Faith on the Hill

The Religious Composition of the 114th Congress

The New, 114th Congress

Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, about half of American adults (49%) identify as Protestant, but Congress remains majority Protestant. The percentage of Protestants in the new Congress (57%) is roughly the same as the percentage in the previous Congress (56%).

While the overall proportion of Protestants in Congress remains about the same, there are some modest changes within Protestant denominational families. For example, the number of Baptists in the new Congress increased by six, from 73 to 79, while the number of Lutherans rose by four, from 23 to 27. The number of Presbyterian members dropped by seven, from 43 to 36. This was the biggest drop, in numerical terms, among all the religious groups.

There is one more Catholic in the 114th Congress (164) than there was in the 113th. There are 16 Mormon members, one more than in the previous Congress. The number of Orthodox Christians (five) is unchanged.

Among non-Christian religious groups, Jews saw the largest losses, going from 33 members in the 113th Congress (6%) to 28 members (5%) in the 114th. The number of Jews in Congress is now nearly 40% lower than it was in the 111th Congress (2009-10), when there were 45 Jewish members.

The number of Buddhists in Congress fell from three to two, as Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, lost her bid for a Senate seat. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who was re-elected, is now the lone Buddhist in the House of Representatives. In 2012, Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, became the first Buddhist elected to the Senate.

There were no changes in the number of Muslims (two), Hindus (one), Unitarian Universalists (one) or religiously unaffiliated people (one) serving in Congress. As noted above, Rep. Sinema of Arizona is the only member of Congress who identifies publicly as religiously unaffiliated. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., is the only Unitarian Universalist, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is the only Hindu. Both Muslim members of Congress – Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. – were re-elected in 2014. Nine members (all Democrats) refused to specify their religious affiliation, one fewer than in the 113th Congress.

Differences by Chamber

Protestants as a whole make up roughly equal percentages of the House (58%) and Senate (55%). Most Protestant denominational families are represented in roughly equal proportions in both chambers, but there are a few exceptions. For example, Baptists, Episcopalians and Protestants who do not specify a denomination have higher representation in the House than in the Senate, while Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists are more heavily represented in the Senate than in the House.

Several other religious groups also have uneven representation in the two chambers. As was the case in the 113th Congress, Catholics make up a somewhat higher percentage of the House (32%) than the Senate (26%), while Mormons make up a larger share of the Senate (7%) than the House (2%). There are five Orthodox Christians in the House (1%), but none in the Senate.

All of Congress’ Muslim, Hindu, Unitarian Universalist and unaffiliated members serve in the House. (See section above for details.) One Buddhist serves in the House (Johnson of Georgia) and one in the Senate (Hirono of Hawaii).

Differences by Party Affiliation

Overall, 56% of the members of the new, 114th Congress are Republicans and 44% are (or caucus with) Democrats.

The study finds that two-thirds of congressional Republicans (67%) are Protestant, compared with 44% of Democrats. By comparison, Catholics make up a higher share of Democrats than Republicans (35% vs. 27%). Roughly 5% of all congressional Republicans are Mormons, compared with 1% of Democrats. Jews, on the other hand, account for nearly 12% of congressional Democrats but less than 1% of congressional Republicans.

First-Time Members

The new, 114th Congress has a relatively small freshman class of 71 – 16 fewer than in the 113th Congress and 41 fewer than in the 112th.² Of the 114th’s first-time members, 55 are Republicans (77%).

More than six-in-ten freshmen members are Protestant; in the 113th Congress, 48% of freshmen were Protestant. A few Protestant denominations – including Lutherans, Presbyterians and Protestants who do not specify a denomination – have a higher percentage of freshmen than incumbents. The same is true for Catholics, who represent 35% of freshmen and 30% of incumbents. Mormons are represented in about the same proportion among both freshmen and incumbents.

The only non-Christian freshman is Jewish Republican Rep. Zeldin of New York. In the 113th Congress, 13% of freshmen were non-Christians, including the first Hindu in the House or Senate, Democratic Rep. Gabbard of Hawaii, and four members who did not specify their religious affiliation.

