Atheism Stack Exchange Archive

Should atheists complain about the disparity in elected officials in the US?

I cite this analysis from the Pew Research Center. What I notice is a) 7.3% of the US congress are Jewish, as opposed to 1.7% of public. b) 0.0% of congress is Unafiliated, as opposed to 16% of public. Most other religions are proportionally represented.

Although I do not subscribe to any conspiracy theories, I wonder what is it that makes Jewish politicians more electable, compared to non-religious ones (by a huge margin).

Is this an area worth discussing, and/or complain about in public?

Analysis Results

Answer 2234

There is an interesting duality in American culture. We can start with the Constitution, Article VI of which states that there shall be no religious test for holding public office. That said, an overwhelming percentage of Americans distrust the non-religious. I’ve seen this myself. I like to cite as an example, the time when a coworker expressed surprise upon learning that I’m an atheist.

Many stereotypes of Jews in America feature them as being capable lawyers and accountants. This may give them an advantage in some elections, especially in those congressional districts that might be agreeable to a message from a candidate who might play the stereotype in his or her favor. There is also a Christian base that supports Jewish interests because they believe in rapture prophesy.

One final factor that must be accounted for is the nature of congressional districts. There are 435 seats in congress. With a population of approx. 300 million, it is not necessarily follow that each representative in congress represents approximately 690 thousand people. Every ten years, states gain or lose seats depending on relative percentages each state has of the overall US population, so a state whose population growth is faster than the national average will gain seats, and those whose growth is slower than the average will lose seats. Then each state will redraw their own congressional districts based on the number of seats they now have, and this is an extremely political exercise, often disproportionately favoring certain politicians over others. The religious and racial makeup of congress, therefore, is highly unlikely to be a mirror of the nation at large.

Answer 2227

Somethings to bear in mind:

  1. Being Jewish is a highly cultural thing, as well as a religious thing. Similar to Catholics, many people will identify as Jewish due to their upbringing, without regard to their devoutness or any kind of adherence to the Jewish faith

  2. Declaring oneself to be an atheist would be political suicide in the US. That list includes at least 66 mambers of Congress about whom you can make no real inference about their religion, either because they fall into an ‘Other’ category… or they refused to respond.

  3. There’s no ‘complaint’ to be made. Religion is inextricably linked to upbringing and it seems fair to assume that upbringing is a major factor in the decision to enter politics

Answer 2253

This is pure speculation, but hopefully food for thought. Politics is a “tribal” activity. It involves getting the support of your tribe and as many others as possible to get elected. Groups successful in politics are successful in tribalism.

The Jewish have been successful at many things over the years, and I have to believe (having lived with a Kosher Jewish family for two years, and experiencing their values and actions closeup) that a part of their success in political (tribal) arenas is that these things (maintaining the tribe, keeping the story alive, making sure fellow tribe members are successful, spending within the tribe first) are important to them.

Atheists do not necessarily share these sentiments, and do not reap the benefits that tribalism (aka “joining together”) brings to tribal cultures. Sure, we avoid a lot of the worst aspects of tribalism, but that doesn’t make my speculation any less valid.

Voters vote for “team players” because they expect to receive the benefits of joining a team. “Team Atheist” doesn’t offer many benefits. :-(

Answer 2218

I don’t know if there is any regulation in the US according to which the congress must be distributed in such a way that represents the general population. If there is, then go ahead and claim it, you US citizens! You have all my support. :-)

And, even if there isn’t, I think that a complaint can be argued for. I imagine that the US congress must represent the US people. For example, it wouldn’t make sense that the congress were composed exclusively of republicans (or democrats, for that matter), regardless of the results of the polls; the composition must correspond to what the people think and express. Similarly, I think that religious stance, being such an importance influencer in public policies, should be balanced between congress and people. So yes, complain away.

In any case, the cited report is a great piece of data to take into account and use as evidence when campaigning for the rights of atheists, regardless of the particular case of the US congress. Myself I am planning to quote those stats every time I can, to show the disproportion between the general population and the ruling elites.

Answer 2250

Jews are “overrepresented” in other fields of success, such as Nobel Prize winners, so I don’t see a conspiracy here. I don’t think they were chosen because they’re Jewish, it’s just that a large proportion of Jews are successful in various fields of endeavours, and one of them just happens to be politics.

I’m interested that Mormons are also “over-represented”. Whatever I think about the LDS religion, I can’t help but be impressed at how well-represented they are in technological fields and other areas of achievement.

Answer 2273

I say no, but only to the word “complain”. I think it is true that atheists are an under represented minority. “under represented minority” carries a lot of baggage. I would be very careful about how and when I say that. It takes a couple steps of logic and some speculation to get from the above statistics to their meaning. If you are talking to someone who has in their head that all the founding fathers were priests (there is a whole book on that), you aren’t going to get through that logic. Claiming minority status can sound like playing a victim to many people.

A good companion study with this one is the one that shows how most people wouldn’t want an atheist to marry their sister or wouldn’t be comfortable in a public stadium if they knew there were atheists in the crowd.

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