americans united for separation of church and state

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (or Americans United for short) is an advocacy group in the United States which promotes the separation of church and state, a legal doctrine derived from the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The group was founded in 1947 and has both religious and non-religious members. Its current executive director is Rev. Barry W. Lynn, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ http://www.house.gov/scott/press/07.02.01.panelist.bios.htm http://www.secularstudents.org/activism/conference/speakers.html http://oak.conncoll.edu/~adfio/speakers.html, and its headquarters are in Washington, DC. http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aboutau The group opposes:http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues

"Electioneering" by non-profit churches and religious groups
The faith-based initiatives of the Bush Administration
Religious content in official ceremony such as the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency and the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Religious education, mandatory prayer, and Bible reading in the public schools
Educational vouchers which may be used to direct government funds to private religious schools
The Federal Marriage Amendment, because it priviledges religious groups that do not sanction same-sex unions over those that do.
The presence of religious symbols on public property, for example, the posting of the Ten Commandments in government buildings
The agenda and activites of what it calls the "Religious Right"

The free exercise of religion
The right of each religious group to define marriage on its own theological terms.
Judicial nominees that strongly support separation of church and state

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