Clergy in Congress

There are at least seven ordained ministers in the 114th Congress, all serving in the House of Representatives. Four are Republicans, and three are Democrats. (Some information on ordained ministers comes from the Congressional Research Service, which contacts members of Congress whose educational or occupational background suggests they might have been ordained.)

Four of the ordained ministers are Baptist (Doug Collins, R-Ga.; Jody Hice, R-Ga.; John Lewis, D-Ga.; and Mark Walker, R-N.C.); one is a Methodist (Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.); one is a Pentecostal (Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill.); and one is a Protestant who does not specify a denomination (Tim Walberg, R-Mich.). Walberg was ordained as a Baptist, but he now prefers to be identified as a Christian. Among all Protestant denominational families, Baptists have the largest representation in Congress (15%).

Two of the ordained ministers in the 114th Congress, Hice of Georgia and Walker of North Carolina, are freshmen. The rest were re-elected.

In addition to the ordained ministers in Congress, several members of the incoming Congress told CQ Roll Call that they have held religion-related occupations, including one senator, Oklahoma Republican James Lankford, who was director of a Baptist youth camp. In the House, Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., was a youth ministry organization manager, and Juan C. Vargas, D-Calif., was a Jesuit novice.

The overall number of ordained ministers in Congress has remained fairly steady over the last seven Congresses, ranging from a high of seven in the 114th Congress to a low of four in the 111th Congress. However, the tradition of clergy serving in Congress dates back to the early years of the Republic, as explored in a sidebar to this report.

Looking Back

Although Congress remains predominantly Christian and majority Protestant, it is more religiously diverse than it was in the 1960s and ’70s.

Comparing the 114th Congress with the 87th (1961-1962), for example, the share of Protestants is down by 18 percentage points, while the share of Catholics is up by 12 points. The percentage of Jewish members in Congress is up 3 points.

One thing has not changed, however: Even though the percentage of U.S. adults identifying as religious “nones” has grown in recent decades, the congressional representation of the unaffiliated continues to lag behind. As noted earlier, only one member of the new Congress identifies as religiously unaffiliated. And over the past five decades, only one member has publicly declared that he does not believe in God or a Supreme Being: Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who served in Congress from 1973-2012.

Changed in the Religious Makeup of Congress (1961-2015)

The numbers of freshmen in previous Congresses were taken from the Pew Research Center’s “Faith on the Hill” reports for the 113th and 112th Congresses. The number of freshmen in the 113th Congress used for comparison in this report is two higher than the number published in the previous report to account for the two new members who eventually filled seats that were vacant at the beginning of that Congress. ↩

hen the new, 114th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 6, 2015, Republicans will control both chambers of the legislative body for the first time since the 109th Congress (2005-2006). Yet, despite the sea change in party control, there is relatively little change in the overall religious makeup of Congress, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. More than nine-in-ten members of the House and Senate (92%) are Christian, and about 57% are Protestant, roughly the same as in the 113th Congress (90% and 56%, respectively).[1. Nonvoting delegates that represent U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are not counted in this analysis. They are: Aumua Amata, R-American Samoa; Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam; Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.; Pedro R. Pierluisi, D-Puerto Rico; Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands; and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, I-Northern Mariana Islands. All are Catholic except Norton (who is Episcopalian) and Plaskett (who is Lutheran).] About three-in-ten members (31%) are Catholic, the same as in the previous Congress.

