A shocking revelation: In Colorado, nearly 1 in 4 state lawmakers are non-religious

Colorado Politics found an astonishing number of non-religious legislators, though most chose to remain anonymous

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The last time I did an analysis of the openly non-theistic elected officials in state/federal office, in 2022, with the help of the Center for Freethought Equality, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Colorado had seven such politicians in the State House.

Five of them were incumbents: Reps. Karen McCormick (Spiritual but not religious), Brianna Titone (Spiritual but not religious), Chris Kennedy (agnostic), Judy Amabile (atheist), and Cathy Kipp ("does not belong to any organized religion").

Two, however, were brand new to the legislature: Jennifer Parenti and Stephanie Vigil both won their races by razor-thin margins, but they showed that being openly humanist (Parenti) or a “secular humanist, an exvangelical, and an atheist” (Vigil) weren’t dealbreakers for voters. It’s a far cry from the infamous Gallup poll that asks Americans if they’d consider voting for a presidential candidate from their preferred political party if that candidate happened to be an atheist. In 1958, only 18% said yes. By 2019, the number had jumped to 60%, but “atheist” was still near the bottom of all the options on Gallup’s list.

And yet these candidates in Colorado were not hiding their beliefs and still winning races. For those keeping score, that was 7 “Nones” out of 65 State House members. Not bad!

Turns out our numbers were off… by a lot.

More politicians in Colorado are separating faith from politics (image via Shutterstock)

In an incredible story by Hannah Metzger, Colorado Politics conducted its own survey of politicians’ religious beliefs and found that, of the 100 state-level lawmakers, “24 identify as nonreligious, including atheists, agnostics, humanists and more.”

There are 6 Nones in the Senate and 18 in the House, the publication reveals. Even more shocking? One of them is a Republican… though he still believes in a “higher power,” sees faith as generally good, and harbors disdain for church/state separation:

Rep. Ryan Armagost of Berthoud is the sole nonreligious Republican. Armagost, who is agnostic, said he believes in a higher power but doesn’t put a name or religion to it. While Armagost said nonreligious is an accurate description for him, he said he appreciates many different religions.

Armagost said the morning prayer and other religious activities in the legislature don’t bother him, pointing to “freedom of religion.”

"Faith in one form or another is good," Armagost said. "I think it's something that we all need at the start of each day. If people are uncomfortable with it, I think those are more the people that are just anti-religion." 

It’s hardly an “anti-religion” sentiment to think the state should do away with the traditional group prayer that opens “every morning of the legislative session.” But Republicans gonna Republican.

In case you need more evidence that Armagost is trying to have it all ways, lacking any real principles on the matter, check out his response to conservatives who might not be accepting of non-religious politicians like himself:

He continued: “If there's somebody in my political party that believes that I don't fit into their ideology because of my religion, then they themselves are the anomaly of our party of freedom of religion. That's a Republican way of life, to appreciate freedom of religion, not to impose religion on others.”

How deep must your head be buried in the sand to think Republicans have no interest in imposing their religion on others? Christian Nationalism is the GOP platform at this point. There’s a reason 99% of Republicans in Congress are some brand of Christian.

In Colorado, despite its relative religious diversity, there are many ways religion seeps into the chamber:

A Bible study for lawmakers is held in the Capitol every Tuesday, lawmakers frequently quote scripture during policy debates, and, last session, party leadership feverishly worked across the aisle to negotiate the end of stall tactics to give lawmakers the day off to attend Good Friday and Easter services.

The question I really wanted an answer to was: Who are these other non-religious politicians who escaped my radar? A lot of the politicians who are unaffiliated chose to remain anonymous. But not all of them:

Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat who is nonreligious, said she has questioned the need for the prayer with her colleagues and House leadership. She said she's always told it is a matter of tradition.

“It doesn't make sense to me. I think it's a waste of time,” Garcia said. "An entire third of the population doesn't pray. If you're going to pray, pray on your own time.”

Garcia and Armagost were the only politicians that weren’t on my 2022 list that went public for this story. (Given that Armagost still “believes in a God” despite his agnosticism, I don’t think he counts. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Still, the remaining 18 non-religious politicians in the Colorado legislature are anonymous… for now. Metzger notes, though, that even if a couple of states (New Hampshire and Vermont) have more non-religious politicians, they also have much larger legislatures. Colorado, in terms of percentage, is the most non-religious state legislature in the country.

Given that the state itself has the “fifth-highest religiously unaffiliated population in the country,” this ought to give some pause to politicians who attempt to inflict their vision of conservative Christianity on everyone else. And yet, last year, a Republican gubernatorial candidate said he would institute a No-Jews, No-Muslims, No-Atheists policy when it came to selecting his potential Lt. Governor. (That guy lost.) In 2019, a pastor running for State House declared women shouldn’t wear pants because they were “immodest.” (That guy lost.) And in 2015, when right-wing extremist Gordon Klingenschmitt was elected to the Colorado State House, he responded to a horrific story of a pregnant woman who was attacked and had her fetus literally cut out of her body by saying it was God’s way of punishing us for allowing legalized abortion. (That guy lost after a single term.)

None of this is old news. It’s still happening today:

Earlier this year, [Rep. Richard] Holtorf called lawmakers supporting abortion legislation "Godless heathens." Rep. Scott Bottoms, a Colorado Springs Republican and Christian pastor, said "listening to God, truth, righteousness and freedom" hurts the souls of lawmakers in favor of gun control. 

Of course, Colorado is also home of Christian Nationalist Rep. Lauren Boebert and Colorado Springs is the home base for several evangelical ministries including Focus on the Family. Religion, specifically Christianity, isn’t losing its power anytime soon.

But I firmly believe the best way for non-religious people to win over the hearts and minds of more Americans is through politics. In theory, it’s the most powerful form of public service. Your votes could literally improve the lives of your constituents, and doing that while openly admitting you’re not religious sends a clear message that your morality isn’t tied to faith.

As more politicians “come out” as non-religious, the stigma decreases for everyone else.

Just ask Ron Millar of the Center for Freethought Equality:

When Millar joined the Center for Freethought Equality in 2016, the organization knew of five state legislators in the entire country who publicly identified as nonreligious. Today, they're up to 73, plus two members of Congress.

…

"The stigma is going away, but it's not completely gone yet," Millar said. "The obvious goal is, at some point, this shouldn't be an issue at all. We shouldn't care what someone's religion or lack thereof is. But for us, for now, it's important because it's one of the most effective ways to get rid of the lingering bias.” 

He believes it's yielded a strong track record so far.

Millar said none of the Center for Freethought Equality's candidates have ever lost office after publicly identifying with the group. Though, their candidates are almost entirely Democrats, many of whom hold safe seats. 

Incidentally, I asked Millar if Garcia and Armagost responded to his questionnaire in the previous election cycle and he said they didn’t. In general, though, he said officials who prefer to remain anonymous tend to cite their re-election chances and the fear of backlash from their own families: “Mothers are a frequent concern,” he told me.

(Politicians: They’re just like us!)

Still, even if they’re running for “safe” seats, most of those Democrats still had to win competitive primaries. Most candidates do everything they can to minimize potential landmines in their histories. The fact that so many non-religious candidates in Colorado aren’t hiding their non-religious labels is a wonderful sign; hopefully more of them will step out from behind the cloak of anonymity when the next election cycle begins.

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