Freedom is often discussed as if it were stable. A principle that exists. A right that holds. Something we already secured. But what weâre seeing right now across the country makes something else clear: Freedom doesnât erode randomly â and it doesnât get tested in isolation. What weâre facing is coordinated.
Across states and local communities, weâre seeing efforts to reshape public education, restrict reproductive freedom, roll back LGBTQ+ rights, and redirect public resources into private religious institutions.Â
Sometimes that looks like a school board removing books about race and gender from classrooms. Sometimes it looks like private school voucher programs sending public funds to private religious schools that can turn students away. Sometimes it shows up in laws that impose a single theological view onto entire communities. These fights are often framed as separate. But they are connected.
They move through the same networks, the same legal strategies, and the same underlying idea: that government should reflect a particular set of religious beliefs â and that those beliefs should define who belongs in public life.
Thatâs what makes this moment different. And itâs why the response canât be fragmented.
The impact shows up locally. The strategy operates nationally. We see book bans in one district. Voucher programs in another state. A policy shift somewhere else. But the same rhetoric of âparental rights,â âreligious freedom,â âtraditional valuesâ keeps appearing, shaping policies that narrow who public institutions serve. And once you see that pattern, it becomes clear: responding in silos wonât meet the moment.
This is where church-state separation becomes more than a legal principle. It becomes the boundary that determines whether public life remains open to everyone â or is shaped by the beliefs of those with the most power. It protects the ability to practice religion (or no religion) freely. And the ability not to have someone elseâs beliefs imposed through law.
And when that boundary holds, something else becomes possible: public institutions that serve all of us, a democracy where participation isnât conditional, and a society where difference isnât treated as a threat. Thatâs whatâs at stake.
If this moment is defined by coordination, the response has to be as well. Thatâs why Americans United is hosting our fourth annual conference, the Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF), April 25-27, 2026, in Alexandria, Va., and online.
The Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF) exists to do something that often doesnât happen in this work: bring people into the same space to connect the dots, build shared language, and align strategy across issues that are too often treated separately. Because the person fighting a book ban and the person tracking voucher legislation are often up against the same playbook â they just havenât always been in the same room. SRF is where that changes.
This yearâs theme â Foundation to Freedom: Reclaim it. Defend it. Build it together. â reflects what this moment requires.
Reclaim it â by naming whatâs been distorted and who has been excluded.
Defend it â by strengthening the strategies needed right now.
Build it together â because no single movement can do this alone.
Last year, more than 700 people came together â organizers, attorneys, educators, faith leaders â building connections across movements and recognizing shared patterns in real time. Thatâs what SRF makes possible.
SRF is not just a conference. Itâs a space to step out of isolation and into alignment. To better understand what youâre seeing, how it connects, and where your work fits into something larger.
If youâve been looking for a place to make sense of this moment and to be part of what comes next, this is that space. Because protecting freedom has never been passive. It has always depended on people willing to see clearly, work across differences, and build a shared public life that makes room for all of us.
RSVP for the Summit for Religious Freedom today.
Photo: Participants in the 2025 Summit for Religious Freedom in Alexandria, Va. Credit: Christopher Line Photography
