Religion in the United States

Religion in the United States is characterized by both a wide diversity in religious beliefs and practices, and by a high adherence level. According to recent surveys, 83 percent of Americans identify with a religious denomination, 40 percent state that they attend services nearly every week or more, and 58 percent say that they pray at least weekly.¹ A majority of Americans report that religion plays a "very important" role in their lives, a proportion unusual among developed nations.² Many faiths have flourished in the United States, including both later imports spanning the country's multicultural immigrant heritage, as well as those founded within the country; these have led the United States to become one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world.³

The majority of Americans (60% to 76%) identify themselves as Christians, mostly within Protestant and Catholic denominations, accounting for 51% and 25% of the population respectively.⁴ Non-Christian religions (including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.), collectively make up about 3.9% to 5.5% of the adult population.⁴⁵⁶ Another 15% of the adult population identifies as having no religious belief or no religious affiliation.⁴ When asked, about 5.2% said they did not know, or refused to reply.⁴ According to the American Religious Identification Survey, religious belief varies considerably across the country: 59% of Americans living in Western states (the "Unchurched Belt") report a belief in God, yet in the South (the "Bible Belt") the figure is as high as 86%.⁴⁷

However, despite this seemingly high level of religiosity, only 9% of Americans in a 2008 poll said religion was the most important thing in their life, compared with 45% who said family was paramount in their life and 17% who said money and their career was paramount.⁸

Text of the First Amendment to the country's Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It guarantees the free exercise of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this as preventing the government from having any authority in religion.

From the early colonial days, when English and German settlers came in search of religious freedom, America has been profoundly influenced by religion.⁹ That influence continues in American culture, social life, and politics.¹⁰

Several of the original Thirteen Colonies were established by settlers who wished to practice their own religion without discrimination: the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by English Puritans (Congregationalists), Pennsylvania by British Quakers, Maryland by English Catholics, and Virginia by English Anglicans.

Contents 1 Freedom of religion 2 Main religious preferences of Americans 2.1 Christianity 2.2 No religion / Unaffiliated 2.3 Judaism 2.4 Islam 2.5 Buddhism 2.6 Hinduism 2.7 Baha'i Faith 2.8 Sikhism 2.9 New Thought Movement 2.10 Native American religious practice 2.11 Others 2.12 Major denominations and sects founded in the U.S. 3 Government positions 4 Belief in a God 5 Church attendance 5.1 By state 6 Religion and politics 7 Membership reported by congregations 7.1 Christian bodies 7.2 ARDA survey 8 ARIS findings regarding self-identification 9 Ethnicity 10 See also 11 References 11.1 Bibliography 12 External links

Freedom of religion

Although some New England states continued to use tax money to fund local Congregational churches into the 1830s, the United States was the first nation to have no official state-endorsed religion.¹¹

Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the Constitution rejected any religious test for office, and the First Amendment specifically denied the federal government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise, thus protecting any religious organization, institution, or denomination from government interference. The decision was mainly influenced by European Rationalist and Protestant ideals, but was also a consequence of the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups and small states that did not want to be under the power or influence of a national religion that did not represent them.¹²

Main religious preferences of Americans

The U.S. Census does not ask about religion. Various groups have conducted surveys to determine approximate percentages of those affiliated with each religious group. Some surveys ask people to self-identify, while others calculate church memberships. The first table below represents the ranges that have been found.

• Christianity: (59.9%¹³ to 76.0%⁴)
• Unaffiliated, including atheist or agnostic (15.0%⁴ to 37.3%¹³)
• Judaism (1.2%⁴ to 2.2%¹³)
• Islam (0.6%⁴⁵⁶¹³)
• Buddhism (0.5%⁴ to 0.9%¹⁴)
• Hinduism (0.4%)
• Other (1.2% to 1.4%)

Religious affiliation in the U.S.¹⁵

Affiliation	% of U.S. population
Christian	78.4%
Protestant	51.3%
Evangelical Protestant	26.3%
Mainline Protestant	18.1%
Black church	6.9%
Catholic	23.9%
Mormon	1.7%
Jehovah's Witnesses	0.7%
Eastern Orthodox	0.6%
Other Christian	0.3%
Unaffiliated	16.1%
Nothing in particular	12.1%
Agnostic	2.4%
Atheist	1.6%
Non-Christian religions	4.7%
Jewish	1.7%
Buddhist	0.7%
Muslim	0.6%
Hindu	0.4%
Other	1.2%
Don't know/refused answer	0.8%

Christianity

The largest religion in the US is Christianity, practiced by the majority of the population (76% in 2008⁴). From those queried, roughly 51.3% of Americans are Protestants, 25% are Catholics, 1.7% are Mormon (the name commonly used to refer to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and 1.7% of various other Christian denominations.¹⁶ Christianity was introduced during the period of European colonization.

