We Dissent

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca welcome Maya Henson, Senior Research Analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, for a deep dive into the impact of Christian supremacy and anti-student inclusion movements on public education. They discuss the many strategies used by Christian nationalists to influence our public schools—from curriculum control and book bans to release-time religious programs and the weaponization of "parental rights."

Show Notes

• Southern Poverty Law Center

• Resources

• Support Our Schools (public education defense group)

• Read Freely Alabama

• Stop Moms for Liberty

Cases

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

• Engel v. Vitale (1962)

• Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign County (1948)

• "American Library Association releases 2025 Most Challenged Books List as National Library Week Begins"

• Parents Defending Education v. Wellesley Public Schools (2022)

• AP - "District settles lawsuit over groups for students of color"

• Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025)

• NWLC - "Breaking Down the Supreme Court's Decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor: Why It is More Important Than Ever to Advocate for Inclusive Schools"

• Democracy Forward - "Back to School, and Back in Court: The Weaponization of Mahmoud v. Taylor"

• Episode 42 – High Unholy Season Continues: Mahmoud v. Taylor

Maya's Bio

Maya Henson is a senior research analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, where she focuses on the antigovernment movement, which includes the anti-student inclusion movement.

Before joining the SPLC, Maya spent over 10 years in higher education, which along with her academic background provides a unique perspective to monitoring and exposing extremism in public education.

Since joining SPLC, she has provided expert analysis on topics such as the dangers of the newly revived Florida State Guard, the parallels in the current anti-student inclusion movement to anti-integration fights 70 years ago, students mobilizing to fight censorship, and the contradictions and potential threats of curriculum and book bans. In addition to SPLC outlets, Maya's analysis has been featured in the National Urban League's State of Black America, as well as in international, national, and local media.

Maya has a B.S. in business administration from Stillman College, an M.A. in psychology, an M.Ed. in higher education administration, and an MLS is Indigenous Peoples law. She also holds an Ed.D. with a concentration in diversity and equity education from the University of Illinois, where her primary research focus was the experiences of minority students in higher education.

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Alison, Liz, and Rebecca recap the recent Supreme Court term and its implications for religious liberty. They break down the Court's rulings on conversion therapy bans, religious rights for prisoners, and transgender sports bans in public schools. They also discuss the ever-expanding "shadow docket" and the Court's alarming preference for deciding cases with no public hearing, briefing, or transparency.

Cases

• Chiles v. Salazar

• SCOTUSblog

• Opinion

• Previous episode: "Conversion Therapy" at the Supreme Court

• Conversion "Therapy" Laws - Movement Advancement Project

• Landor v. Louisiana

• SCOTUSblog

• Opinion

• Previous episode: Religion Behind Bars Reprise: Landor v. Louisiana

• Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020)

• American Atheists Amicus

• City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)

• West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox

• SCOTUSblog

• Opinion

• Previous episode: The Supreme Court Tackles Trans Sports Bans with Shiwali Patel

• Mirabelli v. Bonta

• SCOTUSblog

• Opinion

• Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025)

• Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana Application

• SCOTUSblog

• Grant of stay

• St. Mary Catholic v. Roy

• 10th Circuit Opinion

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

America turns 250 and the Trump Administration is celebrating by rewriting the past and the present. Alison, Liz, and Rebecca discuss how the administration hijacked the nation's planned bipartisan 250th anniversary celebration and turned it into a tax-payer funded Christian nationalist prayer revival. Then they dig into the report issued by the "Taskforce to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias," one of several task forces created by the administration to manufacture a "Christian persecution" narrative in order to privilege conservative Christianity under the law.

