The 2010 election swept Democrats out and Republicans into power in the House of Representatives, but one thing has stayed about the same on the Hill: the religious composition on Capitol Hill.
Like the nation it’s meant to represent, Congress is a little more than half Protestant and about a quarter Catholic, with a significant presence of Jews and Mormons, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life said in a recent report. Buddhists and Muslims are found in very small numbers.
However, some groups make a much stronger showing in Congress than they do in the general population, and vice versa. For one thing, Congress claims to be more traditionally religious than does the average adult American.
“Perhaps the greatest disparity between the religious makeup of Congress and the people it represents, however, is in the percentage of the unaffiliated,” the Jan. 5 report said.
About 16 percent of the 35,000 U.S. adults surveyed in the Pew Research Center’s 2007 Religious Landscape Survey said they were not affiliated with any particular faith. Only six members of the 112th Congress, or about 1 percent, do not claim a specific religious affiliation.
Jews, who make up about 2 percent of the U.S. population, account for 12 percent of the Senate and 7 percent of Congress as a whole.
Two Protestant denominations are also overrepresented in strictly numerical terms. While only 2 percent of adult Americans identify themselves as Episcopalian, about 8 percent of Congress is Episcopalian. Three percent of Americans identify themselves as Presbyterians, yet 8 percent of Congress is Presbyterian.
Of the 535 members of the new Congress, Pew reports, 304, or 57 percent, are Protestants, which is an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous Congress. The U.S. adult population is 51 percent Protestant.
Catholics are the single largest denomination in Congress, with 156 members. They make up about 29 percent of the House and Senate, the report states, compared with 24 percent of the general population. But they are down five members from the last Congress.
The single largest Protestant denomination in Congress is Baptist, 13 percent, which is substantially less than the general population’s 17 percent.
Party affiliation makes a difference. While 69 percent of Republicans are Protestant, only 43 percent of Democrats are. Catholics and Jews are predominantly Democrat.
Over the years, the Methodists have lost ground, Pew researchers found. They accounted for almost one in five members, or 18 percent, of the Congress seated in 1961 but are less than 10 percent today.
Catholics were only 19 percent of the congressional membership in 1961 but are 29 percent now. The percentage of Jewish members increased from 2 percent 50 years ago to 7 percent today.
The first Jew to serve in Congress arrived in 1845. The first Muslim member and the first two Buddhist members were seated in 2007 and still serve.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
