Large Christian Majority in 115th Congress

I read an article from the Huffington Post titled “Incoming Congress Has A Bigger Christian Majority Than The American Public”. The article discusses the fact that the 115th Congress, sworn in a few weeks ago, is nearly 91% Christian (and disproportionately white and male). Representation of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews is greater than in the general public, but Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists are underrepresented. Religious “nones”, or people who do not affiliate with any religion, are also underrepresented in Congress. The misrepresentation and overall lack of religious diversity in our new Congress is concerning. Chaves mentions in Chapter 2 of American Religion that the United States is becoming increasingly more religiously diverse and is experiencing a long-term trend away from an overwhelmingly Protestant population. He also mentions that the number of Americans claiming a religion other than Christian or Jewish has doubled in the past 40 years, and the percentage of Americans that are Protestant has dropped by about 12%. The fact that our Congress is does not accurately reflect the United States’ religious diversity is disappointing. It will be interesting to see how this affects our nation’s religious minorities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/incoming-congress-has-a-bigger-christian-majority-than-the-american-public_us_586beef3e4b0d9a5945cb162?section=us_religion