I live in Texas. Always have. For most of my adult life that has meant conservative rule that slowly morphed into Christian nationalism dominance. How and why that happened is for another article.
But fast-forward many years and now I’m a secular political activist out of Houston wearing multiple hats, including for American Atheists (State Director), the Center for Freethought Equality (Board of Advisors), and Secular Houston (Founder).
There was a void in Houston and in Texas, a lack of a secular voice in politics that I felt compelled to fill. Why is this important? Well, the elected officials at the local and state levels make the decisions that affect us all. All the things we want to improve in society—reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, racial equity, etc.—can be improved with better elected officials in office. In Texas, in particular, there is a lot of room for improvement.
So, after all the podcasts and webinars and articles I consumed over the years (thank you, American Atheists), I decided to roll up my sleeves to fill that void, and Secular Houston was born in late 2021. The success we achieved here in the Greater Houston area was surprising, inspiring, and frankly addicting. The voice we represent—advocating for state/church separation and normalizing non-belief—has been absolutely well-received since our inception.
The Texas legislature meets every two years (archaic and ridiculous, but that’s for another article), and it began as scheduled in January 2025. In anticipation, I decided to organize a Secular Lobby Day to be held in February—the first in over a decade. What does that mean?
It meant scheduling appointments with Texas House Representatives and spending 15-20 minutes with their staff advocating for good bills while pushing back on harmful, Christian nationalist ones. It means giving secularism and state-church separation a voice at the state legislative level, which is very much needed in Texas.
I thought this Secular Lobby Day, held on a Monday and Tuesday in February, might be me and a few other folks showing up in Austin. It ended up being me and two dozen people.
I get emotional thinking about how these wonderful Texans—atheists, agnostics, and Christians, too—took time off of work and time away from their families to meet in the middle of this big state to give voice to our issues.
People from Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, all of them excited to be a part of this event. We met with friendly offices; we met with opposing offices; every single visit was a success. Young and inexperienced participants went home with so many XPs, energized to continue their activism back home all across this state.
The people who stood alongside me for this Secular Lobby Day don’t know this, but I get tearyeyed thinking of the sacrifices they made to join me for this event. At our Capitol, there will be echoes of their voices advocating for state-church separation that remain until our next Lobby Day in 2027. Because they showed up, there are multiple offices that know there is a constituency that is engaged, informed, and cares about maintaining a secular government in Texas.
I liken our secular world to a three-dimensional cube, and I am excited to be contributing to one facet of that cube. The advocates and authors who taught me over the years, the elected officials we endorsed and who are now doing amazing work from the inside, the new activists who helped this Lobby Day be an amazing success. I am so very proud of all of them. It would be my honor to help replicate this wherever you are.
