2nd Opinion: Americans affirm ‘no religious test’

The upcoming election will be important and historic in at least one sense. In 223 years, this will be the first time no white Anglo-Saxon Protestant will represent the two major parties for president or vice president. The only professed Protestant is Barack Obama. The other candidates all belong to non-Protestant churches. Mitt Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Joe Biden and Paul Ryan both are Roman Catholic.

No president has claimed to be atheist or agnostic, but the religious affiliations of several were not clear and professed generic, civil religiosity. Most presidents, except John Kennedy, generally stood in the Protestant tradition, even if their theology was deistic and non-Trinitarian. Four presidents have been Baptist—Warren Harding, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Joe Biden is the first Roman Catholic vice president. Baptist vice presidents who did not become president were Richard Johnson (1837-1841), Nelson Rockefeller (1974-1977) and Al Gore (1993-2001).

This status of the executive branch of the federal government is accompanied by a similar shift in the judicial branch. With the retirement of John Paul Stevens and the ascension of Elena Kagan, for the first time in our history, no Protestants are serving on the Supreme Court. Three justices—Kagan, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—are Jewish, and the other six are Roman Catholic, including Chief Justice John Roberts.

Protestantism has been the dominant affiliation of the 112 justices who have served on the court. Throughout most of the 20th century, there was an informally designated "Jewish seat." The first Jewish justices—Louis Brandeis (1916-1939) and Benjamin Cardozo (1932-1938)—were followed by Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962), Arthur Goldberg (1962-1965) and Abe Fortas (1965-1969). The same is generally the case about a "Catholic seat." In the 20th century, Catholics included Edward White (1894-1910, chief justice 1910-1921), Joseph McKenna (1898-1925), Pierce Butler (1923-1939), Frank Murphy (1940-1949), Sherman Minton (1949-1956) and William Brennan (1956-1990). Only three Baptists have served on the Supreme Court—Howell E. Jackson (1893-1895), Charles Evans Hughes (1910-1916, chief justice 1930-1941) and, most recently, Hugo Black (1937-1971).

The startling eclipse of Protestant hegemony at the executive and judicial branches is evidence we seem to be taking seriously the clause in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution that bans religious tests for public office. That nobody is talking much about it suggests we are becoming more comfortable with the principle that our leaders should not have to sign on the dotted line of a particular religious confession in order to serve.

Yes, some of our countrymen (erroneously) still talk about an officially designated "Christian nation." Others—even some professed Republicans—say they never would vote for a Mormon. But the conspicuous absence of white Protestants at the highest levels of two of three branches of the federal government without much fanfare or criticism says, in practice, we have made peace with the no-religious-test principle, even if some continue to talk as if they want one.

This not only attests to a practical aversion to religious tests, but it also reflects our increasing ethnic and religious pluralism. We continue to be one of the most religious and religiously diverse nations. Although still dominated by a majority claiming to be Christian, our faith mosaic is staggering.

Adding to this texture of pluralism is the rise in atheism, agnosticism and others who claim to be "spiritual" but do not affiliate with any faith. While Americans who say they are atheists has risen from 1 percent to 5 percent, the total number of the so-called "nones" now stands at 19 percent. And the percentage of those polled who self-identify as "religious" stands at 60 percent, dropping from 73 percent seven years ago.

Of course, numbers can fluctuate, depending upon the polling methods. But they demonstrate the United States is robustly religious, religiously plural and substantially secular in its demographic makeup.

It is no accident—in a country that generally is unwilling to impose a formal or even practical religious test and whose First Amendment protects the freedom of and from religion—we see palpable religious pluralism encouraged and thus manifested in the upper reaches of our government.

Brent Walker is executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. (Report from the Capital)