In the News
Lawmakers are asking for answers after a guest chaplain known for his incendiary preaching was sponsored by Speaker Mike Johnson to give the House’s daily opening prayer last month, according to a letter sent to the speaker and the Office of the Chaplain signed by 26 Democratic House members.
Last week, a group of congressional representatives released a white paper and held a briefing on Capitol Hill to document the Christian Nationalism of Speaker Mike Johnson. The report from the Congressional Freethought Caucus documents several areas where they are concerned about Johnson’s record on religious freedom — and the report cites two articles from A Public Witness.
Members of the Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC), a collection of 20 lawmakers in Congress who seek to “protect the secular character of our government by adhering to the strict Constitutional principle of the separation of church and state,” released a white paper report on Wednesday showcasing Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s (R-Louisiana) disturbing Christian nationalist views.
New research linking Christian nationalism with a desire to limit voting. People citing their faith as the reason they support trucker convoys that shut down the border over covid protections. And the fact that Jesus’ name appeared all over the place during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection.
Concern about rising radicalism among a segment of White American Christians led this week to what some religious extremism experts call the biggest Congress-related event on the topic in years.
When Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) found out that a Trump administration rule that restricts research using fetal tissue from elective abortions was hampering scientists seeking treatments for the novel coronavirus, he had a coterie of like-minded members of Congress ready to help him protest.
Marin’s representative in Congress, Rep. Jared Huffman, has cofounded a new Congressional Freethought Caucus to counter what he sees as a frontal assault on science and reason by the Trump administration.
A congressional caucus is a group of Congress members who meet periodically to discuss common legislative goals.
Huffman has also sponsored a related resolution to designate Thursday as a National Day of Reason, which would be observed on the same day as the congressionally designated National Day of Prayer.
A new religious group in the US House of Representatives is advocating for more representation and influence. Those members? The nonreligious.