Religion on Capitol Hill: What Are the Faith Backgrounds of the 113th Congress?

The religious and faith backgrounds of the 113th Congress are more diverse now than at any time in the nation's history, with the addition of America's first Buddhist senator and the first Hindu in the House of Representatives. Since the birth of the nation in 1776, Congress has typically reflected the religious beliefs of the districts from which they were elected. But gone are days where the overwhelming majority of Congress was Protestant. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, with the assistance of Congressional Quarterly's Roll Call, compiled data comparing the faith breakdown of Congress to the American population and released their report on Wednesday. Here is what they found. There are 299 Protestants in Congress, making up 56.1 percent of the Senate and the House. In comparison, 48 percent of Americans are Protestant. Of those, 13.7 percent are Baptist, 10.9 percent are Unspecified/Other, 8.6 percent are Methodist, 8.1 percent are Presbyterian, 7.3 percent are Anglican/Episcopal and 4.3 percent are Lutheran. The remaining 3.4 percent belong to nondenominational churches, or are Congregationalist and Christian Scientist. One hundred sixty-three, or 30.6 percent of the body, are Catholic, 6.2 percent are Jewish and 2.8 percent are Mormon. All of these [...]