Congress Disproportionally Catholic and Mormon
Its true. The U.S. Congress is disproportionally more Catholic and more Mormon than the U.S. population it represents. Catholics make up about 30% of Congress, yet constitute about 24-26% of the U.S. population. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make up about 1.7% of the U.S. population, but comprise about 2.6% of Congress. Of course, its also true that Congress is disproportionally more Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Jewish.
The American Congress underrepresents Baptists, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. (If someone is overrepresented, then someone else will be underrepresented. Its a math thing.)
How do we know this? The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The good folks at Pew recently compared Congress to the Pew Survey on Religious Life and made some interesting finds:
"Only five members of the new Congress (about 1%) did not specify a religious affiliation. By contrast, the Landscape Survey found that individuals who are not affiliated with a particular faith make up about one-sixth (16.1%) of the adult population. "
"Protestants account for more than half (54.7%) of the 111th Congress, about the same proportion as their share of the U.S. adult population (51.3%)."
"The number of Catholics in Congress is two-and-a-half times the size of the next largest religious group, Baptists, who make up about 12% of the members."
"Muslims, who account for approximately 0.6% of the U.S. adult population, make up 0.4% of Congress."
"The 110th Congress also saw the arrival of the first Buddhists, Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii)."
"Both houses of Congress have similar shares of various religious groups."
"Differences become much more pronounced at the party level. While 70.8% of congressional Republicans are Protestant, fewer than half of Democrats (43.6%) belong to Protestant denominational families."
Read the entire Pew article, Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress.
Related Posts:
2008 Evangelical Electoral Map
Orthodox Church in America Increasing
Episcopal Church Decline Continues
Source: Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress
The American Congress underrepresents Baptists, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. (If someone is overrepresented, then someone else will be underrepresented. Its a math thing.)
How do we know this? The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The good folks at Pew recently compared Congress to the Pew Survey on Religious Life and made some interesting finds:
"Only five members of the new Congress (about 1%) did not specify a religious affiliation. By contrast, the Landscape Survey found that individuals who are not affiliated with a particular faith make up about one-sixth (16.1%) of the adult population. "
"Protestants account for more than half (54.7%) of the 111th Congress, about the same proportion as their share of the U.S. adult population (51.3%)."
"The number of Catholics in Congress is two-and-a-half times the size of the next largest religious group, Baptists, who make up about 12% of the members."
"Muslims, who account for approximately 0.6% of the U.S. adult population, make up 0.4% of Congress."
"The 110th Congress also saw the arrival of the first Buddhists, Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii)."
"Both houses of Congress have similar shares of various religious groups."
"Differences become much more pronounced at the party level. While 70.8% of congressional Republicans are Protestant, fewer than half of Democrats (43.6%) belong to Protestant denominational families."
Read the entire Pew article, Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress.
Related Posts:
2008 Evangelical Electoral Map
Orthodox Church in America Increasing
Episcopal Church Decline Continues
Source: Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress
Labels: Demographics, Statistics
0 Comments:
<< Home