The ELCA has posted a brief article about Lutherans serving in Congress. While Lutherans are common in Minnesota, they're fairly rare in the House and Senate: only 24 Lutherans of all stripes serve, a whopping 4.5 percent of the legislative body. Catholics (30 percent), Baptists (12 percent) and Methodists (11 percent) form the lion's share of Christians in Congress.
Not surprisingly given the state's large population of people whose ancestors were Germans and Scandinavians, Minnesota's House delegation is half Lutheran, with Walz and Collin Peterson listed ass members of the ELCA, freshman Erik Paulson worshipping with the Missouri Synod and Michele Bachmann hanging with the WELS.
Second District rep John Kline is a Methodist, Betty McCollum and Jim Oberstar are Roman Catholic, while Keith Ellison is a Muslim. Both Walz and Ellison were raised by their families as Roman Catholics.
In the U.S. Senate, Amy Klobuchar is a Congregationalist. Both contenders for the contested and now empty Senate seat are Jews.
There are those who are saying that Minnesota is a joke because of the recount; we disagree. Moreover, while it's tempting to write, "Some Christians, a Muslim, and a Jew walk into Congress," as if that's a set-up for a joke, we prefer to think it's Minnesota's punchline for the third clause of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution.
We'll be back with a digest after we finish some business-hours chores.
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