Yesterday there was an interesting story on NPR about how Congress as a whole is much more religious and much more Catholic than the United State population in general.

Apologists for Congress immediately tried to make the argument that Congress somehow needs more moral guidance than the rest of us, and that accounts for their greater religiosity.

This argument reveals the same fundamental cognitive bias that people have had all along, and that is that religiosity equates with morality.

It does not.

There is, in fact, scientific proof that it does not. There is, in fact, scientific proof that the faithful are no more motivated by compassion than the faithful.

It’s well known that Americans are more inclined to vote for a Muslim or a gay person for President, which is, of course, ass backwards. We should vote for atheists and agnostics first, because they are unencumbered by religious influences and are much more capable of making decisions on the basis of actual facts and reasoned arguments.

Sorry, religious apologists.