{"id":501,"date":"2022-10-05T19:19:36","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T19:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sen.johnmarty.org\/?p=501"},"modified":"2024-08-21T22:47:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T22:47:08","slug":"lawmakers-form-legislative-secular-government-caucus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sen.johnmarty.org\/?p=501","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers form Legislative Secular Government Caucus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In response to the rise in Christian Nationalism, where some people and politicians feel they have a license to impose their personal religious beliefs upon others, a group of Minnesota Legislators are creating a new Secular Government Caucus<\/strong>, a coalition of nonbelievers and religious people to uphold our constitutional separation of church and state.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caucus members include members of various faith communities as well as non-believers, agnostics, and humanists. All of them are committed to preserving the freedom of conscience that is guaranteed in the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are troubled by the efforts from some politicians to push a Christian Nationalist agenda, where right-wing Christian politicians are attempting to break down the wall of separation between church and state in order to push their beliefs on others,\u201d according to the caucus co-chairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They point to actions of the Legislative Prayer Caucus\u2019 that pushed a Christian Nationalist agenda in Minnesota, such as a legislative proposal to post \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d posters in public schools, and even an attempt to defund the Minnesota Historical Society because the MHS invited a respected historian to speak at a Historical Society event about how the nation\u2019s founders were not interested in creating a Christian government.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Secular Government Caucus will offer legislators a place to stay informed about challenges to religious liberty and to work together to protect the secular character of our government by adhering to the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state, and to oppose discrimination against religious and nonreligious people.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caucus has been organized and is being co-chaired by: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator John Marty  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Jen McEwen <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representative Mike Freiberg  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representative Athena Hollins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Founding members of the Secular Government Caucus include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. John Marty <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jen McEwen <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Mike Freiberg <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Athena Hollins <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Omar Fateh <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Steve Cwodzinski <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Jess Hanson <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ron Latz <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jim Carlson <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Robert Bierman <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Melissa Wiklund <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Sen. Mary Kunesh\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Kaela Berg\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Susan Kent <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. John Huot <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Alice Hausman <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Chris Eaton <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Frank Hornstein <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Sandy Pappas <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Kelly Morrison <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Liz Reyer <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jerry Newton <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Steve Elkins <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the rise in Christian Nationalism, where some people and politicians feel they have a license to impose their personal religious beliefs upon others, a group of Minnesota Legislators are creating a new Secular Government Caucus, a coalition of nonbelievers and religious people to uphold our constitutional separation of church and state.   Caucus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1080","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"yoast_head":"\nLawmakers form Legislative Secular Government Caucus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In response to Christian Nationalism, many MN Legislators created the Secular Government Caucus to uphold the 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