Freethought-Now

Rep. Jared Huffman made his first stop on his book tour with the Freedom From Religion Foundation even before his new work officially hit the shelves.

I had the privilege of moderating the exclusive conversation on Aug. 15 between Rep. Huffman and longtime FFRF spokesperson Ron Reagan with an online audience of more than 200 FFRF members and supporters. FFRF interviewed Huffman about “No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism” days before its Aug. 18 release. Given Huffman’s long record of defending state/church separation and the fact that he founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus, I can’t think of a more fitting venue.

My two fellow discussants made my job pretty easy. Put them together to talk about Christian nationalism, politics and democracy — and there isn’t much prompting required. Reagan was disappointed to learn I wasn’t THE Micky Dolenz from The Monkees. But by the end of the interview, I’d like to think I made “a believer” out of him. At one point, church bells started ringing on his side of the interview. Even the church bells seemed eager to weigh in.

What stayed with me most, though, was Huffman’s sincerity. He chose his words carefully, and the way he spoke made clear that this is not just another political issue to him.

That resonated with me for another reason.

I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma; Huffman grew up in Independence, Mo. We both cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs, and we both understand how dangerous and coercive religious fundamentalism can become when people claim divine authority over others.

Huffman writes about the religious environment he grew up in and the cult figures and religious extremism he encountered around his hometown. Those experiences help explain the urgency he brings to the subject today.

A passage on page 170 of his book especially stuck with me: “Reason must be defended. Science, learning, critical thinking, are not elite luxuries — they are the foundation of liberty and increasingly a civilizational lifeline.” When you grow up in a place where religion is woven into nearly every part of community life, you understand why defending reason and critical thinking matters.

Reagan had his own revelation while reading the book. As the conversation turned to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, he made a candid admission that I think the majority of people — including myself — have overlooked. “I have to confess that before I read your book, I didn’t think of January 6 as a religious event,” he told Huffman.

Reagan has spent decades writing and speaking on religion’s influence in politics, yet even he had not fully recognized the religious influences of Jan. 6 until reading Huffman’s book. “No Prophets” goes into great detail explaining to readers the Christian nationalist imagery, rhetoric, and self-proclaimed prophets that heavily influenced the attack on the Capitol.

That discussion led into another memorable moment during the audience Q&A. One participant asked whether the Jan. 6 Committee’s “Purple Team” report had ever been released publicly. Huffman replied that the full report had not been released. He explained that the Purple Team investigated extremist groups and compiled substantial material on Christian nationalism’s role in the insurrection. However, according to Huffman, then-Rep. Liz Cheney pushed to keep that material out of the final report because she feared scrutiny of Christian nationalism would be misconstrued as religious bigotry and distract from President Trump’s central role in the effort to overturn the election.

Fortunately, FFRF did not ignore that part of the story. In 2022, FFRF and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty published a landmark report, “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021, Insurrection,” documenting how Christian nationalism helped fuel the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

That report and Huffman’s book make a similar point: We cannot confront a threat we refuse to name.

Huffman writes that “rooting policy in facts and reason should be a core value, and that defending secular government, as the founders did, isn’t anti-faith; it’s pro-democracy.” That gets to the heart of FFRF’s work. Defending state-church separation means protecting a government that beloangs equally to those who believe in gods and those who don’t.

Moderating the discussion between Rep. Jared Huffman and Ron Reagan made me grateful for the work we do at FFRF. We helped launch an important book and gave our members a chance to ask questions that too often go unanswered. If you missed that event or want more you can still purchase that book from ffrf.org/shop and hear both Rep. Huffman and Ron Reagan speak at FFRF’s mid-October convention.

No prophets required.

Disclaimer: The views in this column are of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

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