13 seconds ago 2009-11-09T02:35:01-08:00
If confirmed to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor will be the sixth Roman Catholic of the nine justices. That would be a startling achievement for a faith that suffered so much discrimination in 20th century America.
But just how Catholic is she? Activists on all sides of the abortion issue -- including the two protesters removed from her hearing -- want to know.
Sotomayor hasn't spoken about her faith since her nomination. She graduated from a Catholic high school, but the White House says she doesn't belong to a parish and isn't a frequent churchgoer. She seems to be a ``cultural Catholic,'' someone in the faith who isn't active. More than half of U.S. Catholics fit that description and tend to be more liberal than regular churchgoers.
And the rest of the bench? Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer are Jewish. Justice David Souter is Episcopalian. When Souter retires, Justice John Paul Stevens will be the lone Protestant.
Catholics are about one-quarter of the U.S. population and their ranks are expanding, largely due to the growing Latino community. American Protestants, meanwhile, are very close to losing their majority status.
-Rachel Zoll , AP religion writer
