More Thoughts on Religion

Once more, a late start. Damn job getting in the way of blogging! But to the point...

On Faith in the Washington Post has a fascinating piece up on the religios affilliations of the new Congress:

The new 110th Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians, and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history, the Religion News Service's Jonathan Tilove reports. Roman Catholics remain the largest single faith group in Congress, accounting for 29 percent of all members of the House and Senate, followed by Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Jews and Episcopalians.

Following are tables showing the religious affiliation of Congress as a whole, as well as the denominations of individual senators and representatives:

Religion.......................House...Senate....% Congress...% Population
AME (v) ............................... 2 ......... 0 ....... 2 ..... 0.4 ......... (u)
Anglican ............................. 1 ......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 .......... (w)
Assembly of God ...............4 ......... 0........ 4 ..... 0.7 ......... 0.5
Baptist ................................60 ......... 7...... 67 ... 12.5 ....... 16.3
Buddhist ............................ 2 ......... 0........ 2 ..... 0.4 ........ 0.5
Christian (x) ......................16 ......... 2...... 18 ..... 3.4 ......... 6.8
Christian Reformed ......... 2 ......... 0........ 2 ..... 0.4 .......... (y)
Christian Scientist ........... 5 ......... 0........ 5 ..... 0.9 ......... 0.1
Church of Christ ............... 1 ......... 1........ 2 ..... 0.4 ......... 1.2
Church of God .................. 0 ......... 1........ 1 ..... 0.2 ......... 0.5
Congregationalist ............ 0 ......... 1........ 1 ..... 0.2 .......... (z)
Congregation.-Baptist .... 1 ......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 .......... (u)
Disciples of Christ ........... 2 ......... 0........ 2 ..... 0.4 ......... 0.2
Eastern Orthodox ............. 4 .......... 1........ 5 ..... 0.9 ......... 0.3
Episcopalian ................... 27 ....... 10....... 37 ..... 6.9 ......... 1.7
Evangelical ........................ 2 ......... 0......... 2 ..... 0.4 ......... 0.5
Evangelical Lutheran ....... 1 ......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 .......... (u)
Evangelical Methodist ..... 1 ......... 0......... 1 ..... 0.2 .......... (u)
Hindu .................................. 0 ......... 0........ 0 ..... 0.0 ......... 0.4
Jewish .............................. 30 ....... 13...... 43 ..... 8.0 ......... 1.3
LDS (Mormon) ............... 10 ......... 5...... 15 ..... 2.8 ......... 1.3
Reorganized LDS ........... 1 ......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 .......... (u)
Lutheran ......................... 14 .......... 3...... 17 ..... 3.2 ......... 4.6
Methodist ....................... 48 ........ 13...... 61 ... 11.4 ......... 6.8
Muslim ............................. 1 .......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 ......... 0.5
(Church of) Nazarene .... 1 .......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 ......... 0.3
Presbyterian ................... 35 .......... 9...... 44 ..... 8.2 ......... 2.7
Protestant (x) .................. 22 .......... 4...... 26 ..... 4.9 ......... 2.2
Quaker ............................... 1 ......... 0........ 1 ..... 0.2 ......... 0.1
Roman Catholic .......... 130 ....... 25.... 155 ... 29.0 ...... 24.5
Seventh-day Adventist ..... 2 ......... 0........ 2 ..... 0.4 ......... 0.3
Unitarian ........................... 1 ......... 1........ 2 ..... 0.4 ......... 0.3
United Church of Christ .. 2 ........ 4........ 6 ...... 1.1 ......... 0.7
unaffiliated ........................ 6 ........ 0........ 6 ...... 1.1 ....... 14.1

(u) no discrete category exists in the American Religious Identification Survey
(v) African Methodist Episcopal
(w) included with Episcopalians
(x) no denomination stated
(y) less than 0.05 percent
(z) included with United Church of Christ

Sources: Count of religious affiliations of members of Congress compiled from self-identification in Congressional Quarterly profiles of each member.
Percent of population by religion comes from American Religious Identification Survey, Self-Described Religious Identification of U.S.Adult Population, 2001.

Notice anything interesting? Yup, that's right, not a single Atheist. Not one! 'Unafiliated' is not the same as 'Atheist,' (or even 'Agnostic') in America. Most people in the United States are theistic, so much so that even if someone is 'unafiliated' with any specific religion, it's assumed that the persond still believes in God. According to Wikipedia, a 2006 CBS poll found that 82% of Americans "believed in God" and another 9% (for a total of 91%) "some other universal spirit or higher power." In the face of numbers like that, not a single Federal Level elected official is willing to say that she or he is an Athiest, and only a scant 1% of elected officials were brave enough to choose the far more pallatable 'unafilliated.'

Of course this can't possibly be true. There are more than 6 people in Congress that don't believe that God exists - they're just not willing to admit it.

Let's look at who the six members of Congress brave enough to declare themselves 'unafilliated.'

UNAFFILIATED -- 6
6 D, 0 R
Mark Udall, D-CO
Neil Abercrombie, D-HI
John Olver, D-MA
John Tierney, D-MA
Earl Blumenauer, D-OR
Tammy Baldwin, D-WI

WOW! Who would have guessed? They're all Democrats. Both Buddhist Representativess, the one Muslim Reprepsentative, and 39 of the 43 Jewish Congresspersons were also Democrats.

I'm not saying that the Democratic Party has shaken off the yoke of religion (Statistically, 98% of the Congressional Democratic Caucus is self-describingly theistic) but it's nice to know that our party can be broad minded enough to elect non-believrs and/or non-Christians.

Before anybody accuses me of being as intolerant as those on the other side, a strong religious identification, let alone a religious affiliation, does not make someone unfit for Congress. With a few exceptions, the vast majority of religious members of Congress govern responsibly, not letting the various tenets of their religion interfere with their ability to legislate fairly for the entirety of the U.S. population - not just members of their own sect. I just find the fact that a candidate must 'have religion' to get elected a little bit off-putting.

Any thoughts?

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