Pew Research: New Congress Still Dominated by Christians

The new Congress is still dominated by lawmakers who identify as Christians, a trend that has remained relatively unchanged over the last 55-plus years, according to Pew Research Center.

However, the amount of Christians currently on the Hill did drop by a percentage point from the 114th Congress, which was 91.8 percent Christian.

The religious composition of the 115th Congress, according to Pew:

• Christian: 90.7 percent.
• Protestant: 55.9 percent.
• Roman Catholic: 31.4 percent.
• Jewish: 5.6 percent.
• Mormon: 2.4 percent.

The nearly 91 percent of Christians is on par with the 95 percent of the 87th Congress from the early '60s, the first time the data was available, according to Pew.

However, the percentage of those identifying as Protestant has declined sharply since the 87th Congress, from 75 percent then to the 56 percent now.

Lawmakers identifying as Roman Catholic have increased from 19 percent to the 31 percent of the 115th Congress.

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