List of current United States Senators

This page lists the current US Senators in a table. The list includes name, party, term details and so on as one would expect. But the list also prominently includes Religion???

So we learn that one Senator is a Presbyterian, one a Methodist, a few are Mormons etc etc.

Since when were US politicians prominently defined by their views of the Spirit World?

Since when were US politicians prominently defined by their views of the Spirit World?

List of current United States Senators

Since when were US politicians prominently defined by their views of the Spirit World?

Since when were US politicians prominently defined by their views of the Spirit World?

Benjamin Disraeli was CofE.

Churchill - Nominally Anglican but "I believe that death is the end,"

For over 200 years. Not a pretty sight. You must have missed the last 4 years of "Obama's a Muslim!" nonsense and the JFK 1960 election, where a large % of Americans voted for Sweaty Dick because JFK was an agent of Rome.

Kato, while it is a perhaps uniquely American habit to judge the religiosity of our politicians, a throwback to our Puritan forebears, surely you haven't forgotten the palaver over whether Tony Blair (T-H-L-K-D) was secretly Catholic? And the "I told you so"s in some circles when, shortly after he stepped down as PM, when he in fact converted to Catholicism. For those who don't follow the minutia of Brit politics, had he been Catholic at his ascendance to Prime Minister or during his term there would have been a major crisis. British PMs must be CoE. How's that for "concern about views of the spirit world"?

Benjamin Disraeli was CofE. However, most British PMs are NOT CofE

Gordon Brown - Church of Scotland
Thatcher - Methodist?
Anthony Eden - Catholic/Atheist
Attlee - Agnostic
Harold Wilson - Congregationalist/Methodism
Alec Douglas-Home - Scottish Episcopalian
Churchill - Nominally Anglican but "I believe that death is the end,"
Lloyd George was Welsh non-conformist

There is no legal bar to the election of a non-Anglican British Prime Minister, but it would be constitutionally awkward, as the PM's has a role in appointing senior members of the Church of England. Theoretically the Queen has the ultimate power in making Church of England appointments, but she acts on the advice of the prime minister. The Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, sect. 17, and the Jews' Relief Act of 1858, sec 4, prohibit Roman Catholics or Jews from advising the Queen on CoE matters. Were the PM to be a Roman Catholic or a Jew an alternate system of appointment would need to be devised. To date, all British Prime Ministers, while in office, have professed Anglican faith. Disraeli, while born into a Jewish family, was baptized into the CoE at age 12 and Tony Blair waited until after he left office to officially convert to Catholicism. Gordon Brown did not 'profess the Anglican faith', as his father was a Church of Scotland minister, but the CoS is considered to be so close to the CoE as to not present a problem.

From an unnamed and probably unreliable source (other than Wikipedia), but still mostly correct:

While there is no longer a statutory bar on Roman Catholics becoming Prime Minister, there would be similar issues relating to the advice on ecclesiastical preferment that is given by the Prime Minister to the Crown. Special arrangements would have to be made to ensure that he or she did not advise the Crown directly or indirectly on Church of England appointments, doing which under the 1829 Roman Catholic Relief Act remains a “high misdemeanour”. This Act does not, of course, apply to Prime Ministers who are Protestant nonconformists, though in all probability similar arrangements would be made. Unlike the case of the Lord Chancellor, no clarifying legislation exists, but in a similar fashion, this particular aspect of Prime Ministerial duties could be delegated to another Minister.

All Prime Ministers to date have been Protestants. Disraeli was born into the Jewish faith but was baptised into the Church of England at the age of twelve. The majority of Prime Ministers, including the current one, Tony Blair, have been Anglicans, and Bute was a Scottish Episcopalian. Balfour and Campbell-Bannerman belonged to the Church of Scotland; and Bonar Law and MacDonald were also Presbyterians. Shelburne was a dissenter; Lloyd George and Callaghan were Baptists; Grafton and Chamberlain Unitarians (though Grafton was an Anglican during his tenure as PM16); Wilson was a Congregationalist and Thatcher a Methodist.

"After 30 years as a closet Catholic, Blair finally puts faith before politics" The Grauniad

"Blair, a Regular at Mass, Is Now Catholic" New York Times

For over 200 years. Not a pretty sight. You must have missed the last 4 years of "Obama's a Muslim!" nonsense and the JFK 1960 election, where a large % of Americans voted for Sweaty Dick because JFK was an agent of Rome.

At least Eisenhower was able to get beyond his upbringing within the Jehovah's Witness sect.