Election News
It looks like the number of Catholics in the U.S. Senate may be more than expected. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R, AK) who lost in the primaries to fellow Republican Jim Miller is running successfully in the polls to potentially retain her seat as a write-in candidate. It is important to note that polls do not replicate the ballot box where her name will not appear. We may not know the outcome for days or weeks after the election as one can expect vote counts and challenges on the write-in ballots to be time consuming.
It is likely that the Speaker of the House of Representatives will be a self-identified Catholic again. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) would likely continue to serve in that capacity if Democrats can hold on to the House. However, polls indicate that may not happen. If Republicans win a majority, expect Catholic John Boehner (R, OH), currently Minority Leader of the House, to likely become Speaker. There are always political issues that play out following an election and another name from the winning party may surface. The Speaker must win election on the first day of the new session.
Views of the Bible and Belief in the Real Presence
In the previous post we showed interesting similarities among Christians in the United States regarding belief in and knowledge of the Real Presence. Some additional context is shown in the figure below again using data from the 2008 American National Election Study. There are distinct differences among Protestants by views of the Bible. About seven in ten who believe the Bible is to be taken literally word for word also believe that “when people take Holy Communion, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” Among Protestants who do not take the Bible as literally word for word, the percentage who believe in the Real Presence declines.
