16 | MAY 18 • 2023 

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
enforcing the law until the election results. 
“In 100 days, we repealed the portion of the [penal] 
code that made abortion a felony,
” Bayer said. But 
there is a long way for legislators to go with “750 
restrictions scattered throughout our code that restrict 
the ability for women to get the services they need.
” 
Similarly, Bayer said Michigan has a number of 
laws pertaining to the marriage of minors. “The 
idea that you can marry at an early age is based on 
conservative religious standards,
” she said. A set 
of bills under consideration includes one banning 
marriage under age 18 without exception. “That 
would be a change to something that’s been on the 
books forever.
”
Moss was confronted by religious objections 
during the years he worked on an amendment to the 
Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, an anti-discrimination 
measure he felt needed to include protecting the 
LGBTQ+ community. 
“Religious freedom was used as an excuse to 
discriminate against others,
” Moss said. “One 
lawmaker actually wanted to allow firing someone 
whose religion doesn’t match his. But I’m proud to say 
we did pass the amendment with no added text, so 
religion stayed separate from civil rights in Michigan.
” 
He also spoke about the 6-foot Christmas — er, 
“holiday” — tree on display each December at the 
Capital. A menorah next to it has to be within smaller 
parameters and “requires extra labor to be taken 
down each night.
” Bayer finds it all “wildly unfair. 
Some religions don’t have any of those symbols. There 
is always somebody who’s going to be left out.
”
Joyrich brought up the Secular Values Caucus in 
New Hampshire and Secular Democracy Caucus in 
Minnesota. The caucuses include “legislators from 
various faiths and no faith who are committed to 
defending the separation of religion and government, 
protecting the rights of both religious and non-
religious people and advancing science and evidence-
based public policy.
” 
Moss and Bayer went on the record to say they 
would be open to starting such a caucus in Michigan.
Carol Ogusky of Sylvan Lake was among 75 
attending the program — plus 100 who registered 
to watch on Zoom. “Following the engaging 
conversations,
” she said, “I came away feeling that 
(Moss and Bayer) are both extremely hardworking, 
conscientious politicians. They are acting 
indefatigably to protect the safety and freedom and 
security for us Michiganders.
” 

Panel co-sponsors with CHJ were Detroit Jews for Justice, 

Distill Social, Fems for Democracy, Jewish Community Relations 

Council/AJC, Michigan Unitarian-Universalist Social Justice 

Network, National Council of Jewish Women and Social Action 

Committee of Temple Kol Ami. 

Jews for a Secular Democracy 
(JFASD) is an initiative of the 
Society for Humanistic Judaism 
(SHJ), a nonpartisan national orga-
nization with its headquarters in 
Farmington Hills. 
“We seek to strengthen the wall 
between religion and govern-
ment,” said Nomi Joyrich. A polit-
ical activist and community orga-
nizer, she previously was a social 
worker and small business owner. 
Still an organizer for Michigan 
Unitarian Universalist Justice 
Network after four years, she was 
recruited to JFASD in early 2022 
as its first statewide coordinator. 
The Donald R. and Esther Simon 
Foundation provided the launch 
grant for the program. Additional 
local supporters and national 
grantors have kept the initiative 
going. 
JFASD “makes the case that 
the shared values of equality, 
inclusion and fairness are the 
true American ideals intended by 
the First Amendment,” said SHJ 
Executive Director Paul Golin, vis-
iting Metro Detroit from New York. 
Golin for nearly two decades has 
helped Jewish organizations and 
movements understand key trends 
affecting North American Jewry, 
such as intermarriage, engage-
ment, disaffiliation and inclusion.
Golin said religious fundamen-
talists are now at “the height 
of their power, with a Supreme 
Court doing generational damage. 
This is rule-by-minority, as most 
Americans are with us on the 
issues. We now have to rebuild 
our own ground game, and we 
see JFASD as adding one import-
ant angle in support of the many 
excellent organizations and initia-
tives doing the work.”
Joyrich develops programs and 
activities with partners from dif-
ferent Jewish organizations and 
streams of Judaism. Especially 
memorable was the first event 
she arranged, a topical panel at 

Temple Kol Ami featuring Reform 
Rabbi Brent Guttmann, Modern 
Orthodox Rabbi Asher Lopatin, 
executive director of Jewish 
Community Relations Council/
AJC, and Conservative Rabbi 
Blair Nosanwisch of Adat Shalom 
Synagogue. 
The volunteers Joyrich orga-
nized obtained more than 15,000 
signatures in support of two 
November 2022 ballot initiatives: 
Proposal 2, defending the right 
to vote, and Proposal 3, allowing 
reproductive freedom. Voters 
passed both. A future JFASD pro-
gram “will have to do with the role 
of school and library boards, and 
Christian nationalist attempts to 
take them over and to ban books.”
Joyrich also plans to “present 
an interfaith group to talk about 
how various faiths are impacted by 
attempts to blur the line between 
religion and government.”
“We feel Nomi has ‘a proven 
concept’ for a professional state-
based JFASD organizer — mobi-
lizing volunteers and building 
coalitions that bring Jewish voices 
to religious freedom,” Golin said. 
“We would like to replicate our 
Michigan work in other states 
where these issues remain in jeop-
ardy.”
In his introduction to the panel, 
Golin said, “We hope to bring as 
many diverse Jewish approaches 
as possible to church-state sep-
aration issues, from secular to 
religious. There is a remarkable 
consensus in the Jewish commu-
nity across political and religious 
ideologies on issues of religious 
freedom.”
Joyrich added, “Our goal is to 
help more Jews and allied friends 
and family articulate these ideals 
to their neighbors and to their 
lawmakers. We’re already reaching 
thousands; we hope to grow from 
here.”
For information, contact nomij-
fasd@gmail.com and jfasd.org. 

Jews for a Secular Democracy
OUR COMMUNITY

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