The Congressional Freethought Caucus adds two more members
The group, which champions reason-based policies and opposes discrimination against atheists, now stands at 30 members
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The Congressional Freethought Caucus has just added two more members: Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Chris Deluzio (D-PA):
A former member of the Oregon House and Senate, Bonamici was first elected to Congress in a special election in 2012. She’s currently the chair of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services and a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Deluzio is in his second term, having been elected in 2022, and sits on the committees for Transportation and Infrastructure and also Armed Services. He’s the deputy whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Like most of their colleagues in the CFC, Bonamici and Deluzio are religious. The Pew Research Center, in their 2025 roundup, listed Bonamici as Jewish and Deluzio as Catholic. That doesn’t prevent them, of course, from supporting church/state separation and protecting freedom of religion for everyone (including the non-religious).
The caucus now includes 30 members, all of whom are Democrats. As of this writing, neither of them have made any public announcements about their CFC affiliation.
In case you need a refresher, the CFC was first announced in 2018 by Rep. Jared Huffman, currently the only openly Humanist member of Congress.
The 30 members now include:
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) (Co-chair)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (Co-chair)
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. 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)
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX)
Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA)
Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR)
Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA)
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ)
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL)
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR)
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA)
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 the Caucus will be a concern for them during the second Trump administration. That may come as a shock to anyone who remembers a time when aligning (even remotely) with atheism was considered one of the biggest taboos in politics.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
It's hard to miss the fact there are no Republicans on this list. Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw. I don't know who is using whom when it comes to Republicans and the preachers, but it is a symbiotic relationship that has done enormous damage to this country.
Still not a single Republican (or even Independent).
Maybe they should form their own Caucus. Given how Republicans roll, how about the Thought-free Caucus?