The mission of the Center for Freethought Equality PAC (political action committee), also known as the Freethought Equality Fund, is to increase the number of open humanists and atheists in public office and to encourage all political leaders to step up and represent this constituency that has been ignored for far too long in American politics. The PAC is affiliated with the Center for Freethought Equality, which is the political and advocacy arm of the American Humanist Association.
Humanists and Allies in Office
For the 2023 mid-term election, CFE sent out 342 questionnaires and information packets (311 to state legislative candidates in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia; 11 for a congressional special election in Rhode Island; and 20 to local candidates). The PAC received 33 completed candidate questionnaires (1 U.S. House, 30 state legislative, and 2 local). The PAC endorsed 20 of these candidates (1 U.S. House, 17 state legislative, and 2 local) and 12 candidates that we had endorsed in prior elections. Of the 32 endorsed candidates, 25 were members of the humanist and atheist community (1 U.S. House, 12 state legislative, and 12 local). Of the 32 endorsed candidates, 9 won their contests. Of the 9 successful candidates, 7 were members of the humanist and atheist community (1 state legislative and 6 local).
Our engagement in the 2024 elections started in 2023. In the late summer of 2023 CFE started sending candidate questionnaires and information packets to 2024 Congressional candidates as they registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and to state legislative candidates in Arkansas, California, Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas as their candidate filing deadlines for early 2024 election occurred in 2023.
In 2023, the PAC made $22,250 in campaign donations to federal and state endorsed candidates ($12,250 for 2023 elections and $10,000 for 2024 elections).
We now have 125 elected officials who publicly identify with our community at the local, state, and federal levels in thirty-four states across the county. You can see the list at www.cfequality.org/secular-elected-officials/. This is an increase of thirteen from last year.
Increasing Visibility of the Humanist Community
For both the 2023 and 2024 election cycles, we continued to increase the visibility of our community as our message was informative to the candidates we contacted. In the packets sent to candidates we included “Running for Public Office: An Atheist and Humanist Guide” to give an overview of the issues of concern for our community, the need for atheists and humanists to run for office, and the role of allies to help dispel the bias against our community. We also included the results of our 2018 and 2022 polls commissioned by the Center for Freethought Equality, “Atheism Is No Longer A Political Taboo.” The poll results indicate that there is a growing preference for secular leaders, and that a majority of voters across every demographic prioritize other political concerns over issues of religious faith or lack thereof. Lake Research Partners, who conducted the polls, concluded that “being non-religious or atheist need not be considered an impediment to a candidate’s electoral success.” Our candidate questionnaire includes questions on climate change, evolution, religious school vouchers, medical aid in dying, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ discrimination, as well as questions on religious background and identity.
CFE has partnered with the Association of Secular Elected Officials to help build our visibility and identify more elected officials from the humanist and atheist community. ASEO, with support from CFE, had exhibit booths at the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit in Indianapolis, IN on August 15-16, 2023 and the National League of Cities City Summit in Atlanta, GA on November 15-17, 2023. Participating in these meetings resulted in eight new elected officials being added to our list. ASEO continues to hold informative model policy presentations and an on-line Winter Solstice party.
Spreading the Word
Ron Millar, the CFE political and PAC manager, made presentations to several groups in 2023: Secular Community of SW Florida, Freethinkers and Humanists of Colorado Springs, Atheists of Florida, and the First Unitarian Humanists (Pittsburgh). He was interviewed on the podcast Unreasonable and on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s television program Freethought Matters with Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barton. Lily Bolourian, Sarah Levin, and Ron made a presentation at the American Humanist Association annual conference in Denver entitled “Invisible No Longer: Politically Empowering the Humanist and Atheist Community.” At the Center for Freethought Equality Annual Members’ Meeting, held during the AHA conference, Sarah Levin make an excellent presentation on the dangers of white Christian nationalism and ASEO board members, Leonard Presberg, Kristiana de Leon, and Danny Choriki talked about their encounters with this movement as elected officials. In addition, Sarah Levin continued creating profiles of our elected officials, which are being published at TheHumanist.com. This is a good way to make our elected officials feel recognized and to educate our community about our elected officials. Profiles were also featured in the Humanist magazine print editions for 2023.
Congressional Freethought Caucus
CFE continues to be active with the Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC). In 2023, we helped the Caucus grow from fifteen to twenty members. The new members are Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Greg Casar (TX-35), Robert Garcia (CA-42) and Maxwell Frost (FL-10).
To keep up-to-date with the activities of the Center for Freethought Equality PAC, become a member of the Center for Freethought Equality at https://www.cfequality.org/membership/. Membership is free, but must be renewed annually per FEC (Federal Election Commission) regulations.