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. 34%
Religion in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religion in the United States is characterized by a diversity
of religious beliefs and practices. Various religious faiths have
flourished in the United States. A majority of Americans report that
religion plays a very important role in their lives, a proportion unique
among
developed countries.
[1]
The majority of Americans identify themselves as
Christians, while close to a quarter claim
no religious affiliation.
[2] According to a 2014 study by the
Pew Research Center,
70.6% of the American population identified themselves as Christians,
with 46.5% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be
considered
Protestant, and 20.8% professing
Roman Catholic beliefs. The same study says that other religions (including
Judaism,
Buddhism,
Islam, and
Hinduism)
collectively make up about 6% of the population. According to a 2012
survey by the Pew forum, 36 percent of Americans state that they attend
services nearly every week or more.
[3] According to the 2013 Gallup poll,
Mississippi
with 61% of its population described as very religious (say that
religion is important to them and attend religious services almost every
week) is the
most religious state in the country, while
Vermont with only 22% as very religious is the least religious state.
[4]
Religion in the United States (2014 survey - Pew Forum)
[2]
Not stated (0.6%)
Overview
From early colonial days, when some English and German settlers came
in search of religious freedom, America has been profoundly influenced
by religion.
[5] That influence continues in American culture, social life, and politics.
[6] Several of the original
Thirteen Colonies
were established by settlers who wished to practice their own religion
within a community of like-minded people: the Massachusetts Bay Colony
was established by English
Puritans (Congregationalists), Pennsylvania by British
Quakers, Maryland by English
Catholics, and Virginia by English
Anglicans. Despite these, and as a result of intervening religious strife and preference in England
[7] the
Plantation Act 1740 would set official policy for new immigrants coming to
British America until the
American Revolution.
The text of the
First Amendment to the country's
Constitution
states that "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 while also preventing the government from establishing a
state religion.
However the states were not bound by the provision and as late as the
1830s Massachusetts provided tax money to local Congregational churches.
[8] The
Supreme Court since the 1940s has interpreted the
Fourteenth Amendment as applying the First Amendment to the state and local governments.
President John Adams and a unanimous Senate endorsed the
Treaty of Tripoli in 1797 that stated: ""the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
[9]
According to a 2002 survey by the Pew forum, nearly 6 in 10 Americans
said that religion plays an important role in their lives, compared to
33% in Great Britain, 27% in Italy, 21% in Germany, 12% in Japan and 11%
in France. The survey report stated that the results showed America
having a greater similarity to developing nations (where higher
percentages say that religion plays an important role) than to other
wealthy nations, where religion plays a minor role.
[1]
In 1963, 90% of Americans claimed to be Christians while only 2% professed no religious identity.
[10] In 2014, the percentage of Christians was closer to 70% with close to 23% claiming no religious identity.
[2]
Freedom of religion
The United States federal government was the first national government to have no official state-endorsed religion.
[11] However, some states had established religions in some form until the 1830s.
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]
Abrahamic religions
Christianity
The largest religion in the US is
Christianity, claimed by the majority of the population (71% in 2014).
[2] From those queried, roughly 46.5% of Americans are
Protestants, 25.4% are
Catholics, 2% are
Mormons (the name commonly used to refer to members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and 1% have affiliations with various other Christian denominations.
[2] Christianity was introduced during the period of
European colonization.
According to the 2011
Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, from which members in the United States are combined with Canadian members,
[clarification needed] and of the
National Council of Churches, the five largest denominations are:
[13]
- 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, 6,321,416 [14] members
- The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members
The Southern Baptist Convention, with over 16 million adherents, is the largest of more than 200
[15] distinctly named Protestant denominations.
[16] In 2007, members of
evangelical churches comprised 26% of the American population, while another 18% belonged to
mainline Protestant churches, and 7% belonged to historically
black churches.
[citation needed]
Members of mainline Protestant denominations have played leadership
roles in many aspects of American life, including politics, business,
science, the arts, and education. They founded most of the country's
leading institutes of higher education.
[17] Mainline Protestants such as
Episcopalians and
Presbyterians tend to be considerably
wealthier[18] and better educated than most other religious groups in the United States.
