{"id":1652,"date":"2013-01-04T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T08:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/01\/first-member-of-congress-describes-religion-as-none.html"},"modified":"2013-01-04T08:20:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T08:20:00","slug":"first-member-of-congress-describes-religion-as-none","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/01\/first-member-of-congress-describes-religion-as-none.html","title":{"rendered":"First Member of Congress Describes Religion as ‘None’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

When the 113th Congress is sworn in today, its new members will include the first Hindu member of Congress and the first Buddhist<\/a> to serve as senator. Also for the first time, Congress will welcome a member who describes her religion as \u201cnone.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Democratic Arizona Rep.\u00a0Kyrsten Sinema<\/a>, who was raised a Mormon, is religiously unaffiliated but does not describe herself as an atheist. Her campaign was unavailable for comment to Whispers due to the swearing in, but spokesman Justin Ungatold the\u00a0Religious News Service<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in November that Sinema favors a \u201csecular approach.\u201d He told the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0the same month that Sinema \u201cbelieves the terms \u2018nontheist,\u2019 \u2018atheist\u2019 or \u2018nonbeliever\u2019 are not befitting of her life\u2019s work or personal character.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Despite the clear distinction, both secular and atheist groups have cheered her rise to Congress. In March 2011, The Center for Inquiry\u00a0<\/span>presented the Arizona attorney and professor<\/a>\u00a0with its Award for the Advancement of Science and Reason in Public Policy, which \u201crecognizes legislators who support public policy based on scientific thinking\u201d while \u201cmaintaining church-state separation,\u201d according to its web site.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the 113th Congress is sworn in today, its new members will include the first Hindu member of Congress and the first Buddhist to serve as senator. Also for the first time, Congress will welcome a member who describes her religion as \u201cnone.\u201d Democratic Arizona Rep.\u00a0Kyrsten Sinema, who was raised a Mormon, is religiously unaffiliated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Member of Congress Describes Religion as 'None'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the 113th Congress is sworn in today, its new members will include the first Hindu member of Congress and the first Buddhist to serve as senator.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/01\/first-member-of-congress-describes-religion-as-none.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Member of Congress Describes Religion as 'None'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the 113th Congress is sworn in today, its new members will include the first Hindu member of Congress and the first Buddhist to serve as senator.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/01\/first-member-of-congress-describes-religion-as-none.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-04T08:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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