By the 2011 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, from which members in the United States are combined with Canadian members, and of the National Council of Churches, the five largest denominations are:¹⁷

• The Catholic Church, 68,503,456 members
• The Southern Baptist Convention, 16,160,088 members
• The United Methodist Church, 7,774,931 members
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6,058,907 members
• The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members

Due to its large population and history, the United States has numerically more Christians (and more Protestants) than any other country in the world. Other countries, however, have higher percentages of Christians (and of Protestants) within their total populations.

Northern European peoples introduced Protestantism. Among Protestants, Anglicans, Baptists, Puritans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Quaker, and Moravians were the first to settle to the US, spreading their faith in the new country.

The Spanish, French and English introduced Catholicism. Many Catholics came with the Hispanics/Latinos, Irish, Highland Scots, Italians, Dutch, Flemish, Polish, French, Hungarians, German, and Lebanese immigrants.

Greek, Ukrainian, Russian, Central and Eastern European, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, and South Indian immigrants brought Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy to the United States. These branches of Christianity have since spread beyond the boundaries of ethnic immigrant communities and now include multi-ethnic membership and parishes.

Since then, American Christians developed in their own path. During the Great Awakenings interdenominational evangelicalism and Pentecostalism emerged, along with new Protestant denominations such as Adventism, and non-Protestant movements such as the Restoration Movement (which over time separated into the Churches of Christ, the Christian churches and churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)), the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, commonly referred to as Jehovah's Witnesses, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also commonly referred to as Mormonism.

Today, with 16.6 million adherents (5.3% of the total population), the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest of more than 200¹⁸ distinctly named Protestant denominations.¹⁹ Of the total population, Evangelicals comprise 26.3%, and Mainline Protestants 16%.²⁰

The strength of various sects varies greatly in different regions of the country, with rural parts of the South (except Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, and the Hispanic community, which both consist mainly of Catholics), having many evangelicals but very few Catholics, while urbanized areas of the north Atlantic states and Great Lakes, as well as many industrial and mining towns, are heavily Catholic, though still quite mixed, especially due to the heavily Protestant African-American communities. As of 1990, nearly 72% of the population of Utah was Mormon, as well as 26% of neighboring Idaho.²¹ Lutheranism is most prominent in the Upper Midwest, with North Dakota having the highest percentage, 35% according to a 2001 survey.²²

Despite its status as the most widespread and influential religion in the US, Christianity is undergoing a continuous relative decline in demographics. While the absolute number of Christians rose from 1990 to 2008 as the overall population increased, the actual percentage of Christians dropped from 86.2% to 76.0%.⁴ A nationwide telephone interview of 1,002 adults conducted by The Barna Group found that 70% of American adults believe that God is "the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today", and that 9% of all American adults and 0.5% young adults hold to what the survey defined as a "biblical worldview."²³

No religion / Unaffiliated

A 2001 survey directed by Dr. Ariela Keysar for the City University of New York indicated that, amongst the more than 100 categories of response, "no religious identification" had the greatest increase in population in both absolute and percentage terms. This category included atheists, agnostics, humanists, and others with no theistic religious beliefs or practices. Figures are up from 14.3 million in 1990 to 34.2 million in 2008, representing a proportionate increase from 8% of the total in 1990 to 15% in 2008.⁴ Another nation-wide study puts the figure of unaffiliated persons at 16.1%.²⁴

In a 2006 nationwide poll, University of Minnesota researchers found that despite an increasing acceptance of religious diversity, atheists were generally distrusted by other Americans, who rated them below Muslims, recent immigrants and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society". They also associated atheists with undesirable attributes such as criminal behavior, rampant materialism, and cultural elitism.²⁵²⁶ However, the same study also reported that "The researchers also found acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one's exposure to diversity, education and political orientation--with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts."²⁷

Judaism

After Christianity and no-religion, Judaism is the third-largest religious affiliation in the US, though this identification is not necessarily indicative of religious beliefs or practices.⁴ A significant number of people identify themselves as American Jews on ethnic and cultural grounds, rather than religious ones. For example, 19% of self-identified American Jews believe God does not exist.²⁸ The 2001 ARIS study projected from its sample that there are about 5.3 million adults in the American Jewish population: 2.83 million adults (1.4% of the U.S. adult population) are estimated to be adherents of Judaism; 1.08 million are estimated to be adherents of no religion; and 1.36 million are estimated to be adherents of a religion other than Judaism.²⁹³⁰ ARIS 2008 estimated about 2.68 million people (1.2%) in the country identify Judaism as their faith.⁴

Jews have been present in what is now the US since the 17th century, though large scale immigration did not take place until the 19th century, largely as a result of persecutions in parts of Eastern Europe. The CIA Fact Book estimates about 2% of Americans belong to this group.⁵ Approximately 25% of this population lives in New York City.³¹