Show Notes

• The report on "Biden Admin Weaponization of the FACE Act" (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances)

• Just Security - "Separating Fact from Fiction in FACE Act Enforcement"

• National Women's Law Center: "The President's Slush Fund: A Gift to the Anti-Abortion Movement and a Blow to Our Democracy"

• Federal Register: Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission

• "Anti-Christian bias taskforce report" April 30, 2026

• Executive Order 14291- Establishing the Religious Liberty Commission

Cases

• Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. U.S. Dept. of State

• Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs

• Interfaith Alliance v. Trump

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

We Dissent co-host Rebecca Markert was recently featured on "In Progress," a part of the Progress Texas podcast network. Please enjoy this episode of In Progress while you wait for our next episode!

From Dan Patrick's declaration that the separation of church and state is dead, to Texas Republicans kicking Muslims out of their state convention in Houston, to the Ten Commandments and bible stories permeating our public schools, the takeover by Christian Nationalism of Republican politics is no longer a theory - it's real, and it's here, right now. How to resist is now one of the primary questions for progressive people - and we've brought on Rebecca Markert to discuss that question. She's the Vice President and Legal Director of Americans United For Separation of Church and State, a national organization dedicated solely to the protection of the foundational American principles of freedom of religion - and freedom from religion.

Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support their ongoing work at progresstexas.org

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Rebecca, Liz, and Alison speak with Rachel Levinson-Waldman from the Brennan Center for Justice about the Trump administration and current Congress weaponizing the government to attack nonprofits and punish speech and viewpoints they don't like. They explore how executive orders and anti-terrorism statutes are being abused to investigate, defund, and intimidate civil society, and how this strategy is essential to the broader project to transform America from a democracy to an autocracy.

Show Notes

• Rachel Levinson-Waldman's Bio

• Brennan Center for Justice

Trump Administration Documents

• Presidential Memo - "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence"

• Bondi Memo - "Implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism"

• "2026 Counterterrorism Strategy"

• 2027 FBI Budget Request to Congress

• Executive Order Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization

• Department of Justice - "The Biden Administration's Weaponization of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act"

• Executive Order - "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans"

Articles and Reactions

• NPR - "'We're not afraid': George Soros' foundation on being Trump's next target" (Open Society Foundation)

• Lawfare - "The Politically Motivated Indictment of Southern Poverty Law Center"

• Civil Society Rights & Resiliency Resources - Charity & Security Network

• "What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism"

• Cato at Liberty Blog - "Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States" (right-wing extremists account for 11% of politically motivated killings, while left-wing extremists account for 2%)

• Brennan Center for Justice - "Trump's Orders Targeting Anti-Fascism Aim to Criminalize Opposition"

• ACLU - "How NSPM-7 Seeks to Use "Domestic Terrorism" to Target Nonprofits and Activists"

• Just Security - "How Designating Antifa as a Foreign Terrorist Organization Could Threaten Civil Liberties"

• Lawfare - "The Bondi Memo's Quiet Rewriting of Domestic Terrorism Rules"

• Lawfare - "You Can't Designate 'Antifa.' Banks and Platforms Will Act Like You Did Anyway"

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca welcome AU Public Policy Counsel Rachael Stryer to review what came out of the state legislative sessions this year. They survey the laws state legislatures passed to force religion into public schools, use religion to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and divert public money to private religious schools.

Show Notes

• Rachael Stryer's AU Bio

• Organized Power in Numbers

• American Atheists - State of the Secular States

• Legislative trackers

• AU

• ACLU

• Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures

• Congressional Scorecards

• See your state ACLU for regional legislative tracking

• Action Alerts

• FFRF AF

• AU

• National Women's Law Center

• ACLU

Bills and Cases Discussed

• Ten Commandments Displays in Schools

• Alabama (SB 99)

• Tennessee (HB 47)

• Ongoing Lawsuits

• FFRF

• AU

• Prayer in Schools

• Alabama (HB 511): Requiring public schools to allow student-led prayer and requiring the pledge of allegiance

• Idaho (HB 623): Requiring a 60 second moment of silence for prayer or meditation at the beginning of the school day

• Chaplains

• Alabama (HB 8): Permitting school boards to adopt policies allowing volunteer school chaplains into schools

