Pew takes a highly detailed look at the religions in Congress, comparing them with the general population.
The big conclusion: Congress has more Christians than the country. The details reveal a more subtle distinction. Congress belongs to named religions far more than Americans.
In percents, Congress vs America:
Overall Protestant 55 to 40.
Baptist 14 to 11.
Mainline denoms, 5 to 2 for each.
Catholic, 28 to 20.
Jewish, 6 to 2.
There are lots of onesies and twosies, about the same on both sides but too small to sample properly.
The big counterforce is in the unbranded areas.
Nondenominational 2 to 8.
Unaffiliated 1 to 28.
In other words, politicians need to be branded in politics AND religion. They must adopt D or R in politics, no Independents or Populists or Socialists. They must adopt a known brand in religion.
One of the onesies grabbed my attention. There’s one Pietist in Congress. I thought Pietists disappeared along with Anabaptists! Looking it up, it’s Tracey Mann of Kansas. He was born on the family farm near Quinter, west of Hays, graduated from K-State, and represents the north-central and western parts of the state, including Manhattan. So he’s a homie.
Pietism was one of the two branches of Lutheranism, supposedly closer to Mere Christianity. Most of the original migrants from Germany were Pietists, and the article mentions an early church in Wallace County, not too far from Quinter.
Polistra's Mill 