How the 114th Congress Compares With the General Public

Protestants and Catholics continue to make up a greater percentage of the members of Congress than of all U.S. adults. Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, 49% of American adults are Protestant, and 22% are Catholic. As was the case in the 113th Congress, the biggest difference between Congress and the general public is in the share of those who say they are religiously unaffiliated. This group makes up 20% of the general public but just 0.2% of Congress. The only member of Congress who describes herself as religiously unaffiliated is Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Many of the nation’s smaller religious groups are represented in roughly equal proportion to their numbers in the U.S. adult population. Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus combined represent roughly 2% of American adults and 1% of Congress. Jews continue to have greater representation in Congress (5%) than in the population as a whole (2%), but there are five fewer Jewish members in the 114th Congress than there were in the 113th, and 11 fewer than there were in the 112th Congress. The new Congress includes a number of people who have had some form of religious occupation, including at least seven members who are ordained ministers. The number of ordained clergy in Congress has not fluctuated greatly in recent years. Of the 301 Republicans in the new Congress, only one – freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st District – is not a Christian. Zeldin, who is Jewish, will have far less seniority than the one Jewish Republican to serve in the 113th Congress, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who was defeated in his district’s GOP primary. Fully two-thirds of the Republicans in the 114th Congress (202 members, or 67%) are Protestant, about a quarter are Catholic (81, or 27%), and 5% are Mormon (14). Democrats in the new Congress are somewhat more religiously diverse than Republicans, though not as diverse as the population as a whole. Of the 234 Democrats in the 114th Congress, 104 (44%) are Protestant, 83 (35%) are Catholic, 27 (12%) are Jewish, two (1%) are Mormon, two are Buddhist, two are Muslim, one is Hindu and one does not identify with a particular religion. (Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., both of whom caucus with the Democrats, are counted as Democrats for the purposes of this analysis.) (The analysis was completed before Rep. Michael G. Grimm, R-N.Y., announced his intention to resign effective Jan. 5. Grimm is a Catholic; his absence has a minimal impact on the overall percentages and trends presented in this report.) These are some of the findings from an analysis by the Pew Research Center of congressional data compiled primarily by CQ Roll Call. CQ Roll Call gathered information on the religious affiliations of members of Congress through questionnaires and follow-up phone calls to members’ and candidates’ offices, and the Pew Research Center supplemented this information with additional research. The analysis compares the religious affiliations of members of the new Congress with Pew Research Center survey data on the U.S. public.

The Religious Makeup of the 114th Congress

The New, 114th Congresshen the new, 114th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 6, 2015, Republicans will control both chambers of the legislative body for the first time since the 109th Congress (2005-2006). Yet, despite the sea change in party control, there is relatively little change in the overall religious makeup of Congress, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. More than nine-in-ten members of the House and Senate (92%) are Christian, and about 57% are Protestant, roughly the same as in the 113th Congress (90% and 56%, respectively).[1. Nonvoting delegates that represent U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are not counted in this analysis. They are: Aumua Amata, R-American Samoa; Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam; Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.; Pedro R. Pierluisi, D-Puerto Rico; Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands; and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, I-Northern Mariana Islands. All are Catholic except Norton (who is Episcopalian) and Plaskett (who is Lutheran).] About three-in-ten members (31%) are Catholic, the same as in the previous Congress. Protestants and Catholics continue to make up a greater percentage of the members of Congress than of all U.S. adults. Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, 49% of American adults are Protestant, and 22% are Catholic. As was the case in the 113th Congress, the biggest difference between Congress and the general public is in the share of those who say they are religiously unaffiliated. This group makes up 20% of the general public but just 0.2% of Congress. The only member of Congress who describes herself as religiously unaffiliated is Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Many of the nation’s smaller religious groups are represented in roughly equal proportion to their numbers in the U.S. adult population. Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus combined represent roughly 2% of American adults and 1% of Congress. Jews continue to have greater representation in Congress (5%) than in the population as a whole (2%), but there are five fewer Jewish members in the 114th Congress than there were in the 113th, and 11 fewer than there were in the 112th Congress. The new Congress includes a number of people who have had some form of religious occupation, including at least seven members who are ordained ministers. The number of ordained clergy in Congress has not fluctuated greatly in recent years. Of the 301 Republicans in the new Congress, only one – freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st District – is not a Christian. Zeldin, who is Jewish, will have far less seniority than the one Jewish Republican to serve in the 113th Congress, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who was defeated in his district’s GOP primary. Fully two-thirds of the Republicans in the 114th Congress (202 members, or 67%) are Protestant, about a quarter are Catholic (81, or 27%), and 5% are Mormon (14). Democrats in the new Congress are somewhat more religiously diverse than Republicans, though not as diverse as the population as a whole. Of the 234 Democrats in the 114th Congress, 104 (44%) are Protestant, 83 (35%) are Catholic, 27 (12%) are Jewish, two (1%) are Mormon, two are Buddhist, two are Muslim, one is Hindu and one does not identify with a particular religion. (Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., both of whom caucus with the Democrats, are counted as Democrats for the purposes of this analysis.) (The analysis was completed before Rep. Michael G. Grimm, R-N.Y., announced his intention to resign effective Jan. 5. Grimm is a Catholic; his absence has a minimal impact on the overall percentages and trends presented in this report.) These are some of the findings from an analysis by the Pew Research Center of congressional data compiled primarily by CQ Roll Call. CQ Roll Call gathered information on the religious affiliations of members of Congress through questionnaires and follow-up phone calls to members’ and candidates’ offices, and the Pew Research Center supplemented this information with additional research. The analysis compares the religious affiliations of members of the new Congress with Pew Research Center survey data on the U.S. public.

