A Pew Research Survey of the faith background of the 115th Congress has found that 91 percent of our new lawmakers are Christian, making today’s Congress as Christian today as it was in the 1960s. Unfortunately, not all of these Christian lawmakers are pro-life.
According to Aleksandra Sandstrom of the Pew Research Center, it hasn’t been since the 87th Congress of 1961-62 that the percentage of Christians serving the people was so high. The 87th Congress was 95 percent Christian, only four percentage points higher than the Congress sworn into power this week.
“Among the 293 Republicans elected to serve in the new, 115th Congress, all but two identify as Christians; there are two Jewish Republicans – Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee – who both serve in the House,” Sandstrom writes.
“Democrats in Congress also are overwhelmingly Christian (80%), but there is more religious diversity on this side of the aisle,” she adds. “The 242 Democrats in Congress include 28 Jews, three Buddhists, three Hindus, two Muslims and one Unitarian Universalist – as well as the only member of Congress to describe herself as religiously unaffiliated, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.”
In addition, all 10 members of Congress who declined to state their religious affiliation are Democrats, Sandstrom writes.
Even more intriguing is that the number of Protestants in Congress has been steadily shrinking over time while the number of Catholics has been on the rise.
“The total percentage of Protestants in Congress has dropped from 75 percent in 1961 (at the beginning of the 87th Congress) to 56 percent today. During this period, the share of Catholics in Congress has gone from 19% to 31 percent.”
This is significant because Catholics comprise 21 percent of the U.S. population and 31 percent of Congress.
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League puts these numbers in perspective.
“When JFK was president, 19 percent of the Congress was Catholic; today it is 31 percent,” Donohue states.
But how much does it really matter?
“It depends on what we expect from [our lawmakers],” Donohue writes. “Pro-life Trump beat pro-abortion Clinton among Catholics by a margin of 52 percent to 45 percent, so he would certainly benefit by having more practicing Catholics in Congress.”
However, according to the data, of the 168 Catholics in Congress, 80 are pro-life and 88 are pro-abortion.
“Cumulatively, this means that by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent, Catholics in Congress are pro-abortion,” Donohue summarizes. “This means that the new freshman class of Catholics has decreased the Catholic influence in Congress on the pro-life cause.”
What’s the bottom line?
“We don’t need more Catholics in Congress—we need more pro-life Catholics in Congress.”
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