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House of Theocons (David Sessions, February 18, 2011, Patrol)

Today, the undercovered story of the 2010 midterm elections became clear: Americans have elected the most politically and theologically fundamentalist House of Representatives in modern history. When Tea Partiers insisted their goal was attacking the deficit and government spending they weren’t lying. But when they submerged their long histories of social conservative activism—some of it incredibly radical—they were hiding a crucial part of themselves.

For those who have been watching, it’s no surprise that the 112th Congress immediately put abortion on the front of the agenda. (The House voted today to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding, all of which is marked for non-abortion services.) On Jan. 5, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released its definitive study of the religious makeup of the 112th Congress. While there were no big surprises—Congress is still dominated by Protestants, American Jews are overrepresented and non-believers are underrepresented—the legislature’s movement toward religious conservatism stands out.

Roman Catholics and Baptists, one of the most conservative Protestant denominations, made significant gains in different ways. Catholic representatives have traditionally been split about evenly between the parties, but only two of the 40 freshmen Catholics are Democrats, suggesting that a growing number of conservative Catholics are deciding to run for office. Only 11.8 percent of incumbents in the 112th Congress are Baptist, but Baptists make up 16.1 percent of the newly elected members. Sixteen of the 18 new Baptists are Republicans.