Faith on the Hill

Richard A. Sokerka

An analysis by the Pew Research Center shows that the new, 116th Congress is slightly more diverse when it comes to religious affiliations than the prior Congress.

For instance, Congress now includes the first two Muslim women ever to serve in the House of Representatives, but shows a 3-percentage-point decline in the share of members of Congress who identify as Christian, a number that now stands at 88 percent. There are also four more Jewish members, one additional Muslim and one more Unitarian Universalist in the new Congress — as well as eight more members who decline to state their religious affiliation (or have none).

Despite this, Congress largely remains heavily comprised of Christians in Congress, especially Protestants and Catholics.

Most interestingly, the Pew Research Analysis shows that when asked about their religious affiliation, a growing number of members of Congress decline to specify (categorized as “don’t know/refused”). This group — all Democrats — numbers 18, or 3 percent of Congress, up from 10 members (2 percent) in the 115th Congress while the number of those members of Congress who say they are religiously unaffiliated stands at just 0.2 percent. That number is shockingly low since in the general public, 23 percent say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” and that number unfortunately is growing steadily year after year.

While the analysis by Pew Research Center does not attempt to measure the religious beliefs or practices of the members of the new Congress, it does point to the fact that an overwhelming majority of Congressional members do hold the Judeo-Christian values upon which this great nation was founded. Whether those values factor in to how they vote on the major issues of our day is another story.