Republican Congressional Delegation now 100% Christian

[eric82oslo]

Washington Post has a great piece on the Congress members' religious affiliation today. It shows, among many other things, that Eric Cantor is the only Republican in both houses who's not a self-proclaimed Christian. Believe it or not, but every single one of the remaining 274 Republican Senators and Congressmembers claim to be one or another form of Christian. So the chance is considerable that once Cantor leaves the House, the Republican delegation will go from being 99.64% Christian to becoming 100% Christian. On the other hand, the Democratic delegation in both houses is "only" 80.5% Christian.

Among the remaining 19.5% non-Christian Democrats, we find 32 Jews, 11 who's either unaffiliated or refused to reveal a religion, 3 Buddhists, 2 Muslims, one Hindu and one Unitarian Universialist (not quite sure what that is). Democrats are also much more Catholic than Republicans. While 36.5% of Democrats in Congress are Catholics - not far behind the 42% Democrats who say they are Protestants - only 25.2% of Republicans are Catholic, far, far behind the stunning 69.1% who say they're Protestants. Republicans also have more Mormon Congress members, 4.3% compared to just 1.2% of Democrats elected to Congress. Another highly eye-catching fact is that one in five Democratic Senators are in fact Jewish. 11 of the 53/55 Democratic Senators are Jewish. That's 20%. I guess the number of Americans with a Jewish denomination is somewhere between 1% and 2% only, just slightly more than 1% I think.

Here's the piece: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/11/the-gop-just-lost-its-only-non-christian-in-congress/

[Never]

Well, how about that. I didn't realize that Cantor was the only non-Christian Republican in Congress.

P.S. - Unitarian Universalists are basically a liberal religion that believe everyone should find their own path to spirituality.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Surely some of them are Mormons?

[eric82oslo]

Well, how about that. I didn't realize that Cantor was the only non-Christian Republican in Congress.

P.S. - Unitarian Universalists are basically a liberal religion that believe everyone should find their own path to spirituality.

I see from Wikipedia that no less than four US presidents were Unitarians; John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.

Apparently they - the Unitarians that is - were very active in abolitionism and the women's movement.

[eric82oslo]

Surely some of them are Mormons?

Yep, but that's still a Christian denomination, or at least they're classified as such by Pew Research/Washington Post. Originally it was a Protestant variant, but today I guess it's fair to say it's a religion on it's own, right? Can't say I know too much about it though.

From Wiki: "Mormonism categorizes itself within Christianity, and Mormons self-identify as Christian. For some who define Christianity within the doctrines of Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Protestantism, Mormonism's differences place it outside the umbrella of Christianity. Mormons see Jesus Christ as the premier figure of their religion."

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Surely some of them are athiests.

[The Mikado]

The Unitarian Universalists have roots in Puritanism and made a bizarre transition from icy Calvinism to mainstream Congregationalism to pseudo-atheist spiritualism as Unitarians.

[eric82oslo]

I wonder who the sole Democratic Unitarian in Congress might be.

[Never]

I wonder who the sole Democratic Unitarian in Congress might be.

Apparently Rep. Ami Bera of California.

[eric82oslo]

Apparently Kyrsten Sinema, the bisexual Arizonian Congresswoman, is the only self-confessed atheist/agnostic in Congress.

[eric82oslo]

I wonder who the sole Democratic Unitarian in Congress might be.

Apparently Rep. Ami Bera of California.

Thanks. I loved the map btw.



Tulsi Gabbard, the Democratic House member from Hawaii, has her Picture there multiplied by four; for being woman, Asian, one of four born in the 1980s and for being the very first Hinduist elected to Congress.

[memphis]

Cantor is still in Congress.

[angus]

Republican Congressional Delegation now 100% Christian

Wow.  It only took 'em till AD1164 to thoroughly christianize Sweden.  I guess we're a bit more barbaric than you guys.  Well, better late than never, I suppose.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

And? Most Democrats are also Christian. We don't have a sizeable population of Hindu Americans, so it only makes sense that we have only one Hindu (not that there should be only one, just noting that it mathematically makes sense). Religion is important in politics, but ones actual faith in terms of the greater statistics is irrelevant.

[Meursault]

The ultimate aim of the Republican Party is to Christianize the entire nation, by force if necessary. I can guarantee you there will come a day when atheists and religious minorities have guns trained on them by the followers of the Lamb of God.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The ultimate aim of the Republican Party is to Christianize the entire nation, by force if necessary. I can guarantee you there will come a day when atheists and religious minorities have guns trained on them by the followers of the Lamb of God.

