Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, has joined the Congressional Freethought Caucus
He is the 20th member of the CFC, which champions reason-based policies and opposes discrimination against atheists
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The Congressional Freethought Caucus has just added one more member into its fold: Rep. Maxwell Frost, a 26-year-old first-term Democrat from Florida who also happens to be the youngest member of Congress.
Last month, Frost memorably called out the “racist, violent, and dangerous ideology” of Christian Nationalism during a hearing on “global religious persecution.” As the former national organizing director for March for Our Lives, he’s also made tackling gun violence one of his signature issues.
The caucus now includes 20 members, all of whom are Democrats.
Like most of his colleagues in the CFC, Frost is also religious. The Pew Research Center, in their 2023 roundup, listed him as Baptist. That doesn’t prevent him, of course, from supporting church/state separation and protecting freedom of religion for everyone (including the non-religious).
Frost has not made any public announcement about his affiliation just yet. That may be because the Republican majority in the House is busy trying not to self-destruct. Still, the CFC’s website now lists him as a member.
In case you need a refresher, the CFC was first announced in 2018 by Rep. Jared Huffman, a Humanist (and fellow Californian) and currently the only openly non-religious member of Congress.
The 20 members now include:
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) (Co-chair)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (Co-chair)
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA)
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL)
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)
Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA)
Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX)
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA)
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL)
(Jerry McNerney, a former co-chair of the group, chose not to run for re-election in 2022. Another former member, Carolyn Maloney, lost her primary to another Democrat after their congressional districts in New York were redrawn last cycle.)
To be clear, this isn't an “atheist club” for Congress, as some critics have suggested. This is just a group of lawmakers dedicated to promoting reason-based public policy, keeping church and state separate, opposing discrimination against non-religious people, and championing freedom of thought around the world. There’s really no reason anyone should be against this. That’s why there’s nothing hypocritical about the fact that nearly every member of the Caucus is religious.
The hope is that the membership continues growing—making the Caucus more influential—while the stigma of being an atheist (or even being associated with non-religiosity) decreases across the country. Those two things are more closely linked than we might imagine. Keep in mind that the Congressional Prayer Caucus, which typically promotes a version of conservative Christianity, is much larger and has members from both major parties. By that metric, the Freethought Caucus has a long way to go.
As I’ve said before, perhaps the most shocking thing about the Caucus is that, based on the relative lack of media interest, people don’t seem to care who the members are… which is to say, no one—not even in right-wing media—thinks it’s a big deal for sitting House members to align with a group defending atheists.
That also means none of these lawmakers believes joining the Caucus will be a concern for them heading into the 2024 elections, which may come as a shock to anyone who remembers a time when aligning with atheism was considered one of the biggest taboos in politics.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
"This is just a group of lawmakers dedicated to promoting reason-based public policy, keeping church and state separate, opposing discrimination against non-religious people, and championing freedom of thought around the world." The question s/b why all the members of Congress aren't in this group of lawmakers?
Well, it's nice to see that Florida can still export 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 other than fascism and orange juice!
Seriously, though... good on ya, Rep. Frost. It's nice to see the Freethought Caucus gathering a bit of steam.