Theocracy Watch: Week of October 11, 2026
An Iowa city’s prayer policy backfires, Arkansas’s Ten Commandments monument goes to appeal, and Oklahoma weighs a religious charter school again.
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This week: an Iowa city’s prayer policy backfires, Arkansas’s Ten Commandments monument heads to the appeals court, and Oklahoma is asked again to approve a religious public charter school.
An Iowa city’s prayer fight
In Ottumwa, Iowa, former City Council member Matt Dalbey, a member of the Satanic Temple of Iowa, delivered the invocation at the council’s October 6 meeting under a policy adopted in January that lets people of diverse religious and nonreligious views take part. Mayor Benjamin Foote then allowed a pastor to counter it. The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote to the mayor and council on Friday, saying the controversy shows why government prayer is inappropriate and urging the city to stop opening its meetings with religion.
Arkansas’s Ten Commandments monument goes to appeal
In 2015 the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 1231, ordering a monument to the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds using a state-chosen version of the text. A federal district court ruled the law and the monument unconstitutional. FFRF and the American Humanist Association have now filed a brief asking the appeals court to uphold that ruling.
Oklahoma’s religious charter school, round two
Secular groups are again urging the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board to reject what they call the nation’s first proposed religious public charter school, the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School. Its application promised 335 to 495 students in grades K through 12. The school now says it plans to open as a high school with an “aspirational enrollment goal” of just 10 students in its first year, which the groups say shows it lacks community support and doesn’t meet the state’s requirements.
Bible verses on public school football gear
FFRF contacted two public school districts over religious messages on official football apparel. At Niwot High School in Colorado, a parent reported that players were handed team shirts printed with “HERE AM I, SEND ME,” a quote from Isaiah 6:8. At Logan High School in Ohio, school-provided coaching apparel declares “Jesus Won.”
Election season
With the November 3 election approaching, FFRF launched billboards in 19 markets urging Americans to vote like their rights depend on it, pointing viewers to ffrf.us/vote. On this week’s Freethought Radio, the FFRF Action Fund’s legislative team ran through the good and bad ballot initiatives around the country. The billboards · Freethought Radio
Good news
FFRF awarded $19,450 to college-bound students in its 2026 William Schulz High School Essay Contest, with 12 top prizes and 12 honorable mentions for essays on a favorite freethought or humanist hero. FFRF
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