Nonbelievers on the rise in Congress
From Pew’s fascinating report on the religious composition of the 113th Congress:
About one-in-five U.S. adults describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – a group sometimes collectively called the “nones.” But only one member of the new Congress, Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), is religiously unaffiliated, according to information gathered by CQ Roll Call. Sinema is the first member of Congress to publicly describe her religion as “none,” though 10 other members of the 113th Congress (about 2%) do not specify a religious affiliation, up from six members (about 1%) of the previous Congress. This is about the same as the percentage of U.S. adults in Pew Research Center surveys who say that they don’t know, or refuse to specify, their faith (about 2%).
The numbers here caught my eye, not because of the disparity between non-believers in the general population and in Congress, but because I was surprised so many members actually admitted to it.
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You mean more people who cannot believe in inalienable rights because they reject God, and therefore leave government as the highest authority?
Hmm…I wonder if this could possibly lead to more loss of freedom.
MelonCollie on January 6, 2013 at 10:43 PM
They believe in pork.
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on January 6, 2013 at 10:45 PM
But she’s not alone on the spurious-claims-of-minority-ancestry front, as she pretended to be Hispanic during her campaign, not unlike Cherokee princess Lie-awatha.
steebo77 on January 6, 2013 at 11:08 PM
Non reporting is not the same as non believing.
Ted Torgerson on January 6, 2013 at 11:13 PM
Hell, most of the current members of Congress don’t even believe in the Constitution (even though they swear to “uphold and defend” the Constitution against enemies, both foreign and domestic.
RoadRunner on January 6, 2013 at 11:14 PM
Will Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) sit with the gays or the straights in the Congressional Cafeteria, since she’s Bisexual? Decisions, decisions!
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on January 6, 2013 at 11:22 PM
This is from a Dept of State website:
Compare the results of their actions with those of the current group.
INC on January 6, 2013 at 11:41 PM
People are the highest authority, as long as government is elected by the people. The obvious benefit of that is people are not imaginary.
lester on January 7, 2013 at 12:32 AM
I don’t see any issue here.
mythicknight on January 7, 2013 at 12:53 AM
To requote MelonCollie, whose meaning you do not seem to grasp, Hmm…I wonder if this could possibly lead to more loss of freedom.
sadarj on January 7, 2013 at 1:11 AM
Ignoring the baiting implication you make: people may not be ordinary (although the idea of a collective opinion, will, or wisdom usually is), but they’re also much more apt to be contradictory. Look at history and essentially every religious “atrocity” occurs at a time when politicians, not theologians lead a religious body.
In this day and age “the people” elect a proven group of incompetents, led by a massive incompetent to positions of government in a divided legislature after an election based on leftist division, alarmism, and deliberately anti-intellectual campaign tactics. And then take on an air of self-righteous whining when their government does not produce results (without questioning whether gridlock might be preferable to “productivity”).
Never mind that “the people” are also responsible for the French Revolution(s), the rise of genocidal communism in China and Russia, and a host of economically disastrous attempts at “fair” government here and in Europe.
But hey, thank… uh… random chance! that we don’t use the remarkably complete and consistent system of ethics that is religion (particularly deistic Christianity), because that’s based on a Being, Whose existence is necessary to make sense of the universe even in secular philosophies like Aristotle’s, because He/She/It/They might be “imaginary”.
Atlas on January 7, 2013 at 1:22 AM
FIFM
Atlas on January 7, 2013 at 1:24 AM
Eh. You can’t go by what folks say they are.
Do you really believe Obama’s a Christian?
Do you really believe Reid’s a Mormon?
Do you really believe Biden’s a Catholic?
As the Lord said, they will be known by their deeds.
itsnotaboutme on January 7, 2013 at 6:22 AM
I thought this meant non believers in the constitution and rule of law.
JellyToast on January 7, 2013 at 6:48 AM
It does.
God-believers are more likely to believe in the Constitution and rule of law.
IMHO.
itsnotaboutme on January 7, 2013 at 8:30 AM