[19]
Some of the first colleges and universities in America, including
Harvard,
[20] Yale,
[21] Princeton,
[22] Columbia,
[23] Dartmouth,
Williams,
Bowdoin,
Middlebury, and
Amherst, all were founded by mainline Protestant denominations, as were later
Carleton,
Duke,
[24] Oberlin,
Beloit,
Pomona,
Rollins and
Colorado College.
Beginning in the 17th century,
northern European peoples introduced
Protestantism. Among Protestants,
Anglicans,
Baptists,
Puritans, Presbyterians,
Lutherans,
Quakers, and
Moravians were the first to settle in the US, spreading their faith in the new country.
Beginning in the 16th century, the Spanish (and later the French and
English) introduced Catholicism. From the 19th century to the present,
Catholics came to the US in large numbers due to immigration of
Italians, Hispanics,
Portuguese,
French,
Polish,
Irish, Highland Scots, Dutch, Flemish,
Hungarians,
Germans,
Lebanese (
Maronite), and other ethnic groups.
Greek,
Ukrainian,
Russian,
Armenians, 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.
Several Christian groups were founded in America during the
Great Awakenings. Interdenominational
evangelicalism and
Pentecostalism emerged; new Protestant denominations such as
Adventism; non-denominational 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));
Jehovah's Witnesses (called "Bible Students" in the latter part of the 19th century); and
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (
Mormonism).
The strength of various sects varies greatly in different regions of
the country, with rural parts of the South having many evangelicals but
very few Catholics (except
Louisiana and the
Gulf Coast, and the
Hispanic community, which both consist mainly of 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. In 1990, nearly 72% of the population of
Utah was Mormon, as well as 26% of neighboring
Idaho.
[25] Lutheranism is most prominent in the
Upper Midwest, with
North Dakota having the highest percentage of Lutherans (35% according to a 2001 survey).
[26]
The largest religion, Christianity, has proportionately diminished
since 1990. While the absolute number of Christians rose from 1990 to
2008, the percentage of Christians dropped from 86% to 76%.
[27] 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".
[28]
Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
Eastern Orthodox and
United Church of Christ members
[29] have the highest number of
graduate and
post-graduate degrees per capita of all
Christian denominations in the United States,
[30] as well as the most
high-income earners.
[31]
Judaism
After Christianity, Judaism is the next largest religious affiliation
in the US, though this identification is not necessarily indicative of
religious beliefs or practices.
[27] There are between 5.3 and 6.6 million Jews. 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 do not believe God exists.
[32]
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.
[33] ARIS 2008 estimated about 2.68 million adults (1.2%) in the country identify Judaism as their faith.
[27]
Touro Synagogue, (built 1759) in Newport, Rhode Island has the oldest still existing synagogue building in the United States.
Jews have been present in what is now the US since the 17th century, and specifically allowed since the British colonial
Plantation Act 1740.
Although small Western European communities initially developed and
grew, large-scale immigration did not take place until the late 19th
century, largely as a result of persecutions in parts of
Eastern Europe. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of
Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestors emigrated from
Central and
Eastern Europe. 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 also
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. Approximately 25% of the Jewish American population lives in New York City.
[34]
According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and
Public life, 1.7% of adults in the U.S. identify Judaism as their
religion. Among those surveyed, 44% said they were
Reform Jews, 22% said they were
Conservative Jews, and 14% said they were
Orthodox Jews.
[2][35] According to the 1990
National Jewish Population Survey,
38% of Jews were affiliated with the Reform tradition, 35% were
Conservative, 6% were Orthodox, 1% were Reconstructionists, 10% linked
themselves to some other tradition, and 10% said they are "just Jewish".
[36]
The Pew Research Center report on American Judaism released in
October 2013 revealed that 22% of Jewish Americans say they have "no
religion" and the majority of respondents do not see religion as the
primary constituent of Jewish identity. 62% believe Jewish identity is
based primarily in ancestry and culture, only 15% in religion. Among
Jews who gave Judaism as their religion, 55% based Jewish identity on
ancestry and culture, and 66% did not view belief in God as essential to
Judaism.
[37]
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.
