In Congress, they're big believers of religion
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Protestants form a majority in the House and Senate, a study finds. Catholics, Jews and Mormons are overrepresented, and Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus underrepresented.
When the 111th Congress convenes Jan. 6, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus will be underrepresented. No shocker there perhaps. But a new analysis of incoming members' religious affiliations by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life indicates no small measure of change: Congress is much more diverse than it was half a century ago.
Protestants still form a majority at 54.7% -- slightly more than their 51.3% of the population but way down from 74.1% in Congress in 1961.
Baptists make up 12.4% of Congress and 17.2% of the adult U.S. population; Methodists, apparently on a methodical march, constitute 10.7% of the members when they're only 6.2% of the population; Episcopalians are 7.1% of congressional lawmakers and 1.5% of the population; and Presbyterians make up 8.1% of members and 2.7% of the population. (By the way, 100% of the outgoing first family are Methodists. The incoming first family lists its religious affiliation as "Christian.")The analysis finds that other religious followers -- Catholics, Jews and Mormons -- are actually overrepresented in Congress.
Catholics make up 30.1% of Congress, better than their population percentage of just under 25%. Jews account for 8.4% of Capitol Hill lawmakers and 1.7% of the adult population. Mormons, also 1.7% of the population, make up 2.6% of Congress.
Lawmakers of other faiths include two Muslims, two Buddhists, plus one Quaker. California's Democratic Rep. Pete Stark of Fremont is the first and only member of Congress to publicly declare no faith in a supreme being.
For the purposes of the Pew study, "Washington Redskins" was classified as a faith, not an official religion.
Clinton rolling in wealth of e-mails
Nominated-to-be-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is under some special kind of financial pressure this holiday season. And so is anyone she owes money to.
The New York senator's still got about $6.3 million in debt left over from her unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign. And the minute she's confirmed to join Barack Obama's Cabinet, it becomes illegal for her to raise political donations.
So she and hubby Bill, the ex-president, have come up with a clever idea to infuse probably a few hundred thousand dollars into her deceased campaign's treasury. The William J. Clinton Foundation is buying access to her campaign e-mail lists.
