3/10/2023 0 Comments Jamie raskin religion![]() After all, you don't have to be an atheist to support science-based policy, and there seems to be no natural connection between climate action and separation of church and state. "Church-state separation has been under attack now for quite a while, and we just want to make sure policies are promoted with evidence and rational thought behind them," Millar says.Īt first glance, it seems strange to package discussions of personal religious journeys and the rest of these policy goals into one cohesive platform. In a speech last year, President Donald Trump promised he would "get rid of and totally destroy" the amendment, but he then signed an executive order that made little substantive change to the law, which remains in effect, USA Today reports. The Johnson Amendment prohibits tax-exempt non-profits, including religious organizations, from endorsing political candidates. In an interview, Ron Millar, who is the coordinator of the Freethought Equality Fund Political Action Committee and helped plan the caucus, mentioned more specific aims that the PAC wants to see: action against climate change access to contraception and abortion lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and maintaining the Johnson Amendment. Huffman is the second member of Congress ever to openly profess to having an ethical system that's not based on God. Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state's liberal Seattle area, has tweeted that she's a member of the caucus as well. The offices of co-chairs Huffman and Raskin didn't respond to interview requests. The caucus' founding members are Representatives Dan Kildee (D-Michigan), Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), Jerry McNerney (D-California), and Jared Huffman (D-California). "That's not new, but it does seem to be a growing sentiment among some factions, particularly on the liberal side of things." "I think there's a fair number of groups in politics who are concerned about the role religion's playing in public policy," he says. The timing doesn't surprise Matt Glassman, a researcher who once wrote about caucuses for the Congressional Research Service. ![]() That said, it might just be the right moment for something like this. "So to have a Congressional Freethought Caucus is pretty historic, I would say," he writes in an email exchange. Stephen Weldon, a historian of science and religion at the University of Oklahoma, pointed to polls showing what a political liability it is for a candidate to be atheist. "It hearkens back to Enlightenment ideas from when this country was started," says Ray Smock, who was the House of Representatives historian from 1983 to 1995. "Aside from that thought, I've never heard of anything quite like it."
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