What We Do

Humanist and nonreligious Americans are the largest religious minority in the country, and we deserve a seat at the table. The Center for Freethought Equality fights for that seat every day, on Capitol Hill, in statehouses and at the ballot box. Here's how.

Policy Work

We lobby at the federal, state and local levels, and we show up for our community, working hard to stop bad bills and introduce good ones. 

We draft model legislation, lobby to get it introduced and passed, mobilize our members, and help them testify for or against legislation that impacts nonreligious Americans. 

If the separation of religion and government is on the line, we’re there. 

Our Priorities

Secular Education

Public schools belong to everyone. They're the one institution built to serve every child, regardless of what they believe or where they come from - and we fight to keep it that way.

Defensive

  • A wave of state bills is opening the door for unlicensed religious chaplains to take on the role of trained school counselors. Kids in crisis deserve a professional in their corner, not a proselytizer. We're pushing back everywhere this scheme surfaces.

  • Vouchers siphon public dollars into private, mostly religious schools. These schools can pick their students, teach as their religious doctrine dictates, and they answer to no one. Voters have rejected voucher schemes at the ballot box again and again. We're fighting to keep public funds in public schools - where they belong.

  • RTRI laws are being rewritten to pull students out of class (and sometimes even award course credit) for off-campus religious instruction run by churches and other faith-based organizations. We defend the line between accommodating faith and letting it commandeer the school day.

  • Broadly drafted "parental rights" measures are being weaponized to censor public school curricula, ban books and undermine inclusive education. We push back against efforts to use parental rights as a pretense for imposing religious ideology on all students.

  • A rising trend of state legislation seeks to mandate Christian nationalist history and religious instruction in public school classrooms. We oppose these efforts to inject sectarian doctrine into core public education.

Proactive

  • We are working to introduce legislation in several states to establish a Children's Bill of Rights to a Secular Public Education, guaranteeing every child's right to a high-quality, evidence-based education free from religious indoctrination, coercion and discrimination.

  • Where voucher programs exist, we fight for strict oversight, financial transparency, anti-discrimination protections and public reporting to hold private, faith-based schools accountable to taxpayers.

Secular Standards of Care

No one should be denied the care they need because of someone else's religious doctrine.

  • In several states, parents who withhold medical treatment from a sick child on religious grounds are shielded from civil and criminal liability. We're working to close these dangerous loopholes and make clear that no religious exemption should ever cost a child their life.

  • Religious directives govern care at a growing share of the nation's hospital beds, restricting reproductive care, gender-affirming care and end-of-life options for patients who never signed up for anyone's theology. We help cities navigate hospital mergers and acquisitions in a way that preserves healthcare for their community. 

  • Taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption agencies frequently use religious exemptions to turn away qualified LGBTQ+ individuals, nonreligious prospective parents and interfaith couples. We fight to ensure every qualified home remains open to children in need.

  • Religious dogma continues to drive legislative attempts to restrict or criminalize compassionate end-of-life options for terminally ill, mentally competent adults. We defend bodily autonomy and patient choice against faith-based bans on MAID.

  • "Conversion therapy" is a discredited, non-evidence-based practice condemned by every major medical and mental health association. We advocate for legislation to protect children from these dangerous efforts to forcibly alter a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity, ensuring youth care remains grounded in science, evidence, and safety.

Secular Democracy

We fight to protect the foundational principle of church-state separation and ensure our democratic institutions serve all Americans, regardless of belief.

  • The Johnson Amendment keeps churches and other tax-exempt organizations out of partisan politics. It's under constant attack from those who want tax-free money propping up political campaigns. We defend it, because a tax exemption is not a license to buy elections.

  • Religious freedom should be a shield to protect religious exercise, not a sword to undermine civil rights. The Do No Harm Act amends the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to ensure that religious exemptions cannot be weaponized to justify discrimination, deny healthcare or bypass basic worker, consumer and civil rights protections.

  • Millions of public tax dollars flow to private contractors and faith-based social service providers every year. We advocate for strict non-discrimination policy requirements on all government grants and contracts, ensuring that organizations using public funds cannot refuse service to community members or turn away qualified job applicants based on religion.

How We Do It

We build relationships, lobby, mobilize advocates and track bills before they make headlines. We write model legislation lawmakers can put to work. We testify at committee hearings and brief lawmakers and their staff. We activate our members with action alerts that turn outrage into phone calls, emails and legislative testimony. And we publish a Congressional Scorecard so voters can see exactly where their elected officials stand. This is what it takes to move policy, and we do it year-round.

Support and Endorse Candidates

Representation starts at the ballot box. The Center for Freethought Equality PAC exists to turn our community’s shared values into real political power. By pooling our members' contributions, we give secular Americans a unified voice at the table - leveraging the collective strength of our movement to elect openly Humanist, atheist and nonreligious leaders, alongside the allies who stand with them, at every level of government.  

Secular Americans don't just deserve a voice in government. We deserve a seat at the table.

How We Build Political Power

  • We rigorously vet candidates to ensure they share our commitment to a secular government, evidence-based policy and equal rights for the nonreligious. An official CFE PAC endorsement signals to voters, donors and the public that a candidate is a trusted champion for our movement.

  • Endorsements are only the first step. We back up our endorsed candidates with direct financial resources. By pooling member contributions, our PAC invests directly in critical campaigns, providing candidate support that helps secular contenders break barriers and win, from first-time school board runs to key seats in state legislatures and Congress.

  • We place a special focus on high-priority, historic campaigns across the nation, like our slate of "Secular Seven" candidates for the 2026 election cycle. These groundbreaking, nonreligious candidates are running in pivotal districts where our collective dollars, calls and support can directly tip the scales and make history.

Support Elected Officials

Being an openly nontheistic elected official was once politically unthinkable. That taboo is fading, but the isolation and bias some public servants still face is real. We built the infrastructure to change that.

  • The Association of Secular Elected Officials (ASEO) is the only national group in the country supporting explicitly Humanist, atheist, agnostic and secular officials at every level of government. Through ASEO, we help elected officials be open about who they are, connect with like-minded colleagues and access a growing Policy Hub of model legislation on the issues that matter most. We show up where elected officials are: statehouse floors, school board conferences and national gatherings of legislators and city leaders alike.

  • In Congress, we work hand-in-hand with the Congressional Freethought Caucus to advance sound public policy informed by reason and science, protect the separation of church and state, and champion the interests of the nonreligious community on Capitol Hill. The CFC is a direct line from our members to the halls of power — and we use it.