Background There are existing sub-sections on religious denominations to deal with Christian lay people in politics, e.g. List of LDS politicians. This list is for politicians who also do Christian pastoral work, both ordained clergy and evangelists or theologians. It is therefore not appropriate to add Christian lay people to the list, although some noted theologians in the laity are included as relational.
Note that some people on this list only became clergy after their political careers.
List Anglican Jonathan Aitken - Church of England Vicar, Conservative Party MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Minister for Defence Procurement John Bani – President and head of state of Vanuatu from 25 March 1998 until 24 March 2004; Anglican priest Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley – UK politician; first member of the House of Lords to sit as a member of the Green Party; Anglican priest Dennis Drainville - New Democratic MPP for Ontario from 1990 to 1993. Later Anglican Bishop of Quebec from 2009 to 2017. Stephen Green, Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint - Conservative Minister of State for Trade and Investment from 2011 to 2013, Member of House of Lords Temporal since 2010, Church of England priest Lee Jae-joung – National Assembly member and Unification Minister of South Korea; Anglican priest Walter Lini – founding Prime Minister of Vanuatu (succeeded by Bani); Anglican priest Peter Douglas Koon - Hong Kong Anglican Priest, provincial secretary general of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council J. G. MacManaway British Unionist who was disqualified from sitting on Parliament due to his status as a priest; Church of Ireland priest Jacob Mountain - Canadian Politician. Member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada from 1793 - 1825 and a Member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada from 1793 to 1825. 1st Anglican Bishop of Quebec. Wavel Ramkalawan - Anglican priest and 5th President of the Seychelles John Terris - Anglican priest, Labour politician, Deputy Speaker (hence also Acting Speaker), and Chairman of Committees of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1984 to 1990. Mayor of Lower Hutt City 1995–2004. K.H. Ting -Anglican priest, Bishop of Chekiang, vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1989–2008), and a member of the National People's Congress, China's legislature. Bernadine Craft - Former Member of Wyoming House of Representatives and Wyoming's State Senate. John Danforth – former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican United States Senator from Missouri; ordained Episcopal priest Kim Jackson - Democratic Georgia State Senator. First openly out LGBT state senator in Georgian history. Wythe Leigh Kinsolving – Episcopal priest, essayist and campaigner for Democratic candidates in 1910s-1930s, and against US participation in World War II in late 1930s through 1941 James Kilbourne- Episcopal Priest, surveyor, and Democratic-Republican member of the Ohio legislature and the US House of Representatives Bob Massie - Episcopal Priest and Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1994
Baptist Benny M. Abante – former two-termed Congressman of the Philippines; awarded as Most Outstanding Congressmen of Philippines in the 13th and 14th Congresses; founder and pastor of Metropolitan Bible Baptist Church in the Philippines William Aberhart – founder of the Social Credit Party of Alberta Brian Babin - Baptist Deacon and Republican representing Texas's 36th congressional district Chuck Baldwin – United States Constitution Party activist and Baptist pastor E.W. Jackson Lawyer and Baptist Minister and bishop; candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Ross Clifford – Australian politician; New South Wales Legislative Council and Australian Senate candidate; Baptist theologian Doug Collins - Southern Baptist Pastor, Military Chaplain and 12th Secretary of the VA Tom Corbin - Baptist Deacon and Republican serving as a member of the South Carolina Senate from the 5th District Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas – Canadian social democratic politician and Baptist minister; elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF); became the Saskatchewan CCF's leader, then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan, 1944–1961 Walter E. Fauntroy – former member of United States Congress and Baptist pastor Ernie Fletcher – Governor of Kentucky, 2003–2007 James Garrard – Governor of Kentucky, 1796–1804 William H. Gray – former Congressman and minister Mark Harris - Baptist Pastor and Republican as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 8th congressional district Jody Hice - Baptist Pastor and Republican serving Georgia's 10th congressional district Benjamin Hooks – American civil rights leader and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee – former governor of Arkansas and Baptist minister Tim Hutchinson – former Senator from Arkansas and former Baptist pastor Jesse Jackson – civil rights activist and Baptist minister Neal Jackson - Baptist Pastor and Republican member for the 78th district of the North Carolina House of Representatives Francys Johnson - Baptist Pastor who ran for the U.S. House Georgia District 12 and was defeated Brenden Jones - Baptist Deacon and Republican representing the 46th district of the North Carolina House of Representatives James Lankford – former member of the United States House of Representative (2011–2015) and current United States Senator from the State of Oklahoma. Lankford served as a student ministry and evangelism specialist with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center. He is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. Martin Luther King Jr. – civil rights activist and Baptist minister William H. King, III - Baptist Pastor and former City Councilman for Dickinson, TX. Democratic