A 2009 study estimated the Jewish population (including both those who define themselves as Jewish by religion and those who define themselves as Jewish in cultural or ethnic terms) to be between 6.0 and 6.4 million.³² According to a study done in 2000 there were an estimated 6,141,325 Jewish people in the country, about 2% of the population.¹³ According to the 2001 National Jewish Population Survey,³³ 4.3 million American Jewish adults have some sort of strong connection to the Jewish community, whether religious or cultural. Jewishness is generally considered an ethnic identity as well as a religious one. Among the 4.3 million American Jews described as "strongly connected" to Judaism, over 80% have some sort of active engagement with Judaism, ranging from attendance at daily prayer services on one end of the spectrum to attending Passover Seders or lighting Hanukkah candles on the other. The survey also discovered that Jews in the Northeast and Midwest are generally more observant than Jews in the South or West. Reflecting a trend also observed among other religious groups, Jews in the Northwestern United States are typically the least observant.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend among previously secular American Jews, called baalei teshuva ("returners", see also Repentance in Judaism), returning to a more religious, in most cases, Orthodox, style of observance.^{citation needed} It is uncertain how widespread or demographically important this movement is at present.

The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their US-born descendants. There are, however, small numbers of older (and some recently arrived) communities of Sephardi Jews with roots tracing back to 15th century Iberia (Spain, Portugal, and North Africa).

There are Mizrahi Jews (from the Middle East, Caucasia and Central Asia), as well as much smaller numbers of Ethiopian Jews, Indian Jews, Kaifeng Jews and others from various smaller Jewish ethnic divisions.

Among American Jews actively observing their faith, 33% belong to Orthodox synagogues, 32% are affiliated with the Conservative tradition, 28% belong to Reform congregations, 3% are Reconstructionists, and 4% belong to some other tradition.^{citation needed}

Islam

American Islam effectively began with the arrival of African slaves. It is estimated that about 10% of African slaves transported to the United States were Muslim.³⁴ Most, however, became Christians, and significant Muslim numbers awaited the arrival of immigrant populations from Arabic and East Asian Muslim areas.³⁵ Islam gained a higher profile through the Nation of Islam, a religious group that appealed to black Americans after the 1940s; its prominent converts included Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.³⁶³⁷ The first Muslim elected in Congress was Keith Ellison in 2006,³⁸ followed by Andre Carson in 2008.³⁹

Research indicates that Muslims in the US are generally more assimilated and prosperous than Muslims in Europe.⁴⁰⁴¹ Surveys also suggest, however, that they are less assimilated than other American subcultural and religious communities, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.⁴² Like other subcultural and religious communities, the Islamic community has generated its own political organizations and charity organizations.

Buddhism

Buddhism entered the US during the 19th century with the arrival of the first immigrants from Eastern Asia. The first Buddhist temple was established in San Francisco in 1853 by Chinese Americans.

During the late 19th century Buddhist missionaries from Japan came to the US. Simultaneously to these processes, US intellectuals started to take interest in Buddhism.

The first prominent US citizen to publicly convert to Buddhism was Henry Steel Olcott. An event that contributed to strengthen Buddhism in the US was the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, which was attended by many Buddhist delegates sent from India, China, Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

The early 20th century was characterized by a continuation of the tendencies with roots in the 19th century. The second half, by contrast, saw the emergence of new approaches, and the move of Buddhism into the mainstream making itself a mass and social religious phenomenon.

Many foreign associations and teachers—such as Soka Gakkai and Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama^{citation needed} (for Tibetan Buddhism)—started to organize missionary activities, while US converts established the first Western-based Buddhist institutions, temples and worship groups.

Estimates of the number of Buddhists in the United States vary between 0.5%⁴ and 0.9%,¹⁴ with 0.7% reported by both the CIA⁵ and PEW.⁶

Hinduism

The first time Hinduism entered the US is not clearly identifiable. However, large groups of Hindus have immigrated from India and other Asian countries since the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. During the 1960s and 1970s Hinduism exercised fascination contributing to the development of New Age thought. During the same decades the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (a Vaishnavite Hindu reform organization) was founded in the US.

According to recent surveys, estimates for Hindus in the US suggest they number nearly 800 thousand people or about 0.4% of the total population.²⁴³⁰

In 2004 the Hindu American Foundation—a national institution protecting rights the Hindu community of US—was founded.

Baha'i Faith

The United States has perhaps the second largest Bahá'í community. It was established in 1894 by Ibrahim Kheiralla, a Syrian Bahá'í immigrant who later left the main group and founded a rival movement.⁴³

Sikhism

Sikhs have been a part of the American populace for more than 130 years. Around 1900, the state of Punjab of British India was hit hard by British practices of mercantilism. Many Sikhs emigrated to the United States, and began arriving to work on farms in California. They traveled via Hong Kong to Angel Island, California, the western counterpart to Ellis Island in New York.⁴⁴

"The first Sikh Gurdwara was built in Stockton, California; the Gurdwara was created in 1912 with joint efforts of Sardar Vasakha Singh and Bhai Jawala Singh. A Nishan Sahib was also hoisted for the first time at the Gurdwara. Baba Vasakha Singh and Baba Jawala Singh Thathian of Amritsar Sahib were appointed as the first Granthi Singh Jis of the Gurdwara."⁴⁵

