The Republicans in Congress Are All Christian Now

The Republicans in Congress Are All Christian Now

After the defeat of Eric Cantor in this week’s primary, as this article notes, the Republicans in Congress are all Christian now. The Washington Post shows a set of graphics which are very intriguing.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary loss means Congress will soon say goodbye to its only Jewish Republican. And not only that; it also means there will likely be no Republicans in Congress who profess to be anything other than a Christian.

According to data collected by the Pew Forum at the start of the 113th Congress last year, the GOP conference was 69 percent Protestant, 25 percent Catholic, 4 percent Mormon and 1 percent Orthodox Christian.

Cantor was the only member of any other faith on the Republican side in either the House or the Senate — out of 278 members. There are no non-religious Republicans in Congress either.

Democrats, by contrast, are significantly more religiously diverse. At the start of 2013, they had 32 Jews, three Buddhists, two Muslims, a Hindu (the first to serve in Congress, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard), a Unitarian Universalist, one “unaffiliated” and 10 members who haven’t specified a religion.

Personally, I find this an interesting development. I had never seen the Republican party as a Christian party. However, this seems to be true. As a Christian pastor, I believe in religious liberty. While I am glad we have politicians who claim a Christian faith, I would hope this does not prevent people from being able to express their own form of worship. Everyone should still be open to worship God as they see fit, and not just as a certain group of politicians believe we should worship.