Pew Research<\/a>\u00a0states that the incoming 116th Congress is slightly more religious than the prior Congress despite a decline in the number of self-identifying Christians.\u00a0Pew also notes that the religious makeup of Congress is disproportionate to the religious makeup of the U.S. population.<\/p>\nAccording to the report, the share of the number of members of Congress who identify as Christian decreased by 3 percent. In the 115th Congress, 91 percent identified as Christian; in the 116th, 88 percent do. In the 116th there are four more Jewish members, one additional Islamist and one more Unitarian Universalist, as well as eight members who did not state their religious affiliation (or lack thereof).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/442\/2019\/01\/PF_12.31.18_faith-00.png\")
<\/p>\n
Despite the 3 percent decline,\u00a0Christians as a whole (primarily Protestants and Roman Catholics) \u201care overrepresented in proportion to their share in the general public,\u201d Pew states.\u00a0Protestants in the new Congress are primarily Methodists, Anglicans\/Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Lutherans.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the disproportionate nature of members\u2019 religious affiliation to that of the general public, Pew notes that Protestants (\u201cunspecified\/other\u201d) comprise 5 percent of the U.S. population but account for 15 percent of congressional members. By contrast, some Protestant groups are underrepresented in Congress, such as Pentecostals. Pentecostals comprise 5 percent of the U.S. population compared to 0.4 percent of Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut by far the largest difference between the U.S. public and Congress is in the share who are unaffiliated with a religious group,\u201d Pew states. Roughly 23 percent of Americans identify as atheist, agnostic or \u201cnothing in particular.\u201d In Congress, only one person, an open bisexual and Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, identifies as \u201creligiously unaffiliated.\u201d The share of \u201cnones\u201d in Congress 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, when asked about their religious affiliation, a growing number of members of Congress decline to specify (categorized as \u201cdon\u2019t know\/refused\u201d), the report states. They are all Democrats.<\/p>\n
Compared to the 115th Congress, the number of Democrats who fall into this category increased slightly from 2 to 3 percents (10 to 18). Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., identifies as a humanist and has said that he\u2019s not sure God exists. Huffman falls into the Pew category as \u201cdon\u2019t know\/refused\u201d because he declined to state his religious identity in the CQ Roll Call questionnaire, which Pew used for the report.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Pew Research Center analysis<\/a>\u00a0was based on CQ Roll Call data gathered through questionnaires and follow-up phone calls to members\u2019 and candidates\u2019 offices about their religious affiliations. The CQ questionnaire asked members what religious group, if any, they belong to and did not attempt to measure their religious beliefs or practices. The Pew Research Center analysis compares the religious affiliations of members of Congress with the Center\u2019s survey data on the U.S. public.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/442\/2019\/01\/PF.01.03.19_faith.hill-00-.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new report by Pew Research\u00a0states that the incoming 116th Congress is slightly more religious than the prior Congress despite a decline in the number of self-identifying Christians.\u00a0Pew also notes that the religious makeup of Congress is disproportionate to the religious makeup of the U.S. population. According to the report, the share of the number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1910,"featured_media":2320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[972,970],"tags":[1807,1816,1813,1810],"class_list":["post-2234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christianity","category-politics","tag-116th-congress","tag-faith-on-the-hill","tag-pew-research-center","tag-religous-beliefs"],"yoast_head":"\n
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