More Muslims in Congress than Atheists

Andre Carson just was elected to Congress in a special election for Indiana's 7th district. The Democrat will fill the vacancy left by the death of his grandmother, the late Rep. Julia Carson.

Carson will be the second Muslim serving in the U.S. Congress, joining Minnesota's 5th district Rep. Keith Ellison, who was elected in 2006. Now there are more Muslims in Congress than atheists. The only known atheist in Congress is the ever-entertaining Pete Stark of California's 13th district.

As of the beginning of 2007, according to the Washington Post, Congress had two Buddhists, two Unitarians (one of which is also the atheist, Rep. Stark), five Christian Scientists, six "unaffiliated," six UCC (United Church of Christ), 15 Mormons, 17 Lutherans, and 43 Jews. The remainder of Congress are from the Christian denominations listed in order from largest to smallest: Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians.

According to one survey of Americans, Atheists, Agnostics, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus all have roughly the same number of adherents, each being between 0.4% and 0.5% of the population. Jews and Mormons are both about 1.3%. A full 13.2% in this survey, however, claim "No Religion"--whatever that means.