The Religious Composition of the 114th Congress

[rug]

January 5, 2015

When the new, 114th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 6, 2015, Republicans will control both chambers of the legislative body for the first time since the 109th Congress (2005-2006). Yet, despite the sea change in party control, there is relatively little change in the overall religious makeup of Congress, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. More than nine-in-ten members of the House and Senate (92%) are Christian, and about 57% are Protestant, roughly the same as in the 113th Congress (90% and 56%, respectively).1 About three-in-ten members (31%) are Catholic, the same as in the previous Congress.

Protestants and Catholics continue to make up a greater percentage of the members of Congress than of all U.S. adults. Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, 49% of American adults are Protestant, and 22% are Catholic.

As was the case in the 113th Congress, the biggest difference between Congress and the general public is in the share of those who say they are religiously unaffiliated. This group makes up 20% of the general public but just 0.2% of Congress. The only member of Congress who describes herself as religiously unaffiliated is Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

Many of the nation’s smaller religious groups are represented in roughly equal proportion to their numbers in the U.S. adult population. Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus combined represent roughly 2% of American adults and 1% of Congress. Jews continue to have greater representation in Congress (5%) than in the population as a whole (2%), but there are five fewer Jewish members in the 114th Congress than there were in the 113th, and 11 fewer than there were in the 112th Congress.



http://www.pewforum.org/2015/01/05/faith-on-the-hill/

[underpants]

1. Marking so I can look some of these up

Restorationist?

[rug]

2. I'm not sure. Start with the redones.

[hrmjustin]

3. here is what I found.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorationism

[underpants]

4. Thanks

I did google it. That is a new one on me.

[hrmjustin]

6. Your welcome and I don't know much myself about them.

[nichomachus]

5. So, basically, a collection of wacko "Christian" cults n/t

[Fred Sanders]

7. Yep. Not a member, no seat for you. Republican are 100% Christians after they got rid of Cantor.

[cbayer]

10. I find that lack of diversity very unsettling.

[hrmjustin]

9. I don't know enough about them to make a judgment.

[rug]

13. I'm not sure how many members of congress meet that strict definition.

Corporatism is another story.

[cbayer]

8. Christian primitivism? Interesting that the puritans were a restoration sect.

[braddy]

11. It counts Mormonism as a Christian denomination

in reality, it is it's own religion.

[cbayer]

12. Lol, we just recently had a big debate about that in this very group.

They most definitely consider themselves christian and if you use a pretty strict definition, they probably meet it.

But I agree with you and see it as an entity unto itself. Its' so significantly different than all other christian sects.

The interesting thing is in how some people use this difference. If a mormon does something objectionable, then he is relabeled as a christian. Some even go so far as to change the headlines from a cut and paste article.

It's all part of the trend of lumping all religious people together and not making important distinctions about groups under that heading. It's a trend to paint all religious people with the same brush, a brush covered in tar.

However, in this particular case, I think it was a political decision on the part of PEW.

[braddy]

14. They consider their religion the reestablishment of Christianity, and they become Gods.

No Christian denomination considers them Christian, and all require them to become baptized, just as the Mormons baptize the Christians into their religion.

Catholics, Methodists, Southern Baptists, Orthodox, Presbyterians, etc. all agree on Mormonism not being part of the Christian faith.

Mitt Romney believes in the Book of Mormon, and that he will become a God in time.

[cbayer]

15. You and I have no disagreement on this.

But there are others here that do disagree and that disagreement is entirely agenda driven.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. Clearly yours isn't.