It truly is sad that this is even news. It is now the year 2013, 1/5 of Americans no longer buy into organized religion, and the 113th Congress has ten (10!) members who do not claim any religious affiliation at all.
To put that into perspective, that means that for roughly 62,000,000 out of 309,000,000 people, there are 10 out of 535 people who may, vaguely, if at all, come close to representing their views on the Hill.
Regardless of personal views on religion or lack thereof, it truly is despicable that a fifth of the country cannot have adequate representation in Congress. If such were the case for a sizeable religious minority in 2013 (and by this I mean individuals who would reply to a survey on religious affiliation with some sort of affirmative answer) the public outcry would be deafening.
Charlie Mahtesian of Politico has a post regarding this on his blog. He seems to see it as glass half-full: the 112th Congress only had 6 members who did not claim a religious affiliation. Perhaps he is correct to do so. I just hope that the process of diversifying Congress begins to accelerate as we move into the 21st Century. More from Politico here.
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