How Christian Is 2017 Congress

In recent years, lesser number of Americans made claims regarding their Christianity. However, people’s representatives are showing otherwise. The number of Christians in 115^th Congress does not differ much with that of 87^th Congress.

A total of 91% of the members of 115^th Congress are Christians; such number is very near the 95% of the 87^th Congress. Moreover, among the 293 Republicans seated on the new Congress, only two are non-Christians; they are Jewish.

Members of the Democrats are more varied but 80% of them identify themselves as Christians. Among the 242 Democrats, only 28 are Jews. The remaining small group of non-Christians comprises three Buddhists, three Hindus, and a Unitarian Universalist. Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona does not affiliate herself with any religious affiliation, whereas another 10 skipped affiliating themselves with any religious groups.

New members of the House of Representatives are sworn to their duty in January 3, 2017.

Meanwhile, the numbers of Protestants in Congress decreased in number, similar to the trend observed in national data. From the total number of Protestants (75%) in Congress in 1961, the number dropped to 56% at present. On the other hand, the number of Catholics rose to 31% (starting from 19%). At present, the number of Republicans in Congress consists for 67% Protestants and 27% Catholics. Meanwhile, the current members of Democrats comprise 42% Protestants and 37% Catholics.

Research has shown that religious groups, including Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, have more representations in Congress. Meanwhile, in the whole US population, 2% are Jews, of which 6% hold positions in Congress. As for Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians, their percentage in the general population is almost the same as their percentage in Congress.

Meanwhile, one non-religiously affiliated group is underrepresented. People who consider themselves to have no religion account for 23% of the population, and representatives with such affiliation hold only 2% of Congressional positions.