When Will America Elect A (Fill In The Blank) President?
Amidst all the furor over whether Hillary Clinton will be our first female president, or whether Barack Obama will be our first black president, the issue of whether Mitt Romney will be our first Mormon president has been somewhat underplayed, except in conservative Christian circles.
In fact, as this list shows, America has had only one non-protestant President–John Kennedy, a Catholic–in its entire history, none of them Mormons. And Catholics, as noted above have had only one, despite having 24.5% of the US population.
We have also never had a Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, or secular president, despite the fact that these various groups make up 16.9% of the population. Add the Mormons, and this number climbs to 18.3%. Only three major presidential candidates have even been non-protestant, and all of them were Catholic.
The actual proportion of US Christians is 76.7%, of which protestants make up about 52%. And the protestant majority is shrinking every year.
While it is reasonable to think that the US will elect a woman or a minority at some time in the near future, though, the same cannot be said about non-protestants, or even fringe protestants. Why?
Because the Christian fundamentalists, which control about 25% of the votes in the Republican party eliminate one of the two major parties in this country from consideration, and because the Democrats have decided that Northeasterners, where Catholics and Jews abound, are unelectable. The defeat of John Kerry has probably scared them off for another 30 years. Third parties are defeated before the election begins by todays laws.
The question, therefore, is not when America will elect a female or a minority president, but when will we elect another non-protestant president? The answer, I think, is a long time from now.
An even more interesting question must be, when will America elect a non-Christian president?
I do not think it will ever happen.