New Thought Movement

A group of churches which started in the 1830s in the United States is known under the banner of "New Thought". These churches share a spiritual, metaphysical and mystical predisposition and understanding of the Bible and were strongly influenced by the Transcendentalist movement particularly the work of Emerson. Another antecedent of this movement was Swedenborgianism, founded on the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg in 1787.⁴⁶ The New Thought concept was named by Emma Curtis Hopkins ("teacher of teachers") after Hopkins broke off from Mary Baker Eddy's Church of Christ, Scientist the movement had been previously known as the Mental Sciences and or The Christian Sciences. The New Thought movement includes Divine Science, founded by Malinda Cramer and the Brook sisters; Religious Science founded by Ernest Holmes and Unity founded by Charles Fillmore and Myrtle Fillmore. The founders of these denominations all studied with Emma Curts Hopkins. Each of one these New Thought Churches has been influenced by a wide variety of ancient spiritual ideas.⁴⁷ Each of these churches identify to different degrees with Christianity, Unity and Divine Science being the most explicit in the use of the Bible. Unity and Religious Science each have over 900 centers each^{citation needed} in the United States alone; Divine Science, the smallest of the three, is now experiencing a renewed growth.^{citation needed}

Native American religious practice

Others

Many other religions are represented in the United States, including Jainism, Shinto, Taoism, Caodaism, Thelema, Wicca, Santería, Rastafari movement, Heathenism, Kemetism, Paganacht, Hellenism, Asatru, Theodism, Odinism, Religio Romana, Natib Qadish, Kaldanism, Druidry, Zoroastrianism, Vodou, Jediism and many forms of New Age spirituality.

Major denominations and sects founded in the U.S.

• Polish National Catholic Church – broke from Rome in 1897
• Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ – a restoration movement with no governing body. The Restoration Movement solidified as a historical phenomenon in 1832 when restorationists from two major movements championed by Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell merged.
• Pentecostalism – movement which emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit, finds its historic roots in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, from 1904 to 1906, sparked by Charles Parham
• Adventism – began as an inter-denominational movement. Its most vocal leader was William Miller, who in the 1830s in New York became convinced of an imminent Second Coming of Jesus. The most prominent modern group to emerge from this is the Seventh Day Adventists.
• Nation of Islam – A sect of Islam, created and followed solely by African-Americans; redefined "Allah" as someone "who came in the person of W. D. Fard."
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) – founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830 in the Burned Over District of upstate New York. Now headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Jehovah's Witnesses – originated with the religious movement known as Bible Students, which was founded in Pennsylvania in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell. Loosely connected in its early years with Adventism, with which it shares some similarities.
• Scientology – founded by L. Ron Hubbard
• Christian Science – founded by Mary Baker Eddy
• Reconstructionist Judaism – founded by Mordecai Kaplan
• Native American Church – founded by Quanah Parker beginning in the 1890s and incorporating in 1918.
• Church Of Satan - founded by Anton LaVey in San Francisco, California, 1966.

Government positions

The First Amendment guarantees both the free practice of religion and the non-establishment of religion by the federal government (later court decisions have extended that prohibition to the states).⁴⁸ The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance was modified in 1954 to add the phrase "under God", in order to distinguish itself from the state atheism espoused by the Soviet Union.^49505152

Various American presidents have often stated the importance of religion. On February 20, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that "Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism."⁵³ President Gerald Ford agreed with and repeated this statement in 1974.⁵⁴

Belief in a God

Various polls have been conducted to determine Americans' actual beliefs regarding God:

• A 2006 CBS News Poll of 899 U.S. adults found that 76% of those surveyed believed in a god, while 9% believed in "some other universal spirit or higher power", 8% believed in neither, and 1% were unsure.^{citation needed}
• A 2008 survey of 1,000 people concluded that, based on their stated beliefs rather than their religious identification, 70% of Americans believe in a personal God, roughly 12% of Americans are atheist or agnostic, and another 12% are deistic (believing in a higher power/non-personal God, but no personal God).⁴
• A late 2009 online Harris poll of 2,303 U.S. adults (18 and older)⁵⁵ found that "82% of adult Americans believe in God", the same number as in two earlier polls in 2005 and 2007. Another 9% said they did not believe in God, and 9% said that they were not sure. It further concluded, "Large majorities also believe in miracles (76%), heaven (75%), that Jesus is God or the Son of God (73%), in angels (72%), the survival of the soul after death (71%), and in the resurrection of Jesus (70%). Less than half (45%) of adults believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution but this is more than the 40% who believe in creationism..... Many people consider themselves Christians without necessarily believing in some of the key beliefs of Christianity. However, this is not true of born-again Christians. In addition to their religious beliefs, large minorities of adults, including many Christians, have "pagan" or pre-Christian beliefs such as a belief in ghosts, astrology, witches and reincarnation."

