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It's easy to claim to be a Christian, until it isn't.
Nowhere is the Christian faith more challenged in America than in American politics.
Now that the 119th session of the U.S. Congress is underway, political news outlet Roll Call examined the religious faith of the lawmakers, citing their biographical data.
They found that 99% of Republican members identified with a religious faith compared to 91% of Democrats.
But will they act and vote according to that faith?
Be informed, not misled.
Reacting to the survey by Roll Call Magazine about congressional lawmakers and their religious faith, a pastor who has ministered to Capitol Hill for many years says the true test of religious faith is the fruit it produces.
Ironically, Roll Call says, "On average, Congress will continue to be much more religious than the nation as a whole, with around 95 percent of lawmakers across both the Senate and House identifying with a religious faith. The rest are either nonreligious, do not specify a religion, or do not share their faith affiliation."
In contrast, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this year found that just under 70 percent of Americans are affiliated with a religious faith.
Why are our elected officials apparently more religious than the people who elected them?
Are they trying to appeal to Christians while advancing abortion, LGBTQ agenda, and other destructive behaviors?
Are the officials we sent to our state capitol and Washington DC lying to us about their faith or lack thereof?
He says, “If you've come to Christ, you have eventual changes. Those changes affect every single aspect of your life, even including your political view.”
"In a city built on politics, which is often unseemly already, Capitol Hill creates a difficult test for every person there who faces temptations over pride, greed, and lust on a daily basis he says.
Garlow says the two parties’ views on religious faith can be traced to their core beliefs. At the moment it’s politically advantageous to call yourself a Christian in the current Republican Party, he observes, because the lawmakers’ red districts back home are filled with churchgoers who elected them.
It's also disadvantageous among liberal Democrats.
“How long can a person vote for killing babies in the womb, or for cutting off little boys' privates and calling them girls, or encouraging that for which God destroyed Sodom,” Garlow asks, “and continue to call themselves a Christian?”
In the Roll Call story, we read, “Congress represents America as it looked 20 or 30 years ago, not the way it looks today,” said Ryan Burge, a professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University who has written on religion in politics.
He described a “God gap” between the two political parties. A Republican candidate who cites their Christian faith will be welcomed in the party, he said, but many of the Democrats who cited no religious affiliation are likely trying to appease a political party with a diverse voting base.
Party ID is also a factor. Ninety-nine percent of Republicans in the 119th Congress identified with a religious faith when questioned by CQ Roll Call, compared with roughly 91 percent of their Democratic counterparts.
Garlow advises lawmakers that there is a cost to following Christ, even for the Washington elites.
“Whether you're Republican or Democrat, regardless of what your party platform says,” he stresses, “you have to be fiercely committed to the things of Jesus, the things of the Word of God.”
Burge pointed to the “God gap,” or the longstanding idea that the GOP is already seen as the party of faith, as a factor in how Republican politicians present themselves to voters. “They could just say they’re a Christian, they’re a person of faith,” he said, “and that turns off almost no one in their party.”
Democrats, however, not only have more secular supporters but also a more diverse religious base, Burge said: “Muslims and Black Protestants and Latino Catholics … basically, everyone who’s not a white Christian is, by and large, a Democrat.”
Some things you should know.
- Christians remain dominant in the 119th Congress:
Protestant Christians, from across the denominational spectrum, continue to make up the majority of religious adherents in Congress in either party, with small deviations. Slightly more Episcopalians and Methodists are Democrats, while Baptists overall lean Republican.
The largest single Christian denomination continues to be Roman Catholicism. Democrats account for a larger share, with 83 Catholics across both chambers, compared with the GOP’s 68.
The GOP, however, is home to a wider variety of Christian denominations, including several evangelical and Pentecostal traditions not found among Democrats. All nine Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, in Congress, are Republican, as are roughly three-quarters of the 93 members who identify as nondenominational Christians or simply as “Christian.”
- Non-Christian members:
Of the five Republicans of the 119th Congress – out of 272 across both chambers – who did not list their religious identity as Christian, three are Jewish: Tennessee Rep. David Kustoff, Ohio Rep. Max Miller, and incoming freshman Rep. Craig Goldman of Texas. Incoming Arizona Rep. Abe Hamadeh, the son of a Muslim father and Druze mother, listed himself as nondenominational. At the same time, Ohio’s Dave Taylor was the only Republican who did not specify a religious affiliation.
In contrast, 66 out of 262 Democratic lawmakers or those who caucus with them do not identify as Christian. Twenty-eight are Jewish, including independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. At 6 percent of Congress, Judaism remains the largest non-Christian faith despite the net departure of two Jewish members since January 2023.
Only 14 members – all Democrats – identify with other religions. Two are incoming House members from California: Lateefah Simon brings the number of Muslim lawmakers in Congress to four, while Derek Tran will be one of three Buddhists. The number of Unitarian Universalists is unchanged, at three.
A small but growing number of Democrats identify as non-religious. Incoming Washington Rep. Emily Randall told CQ Roll Call to list her religion as “none,” while future Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona identifies as agnostic. California Rep. Jared Huffman remains Congress’ only self-identified nonreligious humanist.
Takeaway
John Jay, Chief Justice of America's first Supreme Court, said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their ruler, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their ruler."
And he said, "The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of government under which they should live."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.