This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 6, 2011 - When a new Congress is sworn in, there is a flurry of interest in how representative the elected legislators are of the nation at large. Despite talk of many more evangelical Christians winning seats, there is scant change in religious affiliation of members of the new 112th Congress compared with the 111th Congress that just ended.
The make-up of the new Congress members' affiliations mirrors the U.S. population. The majority, 57 percent, is Protestant and 29 percent are Catholic.
The number of Protestants is slightly higher than the share of Protestants in the U.S. adult population, which stands at 51 percent, according to 2007 national data in Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life's US Religious Landscape Survey. That national study was based on interviews with 35,000 U.S. adults.
Compared with the previous Congress, the 112th Congress has added 12 Protestants to bring the total to 304 Protestants, including Baptists. It must be said that many Baptists, especially Southern Baptists, vigorously decline to call themselves Protestants. Among those Protestant increases were two more - 26 in all - Lutherans bringing their percentage to 4.9 percent.
The number of nondenominational Protestants dropped from two members in the last Congress to one.
Baptists and Methodists are the largest groups of what most Americans consider Protestant denominations in the new Congress, just as they are in the country as a whole.
Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Mormons also have a stronger voice in Congress, with greater numerical representation in Congress, than in the U.S. population based on the 2007 Pew study. Mormons, for example, have one more member than in the previous Congress, bringing their numbers to 2.8 percent of the legislative body, while Mormons are 1.7 percent of the U.S. population.
Jewish congressional members also have much higher representation. They make up 1.7 percent of the population according to the Pew U.S. population study while they are now 7.3 percent of the members in the new Congress. The Jewish representation dropped more than one point from the previous Congress.
Catholics, with 156 congressional members, are the largest denomination in Congress and mirror their place in the general population. However, their congressional membership is down from 161 members in the last Congress. They now stand at 29 percent of the legislative body.
Buddhists and Muslims are represented in about equal proportion to their numbers in the adult U.S. population based on the Pew study.
Hindus and Jehovah's Witnesses, are not represented. No member of this Congress says he or she is not affiliated with some religious body.
Patricia Rice is a freelance journalist.