday, November 4, 2021.  A recording of the Zoom session is by clicking this link [Passcode was required inadvertently. No longer the case!]

We were delighted to have a Zoom featuring AU’s Executive Director, Rachel Laser, for a post-election discussion, on November 18 .  A new administration does not mean that church/state issues are likely to be less difficult than they have been for four years. Furthermore, there is likely to be mischief between now and Inauguration Day.   Rachel and Legal Director Richard Katskee gave us a comprehensive summary of the current and near-future activities of AU.

The County Libraries have cancelled all meetings in their facilities and so we didn’t have a place to meet.  Furthermore, meetings as large as ours would be banned in the region, anyway.  We instead met online in a super-secret ZOOM session.  Our meetings are generally open to anyone, but there isn’t a way to do that at this time.

Professor Greg Magarian of WU Law School spoke to a group of 40 of us at a meeting at The Ethical Society.  His topic was “The Law and Politics of Religious Accommodations”. It was a privilege to have a real expert to explain the ins and outs of RFRA, its history and weaponization. Professor Magarian teaches and writes about U.S. constitutional law, with emphasis on the freedom of expression. His first book, “Managed Speech: The Roberts Court’s First Amendment”, was published in 2017 by Oxford University Press.
Presentations drawing on the talented faculties of local universities have been quite with our members, and we will surely do more of that.  Members are welcome to suggest speakers: mail prez@stlau.org

AU members in the St. Louis region were  invited by mail to our annual Holiday Party on January 2, 2020. It was an opportunity for members to meet the Board, convey their ideas about future programs, and volunteer for activities. A generous Board member generously provided the venue.  Hope you were there – if not, next year!

Our annual picnic at the South Shelter of Shaw Park in Clayton on Sunday, September 15, was a big, hot success! Our distinguished speaker was Ken Warren, Professor of Political Science at St. Louis University, who spoke about the 2020 election: “Religion and Politics, 2020: Russians Aren’t the Only Threat!”. President of The Warren Poll, he has polled for the media, government, private clients and politicians throughout America and has served as a political analyst for local, national, and international media for more than 30 years.He has appeared in The New York Times, The London Times, The Wall Street Journal and the New Republic, and on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN,FOX, MSNBC, PBS, CBC, BBC, NPR, and on numerous foreign print and electronic media outlets in Europe, the Middle East, Far East, and Australia.