113th Congress Least Devout

A “Faith on the Hill” study released last week by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life says the newly elected Congress may be the least devout in U.S. history with 11 members reporting their religion as either “unaffiliated” or “don’t know/refused.”

The 113 Congress may also be the most diverse with a Hindu, a Buddhist and a Unitarian Universalist elected for the first time to the US House.

According to the report, Congress tends to track the direction of American society. The authors wrote, “This continues a gradual increase in religious diversity that mirrors trends in the country as a whole. While Congress remains majority Protestant, the institution is far less so today than it was 50 years ago, when nearly three-quarters of the members belonged to Protestant denominations.”