Most Members of Congress Claim to be Christians, But Host of Other Faiths There, Too

Three hundred and three of the 434 Members sworn-in for the 118th Congress claim to be Protestants, while another 148 say they belong to Catholic parishes, meaning fully 87.5 percent of the House of Representatives identify as Christians, according to the Pew Research Center (PRC).

In the latest edition of the PRC’s “Faith on the Hill” report, the authors note that Congress “remains largely untouched by two trends that have long marked religious life in the United States: a decades-long decline in the share of Americans who identify as Christian, and a corresponding increase in the percentage who say they have no religious affiliation.

“Since 2007, the share of Christians in the general population has dropped from 78 percent to its present level of 63  percent. Nearly three-in-10 U.S. adults now say they are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular,’ up from 16 percent who did not identify with a religion 16 years ago.

“But Christians make up 88 percent of the voting members of the new 118th Congress being sworn in on Jan. 3 – only a few percentage points lower than the Christian share of Congress in the late 1970s. In the 96th Congress, which was in session in 1979-1980, 91 percent of members of Congress identified as Christian.”

With 67 congressmen, the Baptists, mostly from Southern Baptist Convention churches, make up 12.5 percent of the total. None of the other Protestant denominations had nearly as many as the Baptists, with Methodists at 31, Presbyterians with 25, Anglican/Episcopals and Lutherans at 22, and non-denominationals at 15.

There are 34 Jewish members, including one Messianic Jew who recognizes Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and nine members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). There are two Buddhists and two Hindus, plus three Muslims. Twenty congressmen either refused to disclose their religious affiliations or said they have none.