The ten Democratic senators who have refrained from endorsing gay marriage are all professed Christians. Here they are.
1. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)- Catholic
2. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)- Catholic
3. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.)- Presbyterian
4. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)- Episcopalian
5. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.)- Catholic
6. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)- Catholic
7. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)- Presbyterian
8. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.)- Lutheran
9. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)- Catholic
10. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)- Southern Baptist
And here’s a breakdown by religious affiliation for the whole Senate:
Roman Catholic- 26 members, 12 for gay marriage, 14 against
Presbyterian- 14 members, 3 for gay marriage, 11 against
Jewish- 11 members, 11 for gay marriage, 0 against
Baptist/Southern Baptist- 11 members, 0 for gay marriage, 11 against
Methodist/United Methodist- 8 members, 3 for gay marriage (including Rob Portman), 5 against
Mormon- 7 members, 2 for gay marriage, 5 against
Lutheran- 5 members, 4 for gay marriage, 1 against
Unspecified Protestant- 5 members, 3 for gay marriage, 2 against
Episcopalian- 4 members, 2 for gay marriage, 2 against
Evangelical Christian- 1 member, against gay marriage
Buddhist- 1 member, for gay marriage
Church of Christ- 1 member, against gay marriage
Church of God- 1 member, for gay marriage
Congregationalist- 1 member, for gay marriage
Unaffiliated/Unspecified- 4 members, 4 for gay marriage, 0 against
Draw your own conclusions.
Gotta say I’m impressed (even if they are Johnny-come-latelys) that McCaskill and Tester endorsed SSM. I don’t know for sure that their states will have flipped their views by the time they are up in 2018. At the very least, even if we don’t get a huge victory, it’s now standard Democratic platform to endorse SSM – heck, even 4 years ago Obama said he ‘opposed’ it (which, TBH, I never really believed and thought it was a politically expedient position he had taken once he got national attention).
Begich, too. And, apparently, Baucus.
Yeah, I wonder how that will play in Alaska. Begich is up in 2014, so it’s a bit gutsy of him.
Or maybe it’s not. Things change so quickly on this issue, maybe Alaska has become pro-marriage equality in the past week or two, and Begich knows it.
I think Alaska is one of the least religious states in the country.
Not too far from a 50-50 split. I don’t see too much that I could say I find really surprising. If anything, I would have expected it to tilt a little more toward “against gay marriage”. Since many of those denominations have not come out in favor of gay marriage, one would expect people to take the safer position and ally with their particular group. Maybe the tide is much more evident inside the Washington bubble than I anticipated.
OK, I gotta ask. Who’s the Buddhist?
My first thought was Bernie Sanders, but I honestly can’t come up with any other name
Mazie Hirono.
Lol exact same time.
I think you have to buy each other a coke.
Sanders is Jewish.
Hirono.
What’s up with Carper?
He’s another spineless DLC’er.
Huh.
Both of them are safe Dems and could easily endorse SSM with no negative consequences.
DId it occur to anyone else reading this post that the religious demographics of the Senate are very different than that of the US?
1% evangelical? Ok, throw in Church of Christ and maybe 2 of the unspecified protestant plus the 11 Southern Baptists and you are still way below 26.3% of the general population. Seems like these people are voting in truckloads for other religions.
Such as Mormons – 7 in the Senate but only 1.7% of the population?
Jews – 11 in the Senate but only 1.7% of the population?
And of course the most discriminated religious group of all – 0 in the Senate but a whopping 16.1% of the population. Can you guess which group?
(All percentages from Pew)
And of course the most discriminated religious group of all – 0 in the Senate but a whopping 16.1% of the population. Can you guess which group?
Church of the Lizard People? 😉
If you guessed church of the flying spaghetti monsters you’d be closer.
I was going to say that .. but then I wanted to see how many people still remembered the Lizard People 😉 Has it really been almost 5 years now? Time flies!!
Most of the Jews are atheists.
On the subject of religious representation in the Senate: for virtually the entire history of the Republic, Episcopalians were massively over-represented in the US Senate. This suddenly changed 10-20 years ago.
Still true in the House.
If Massachusetts had known that by 2013 there be only one Congregationalist in the Senate and that she would hail from Minnesota, they never would have joined the Union.
Notice that the Jews unanimously are for gay marriage. There is an important figure in their history named King David that is in the Christian Old Testament. The Christians took that text from Hebrew text and put it in their Bible. Of course, the Christians interpreted King David’s love for another man, Jonathan, as a platonic relationship while the Hebrews have long held that this love of King David’s was a homosexual relationship with no prejudice or ill will against him. The Christians are going to deny that David’s homosexual relationship with Jonathan did not occur. But the Christians did not write King David’s original history, the Hebrews did. Am I going to believe the revisionist because of their hate?
Well there is also the matter of the “beloved disciple”
Most Protestant denominations are now split into conservative and mainstream / liberal branches, so it would be interesting to delve further into exactly which organization some of these lawmakers are part of.
Yes…you’d be surprised at how many evangelical branches of so-called mainstream Protestantism there are now; and among lapsed Catholics, too.
And I am surprised at the Church of god rep being “for” – around here they are among the most right wing Christians in the neighborhood.
53% of the whole Senate is against gay marriage. 53.8% of Catholic Senators are against gay marriage, almost exactly the same split. Episcopalians, Methodists, and Unspecified Protestant also split close to 53%.
Bob casey continues his career of being a moron.