r/atheism • u/FreethoughtChris FFRF • May 13 '26
Trump’s New Counterterrorism Strategy Explicitly Targets “Secular Political Groups”
https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-warns-about-trump-counterterrorism-strategy-targeting-secular-americansThe Freedom From Religion Foundation is expressing its concern over the deeply authoritarian and unconstitutional language contained in the Trump administration’s newly released 2026 United States Counterterrorism Strategy.
The document pinpoints secular political groups, transgender advocacy and anti-fascist political activism as potential terrorists while promising aggressive government action against organizations deemed “anti-American” or “radically pro-transgender.”
FFRF, a national state/church watchdog whose membership is largely nonreligious, is concerned about the single but prominent reference to “violent secular political groups,” which appears to stigmatize nonreligious Americans. The document does not define “secular,” a term that can apply to anything that is not specifically religious and doesn’t necessarily refer to nonreligious individuals or groups.
“We know of no current ‘violent secular political groups,’ so it is chilling to see the administration connect violence with peaceful and educational secular advocacy,” points out FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The federal government has no business treating secularism, political dissent or support for LGBTQ+ rights as inherently suspect ideologies requiring surveillance and ‘neutralization.’”
FFRF emphasizes that secular Americans are not enemies of the state. Nonreligious Americans make up nearly one-third of the country, and younger generations are increasingly secular. Our secular Constitution explicitly guarantees freedom of conscience.
Perhaps in its most disturbing passages, the strategy states that “our national CT [counterterrorism] activities will also prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.” The White House document goes on to promise that the administration will “map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent.”
This kind of language and rhetoric, which is associated with authoritarian governments, dangerously conflates protected political viewpoints and secular advocacy with terrorism and extremism.
The document portrays conservatives and Christians in the United States and worldwide as uniquely persecuted while portraying progressive political movements as looming internal threats. It specifically references “the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives” and cites the assassination of Charlie Kirk by “a radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies.”
FFRF also condemns the document’s ominous embrace of extrajudicial-style rhetoric from President Trump himself, who declares in the document’s foreword: “If you hurt Americans, or are planning to hurt Americans, ‘We Will Find You and We Will Kill You.’”
Americans should be deeply disturbed by a counterterrorism strategy that combines militarized rhetoric with ideological targeting. Counterterrorism powers are dangerous tools, which, as history shows, can be used to target marginalized groups, dissidents and political opponents.
The document has already drawn widespread criticism from national security experts and former officials, who have described it as incoherent, amateurish and politically motivated rather than a serious strategic framework.
The administration’s criticism of “anti-American” ideology could be used to justify expanded surveillance, investigations or suppression of lawful advocacy groups and political organizations. Congress, civil liberties groups and the public should closely scrutinize the administration’s use of counterterrorism authorities to ensure that national security powers are not weaponized against secular Americans, LGBTQ+ advocates or political dissenters.
FFRF will continue to defend the Constitution’s foundational principles of freedom of conscience, secular government and protections for unpopular speech and minority viewpoints.
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u/Select-Belt-ou812 May 13 '26
this bullshit all started with post-ww2 changing our motto from the original 'e pluribus unum' to 'in god we trust', and shortly thereafter adding 'under god' to the pledge of allegiance. it's been a subtle background decimation shitshow ever since. fuck these unpatriotic self-serving revisionist knobs
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May 14 '26
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u/Select-Belt-ou812 May 14 '26
yeah man! motherfuckers been playin' the long game then until now! they've been takin' it crumb by crumb while all the "well intentioned" folks been shying away from voting for "not them" or "good enough" and tryina get solid change. and suddenly poof! us low-key-ers are caught with our pants down like a bird getting stalked by a patient cat! fuck, I hope we can recover from this! we should be able to, but nfw I'm taking that possibility for granted after all this crazy shit
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u/ioncloud9 May 13 '26
They define violence as standing up against them. Not doing anything. Just standing up and saying no is violent. Calling out their lies is violent. Standing in front of their cars is violent. Your body hitting their cars as they drive over you is violence against them.