Church attendance

Gallup International indicates that 41%⁵⁶ of American citizens report they regularly attend religious services, compared to 15% of French citizens, 10% of UK citizens,⁵⁷ and 7.5% of Australian citizens.⁵⁸

In 2006, an online Harris Poll (they stated that the magnitude of errors cannot be estimated due to sampling errors, non-response,etc.; 2,010 U.S. adults were surveyed)⁵⁹ found that 26% of those surveyed attended religious services "every week or more often", 9% went "once or twice a month", 21% went "a few times a year", 3% went "once a year", 22% went "less than once a year", and 18% never attend religious services. An identical survey by Harris in 2003 found that only 26% of those surveyed attended religious services "every week or more often", 11% went "once or twice a month", 19% went "a few times a year", 4% went "once a year", 16% went "less than once a year", and 25% never attend religious services.

By state

Church attendance varies considerably by state and region. In a 2010 Gallup survey, 41.6% of Americans said that they attended church or synagogue once a week or almost every week. The figures ranged from 63% in Mississippi to 23% in Vermont.

Church Attendance by State⁶⁰

Rank	State	Percent
—	National average	41.6%
1	Mississippi	63%
2	Alabama	58%
3	Louisiana	56%
3	South Carolina	56%
3	Utah	56%
6	Tennessee	54%
7	Arkansas	53%
7	North Carolina	53%
9	Georgia (U.S. state)	51%
10	Texas	50%
11	North Dakota	49%
11	Oklahoma	49%
13	Kentucky	48%
14	South Dakota	47%
15	Kansas	46%
16	Iowa	45%
16	Nebraska	45%
18	Indiana	44%
18	Minnesota	44%
18	Missouri	44%
18	Virginia	44%
22	New Mexico	43%
23	Illinois	42%
23	Pennsylvania	42%
23	West Virginia	42%
26	Idaho	41%
26	Ohio	41%
28	Florida	40%
28	Maryland	40%
28	Michigan	40%
28	Wisconsin	40%
32	Arizona	39%
33	Delaware	38%
33	New Jersey	38%
35	District of Columbia	36%
35	Montana	36%
37	California	35%
37	Colorado	35%
37	New York	35%
40	Wyoming	34%
41	Connecticut	32%
41	Rhode Island	32%
41	Washington	32%
44	Alaska	31%
44	Hawaii	31%
44	Oregon	31%
47	Nevada	30%
48	Massachusetts	29%
49	Maine	27%
50	New Hampshire	26%
51	Vermont	23%

Religion and politics

In August 2010 67% of Americans said religion is losing influence, compared with 59% who said this in 2006. Majorities of white evangelical Protestants (79%), while mainline Protestants (67%), Black Protestants (56%), Catholics (71%), and the religiously unaffiliated (62%) all agree that religion is losing influence on American life; 53% of the total public says this is a bad thing while just 10% see it as a good thing.⁶¹

Politicians frequently discuss their religion when campaigning, and Fundamentalist and Black Protestants are highly politically active. However, to keep their status as tax-exempt organizations they must not officially endorse a candidate. Historically Catholics were heavily Democrats before the 1970s, while mainline Protestants comprised the core of the Republican Party. Those patterns have faded away—Catholics, for example, now split about 50–50. However, white evangelicals since 1980 have made up a solidly Republican group that favors conservative candidates. Secular voters are increasingly Democratic.⁶²

Only three presidential candidates for major parties have been Catholics, all for the Democratic party:

• Alfred E. Smith in presidential election of 1928 was hammered with anti-Catholic rhetoric, which seriously hurt him in the Baptist areas of the South and Lutheran areas of the Midwest, but he did well in the Catholic urban strongholds of the Northeast.
• John F. Kennedy secured the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960. In the 1960 election, Kennedy faced accusations that as a Roman Catholic President he would do as the Pope would tell him to do, a charge that Kennedy refuted in a famous address to Protestant ministers.
• John Kerry won the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. In the 2004 election religion was hardly an issue, and most Catholics voted for his Protestant opponent.⁶³

Joe Biden is the first Catholic vice president.⁶⁴

The only Jewish major party candidate was Joe Lieberman in the Gore-Lieberman campaign of 2000 (although John Kerry and Barry Goldwater both had Jewish ancestry).

In 2006 Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first Muslim elected to Congress; when re-enacting his swearing-in for photos, he used the copy of the Qur'an once owned by Thomas Jefferson.⁶⁵

A Gallup Poll released in 2007⁶⁶ indicated that 53% of Americans would refuse to vote for an atheist as president, up from 48% in 1987 and 1999. In fact, there is a single American congressman who is openly non-theistic, Pete Stark.