[38]
According to a study done in 2000 there were an estimated 6.14 million
Jewish people in the country, about 2% of the population.
[39]
According to the 2001
National Jewish Population Survey, 4.3 million
American Jewish adults have some sort of strong connection to the Jewish community, whether religious or cultural.
[40] 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 of tradition.
The Jewish American community has higher household incomes than
average, and is one of the best educated religious communities in the
United States.
[29]
Islam
Islam is the third largest faith in the United States, after Christianity and Judaism, representing 0.9% of the population.
[2][41]
Islam in America effectively began with the arrival of African slaves.
It is estimated that about 10% of African slaves transported to the
United States were Muslim.
[42]
Most, however, became Christians, and the United States did not have a
significant Muslim population until the arrival of immigrants from Arab
and East Asian Muslim areas.
[43] According to some experts,
[44] Islam later 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.
[45][46] The first Muslim elected in Congress was
Keith Ellison in 2006,
[47] followed by
André Carson in 2008.
[48]
Research indicates that Muslims in the United States are generally
more assimilated and prosperous than their counterparts in Europe.
[49][50][51]
Like other subcultural and religious communities, the Islamic community
has generated its own political organizations and charity
organizations.
Bahá'í Faith
The United States has perhaps the second largest Bahá'í community in
the world. First mention of the faith in the U.S. was at the inaugural
Parliament of World Religions, which was held at the
Columbian Exposition in
Chicago in 1893. In 1894, Ibrahim Kheiralla, a
Syrian Bahá'í immigrant, established a community in the U.S. He later left the main group and founded a rival movement.
[52]
Rastafarianism
Rastafarians began migrating to the United States in the 1950s, '60s and '70s from the religion's 1930s birthplace,
Jamaica.
[53][54] Marcus Garvey, who is considered a
prophet by many Rastafarians,
[55][56] rose to prominence and cultivated many of his ideas in the United States.
Asian religions
Buddhism
Buddhism entered the US during the 19th century with the arrival of the first immigrants from
East 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. During the same time period, 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 the strengthening of 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, Vietnam,
Thailand and
Sri Lanka.
The early 20th century was characterized by a continuation of
tendencies that had their roots in the 19th century. The second half, by
contrast, saw the emergence of new approaches, and the move of Buddhism
into the mainstream and making itself a mass and social religious
phenomenon.
[57][58]
Many foreign associations and teachers—such as
Soka Gakkai and
Tenzin Gyatso (the 14th
Dalai Lama for
Tibetan Buddhism[citation needed])—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%
[27] and 0.9%,
[59] with 0.7% reported by both the CIA
[35] and Pew.
[60]
Hinduism
The first time
Hinduism
entered the U.S. 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.
In 2001, there were an estimated 400,000 Hindus in the US, about 0.2% of the total population.
[61][62]
In 2004 the
Hindu American Foundation—a national institution protecting rights of the Hindu community of U.S.—was founded.
American Hindus have one of the highest rates of educational
attainment and household income among all religious communities, and
tend to have lower divorce rates.
[29]
Jainism
Adherents of
Jainism
first arrived in the United States in the 20th century. The most
significant time of Jain immigration was in the early 1970s. The United
States has since become a center of the Jain Diaspora. The
Federation of Jain Associations in North America is an umbrella organization of local American and Canadian Jain congregations to preserve, practice, and promote
Jainism and the Jain way of life.
[63]
Sikhism
Sikhism is a religion originating from
South Asia (predominantly in modern-day
India) which was introduced into the
United States when, around the turn of the 20th century,
Sikhs
started emigrating to the United States in significant numbers to work
on farms in California. They were the first community to come from India
to the US in large numbers.
[64][clarification needed] The first Sikh
Gurdwara in America was built in
Stockton, California, in 1912.
[65]
In 2007, there were estimated to be between 250,000 to 500,000 Sikhs
living in the United States, with the largest populations living on the
East and
West Coasts, with additional populations in
Detroit,
Chicago, and
Austin.
[66][67]
The United States also has a number of non-Punjabi converts to Sikhism.
[68]
Taoism
In 2004 there were an estimated 56,000
Taoists in the US.
[69] Taoism was popularized throughout the world through the practice of
Tai Chi Chuan and other
martial arts.