The New, 114th Congress

Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, about half of American adults (49%) identify as Protestant, but Congress remains majority Protestant. The percentage of Protestants in the new Congress (57%) is roughly the same as the percentage in the previous Congress (56%).

While the overall proportion of Protestants in Congress remains about the same, there are some modest changes within Protestant denominational families. For example, the number of Baptists in the new Congress increased by six, from 73 to 79, while the number of Lutherans rose by four, from 23 to 27. The number of Presbyterian members dropped by seven, from 43 to 36. This was the biggest drop, in numerical terms, among all the religious groups. There is one more Catholic in the 114th Congress (164) than there was in the 113th. There are 16 Mormon members, one more than in the previous Congress. The number of Orthodox Christians (five) is unchanged. Among non-Christian religious groups, Jews saw the largest losses, going from 33 members in the 113th Congress (6%) to 28 members (5%) in the 114th. The number of Jews in Congress is now nearly 40% lower than it was in the 111th Congress (2009-10), when there were 45 Jewish members. The number of Buddhists in Congress fell from three to two, as Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, lost her bid for a Senate seat. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who was re-elected, is now the lone Buddhist in the House of Representatives. In 2012, Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, became the first Buddhist elected to the Senate. There were no changes in the number of Muslims (two), Hindus (one), Unitarian Universalists (one) or religiously unaffiliated people (one) serving in Congress. As noted above, Rep. Sinema of Arizona is the only member of Congress who identifies publicly as religiously unaffiliated. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., is the only Unitarian Universalist, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is the only Hindu. Both Muslim members of Congress – Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. – were re-elected in 2014. Nine members (all Democrats) refused to specify their religious affiliation, one fewer than in the 113th Congress.