Membership reported by congregations

Christian bodies

The table below is based mainly on data reported by individual denominations to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, and published in 2011 by the National Council of Churches of Christ in USA. It only includes religious bodies reporting 60,000 or more members. The definition of a member is determined by each religious body.⁶⁷

Religious body	Year Reported	Places of Worship Reported	Membership (thousands)	Number of Ministers
African Methodist Episcopal Church	1999	0-sm=n	2,500	7,741
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	2002	3,226	1,431	3,252
American Baptist Association	1998	1,760	275	1,740
American Baptist Churches USA	1998	3,800	1,507	4,145
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America	1998	220	65	263
Armenian Apostolic Church	1998	28	200	25
Assemblies of God	2009	12,371	2,914	34,504
Baptist Bible Fellowship International	1997	4,500	1,200	-
Baptist General Conference	1998	876	141	-
Baptist Missionary Association of America	1999	1,334	235	1,525
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The	1998	1,964	346	1,629
Christian Brethren (Plymouth Brethren)	1997	1,150	100	-
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)	1997	3,818	879	3,419
Christian churches and churches of Christ	1998	5,579	1,072	5,525
Christian Congregation, Inc., The	1998	1,438	117	1,436
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church	1983	2,340	719	-
Christian Reformed Church in North America	1998	733	199	655
Church of God in Christ	1991	15,300	5,500	28,988
Church of God of Prophecy	1997	1,908	77	2,000
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)	1998	2,353	234	3034
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)	1995	6,060	753	3,121
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)	2006	13,010	5,779	39,030
Church of the Brethren	1997	1,095	141	827
Church of the Nazarene	1998	5,101	627	4,598
Churches of Christ	1999	15,000	1,500	14,500
Conservative Baptist Association of America	1998	1,200	200	-
Community of Christ	1998	1,236	140	19,319
Coptic Orthodox Church	2003	200	1,000	200
Cumberland Presbyterian Church	1998	774	87	634
Episcopal Church	1996	7,390	2,365	8,131
Evangelical Covenant Church, The	1998	628	97	607
Evangelical Free Church of America, The	1995	1,224	243	1,936
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	1998	10,862	5,178	9,646
Evangelical Presbyterian Church	1998	187	61	262
Free Methodist Church of North America	1998	990	73	-
Full Gospel Fellowship	1999	896	275	2,070
General Association of General Baptists	1997	790	72	1,085
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches	1998	1,415	102	-
U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches	1996	368	82	590
Grace Gospel Fellowship	1992	128	60	160
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America	1998	523	1,955	596
Independent Fundamental Churches of America	1999	659	62	-
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel	1998	1,851	238	4,900
International Council of Community Churches	1998	150	250	182
International Pentecostal Holiness Church	1998	1,716	177	1,507
Jehovah's Witnesses	2011	13,309	1,200	-
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, The	1998	6,218	2,594	5,227
Mennonite Church USA	2005	943	114	-
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches	1998	416	67	534
National Association of Free Will Baptists	1998	2,297	210	2,800
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	1987	2,500	3,500	8,000
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	1992	33,000	8,200	32,832
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America	1992	-	2,500	-
Old Order Amish Church	1993	898	81	3,592
Orthodox Church in America	1998	625	28	700
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc.	1998	1,750	1,500	4,500
Pentecostal Church of God	1998	1,237	104	-
Presbyterian Church in America	1997	1,340	280	1,642
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)	1998	11,260	3,575	9,390
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.	1995	2,000	2,500	-
Reformed Church in America	1998	902	296	915
Religious Society of Friends (Conservative)	1994	1,200	104	-
Roman Catholic Church	2002	19,484	66,404	-
Romanian Orthodox Episcopate	1996	37	65	37
Salvation Army, The	1998	1,388	471	2,920
Serbian Orthodox Church	1986	68	67	60
Seventh-day Adventist Church	1998	4,405	840	2,454
Southern Baptist Convention	1998	40,870	16,500	71,520
Unitarian Universalism	2001	-	629	-
United Church of Christ	1998	6,017	1,421	4,317
United Methodist Church, The	1998	36,170	8,400	-
Wesleyan Church, The	1998	1,590	120	1,806
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod	1997	1,240	411	1,222

ARDA survey

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) surveyed congregations for their memberships. Churches were asked for their membership numbers. Adjustments were made for those congregations that did not respond and for religious groups that reported only adult membership.⁶⁸ ARDA estimates that most of the churches not responding were black Protestant congregations. Significant difference in results from other databases include the lower representation of adherents of 1> all kinds (62.7%), 2>Christians (59.9%) 3>Protestants (less than 36%); and the greater number of unaffiliated (37.3%).

Religious groups

Religious group	number in year 2000	% in year 2000
Total US pop year 2000	281,421,839	100.0%
Evangelical Protestant	39,994,852	14.2%
Mainline Protestant	26,091,321	9.3%
Protestant (evangelical+mainline)	66,086,173	23.5%
Catholic	62,035,042	22.0%
Orthodox	989,106	0.4%
adherents (unadjusted)	141,364,420	50.2%
unclaimed	140,057,419	49.8%
adjustment for non-responses (mostly black Protestant congregations)	35,112,928	12.5%
total adherents (adjusted)	176,477,348	62.7%
non-affiliated (unclaimed - adjustment)	104,944,491	37.3%
other - including Mormon & Christ Scientist	12,254,099	4.4%
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon, LDS)	4,224,026	1.5%
other - excluding Mormon	8,030,073	2.9%
Jewish estimate	6,141,325	2.2%
Buddhist estimate	2,000,000	0.7%
Muslim estimate	1,559,294	0.6%
Hindu estimate	1,110,000	0.4%
Source: ARDA13

ARIS findings regarding self-identification

The United States government does not collect religious data in its census. The survey below, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2008, was a random digit-dialed telephone survey of 54,461 American residential households in the contiguous United States. The 1990 sample size was 113,723; 2001 sample size was 50,281.