[70]
No religion
This group includes atheists, agnostics and people who describe their religion as "nothing in particular".
[71]
"Unaffiliated" does not necessarily mean "non-religious". Some people
who are unaffiliated with any particular religion express religious
beliefs (such as belief in one or more gods or in reincarnation) and
engage in religious practices (such as prayer).
[citation needed]
Agnosticism, atheism, and humanism
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 stated religious preferences. Figures are up from
14.3 million in 1990 to 34.2 million in 2008, representing an increase
from 8% of the total population in 1990 to 15% in 2008.
[27] A nationwide
Pew Research study published in 2008 put the figure of unaffiliated persons at 16.1%,
[62]
while another Pew study published in 2012 was described as placing the
proportion at about 20% overall and roughly 33% for the 18–29-year-old
demographic.
[72]
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
trusted them less than 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.
[73][74]
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."
[75] Some surveys have indicated that doubts about the existence of a god were growing quickly among Americans under 30.
[76]
On 24 March 2012, American atheists sponsored the
Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., followed by the American Atheist Convention in
Bethesda, Maryland. Organizers called the estimated crowd of 8,000–10,000 the largest-ever US gathering of atheists in one place.
[77]
Deism
In the United States,
Enlightenment philosophy (which itself was heavily inspired by
deist ideals) played a major role in creating the principle of
religious freedom, expressed in
Thomas Jefferson's letters and included in the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
American Founding Fathers, or Framers of the Constitution, who were especially noted for being influenced by such philosophy of deism include Thomas Jefferson,
Benjamin Franklin,
Cornelius Harnett,
Gouverneur Morris, and
Hugh Williamson.
Their political speeches show distinct deistic influence. Other notable
Founding Fathers may have been more directly deist. These include
Thomas Paine,
James Madison, possibly
Alexander Hamilton, and
Ethan Allen.
[78]
Belief in the existence of a god
Various polls have been conducted to determine Americans' actual beliefs regarding a 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 2007 Gallup Poll found that 86% of Americans believe in a god, with 8% saying they are not sure, and 6% saying they don't believe in a god.[citation needed]
- According to a 2008 ARIS survey, belief in God varies considerably
by region. The lowest rate is in the West with 59% reporting a belief in
God, and the highest rate is in the South at 86%.[79]
- Mark Chaves, a Duke University
professor of sociology, religion and divinity, found that 92% of
Americans believed in God in 2008, but that significantly fewer
Americans have great confidence in their religious leaders than a
generation ago.[80]
- A 2008 survey of 1,000 people concluded that, based on their stated
beliefs rather than their religious identification, 69.5% of Americans
believe in a personal God, roughly 12.3% of Americans are atheist or agnostic, and another 12.1% are deistic (believing in a higher power/non-personal God, but no personal God).[27]
- A late 2009 online Harris poll of 2,303 U.S. adults (18 and older)[81]
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....
Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the
Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can
be calculated."
- A 2010 Gallup poll found 80% of Americans believe in a god, 12%
believe in a universal spirit, 6% don't believe in either, 1% chose
"other", and 1% had no opinion. 80% is a decrease from the 1940s, when
Gallup first asked this question.
- A 2011 Gallup poll found 92% of Americans said yes to the basic
question "Do you believe in God?", while 7% said no and 1% had no
opinion.[82]
- A 2012 Pew Research Center survey found that doubts about the
existence of a god had grown among younger Americans, with 68% telling
Pew they never doubt God's existence, a 15-point drop in five years. In
2007, 83% of American millennials said they never doubted God's
existence.[76][83]
- A 2012 WIN-Gallup International poll showed that 5% of Americans
considered themselves "convinced" atheists, which was a fivefold
increase from the last time the survey was taken in 2005, and 5% said
they did not know or else did not respond.[84]
Spiritual but not Religious
"Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR) is a popular phrase and
initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that
takes issue with organized religion as the sole or most valuable means
of furthering spiritual growth. Spirituality places an emphasis upon the
wellbeing of the "mind-body-spirit,"
[85] so "holistic" activities such as tai chi, reiki, and yoga are common within the SBNR movement.