Differences by Chamberhen the new, 114th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 6, 2015, Republicans will control both chambers of the legislative body for the first time since the 109th Congress (2005-2006). Yet, despite the sea change in party control, there is relatively little change in the overall religious makeup of Congress, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. More than nine-in-ten members of the House and Senate (92%) are Christian, and about 57% are Protestant, roughly the same as in the 113th Congress (90% and 56%, respectively).[1. Nonvoting delegates that represent U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are not counted in this analysis. They are: Aumua Amata, R-American Samoa; Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam; Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.; Pedro R. Pierluisi, D-Puerto Rico; Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands; and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, I-Northern Mariana Islands. All are Catholic except Norton (who is Episcopalian) and Plaskett (who is Lutheran).] About three-in-ten members (31%) are Catholic, the same as in the previous Congress. Protestants and Catholics continue to make up a greater percentage of the members of Congress than of all U.S. adults. Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, 49% of American adults are Protestant, and 22% are Catholic. As was the case in the 113th Congress, the biggest difference between Congress and the general public is in the share of those who say they are religiously unaffiliated. This group makes up 20% of the general public but just 0.2% of Congress. The only member of Congress who describes herself as religiously unaffiliated is Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Many of the nation’s smaller religious groups are represented in roughly equal proportion to their numbers in the U.S. adult population. Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus combined represent roughly 2% of American adults and 1% of Congress. Jews continue to have greater representation in Congress (5%) than in the population as a whole (2%), but there are five fewer Jewish members in the 114th Congress than there were in the 113th, and 11 fewer than there were in the 112th Congress. The new Congress includes a number of people who have had some form of religious occupation, including at least seven members who are ordained ministers. The number of ordained clergy in Congress has not fluctuated greatly in recent years. Of the 301 Republicans in the new Congress, only one – freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st District – is not a Christian. Zeldin, who is Jewish, will have far less seniority than the one Jewish Republican to serve in the 113th Congress, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who was defeated in his district’s GOP primary. Fully two-thirds of the Republicans in the 114th Congress (202 members, or 67%) are Protestant, about a quarter are Catholic (81, or 27%), and 5% are Mormon (14). Democrats in the new Congress are somewhat more religiously diverse than Republicans, though not as diverse as the population as a whole. Of the 234 Democrats in the 114th Congress, 104 (44%) are Protestant, 83 (35%) are Catholic, 27 (12%) are Jewish, two (1%) are Mormon, two are Buddhist, two are Muslim, one is Hindu and one does not identify with a particular religion. (Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., both of whom caucus with the Democrats, are counted as Democrats for the purposes of this analysis.) (The analysis was completed before Rep. Michael G. Grimm, R-N.Y., announced his intention to resign effective Jan. 5. Grimm is a Catholic; his absence has a minimal impact on the overall percentages and trends presented in this report.) These are some of the findings from an analysis by the Pew Research Center of congressional data compiled primarily by CQ Roll Call. CQ Roll Call gathered information on the religious affiliations of members of Congress through questionnaires and follow-up phone calls to members’ and candidates’ offices, and the Pew Research Center supplemented this information with additional research. The analysis compares the religious affiliations of members of the new Congress with Pew Research Center survey data on the U.S. public.

The New, 114th Congress

Pew Research surveys find that, as of 2013, about half of American adults (49%) identify as Protestant, but Congress remains majority Protestant. The percentage of Protestants in the new Congress (57%) is roughly the same as the percentage in the previous Congress (56%).

While the overall proportion of Protestants in Congress remains about the same, there are some modest changes within Protestant denominational families. For example, the number of Baptists in the new Congress increased by six, from 73 to 79, while the number of Lutherans rose by four, from 23 to 27. The number of Presbyterian members dropped by seven, from 43 to 36. This was the biggest drop, in numerical terms, among all the religious groups. There is one more Catholic in the 114th Congress (164) than there was in the 113th. There are 16 Mormon members, one more than in the previous Congress. The number of Orthodox Christians (five) is unchanged. Among non-Christian religious groups, Jews saw the largest losses, going from 33 members in the 113th Congress (6%) to 28 members (5%) in the 114th. The number of Jews in Congress is now nearly 40% lower than it was in the 111th Congress (2009-10), when there were 45 Jewish members. The number of Buddhists in Congress fell from three to two, as Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, lost her bid for a Senate seat. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who was re-elected, is now the lone Buddhist in the House of Representatives. In 2012, Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, became the first Buddhist elected to the Senate. There were no changes in the number of Muslims (two), Hindus (one), Unitarian Universalists (one) or religiously unaffiliated people (one) serving in Congress. As noted above, Rep. Sinema of Arizona is the only member of Congress who identifies publicly as religiously unaffiliated. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., is the only Unitarian Universalist, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is the only Hindu. Both Muslim members of Congress – Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind. – were re-elected in 2014. Nine members (all Democrats) refused to specify their religious affiliation, one fewer than in the 113th Congress.