Presbyterian, Protestant membership
in U.S. Congress shrinking
The Layman, January 25, 2011
Nearly 8.5 percent of U.S. Congress membership identifies as Presbyterian, and more than half (56.8 percent) identify as Protestant, according to a report from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. In both cases, the representation totals have dropped over the last 50 years.
Since 1961, Presbyterian members decreased from 73 in the 87th Congress to 45 in the current Congress, accounting for a decrease of approximately 5 percentage points. Membership identifying as Protestant has decreased from 394, or nearly 75 percent, in 1961 to 304 members (only 56.8 percent) in the current Congress.
Protestants and Presbyterians both had small gains, however, in the newly installed 112th U.S. Congress. The number of Presbyterians rose from 43 in the 111th Congress (2009-2010) to 45 in the new group, and the number of Protestants grew from 292 to 304. But overall, the 50-year trend has been one of losses.
In a news release from the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), the organization’s president said the Pew study shows a mirroring of overall religious membership trends in the United States.
“The religious composition of Congress shows a continued American religiosity, but one that is decreasingly associated with Mainline Protestantism,” IRD President Mark Tooley said. “Just as Mainline Protestantism no longer occupies the central place in public life that it did a generation ago, we are seeing fewer and fewer elected representatives from those denominations.”
Members of Congress who identify as unspecified/other have more than doubled since 1961 from 23 members in the 87th Congress to 58 in the current Congress. The only Protestant denominations showing gains since 1961 in the religious makeup of Congress are: Baptist (68), Lutheran (26), “unaffiliated” (2), Holiness (2), Adventist (2) and Reformed (2).
Presbyterians rank fifth overall in representation, behind Catholics, Baptists, Methodists and “unaffiliated,” despite ranking lower in overall national membership. The Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest of the American Presbyterian denominations, ranked 10th on the National Council of Churches 2010 Yearbook of American Churches.
Both the Presbyterian and Anglican/Episcopal traditions represent a disproportionately high number in Congress when compared with representation in the American population, according to a chart on the Pew Web site. Though the tradition represents only 2.7 percent of American adults’ faith identification, Presbyterians make up 8.4 percent of those in Congress. Anglican/Episcopalians represent 7.7 percent of Congress, but only 1.5 percent of American adults.
In a comparison breakdown of Congress’ two chambers, Presbyterians rank second in representation only to Catholics in the U.S. Senate. In the Senate, 14 out of 100 members are Presbyterian, ranking it first among Protestants. Related Article
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Of the 45 Presbyterians in the U.S. Congress, 16 of them are Democrat and 29 are Republican.
Of all the religious classifications tracked by Pew, Catholicism has experienced the most growth jumping from 100 members in 1961 to 156 in the current Congress. Also experiencing notable gain was the Jewish faith, which has more than tripled its representation since 1961 from 12 members to 39 members in the current Congress.
Registering members in the survey for the first time with the current Congress were Buddhism (3 members) and Islam (2 members). Jehovah’s Witness and Hinduism remain unrepresented on the report.
Six members of Congress would not give their religious affiliation, or answered “don’t know.”