The Freedom From Religion Foundation's new ad in the New York Times is needed now more than ever. Click here to view full sized ad.

Its full-page ad running in this Thursday's paper warns, "Washington, D.C., is about to be overrun by zealots." The ad is to honor Bill of Rights Day, observed on Dec. 15 each year. The document on which many of our freedoms are based came into being on this date in 1791.

The advertisement features a prominent image of Vice President-elect Mike Pence pushing aside a portrait of James Madison and warns: "The framers of our secular Constitution knew the only wall we need is between church and state." It urges New York Times readers to join the Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose work on state/church separation has never been more crucial.

"It's going to require all our best efforts to safeguard freedom of conscience, scientific progress, and civil and personal liberties," FFRF implores. "Help ensure reason will prevail."

FFRF initially ran a double-page ad in the Times last year to celebrate the Bill of Rights, featuring its whimsical "Bill of Rights nativity" with a depiction of three Founding Fathers (and the Statue of Liberty) gazing adoringly at a crèche containing the Bill of Rights. "Unto us a Bill is born. Tis the Season to Celebrate the birth . . . of the Bill of Rights," the ad read.

By running these ads, the Madison, Wis.-based nontheistic organization wishes to perform a public service, as well as attract new members to its cause. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national group with almost 25,000 nonreligious members all over the country.