I can guarantee you that you are living in a fantasy world. Ironically, your own ideology has been the most successful implementer of this policy.

[Meursault]

Feel free to say that now. If the day should come, it will be five of you for every one of us.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Feel free to say that now. If the day should come, it will be five of you for every one of us.

You are aware that most Christian Churchgoers are secure enough in their faith to know that Jesus would NOT approve of killing those who we disagree with. You’re treating Christianity like it’s a race-those who seek to kill in the name of Jesus are not Christians.

[Meursault]

Then there must not have been a single Christian in Europe for the duration of the Crusades.

I warn you again: even attempting to 'merely' impose Christianity by making life unpleasant for the rest of us will not end well for you. I'd advise against it.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Then there must not have been a single Christian in Europe for the duration of the Crusades.

I warn you again: even attempting to 'merely' impose Christianity by making life unpleasant for the rest of us will not end well for you. I'd advise against it.

Again, you are of the belief that the pre-Reformation Church was a church and not a political entity.

And I'm shaking in my boots from that cute little threat at the end. Mainly because there is no effort to create a theocracy in this country, not even from Rick Santorum, but you can live in conspiracy theory land all you want. When I first joined this forum I thought Israel and Al Qaida were plotting to divide the world and that the Oklahoma City bombing was an inside job.

[Never]

The ultimate aim of the Republican Party is to Christianize the entire nation, by force if necessary. I can guarantee you there will come a day when atheists and religious minorities have guns trained on them by the followers of the Lamb of God.

America has a rich history of religious diversity, and while the nation's record hasn't been perfect in regard to religious matters, Christians murdering people outright based on their religion is not plausible.

[memphis]

The ultimate aim of the Republican Party is to Christianize the entire nation, by force if necessary. I can guarantee you there will come a day when atheists and religious minorities have guns trained on them by the followers of the Lamb of God.

America has a rich history of religious diversity, and while the nation's record hasn't been perfect in regard to religious matters, Christians murdering people outright based on their religion is not plausible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Joseph_Smith

[Sol]

Kent Conrad was also a Unitarian Universalist, IIRC. Which is kind of weird considering that he was a Blue Dog.

The Unitarian Universalists have roots in Puritanism and made a bizarre transition from icy Calvinism to mainstream Congregationalism to pseudo-atheist spiritualism as Unitarians.

Pretty much. UUs must surely be among the most Democratic voting religious demographics in the U.S.- which is particularly astonishing when you consider that the vast majority of Unitarians are wealthy whites.

Of course, there's a lot of theological diversity within UUism- with the biggest cleavage being between the more strongly atheistic types and the more spiritually-oriented folks. The former tends to skew older, and they generally parallel the old guard 'conservative' types you see in other denominations, which is of course a little ironic. The latter is younger in general, and tends to try to push the Church more in a religious direction.

Both factions are extremely left-wing, of course. But the old-guard atheists/agnostics tend to be a little more maverick-y and less willing to embrace the hippy-ness which defines the younger generation.

It should also be noted that the U.U. church is suffering demographically, due to similar forces that are also hurting many mainline Protestant denominations.

Of course, this may not be applicable for the New England churches, where I get the impression that things are (at least nominally) more Christian. There are also Christian Unitarians and Universalists (in the traditional sense of those terms), some of whom work from within the UU hierarchy. I believe Ernest goes to such a church.

[Never]

The ultimate aim of the Republican Party is to Christianize the entire nation, by force if necessary. I can guarantee you there will come a day when atheists and religious minorities have guns trained on them by the followers of the Lamb of God.

America has a rich history of religious diversity, and while the nation's record hasn't been perfect in regard to religious matters, Christians murdering people outright based on their religion is not plausible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Joseph_Smith

My apologies for not making myself clearer on this.

First off, this is not 1844. I am trying to convey the point that Christians murdering non-Christians does not seem like something that will be prevalent in America's future.

Still, I did say that our nation's record on religion in the past wasn't perfect. Joseph Smith's murder is just one example of that.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Of course, this may not be applicable for the New England churches, where I get the impression that things are (at least nominally) more Christian.

This is true, to the extent that many UU churches in New England have a liberal Christian old guard rather than an atheist/agnostic old guard. Otherwise things are more or less similar to elsewhere.