Religious affiliation in the United States Senate

While the religious preference of elected officials is by no means an indication of their allegiance nor necessarily reflective of their voting records, the religious affiliation of prominent members of all three branches of government is a source of commentary and discussion among the media and public. The topic is also of interest to religious groups and the general public who may appeal to Senators of their denomination on religious or moral issues facing the United States Senate.

Current breakdown

The following list shows the count of the reported religious affiliation of the members of the United States Senate in the 112th Congress.

More than ten percent

• Roman Catholic - 24 - Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pennsylvania), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska), John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey), Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Washington), Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), David Vitter (R-Louisiana), Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) (15 Democrats, 9 Republicans).

• Presbyterian - 15 - Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Thomas R. Carper (D-Delaware), Dan Coats (R-Indiana), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming), Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia), Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), Mark Warner (D-Virginia) (10 Republicans, 5 Democrats).

• Jewish - 12 - Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Barbara Boxer (D-California), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Al Franken (D-Minnesota), Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin), Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), Carl Levin (D-Michigan), Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Charles Schumer (D-New York), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) (10 Democrats, 2 Independents).

• Methodist and United Methodist - 11 - Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) (7 Republicans, 4 Democrats)

• Baptist and Southern Baptist - 10 - Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John McCain (R-Arizona), Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) (9 Republicans, 1 Democrats).

Less than ten percent

• Latter Day Saint - 6 - Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Dean Heller (R-Nevada), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) (4 Republicans, 2 Democrats).

• Episcopalian - 4 - Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Bill Nelson (D-Florida), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) (2 Democrats, 2 Republicans).

• Lutheran - 4 - Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) (3 Democrats, 1 Republican).

• Congregational - 2 - Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) (2 Democrats).

• Protestant - 2 - Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Jim Webb (D-Virginia) (2 Democrats).

• United Church of Christ - 2 - Max Baucus (D-Montana), Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) (1 Democrat, 1 Republican).

• Christian Reformed Church - 1 - Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) (1 Republican).

• Church of Christ - 1 - John Cornyn (R-Texas) (1 Republican).

• Church of God (Anderson) - 1 - Jon Tester (D-Montana) (1 Democrat).

• Eastern Orthodox Church - 1 - Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) (1 Republican).

• McLean Bible Church - 1 - John Thune (R-South Dakota) (1 Republican).

• Unitarian Universalist - 1 - Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) (1 Democrat).

Unspecified affiliation

• Michael Bennet (D-Colorado)

• Mark Udall (D-Colorado)

Compared with general population

The most basic breakdown of the above data indicates that 85% of the Senate is Christian (compared with 79.8% of the population) and 13% of the Senate is Jewish (compared with 1.7% of the population). According to the data, no Senator falls under the category "No Religion/Atheist/Agnostic"—a category embodied by 16.1% of the U.S. population —although two are under the description "unspecified".

The following list compares reported religious affiliations of U. S. Senators to religious statistics of the demographics of the United States of America:

• International Church of the Foursquare Gospel are represented by 1% of the Senate for 0.1% of the population (10.00×)
• Jews are represented by 12% of the Senate for 1.7% of the population. (7.65×)
• Episcopalians are represented by 7% of the Senate for 1.8% of the population. (5.55×)
• Presbyterians are represented by 14% of the Senate for 2.8% of the population. (5.00×)
• Latter-Day Saints are represented by 6% of the Senate for 1.4% of the population. (4.29×)
• Methodists are represented by 8% of the Senate for 7.2% of the population. (1.11×)
• Roman Catholics are represented by 26% of the Senate for 25.9% of the population. (1.00×)
• Lutherans are represented by 3% of the Senate for 4.6% of the population. (0.65×)
• Baptists are represented by 8% of the Senate for 17.2% of the population. (0.46×)
• Muslims are represented by 0% of the Senate for 0.6% of the population. (0.00×)
• Unaligned are represented by 0% of the Senate for 16.1% of the population. (0.00×)

Sources

• Religious Affiliation of U.S. Congress
• Demographics of the United States

External links

• Catholics in the Public Square
• Jewish Members of Congress National Jewish Democratic Committee (List of Jewish Americans who are Democrats of Independents)
• Episcopalians in the Senate and the Federal Marriage Amendment

See also

• List of U.S. Presidential religious affiliations
• Religion in the United States
• United States Senate Chaplain