How Christianity Dominates the United States Government

It seems we are often assailed with predictions of the demise of Christianity, and the demographics somewhat support that conclusion, but Christianity continues and will continue to play an outsized role in the United States government.  Each branch of the federal government is dominated by Christians and so does not resemble the population of the United States in religious affiliation.

Data show erosion of religious affiliation over time – people with no religious identification have increased from 7% in 1976 to 24% in 2016 but that group includes people who identify as secular as separate from atheist and agnostic.  Secular appears to correlate with the ambiguous ‘spiritual but not religious’ self-designation.  The ‘no religious identification’ also is more prevalent in younger populations who tend to become more religious as they age.  The claimed erosion of Christianity in the United States is occurring, but the effects of this decline are not as profound as some pundits claim.

There are, however, profound reasons why the government of the United States will continue to have undue influence from Christian ideology.  Each branch of the government - executive, legislative, and judicial is dominated by people who identify as Christian.

Christian figures often make erroneous claims the United States was founded as a Christian government.  The founders were careful to maintain strict legal boundaries between religion and governance.  These limitations were generally well-respected until the Eisenhower administration and the influence of the Reverend Billy Graham.  The words ‘under God’ were inserted in the pledge of allegiance, and ‘In God We Trust’ made its first appearance on the federal currency.  Later presidents sought alliances with Christian cultural figures.   Coveted endorsements often included public affiliation with Christian cultural causes such as school vouchers and the elimination of abortion.

Every President has designated himself as Christian.  Since the Eisenhower administration, many presidents have campaigned with Christian figures or adopted one or more as a spiritual counselor.  Both candidates for president in 2020 are Christian.  President Trump is a self-identified nondenominational Evangelical Christian and Joe Biden's campaign promotes his devout Catholicism.  Both vice-presidential candidates are also Christian.

The 116th Congress was 88% Christian, 6.4% Jewish, with only three Buddhist members, two Muslims, three Hindu, one Unitarian, and one atheist.  Those demographics are dissimilar to the population statistics, where 41% identified as Christian, with the aforementioned ‘no religious identification’ as 24%.  Christianity is over-represented in the federal legislative branch.

Federal judges have been nominated by a Christian president and then confirmed by a Christian senate.  Disputes about these nominations often rotate around Christian-hot-button cultural issues.  A 2017 study found among federal judges, 73% were Christian, 19% were Jewish, and 5.1% were Mormon.  Hindu judges comprised just 0.5% of federal judges, and the study’s authors were unable to identify any Buddhist, Muslim, or atheist federal judges.  It would be difficult to argue the judges’ faith traditions have no effect on their conduct at the bench.  As these are lifetime appointments, changing the demographics of the federal judiciary to resemble the diversity of the country would be a generational process.
 
Statistics on the religious identification of Americans through time was provided by https://www.prri.org/research/prri-rns-poll-nones-atheist-leaving-religion/.  More information on the Eisenhower/Graham relationship can be obtained at https://www.history.com/news/eisenhower-billy-graham-religion-in-god-we-trust.  Data on the composition of the 116th Congress was obtained from Pew Research at https://www.pewforum.org/2019/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-116/pf_12-31-18_faith-02/.  Information about the composition of the federal judiciary was presented at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/courts/reports/2019/10/03/475359/building-inclusive-federal-judiciary/