The Vote Is Also a Matter of Faith

For the first time in American history, there is not one Protestant on the ticket for one of the two large parties in the Nov. 6 elections. The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, is Mormon, and his number two, Paul Ryan, is Catholic.

The fact symbolizes what experts like William Galston of the Brookings Institution have classified as “the end of an era,”* something also reflected in the Supreme Court, where today none of the nine magistrates is Protestant either. It is a political reflection of a reality that was confirmed this Tuesday by a study from the Pew Research Center: For the first time, the number of those who identify themselves as Protestant has dropped below 50 percent. They make up, specifically, 48 percent of the population.

Atheists and Agnostics

According to the Pew study, what has risen considerably in the United States is the number of adults who do not consider themselves part of any traditional religious denomination — a total of 19.6 percent, or practically one fifth of Americans. This percentage represents an increase of 145 percent with respect to the 8 percent that comprised this group in 1990. Behind this fact, there is another diagnosis: The majority of atheists, agnostics and those affiliated with “nothing in particular” (who, in many cases, do believe in God or a universal spirit, pray and, in 5 percent of cases, attend religious services) are inclined to vote for the Democratic party, while only 27 percent vote Republican.

“We think it’s mostly a reaction to the religious right,” Robert Putnam told the Washington Post. Putnam is a professor of political science at Harvard and a scholar who examines the long decline of religious affiliation in the United States. “The best predictor of which people have moved into this category over the last 20 years is how they feel about religion and politics.”

Religious Complexity

Elsewhere, another reality clamors for attention: The growing political polarization in the United States has also found its way to religion. Before, it was easy to differentiate between Catholics and Protestants. Now, the divisions are found within the denominations, depending on what positions they adopt regarding social issues like abortion or gay marriage. Because of this, for example, many Evangelistic voters firmly support Paul Ryan: He is Catholic, but in contrast to the moderate Catholic majority, he firmly opposes the right to abortion.

Although a poll by Pew in July found that, “there is little evidence to suggest that concerns about the candidates’ respective faiths will have a meaningful impact in the fall elections,” these concerns can be influential. Romney’s Mormonism, for example, has been an obstacle to overcome for many Evangelistic voters. However, there is some worry that the most orthodox believers continue to find fault with a candidate because of a religion that they do not consider to be part of Christianity but, rather, a sect. In a contest as close as that between Romney and Barack Obama (who is a Protestant), the strategists know that mobilizing to increase participation will be key. This explains why, for example, two dozen prominent Evangelistic leaders recently issued a communication emphasizing conservative values over the particular religion of a candidate.

Faith as a Political Argument

Neither Romney nor Obama has wanted his faith to become a central issue or even collateral during the campaign. The Republican, perhaps conscious of the suspicion that Mormonism provokes, decided just before his party’s convention in Florida to permit the press to accompany him to his religious services. In Tampa, his campaign opened a controlled window to his religion, putting on stage people that he had met through his church.

Obama, on the other hand, already distanced himself in 2008 from Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a black Protestant pastor seen as radical. Obama maintains his faith in private. He does not even contest the erroneous view of many who identify him as Muslim. The July poll by Pew demonstrated that 17 percent continue thinking that he is Muslim, while 49 percent identify him as Christian and that 31 percent to not know his religion. In August, when he and Romney relaxed their iron-clad privacy regarding religious topics in order to answer a questionnaire about religion produced by the Washington National Cathedral, Obama answered: “You know, there’s not much I can do about it. I have a job to do as president, and that does not involve convincing folks that my faith in Jesus is legitimate and real.”

*Editor’s note: Although accurately translated, this quote could not be verified.