[Vision2020] Sotomayor: US Supreme Court's Sixth Catholic?

[Ted Moffett]

Gender, racial or ethnic background may or may not be important in a choice
for a US Supreme Court justice, but it seems religious background is not a
major focus in the case of Sotomayor's nomination.

And why is this issue not on the front page?  If she were Muslim, Hindu or
Atheist, the full force of the religious bias in the US body politic towards
a challenge to the Christian/Judaism monopoly on US politics would be
revealed, despite the claim of the religious right that Christianity is
being marginalized in government.  Religion is a dominant influence on
ideology that should be open to full critical rational fact based
discussion, as well as gender, racial or ethnic background.

Article on Sotomayor's Catholic background:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/us/politics/31catholics.html?ref=global-home
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Why is there not a single US Senator who declares themselves of another
religious background than Christian or Jewish, of one variety or another?
There are two US Senators who are "unspecified."  Now there's a faith for
you!

http://www.adherents.com/adh_congress.html#109

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Affiliation_in_the_United_States_Senate

>From website above:

According to the data, no Senator falls under the category "No
Religion/Atheist/Agnostic" - a category embodied by 15.0% of the U.S.
population according to the 2001 Census.
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Religion is the most pervasive form of prejudice against a political
position (and despite what some might wish otherwise, US Supreme Court
justice nominations are very political in nature) in US politics, in the US
Senate or the presidency.  More than gender, race or ethnicity.

No politician running for the US Senate or the presidency would stand a
chance if they openly declared themselves Atheist.

Ted Moffett
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