The Foundation for Moral Law (FML) has sharply criticized the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) for its demand that Auburn University cease and desist from allowing certain religious activities on campus.

The FFRF, a Wisconsin-based organization that opposes religion in the public arena, wrote to Auburn U on September 19, complaining that the coaches had participated in baptisms and other religious activities with students on campus.

In response to the FFRF, FML Attorney Talmadge Butts wrote a letter to Auburn U officials on September 28, advising them that the FFRF frequently sends letters to public officials objecting to religious activities, but when they do so they commonly rely upon outdated and irrelevant cases and come to distorted and exaggerated conclusions. Attorney Butts further noted the 2023 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decision in which the Supreme Court held that Coach Kennedy’s prayers after football games did not violate the Establishment Clause and were protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. He added that the coaches’ position is strengthened by the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment, under which the protection for religious liberty in Alabama is one of the strongest in the nation.

Attorney Butts also offered to the Auburn coaches the legal assistance of the FML in the unlikely event that the FFRF should take legal action against them.

FML President Kayla Moore commended Attorney Butts for his letter, saying “The Foundation stands firmly with the coaches and students of Auburn. They have a right to free exercise of religion, and we will not stand by and permit a group of Wisconsin atheists take that right away from them.”

FML Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe added, “The FFRF wants Auburn to discriminate against religion. If those students and coaches were waving red flags and shouting Marxist slogans, the FFRF wouldn’t object at all."