95 percent of Congress identifies with a religion, far above that of U.S. population
Majority of both parties are Protestant; Democrats show more diversity
The U.S. Congress that opens tomorrow is far more religious, at least in terms of faith affiliation, than the U.S. as a whole: An analysis published by CQ Roll Call, a leading political news organization based in Washington, D.C., found that 99 percent of Republicans and 91 percent of Democrats identify with a religious faith.
That compares with about 70 percent of the U.S. population as a whole. In other words, the Congress has few “nones,” those who don’t identify with a religious faith.
The analysis based its numbers on “biographical data collected and compiled by CQ Roll Call.”
As might be expected after a campaign in which Republicans gained much of their support from evangelical Christians, there are significant differences in the religious affiliations of the two parties: Republicans almost unanimously identify as Christian, while Democrats, although largely Christian, have more religious diversity.
Of the 272 Republicans in the incoming Congress, only five did not list their religious identity as Christian. Of them, three are Jewish, and one did not provide a religious affiliation. One, incoming Rep. Abe Hamadeh of Arizona, has a Muslim father and Druze mother and listed himself as nondenominational.
Among the other statistics published by Roll Call:
Majorities in both parties are Protestants, but the largest single Christian denomination in the new Congress is Catholicism. Democrats have 83 Catholics, while Republicans have 68.
Two members of the Congress are Baptist pastors: Republican Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
The largest non-Christian faith is Judaism, which includes 28 members, all but three of them Democrats.
Other non-Christian faiths include Islam, four members; Hinduism, four; Buddhism, three; and Unitarian Universalism, three. One member identifies as a nonreligious humanist.
Twenty-one Democrats did not give a religious affiliation. One identifies as a “none,” and one as an agnostic.