• Release Time

• Info on LifeWise

• AU: "Release time is a problem for church-state separation"

• FFRF Action Fund: "State Issue: LifeWise Academy/Release Time"

• Classroom Instruction and Curriculum Policies

• Tennessee (SB 1828): Requires public school history curriculums to teach about the positive impact of religion on American history and the influence of Judeo-Christian values

• Idaho (S 1336) and Utah (HB 312 and SB 268): Requiring curricula to teach the influence of Christianity in American history

• Vouchers

• Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)

• Carson v. Makin (2022)

• Columbus City School District v. State of Ohio

• Wisconsin PTA et al vs. Wisconsin State Assembly et al

• Healthcare Refusal

• Utah (SB 174) and Iowa (HF 571): Gives healthcare providers and religious healthcare institutions the right to refuse to provide services that violate religious beliefs.

• Foster Care and Adoption

• Indiana (HB 1389): Allows government-funded child placement agencies to use religion as a justification for refusing to work with families, youth in care, and prospective parents. And to allow adoptive or foster parents the right to "raise a child in a manner consistent with [their] sincerely held religious beliefs."

• Elizabeth Rutan-Ram et al. v. Tennessee Department of Children's Services et al (AU)

• Anti-Sharia law

• Tennessee (HB 2279), Florida (HB 1471), Iowa (HF 2695), and Idaho (H 602)

• Arkansas (SR 21)

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca take on the far-right pronatalism movement with guest Emily Martin, NWLC's Chief Program Officer. They explain the movement's history of racism, sexism, and eugenics, the alarming support it has in the Trump administration, and what truly pro-family policy would look like.

Background

• Emily Martin's Bio

• National Women's Law Center

• Sign up for alerts here

• National Women's Law Center - "Baby Bonuses and Motherhood Medals: Why We Shouldn't Trust the Pronatalist Movement"

• Heritage Foundation - Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years

• New York Times - "The Heritage Foundation Wants to Send American Women Back Half a Century"

• Ms. Magazine - "Trump's Pronatalist Agenda Weaponizes Motherhood to Push Women Out of Public Life"

• CNN Politics - "Hegseth invited pastor who calls for Christian theocracy to lead Pentagon prayer service"

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

We Dissent welcomes guest Shiwali Patel, Senior Director of Education Justice at National Women's Law Center, who walks us through the anti-trans sports ban cases currently before the Supreme Court, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. We discuss the history of Title IX and why the attack on trans sports participation is really an attack on the basis of this critical nondiscrimination law.

Background

• Shiwali Patel's bio

• National Women's Law Center

• Previous trans rights episodes

• Episode 16 – Sex on the Brain: the Assault on Trans People with Sasha Buchert

• Episode 38 – Skrmetti v. U.S.

• NWLC Amicus

• SCOTUSblog - "The justices and gender pronouns"

• SCOTUSblog - "Supreme Court appears likely to uphold transgender athlete bans"

Cases

• Little v. Hecox

• SCOTUSblog

• Oral argument transcript

• West Virginia v. B.P.J.

• SCOTUSblog

• Oral argument transcript

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

We Dissent welcomes back Alison Gill as co-host! Alison shares what she's been up to since leaving the pod, and then walks Rebecca and Liz through the state of our federal bench. We discuss federal judicial nominations from the recent presidential administrations and what it has meant or means for religious liberty and other civil rights.

Show Notes

• National Women's Law Center

• Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam - "Not Enough Respect For The Judiciary—or Too Much? Arrogance And The Myth Of Judicial Supremacy"

• New York Times - "Trump's 'Superstar' Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in His Favor"

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

There's no new episode this month, instead we have a special message for our listeners. We're excited to announce that Alison Gill is returning to the podcast starting in February! Additionally, the National Women's Law Center is going to be a co-sponsor of We Dissent moving forward. We have a lot of great episodes planned for 2026 and can't wait to share them with you.

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.