Mixed in with the thousands of corporate lobbyists on Capitol Hill each day is an unusual troop: religious advocates whose numbers have increased five-fold in recent decades and spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year, according to a new study.

The report by the Pew Forum appears to be the most extensive research on lobbyists and advocates who come from a faith perspective. The biggest spenders include AIPAC, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and established social conservatives who focus on opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, among other things.

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