More Protestants in the New Congress, Analysis Shows
Analysis released in the New Year by the Pew Research Center shows that the number of Protestants in the 112th Congress has increased to 304 from 292, drawing down the number of Jewish and Catholic Congressmen.
Fifty-seven percent of the 535 members in the new Congress are Protestants.
While Protestants have held the religious majority dating back to 2008's largely Democratic Congress, Baptist and Lutheran members – 68 and 26 members respectively – have grown compared to the number of Methodists. The number of Methodist members in the 112th Congress dropped by six from 57.
The majority of the Baptists members – 248 members to be exact – reside in the House of Representatives where they make up 57 percent of the legislative body. Last year, Baptists made up less than 55 percent of the House chamber.
The data is consistent with the gains made during the 2010 midterm election. Votes cast on November 2 allowed Republicans to regain the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and nearly half of the U.S. Senate.
When broken down by party, House Republicans lead the number of House Democrats who consider themselves Protestant by nearly half. Sixty-nine percent of congressional Republicans are Protestant, while less than half of Democrats (43 percent) belong to Protestant denominational families.
Comparatively, Congressional members hailing from other religious groups have largely decreased. The number of Catholics on the Hill has dropped from 161 to 156 members. Also, the number of the number of Jewish members dropped from 45 to 39.
Pew notes that the religious make up of Congress closely resembles that of the United States.
There are slightly higher percentages of Protestants and Catholics in government than in society – six and five percent more respectively.
Still, over half of America (51 percent) are Protestant. The majority of American Protestants also identify themselves as Baptists. Catholicism follows the Protestant faith at 24 percent as the second most prevalent religion in the Unites States.
Those who identify as unaffiliated to any religion rank third in society at 16 percent but last among Congressional affiliations at 0 percent.
