The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has pushed back against the FBI after discovering that the bureau has a chaplain who prays at events.
The FFRF wrote a letter to the FBI demanding that it provide a list of anything remotely related to the Christian faith. The FBI reportedly has a chaplain that offers a Christian invocation at the bureau’s graduation ceremonies, as well as allows religious figures into the VIP section during FBI Academy events, the FFRF said.
“It is a fundamental constitutional principle that publicly funded institutions cannot support, promote or otherwise endorse religion or engage in religious exercises,” said FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line in a letter. “Therefore, it is inappropriate for a public institution such as the FBI Academy to schedule an invocation as part of a secular graduation ceremony.”
The group of atheists, agnostics, and free-thinkers also targeted an FBI supervisor after he “forwarded an email from the Academy chaplain to all employees reminding them ‘that there is a divine power in charge of all things. You are all very much appreciated and I have been praying for you and your loved ones each week. . . . I have restocked the chapel with Bibles, MP3 sticks, and tracts for all.'”
“The FBI is meant to be setting a standard for the entire country in constitutional matters, including secularism,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “Instead, it is engaging in practices that are alienating to its non-Christian trainees — and to the nation’s non-Christian population at large.”
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