Adult respondents were asked the open-ended question, "What is your religion, if any?" Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers. The religion of the spouse or partner was also asked. If the initial answer was "Protestant" or "Christian" further questions were asked to probe which particular denomination. About one third of the sample was asked more detailed demographic questions.

Religious Self-Identification of the U.S. Adult Population: 1990, 2001, 2008⁴
Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply; investigators suspect refusals are possibly more representative of "no religion" than any other group.

Source:ARIS 2008⁴

Group	1990 adults x 1,000	2001 adults x 1,000	2008 adults x 1,000	Numerical Change 1990– 2008 as % of 1990	1990 % of adults	2001 % of adults	2008 % of adults	change in % of total adults 1990– 2008
Adult population, total	175,440	207,983	228,182	30.1%
Adult population, Responded	171,409	196,683	216,367	26.2%	97.7%	94.6%	94.8%	−2.9%
Total Christian	151,225	159,514	173,402	14.7%	86.2%	76.7%	76.0%	−10.2%
Catholic	46,004	50,873	57,199	24.3%	26.2%	24.5%	25.1%	−1.2%
non-Catholic Christian	105,221	108,641	116,203	10.4%	60.0%	52.2%	50.9%	−9.0%
Baptist	33,964	33,820	36,148	6.4%	19.4%	16.3%	15.8%	−3.5%
Mainline Christian	32,784	35,788	29,375	−10.4%	18.7%	17.2%	12.9%	−5.8%
Methodist	14,174	14,039	11,366	−19.8%	8.1%	6.8%	5.0%	−3.1%
Lutheran	9,110	9,580	8,674	−4.8%	5.2%	4.6%	3.8%	−1.4%
Presbyterian	4,985	5,596	4,723	−5.3%	2.8%	2.7%	2.1%	−0.8%
Episcopalian/Anglican	3,043	3,451	2,405	−21.0%	1.7%	1.7%	1.1%	−0.7%
United Church of Christ	438	1,378	736	68.0%	0.2%	0.7%	0.3%	0.1%
Christian Generic	25,980	22,546	32,441	24.9%	14.8%	10.8%	14.2%	−0.6%
Christian Unspecified	8,073	14,190	16,384	102.9%	4.6%	6.8%	7.2%	2.6%
Non-denominational Christian	194	2,489	8,032	4040.2%	0.1%	1.2%	3.5%	3.4%
Protestant – Unspecified	17,214	4,647	5,187	−69.9%	9.8%	2.2%	2.3%	−7.5%
Evangelical/Born Again	546	1,088	2,154	294.5%	0.3%	0.5%	0.9%	0.6%
Pentecostal/Charismatic	5,647	7,831	7,948	40.7%	3.2%	3.8%	3.5%	0.3%
Pentecostal – Unspecified	3,116	4,407	5,416	73.8%	1.8%	2.1%	2.4%	0.6%
Assemblies of God	617	1,105	810	31.3%	0.4%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%
Church of God	590	943	663	12.4%	0.3%	0.5%	0.3%	0.0%
Other Protestant Denominations	4,630	5,949	7,131	54.0%	2.6%	2.9%	3.1%	0.5%
Churches of Christ	1,769	2,593	1,921	8.6%	1.0%	1.2%	0.8%	−0.2%
Jehovah's Witness	1,381	1,331	1,914	38.6%	0.8%	0.6%	0.8%	0.1%
Seventh-Day Adventist	668	724	938	40.4%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%
Mormon/Latter Day Saints	2,487	2,697	3,158	27.0%	1.4%	1.3%	1.4%	0.0%
Total non-Christian religions	5,853	7,740	8,796	50.3%	3.3%	3.7%	3.9%	0.5%
Jewish	3,137	2,837	2,680	−14.6%	1.8%	1.4%	1.2%	−0.6%
Eastern Religions	687	2,020	1,961	185.4%	0.4%	1.0%	0.9%	0.5%
Buddhist	404	1,082	1,189	194.3%	0.2%	0.5%	0.5%	0.3%
Muslim	527	1,104	1,349	156.0%	0.3%	0.5%	0.6%	0.3%
New Religious Movements & Others	1,296	1,770	2,804	116.4%	0.7%	0.9%	1.2%	0.5%
None/ No religion, total	14,331	29,481	34,169	138.4%	8.2%	14.2%	15.0%	6.8%
Agnostic+Atheist	1,186	1,893	3,606	204.0%	0.7%	0.9%	1.6%	0.9%
Did Not Know/ Refused to reply	4,031	11,300	11,815	193.1%	2.3%	5.4%	5.2%	2.9%

