The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been airing a commercial on television featuring Ron Reagan urging people to support the organization, but CBS has refused to air it. According to a press release from FFRF, they were told by CBS that they were rejecting the ad “for words and tone.” The words:

Hi, I’m Ron Reagan, an unabashed atheist, and I’m alarmed by the intrusion of religion into our secular government. That’s why I’m asking you to support the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation’s largest and most effective association of atheists and agnostics, working to keep state and church separate, just like our Founding Fathers intended. Please support the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.

You can judge the tone for yourself by watching the commercial:

httpv://youtu.be/7INIhD9P0Pw

I see nothing wrong with the tone. I do think the words tend to oversimplify — any time you say “the founding fathers intended (fill in the blank)” you’re almost certainly oversimplifying, and always so on the issue of separation of church and state, upon which they were strongly divided — but if that’s the standard, CBS would have to be commercial-free. No, this is just plain anti-atheist discrimination.