WASHINGTON (ABP) — The various Baptist churches represented in the incoming 111th Congress are emblematic of America's broad array of Baptists.
There are 66 self-identified Baptists in the new Congress, according to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Baptists make up a slightly smaller percentage of the new Congress (12.4 percent) than they do of the United States' adult population at large (17.2 percent), according to the Pew study. It was based on biographical data that Congress members' offices provided to Congressional Quarterly. The nation-at-large statistics come from the results of a massive survey that Pew released last year.
An analysis of the new Baptist Congress members by Baptist blogger Aaron Weaver reveals that congressional Baptists are a broadly diverse lot. They belong to churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the three major African-American Baptist denominational groups, the American Baptist Churches USA and the Baptist General Conference.
In the House, self-identified Baptists are evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, with each party claiming 29 Baptists. African-Americans make up 33 percent of House Baptists.
Several prominent members of Congress on both sides of the aisle identify as Baptists, including Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).