Highlights:⁴

1. The ARIS 2008 survey was carried out during February–November 2008 and collected answers from 54,461 respondents who were questioned in English or Spanish.
2. The American population self-identifies as predominantly Christian but Americans are slowly becoming less Christian.
   • 86% of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008.
   • The historic Mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines while the non-denominational Christian identity has been trending upward particularly since 2001.
   • The challenge to Christianity in the U.S. does not come from other religions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.
3. 34% of American adults considered themselves "Born Again or Evangelical Christians" in 2008.
4. The U. S. population continues to show signs of becoming less religious, with one out of every seven Americans failing to indicate a religious identity in 2008.
   • The "Nones" (no stated religious preference, atheist, or agnostic) continue to grow, though at a much slower pace than in the 1990s, from 8.2% in 1990, to 14.1% in 2001, to 15.0% in 2008.
   • Asian Americans are substantially more likely to indicate no religious identity than other racial or ethnic groups.
5. One sign of the lack of attachment of Americans to religion is that 27% do not expect a religious funeral at their death.
6. Based on their stated beliefs rather than their religious identification in 2008, 70% of Americans believe in a personal God, roughly 12% of Americans are atheist (no God) or agnostic (unknowable or unsure), and another 12% are deistic (a higher power but no personal God).
7. America's religious geography has been transformed since 1990. Religious switching along with Hispanic immigration has significantly changed the religious profile of some states and regions. Between 1990 and 2008, the Catholic population proportion of the New England states fell from 50% to 36% and in New York it fell from 44% to 37%, while it rose in California from 29% to 37% and in Texas from 23% to 32%.
8. Overall the 1990–2008 ARIS time series shows that changes in religious self-identification in the first decade of the 21st century have been moderate in comparison to the 1990s, which was a period of significant shifts in the religious composition of the United States.

Ethnicity

The table below shows the religious affiliations among the ethnicities in the United States, according to the Pew Forum 2007 survey.⁶⁹ People of Black ethnicity were most likely to be part of a formal religion, with 85% percent being Christians. Protestant denominations make up the majority of the Christians in the ethnicities.

Religion	White	Black	Asian	Other/Mixed	Latino
Christian	78%	85%	45%	69%	84%
Protestant	53%	78%	27%	51%	23%
Catholic	22%	5%	17%	14%	58%
Mormon	2%	0%	1%	2%	1%
Jehovah's Witness	0%	1%	0%	1%	1%
Orthodox	1%	0%	0%	1%	0%
Other	0%	0%	0%	1%	0%
Other Religions	5%	2%	30%	9%	2%
Jewish	2%	0%	0%	1%	0%
Muslim	0%	1%	4%	1%	0%
Buddhist	1%	0%	9%	1%	0%
Hindu	0%	0%	14%	1%	0%
Other world religions	0%	0%	2%	0%	0%
Other faiths	1%	0%	1%	5%	0%
Unaffiliated	17%	13%	25%	22%	15%

See also

• Freedom of Religion in the United States
• Fundamentalist Christianity
• Irreligion in the United States
• Religion in United States prisons
• Religious affiliations of United States Presidents
• Separation of church and state in the United States
• United States religious history

References

Bibliography

• Buck, Christopher (2009). Religious myths and visions of America: how minority faiths redefined America's world role. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 9780313359590. http://books.google.com/?id=E8Cd5sfApM4C. .
• De La Torre, Miguel A., Encyclopedia on Hispanic American Religious Culture 2 vol, ABC-CLIO Publishers, 2009.
• Gaustad, Edwin (1962). Historical atlas of religion in America. Harper & Row .
• Gordon, Melton, J. Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th ed. Thomson, 2003) 1408pp
• Hill, Samuel S., Charles H. Lippy, and Charles Reagan Wilson, eds. Encyclopedia of Religion in the South (2005)
• Lippy, Charles H., ed. Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (3 vol Scribners, 1988)
• National Council of the Churches of Christ. Yearbook of American Churches: 2010 (2010)
• Putnam, Robert D., and David E Campbell American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us (2010) excerpt and text search
• Queen, Edward L. et al. eds, Encyclopedia of American Religious History (3rd ed. 3 vol, Facts on File, 2009)

External links

• Association of Religion Data Archives
• 2008 ARIS Survey
• CNN Article on 2008 Pew Results, 2/25/2008
• Religious Affiliation Underestimated in U.S., Study Shows
• Map Gallery of Religion in the United States
• http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions
• U.S. Census links and Statistical Abstract - ARIS Data - PDF & XLS (Excel)
• USA - Population statistics by religion
• Is America Too *** Religious? -- from NPR.
• None of the above: the growth of the "non-religious" - from IBCSR.
• Religious, not spiritual article on religiosity vs. spirituality in America.
• Charles Reagan Wilson, "Overview: Religion and the U.S. South", Southern Spaces, March 16, 2004.
• USA Today Interactive Tables - Shifting Religious Identitites and Topography of faith

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