Americans United for Separation of Church and State – Bias and Credibility

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation.  They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.

• Overall, we rate the Americans United for Separation of Church and State or AU as left-biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

Americans United for Separation of Church and State or AU for short was founded on January 11, 1948, and is a nonpartisan nonprofit educational and advocacy organization that describes itself as dedicated to advancing the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure freedom of religion, including the right to believe or not believe, for all Americans.

The current president and CEO is Rachel Laser. A list of all the staff can be found here.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is funded through donations. They list their annual financial reports here.

Analysis / Bias

Americans United for Separation of Church and State or AU advocate for religion to be separate from government. They achieve this by publishing news and press releases such as this Americans United Urges Supreme Court To Protect Taxpayers From Being Forced To Pay For Private Religious Education. They also publish a blog that leans left in its editorial positions, such as this Public Schools Serve The Public Good — That’s Why They Alone Deserve Taxpayer Support.

The AU consistently fought against former President Trump’s expansion of religion in government AU Continues The Legal Fight Against President Trump’s Unconstitutional Muslim Ban and continues to advocate for LGBTQ rights. Generally, they report news factually and with a strong left-leaning bias, as they tend to be pro-science on all issues.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate the Americans United for Separation of Church and State or AU as left-biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record. (M. Huitsing 8/15/2017) Update (11/03/2023)

Source: https://www.au.org/