The religious makeup of Congress is unfazed by the 2010 election

SALT LAKE CITY — Despite heavy midterm election shifts in favor of the Republican Party, the religious backgrounds of members of the new 112th Congress remain predominantly unchanged.

According to the study conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, the religious affiliation of Congress is predominantly Protestant and about a third Catholic — similar to the general U.S. public.

"You're not going to see huge swings in religious diversity because America has a winner-takes-all system, even when there are significant partisan swings," said Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.

Of the 535 members in the new Congress, 304 are Protestants, with Baptists and Methodists as the largest denominations within that family, also echoing a national trend.

However, a few of the country's religious groups — including Catholics, Jews, Mormons and a few Protestant denominations such as Anglicans/Episcopalians and Presbyterians — have greater representation in Congress than in the general American population.

For example, Jews' 45 representatives represent only 1.4 percent of adult Americans but claim 8.4 percent of seats in Congress. Similarly, Catholic congressional representation is 29.2 percent despite a 23.9 percent presence in the U.S.? Mormons hold 2.8 percent of the new Congress compared to 1.7 percent of the general populace.

According to the study, some small religious groups, such as Hindus and Jehovah's Witnesses, are not represented the 112th Congress at all. Both groups have less than one percent of representation in the nation.

The single greatest discrepancy found in the religious affiliation of Congress comes in the form of the percentage of those "unaffiliated" members who claim atheism, agnosticism or "nothing in particular."

Only six members of Congress do not specify a religious affiliation of some kind, and not one says they are unaffiliated. Inversely, 16 percent of American adults are unaffiliated — roughly one-sixth of the nation.

The study may suggest politicians with some sort of religious affiliation are better able to appeal to the public and be elected — not to mention be compelled to withhold potential religious doubts.