A few things have changed since 1961. We fought a few wars, invented the Internet, went through a few presidents. Don Draper went through at least six wives. Also, the share of the population that describes itself as "religiously unaffiliated" has grown substantially: In 1961, 93 percent of respondents in a Gallup poll identified as Christian, while just two percent answered "none." Since 2007 alone, that share of "nones" jumped from 16 to nearly 23 percent. In the same time, the percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians dropped eight percent, to 70.

You know what hasn't changed? Our politicians.

A Pew Research survey, out today, indicates the incoming congressional class—the 115th—is just about the same percentage Christian as the first one ever surveyed, 1961's 87th Congress. That group was 94.9 percent Christian; the incoming group is 91 percent. Like America as a whole, the number of protestants has dropped (from 75 percent to 56 percent) and the share of Catholics has grown (from 19 to 31). But both groups, along with Christianity as a whole, are significantly overrepresented when compared with the general population.

In contrast, the religiously unaffiliated—which includes atheists, agnostics, and "nothing in particular"—are hugely underrepresented. Just one person in Congress identifies as "none," which constitutes 0.2 percent of all elected officials in the legislative branch. Even if you assume the 10 officials who declined to answer the survey are non-religious, you still only get to two percent. Meanwhile, to reiterate, 23 percent of the adult population is presently unaffiliated.

Mark Wilson Getty Images

The other underrepresented groups are Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Unitarians, and people of other faiths. But the margins between where they are and where they'd be if fully represented are comparatively small—less than a percentage point each. The only other group besides Christians that's overrepresented are Jews, who make up 5.6 percent of Congress but just 2 percent of the population.

All of these smaller groups are primarily represented by members of the Democratic Party. The Democrats, at 80 percent Christian, are only slightly more religiously diverse than Republicans, of whose 293 members just two are non-Christians. Both are Jewish.

Polls have consistently shown that for American voters, non-belief is the single most disqualifying factor in a candidate for public office. In a 2016 poll, 51 percent of American adults said finding out a candidate was an atheist would make them less likely to vote for that candidate. That makes atheism less desirable than a number of traditional negatives in American politics, like having an extramarital affair, being gay or lesbian, being Muslim, smoking marijuana, or having personal finance troubles.

The 2016 election proved you just can't say you're not religious. After all, Christians—including Evangelicals—went big time for the "Two Corinthians" guy who considers the Bible "the second best book of all time." (In polling, even Republicans did not widely believe Trump was religious, but didn't seem concerned. After all, he kept up the charade.)

While we seem content to keep electing Christians—or perhaps, they remain the group most confident about running for office—it hasn't helped our satisfaction with the job they're doing. Congressional approval is up to a lofty 18 percent from that legendary low of 9 percent in November 2013, according to Gallup.

Meanwhile, the current crop are up to some curious antics. Which of today's developments was a result of what House Republicans learned at Sunday school: their attempt to dismantle the Office of Congressional Ethics, or their decision to double back on that plan only when they came under considerable public pressure?

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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