Faith

Study: Ratio of Christians in Congress Greater than in Nation

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Last Updated on January 28, 2022

A new study found that the number of Christians in Congress is at a greater percentage than in the country’s population as a whole.

Some believe America is a “Christian nation” and probably will take great comfort in knowing how many Christians in Congress there actually are.

Pew Research has determined that while 71% of U.S. adults claim to be Christian — that includes Protestants, Catholics and Mormons — the number of Christians in Congress as of the new term is actually 88.2%.

Jews are also over-represented in Congress, the study found. While just 2% of U.S. adults claim Judaism as their religion, 6.4% of our Congressional members identify as Jewish.

Whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing — or whether you think much of it at all — likely depends on your faith and how committed you happen to be to practice it.

For some evangelical Christians, anything less than 100% is a problem.

A Facebook “friend” of mine recently posted his outrage about two Muslims being sworn in among the newest members of Congress. The same Pew study found that there are only three Muslims in all of Congress. That means that while just 1% of the U.S. population identifies as Muslim, just 0.6% of Congress is Muslim.

But to this guy, those two new members who happen to be Muslim was enough to produce a rant in which he claimed the following: “A Muslim President and now this…. The American people have lost there [sic] minds. We have got to take our country back.”

The “Muslim President” he refers to, of course, is Barack Obama who is a Christian; But people of this guy’s ilk aren’t interested in facts.

I’m not sure, honestly, how we became friends on Facebook. We aren’t any longer.

I don’t happen to think America is going down the tubes because a total of three people out of 535 happen to be Muslim.

We’re not a “Christian nation.” We’re a nation in which the majority of citizens identify as Christians. But we’re a melting pot. We’re a nation that values Freedom of Religion.

But diversity in our leadership shouldn’t be a problem if we truly are willing to accept the freedoms our Constitution grants us.

Folks like that former Facebook friend of mine make no bones about demanding respect from everyone for our current president, who has not always said things that might be considered consistent with the Christian faith.

The Bible tells us that we’re to respect our government because it is “God-ordained.”

If that’s true, doesn’t that mean we should show all members of our government respect?

I think it’s about time that we acted like it.

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.