[86] In contrast to religion, spirituality has often been associated with the interior life of the individual.
[87]
One fifth of the US public and a third of adults under the age of 30
are reportedly unaffiliated with any religion, however they identify as
being spiritual in some way. Of these religiously unaffiliated
Americans, 37% classify themselves as spiritual but not religious.
[88]
Others
Many other religions are represented in the United States, including
Shinto,
Caodaism,
Thelema,
Santería,
Kemetism,
Religio Romana,
Kaldanism,
Zoroastrianism,
Vodou,
Pastafarianism, and many forms of
New Age spirituality.
Native American religions
Native American religions historically exhibited much diversity, and are often characterized by
animism or
panentheism.
[89] The membership of Native American religions in the 21st century comprises about 9,000 people.
[90]
Neopaganism
Neopaganism in the United States is represented by widely different
movements and organizations. The largest Neopagan religion is
Wicca, followed by
Neo-Druidism.
[91][92] Other neopagan movements include
Germanic Neopaganism,
Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism,
Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism, and
Semitic neopaganism.
Druidry
According to the
American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), there are approximately 30,000
druids in the United States.
[93]
Modern Druidism came to North America first in the form of fraternal
Druidic organizations in the nineteenth century, and orders such as the
Ancient Order of Druids in America were founded as distinct American
groups as early as 1912. In 1963, the
Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) was founded by students at
Carleton College,
Northfield, Minnesota. They adopted elements of Neopaganism into their practices, for instance celebrating the festivals of the
Wheel of the Year.
[94]
Wicca
Wicca advanced in North America in the 1960s by
Raymond Buckland, an expatriate Briton who visited Gardner's Isle of Man coven to gain initiation.
[95] Universal Eclectic Wicca was popularized in 1969 for a diverse membership drawing from both
Dianic and
British Traditional Wiccan backgrounds.
[96]
New Thought Movement
Main article:
New Thought
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
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Another antecedent of this movement was
Swedenborgianism, founded on the writings of
Emanuel Swedenborg in 1787.
[97] 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 or the Christian Sciences. The three major branches are
Religious Science,
Unity Church and
Divine Science.
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalists do not share a
creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for
spiritual growth
and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a result of
that search and not obedience to an authoritarian requirement.
[98]
Major religious movements founded in the United States
Christian
- Pentecostalism – movement which emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit, finds its historic roots in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles from 1904 to 1906, sparked by Charles Parham. It is estimated to have over 279 million followers worldwide, many in Africa and South America.[99]
- 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.
- The Latter Day Saint movement founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith in upstate New York. Multiple Latter Day Saint denomination can be found throughout the United States. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest denomination, is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has members in many countries. The Community of Christ, the second-largest denomination, is headquartered in Independence, Missouri. Worldwide they claim about 15 million members.
- 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. They claim about 7.69 million active members
worldwide.
- Christian Science – founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 19th century. The church claims some 400,000 members worldwide.
- 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. It has an estimated 3 million followers worldwide.
- Metropolitan Community Church – founded by Troy Perry in Los Angeles, 1968.
Other
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).
[100] 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.
[101][102][103][104]
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."
[105] President
Gerald Ford agreed with and repeated this statement in 1974.
[106]
Statistics
Religion in the United States according to
Gallup, Inc. (2014)
[107]
Protestant (37%)
Catholic (23%)
None (16%)
Other Christian (10%)
Other (6%)
No answer (4%)
Mormon (2%)
Jewish (2%)
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.
