IN 1952 PRESIDENT-ELECT DWIGHT EISENHOWER set out what he noticed as a cornerstone of American democracy: “Our type of authorities has no sense until it’s based in a deeply felt spiritual religion—and I don’t care what it’s.” His phrases nonetheless loom over American politics. Nearly 88% of members of the 118th Congress, which convened on January third—however whose Home members have not yet elected a speaker—are Christian. That share has barely shifted because the late Seventies (see chart). Solely two members—lower than half of 1%—say they aren’t spiritual.
However the American public has modified. Simply 64% of People say they’re Christian in contrast with 90% in 1972. About 29% are religiously unaffiliated, up from 5%. Why are American lawmakers extra pious than the inhabitants? Begin with age. The common member of the Home of Representatives is 57; the common senator is sort of 64. The median age in America is 39. Older generations are typically extra spiritual than the younger. In America, 83% of these over 65 are spiritual in contrast with 61% of these aged between 18 and 29.
Second, spiritual individuals could also be particularly likely to run for workplace. Spiritual teams provide helpful networks for politicians hoping to attach with voters. White evangelicals, a formidable power within the Republican base, are probably the most putting instance. Democrats have historically benefitted from the votes of black Protestants, Jews and different spiritual minorities.
Third, many American voters stay cautious of atheists, regardless of their very own waning religiosity. In Might a ballot by the College of Maryland requested respondents how possible they might be to vote for a presidential hopeful who in any other case shared their views, relying on the candidate’s religion. Solely 48% mentioned they might vote for an atheist, a decrease quantity than for any faith.
A part of that suspicion dates to the chilly struggle, when America confronted an explicitly atheist enemy within the Soviet Union. It was then that America modified its motto to “In God we belief”, added a reference to the divine on greenback payments and inserted the Almighty into the pledge of allegiance. “To at the present time it’s virtually a demise sentence [for a politician to be atheist],” says Phil Zuckerman, of Pitzer Faculty in California.
At virtually one-third of the inhabitants, the non-religious must be a robust power in American politics. Avowed atheists and agnostics are extremely politically lively: they donate extra continuously, put up extra indicators and attend extra political conferences and protests than even white evangelicals. However they make up only a quarter of the religiously unaffiliated. The remainder are “nones”: those that, when requested their religion, in impact shrug. They’re typically disengaged from civic points on the whole, and are much less possible than the common American to vote. Till they do, Congress will proceed to mirror Eisenhower’s imaginative and prescient. ■
