A new poll has found that the new 114th Congress contains not a single atheist and only one member who says she is unaffiliated with any major religion.
The Christian Post is reporting on the new survey which found that 92 percent of the new congress identifies themselves as Christian. Of the 491 members queried on their religious affiliation, 57.2 percent identified as Protestants, 30.7 percent are Catholic and 5.2 percent are Jewish.
Congress’ lone atheist, James Woods of Arizona, was walloped in the last election by 30 percentage points by Republican Matt Salmon, leaving the new congress without a single atheist representative.
Rep. Krysten Sinema, also a Democrat from Arizona, is the only member of Congress to identify herself as unaffiliated. Only nine members of Congress (1.7% said they don’t know what they are or simply refused to answer.
Although the overall religious makeup of the new Congress is not very different from last year, it is starkly different when compared to similar surveys taken just a few decades ago.
“Although Congress remains predominantly Christian and majority Protestant, it is more religiously diverse than it was in the 1960s and ’70s,” Pew said.
“Comparing the 114th Congress with the 87th (1961-1962), for example, the share of Protestants is down by 18 percentage points, while the share of Catholics is up by 12 points. The percentage of Jewish members in Congress is up 3 points.”
Atheist organizations aren’t happy about the new reality of having no atheists in Congress to represent the scant 2.4 percent of the population who claim to not believe in the existence of a God.
According to the Post, atheist blogger Hemant Mehta claims there are probably more religiously unaffiliated people in Congress but “they dare not say so because it would be political suicide where they come from.”
“The Secular Coalition of America maintains it is a serious problem that so few atheists either want to run for office or are willing to tell the truth about their secular status once in office,” reports Catholic League president Bill Donohue.
“Not really. The latter issue is a problem only for the lying office holder, and the former is not a problem at all. Why should anyone be concerned if those who believe in nothing prefer not to run for office? After all, we know from a recent Fortune.com article that most CEOs who are religious hide their faith in the workplace, and no one is fretting over that.”
The real problem transcends the religious composition of Congress, Donohue says. What’s needed are more religious-friendly congressmen “who are willing to defend our Judeo-Christian heritage against the forces of multiculturalism and secularism.”
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