Florida congressional delegation in middle of pack in ‘Biblical Business Index’

Florida’s current supermajority Republican congressional delegation is merely average when it comes to delivering what faith-based employers want, according to the Christian Employers Alliance’s (CEA) Congressional Biblical Business Index.

The rankings represent what the CEA calls “a network of more than 30,000 faith-based employers across all 50 states — including many of the nation’s largest faith-based organizations.”

And the Sunshine State is neither heaven nor hell, but somewhere in between.

Florida comes in at a middling 25th place, falling four spots from the previous year, and tying for the third-worst drop in “biblical alignment,” with Iowa and Connecticut.

“Too often, business rankings focus only on taxes and regulations,” said Margaret Iuculano, President of Christian Employers Alliance.

“These rankings are designed to help faith-based business leaders make informed decisions about where to invest, grow, and create jobs by showing business leaders where states are trending both economically and socially. They highlight where faith-based employers can most freely operate according to their religious beliefs, and where lawmakers are most consistently voting in alignment with biblical principles.”

The CEA said it “examined the voting records of all 535 members of Congress, ultimately ranking all 50 state congressional delegations on their alignment with the ‘biblically based position’ by tallying more than 82,000 votes cast by lawmakers” and by “applying a clearly defined methodology grounded in Scripture, limited government, and longstanding Judeo-Christian social principles.”

Six Florida members of Congress were in the top 51 on the index, including U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Reps. Greg Steube, Byron Donalds, Anna Paulina Luna, Aaron Bean and Kat Cammack.

The CEA also ranked members of the Legislature.

State Rep. Webster Barnaby led the pack, followed by state Reps. John Snyder and Monique Miller, state Sen. Don Gaetz, and state Reps. Lawrence McClure and Paula Stark.