More than 90 percent of the new Congress is Christian, a 2 percent increase from the previous Congress.
The
Pew Research Center reports that 92 percent of the 114th Congress is made up of Christians, a figure dominated by Protestants at 57 percent. Thirty-one percent of those Christians are Catholic.
Pew claims those numbers are higher than the American average; 49 percent of American adults are Protestant, according to the data, while 22 percent are Catholic.
Twenty percent of Americans say they are not affiliated with any religion, while that number falls to just 0.2 percent in Congress. The only lawmaker on Capitol Hill without a religious affiliation is Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, according to Pew.
Fifteen percent of Congress is Baptist, while another 8 percent is either Methodist or Anglican/Episcopal. Presbyterians make up 7 percent of the 535 lawmakers in the House and Senate.
Five percent of Congress is Jewish, higher than the nationwide figure of 2 percent. Seven members are ordained ministers.
Of the 301 Republicans in Congress, only one of them — freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York — is not Christian. Zeldin is Jewish. Sixty-seven percent of the GOP Congressmen are Protestant, while 27 percent are Catholic. Five percent are Mormon.
Forty-four percent of the 234 Democratic Congressmen are Protestant, 35 percent are Catholic, and 12 percent are Jewish. There are two Mormons, two Buddhists, two Muslims, and one Hindu.
Meanwhile, Pew reported in September that
72 percent of Americans think religion is losing influence. But the figures did show that 78 percent of Americans still
claim to be Christian.
Nearly half of Americans, on the other hand, would like to see
more religion in the world of politics, according to the Pew data.