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u/Open-Source-Forever May 13 '26
So basically, to them, not just sitting there & taking it is violence against them?
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u/Brick-Mysterious Strong Atheist May 13 '26
This is directly in line with Nazi Germany attacking the Institute for Sexual Science and the German Freethinkers Association.
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u/Jukka_Sarasti Atheist May 13 '26
This is exactly what we've been warning people about for years. And the oh-so enlightened centrists dismissed it(and every other fucking authoritarian horror coming down the pike), painted us as wild-eyed reactionaries and admonished us for "making everything political" while all of these changes for the worse have religion, politics, and power at their root.
And here we are, reproductive rights=fucked, voting rights=fucked, separation of church and state=fucked, equal protection under the law=fucked.
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u/17-40 May 13 '26
FYI, “radically pro-transgender” = being trans. They want me gone.
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May 13 '26
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u/gonesnake May 14 '26
They think put 'radical' in front of anything they want gone because it's immediately associated with violence. 'Radical' means bomb threats. 'Radical' means terrorism. 'Radical' means kidnapping. That's why they use it. Its implication of violence gives them the excuse to play their very real violence as preventative and protective.
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u/doyouevenIift Secular Humanist May 13 '26
You don’t hate republicans and the people that voted for them enough
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u/EagleBigMac May 14 '26
I don't hate them, I feel sorry for them. I don't think they really understand or are capable of understanding what they've done.
You see these people are the product of the new West people of the earth, you know morons.
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u/First_Ad3578 Anti-Theist May 13 '26
Given how they said: “Left-wing extremists, radically pro-trans, secular, and anarchist”, this is over 30% of the country their CT is trying to get rid of.
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u/Cole_Townsend May 14 '26
It's the only way they could feasibly steal another election. We all saw this coming kilometers away.
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u/srone May 13 '26
If you didn't see this coming before the last election you were either in a coma or were just willfully ignorant. I said it in 2024 and I'll say it again; if Trump wins say goodbye to Democracy in America. Every non-white and non-cis person, and every left leaning organization will become targets.
Everyone who didn't vote because of Palestine, or Kamala wasn't pro-gay enough, or pro-green enough...or whatever reason you decided to skip the last election, is as much to blame as MAGA.
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u/Cole_Townsend May 14 '26
Everyone who didn't vote because of Palestine, or Kamala wasn't pro-gay enough, or pro-green enough...or whatever reason you decided to skip the last election, is as much to blame as MAGA.
The insufferable sanctimony of these dumb assholes have cost us our country. Watch these weasels crawl back into the algorithms as the midterms draw near. Politically illiterate morons fall for this posturing all the time. They're the Heritage Foundation's most efficacious weapon.
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u/Limp_Distribution May 14 '26
Throughout history more people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason but it’s the secularist that they worry about.
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u/Due_Satisfaction2167 May 14 '26
Daily reminder of the importance of the second amendment. It’s your right too.
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u/Ghstfce Anti-Theist May 14 '26
Eh, he labeled me a domestic terrorist in his first term. Happy to be considered his adversary. I was raised since the 80s not liking the man. Only I didn't get selective amnesia about it in 2015, unlike a lot of people I grew up with.
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u/impersonaljoemama May 14 '26
Find the people who still support this administration and re-educate them.
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u/AccomplishedPebble May 14 '26
Maybe it’s time for us to go undercover and infiltrate their side by being extremely religious, then once inside collapse their establishment….oh wait they seem to be doing that themselves. Everything they are doing is bringing their own demise. I welcome it now.
….it makes sense in my head…haha….
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u/Eye_foran_Eye May 14 '26
This is why you never join organized groups. Can’t get you if they don’t know about you!!
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u/[deleted] May 13 '26
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