candidate for Galveston County Judge. Ron Lewis – Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky between 1994 and 2009; Baptist minister Dan Patrick - Baptist (Guest) Pastor and Republican serving as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Texas Adam Clayton Powell Jr. – thirteen term Congressman from Harlem, New York City (1945–1971); Pastor Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem (1937–1972) Pat Robertson – Republican supporter, former United States presidential nomination candidate, and former Baptist pastor. Phil Shepard - Baptist Pastor and Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the 15th district William Tolbert- Member of the Liberian House of Representatives, Vice-President of Liberia, and last President of Liberia who represented the True Whig Party and the old Americo-Liberian aristocracy. Baptist minister and first African president of the Baptist World Alliance Raphael Warnock – United States Senator from Georgia, elected January 2021. Senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Roger Wicker - A Baptist Deacon and Republican Senator in Mississippi
Roman Catholicism
Barthélemy Boganda – former priest and Central African politician Jean-Bertrand Aristide – former President of Haiti; former Catholic priest Ernesto Cardenal – former Minister for Culture for Nicaragua and Catholic priest Robert John Cornell – Norbertine priest and Representative from Wisconsin from 1975 to 1979 James Renshaw Cox – US presidency candidate and Catholic priest Robert Drinan – Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, lawyer, human rights activist, and Democratic US Representative from Massachusetts Jerome D'Souza – Indian Jesuit, member of the Constituent Assembly of India 1946–50 José Manuel Gallegos – Priest and New Mexico delegate from 1853 to 1856 Ivan Grubišić – Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, and independent representative in the Croatian Parliament Andrej Hlinka – Slovak public activist and Catholic priest Theodor Innitzer (later Cardinal Innitzer) – Austrian Minister of Social Administration (1929–1930) Ludwig Kaas – prominent German politician during Weimar Republic and Catholic priest Gabriel Wilhelmus Manek, S.V.D. - Member of Provincial Parliament (M.P.P) of East Indonesia Hugo Kołłątaj – Polish social and political activist, political thinker, historian, philosopher and Catholic priest Fernando Arturo de Meriño – President of the Dominican Republic (1880–1882) Mihovil Pavlinović – Roman Catholic priest, writer, and People's Party representative in the Diet of Dalmatia, Croatian Parliament and Austro-Hungarian Imperial Council Gabriel Richard – French Roman Catholic priest who became a delegate from Michigan Territory to the US House of Representatives Ignaz Seipel – Chancellor of Austria for two stints during the 1920s Josip Juraj Strossmayer bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Đakovo, leader of the People's Party, member of the Croatian Parliament, prefect of the Virovitica County, and President of the Croatian Royal Board Stanisław Staszic – Polish priest, philosopher, statesman, geologist, scholar, poet and writer; a leader of the Polish Enlightenment; famous for works related to the "Great" or "Four-Year Sejm" (1788–1792) and its Constitution of 3 May 1791 Luigi Sturzo – one of the founders of the Italian People's Party; Catholic priest Jozef Tiso – fascist Slovak politician of the SPP; Roman Catholic priest who became a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament, a member of the Czechoslovak government, and finally the President of Independent Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945, allied with Nazi Germany Beda Weber – German Benedictine professor, author, and member of the Frankfurt Parliament
Eastern Catholic Churches Paul Weyrich – U.S. conservative political activist and commentator, ordained protodeacon in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Congregational Church Bryan Berghoef - Pastor, United Church of Christ and a Democrat who ran for Michigan House of Representatives District 2 Samuel C. Fessenden – U.S. Congressman, pastor Washington Gladden – leading American Congregational church pastor leading member of the Progressive Movement, serving for two years as a member of the Columbus, Ohio city council Derek Jones – first Mayor of Gaborone, Botswana 1966–68 Fred Nile – New South Wales Legislative Council (Australia) member and Fellowship of Congregational Churches minister Shane Reeves - Church of Christ Deacon and Republican for the Tennessee State Senate District 14 Andrew Young – civil rights activist; former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia; America's first African-American ambassador to the United Nations; United Church of Christ pastor
Disciples of Christ James A. Garfield – preacher, teacher, and lawyer from Ohio before becoming a Congressman and later the 20th President of the United States Gerald L. K. Smith – founder of the quasi-fascist America First Party; Disciples of Christ minister Jim Spainhower – U.S. politician from Missouri and former Disciples of Christ minister
Dutch Reformed Church Thomas François Burgers – President of the South African Republic 1871–77; pastor Rowan Cronjé – Rhodesian/South African politician, Member of Parliament and cabinet minister Abraham Kuyper – Dutch politician, journalist, statesman and theologian; founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party and was Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905; Dutch Reformed Church minister Daniel François Malan – former Prime Minister of South Africa and minister
Eastern Orthodox Churches Boulos Basili – priest, first priest to enter the Egyptian Assembly in 1971 after winning a free election in his district Shoubra, in Cairo, Egypt; served in the parliament until 1975 Miron Cristea – first Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Prime Minister of Romania