08/28/2026
On July 28, Tennessee State Representative Monty Fritts said out loud that he wanted to ban mosques and what he called “pagan religions.”
Fritts was running for governor when he said he wanted to ban non-Christian places of worship. He grouped Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism under the word pagan and argued that the First Amendment only limits Congress, not state governments.
The First Amendment protects the right of Americans to practice their religion without the government picking which faiths are allowed. That includes Pagans, witches, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and everyone else. Religious freedom does not mean freedom for one religion to control everyone else.
In early August, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church issued a response supporting Pagans, Wiccans and people following earth-centered, polytheistic and other non-Christian spiritual paths. They made it clear that our freedom is not something politicians get to hand out or take away based on their own religious beliefs.
Fritts lost the Republican primary on August 6, but nearly 168,000 people still voted for him. He received about 23.5 percent of the vote and won five counties.