Pew Research Center data
PROLADES data
| Religion in the United States (1962-2012)[109] |
| Date |
Christianity |
Protestantism |
Catholicism |
Other Christian groups |
Non-Christian groups |
Non-religious/Non-response |
| 1962 |
93.0% |
70.0% |
23.0% |
0.0% |
5.0% |
2.0% |
| 1970 |
91.0% |
65.0% |
26.0% |
0.0% |
4.0% |
7.0% |
| 1980 |
89.3% |
61.0% |
28.0% |
0.3% |
2.0% |
3.0% |
| 1990 |
86.2% |
59.4% |
26.5% |
0.3% |
3.2% |
7.5% |
| 1995 |
85.0% |
56.0% |
27.0% |
1.0% |
7.0% |
8.0% |
| 2000 |
76.5% |
53.9% |
21.4% |
1.2% |
2.6% |
13.2% |
| 2001 |
78.7% |
52.2% |
24.5% |
2.9% |
3.7% |
14.2% |
| 2007 |
78.5% |
51.3% |
23.9% |
3.3% |
5.4% |
16.1% |
| 2008 |
78.0% |
52.9% |
25.1% |
3.1% |
3.9% |
17.2% |
| 2010 |
78.5% |
52.7% |
23.2% |
2.6% |
2.2% |
17.4% |
| 2011 |
75.6% |
48.3% |
25.2% |
2.8% |
4.4% |
21.0% |
| 2012 |
77.3% |
51.9% |
23.3% |
2.1% |
4.9% |
18.2% |
Attendance
Church or synagogue attendance by state (2009)
A 2013 survey reported that 31% Americans attend
religious services at least weekly. It was conducted by the
Public Religion Research Institute with a
margin of error of 2.5.
[110]
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)
[111]
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.
In a 2009
Gallup International survey, 41.6%
[112]
of American citizens said that they attended church or synagogue once a
week or almost every week. This percentage is higher than other
surveyed Western countries.
[113][114] Church attendance varies considerably by state and region. The figures, updated to 2014, ranged from 51% in
Utah to 17% in Vermont.
Religion and politics
The U.S. guarantees
freedom of religion, and some churches in the U.S. take strong stances on political subjects.
In August 2010, 67% of Americans said religion was losing influence,
compared with 59% who said this in 2006. Majorities of white evangelical
Protestants (79%), white mainline Protestants (67%), black Protestants
(56%), Catholics (71%), and the religiously unaffiliated (62%) all
agreed that religion was losing influence on American life; 53% of the
total public said this was a bad thing, while just 10% see it as a good
thing.
[116]
Politicians frequently discuss their religion when campaigning, and
fundamentalists 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
Democratic 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.
[117]
Only three presidential candidates for major parties have been Catholics, all for the Democratic party:
- Alfred E. Smith in presidential election of 1928
was subjected to 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 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, a Catholic, won the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. In the 2004 election religion was hardly an issue, and most Catholics voted for his Protestant opponent George W. Bush.[118]
Joe Biden is the first Catholic vice president.
[119]
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, they were practicing Christians).
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.
[120]
A Gallup poll released in 2007
[121] indicated that 53% of Americans would refuse to vote for an
atheist as president, up from 48% in 1987 and 1999.
The 2012 Republican presidential nominee
Mitt Romney is
Mormon and a member of the
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is the former governor of the state of
Massachusetts, and his father
George Romney was the governor of the state of
Michigan. The Romneys were involved in Mormonism in their states and in the state of
Utah.
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.
[122]
| African Methodist Episcopal Church |
1999 |
- |
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 USA |
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 |
| Plymouth Brethren Christian Church |
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 |
| Conservative Friends (Quakers) |
1994 |
1,200 |
104 |
– |
| 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 |
| 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.
[123]
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%).
Percentage of religion against average, 2001
Percentage of state populations that identify with a religion rather than "no religion", 2001
Plurality of religious preference by state, 2001. Data are unavailable for
Alaska and
Hawaii.
Religious groups
| Total US pop year 2010 |
308,745,538 |
100.0% |
| Evangelical Protestant |
50,013,107 |
16.2% |
| Mainline Protestant |
22,568,258 |
7.3% |
| Black Protestant |
4,877,067 |
1.6% |
| Protestant total |
77,458,432 |
25.1% |
| Catholic |
58,934,906 |
19.1% |
| Orthodox |
1,056,535 |
0.3% |
| adherents (unadjusted) |
150,596,792 |
48.8% |
| unclaimed |
158,148,746 |
51.2% |
| other – including Mormon & Christ Scientist |
13,146,919 |
4.3% |
| The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon, LDS) |
6,144,582 |
2.0% |
| other – excluding Mormon |
7,002,337 |
2.3% |
| Jewish estimate |
6,141,325 |
2.0% |
| Buddhist estimate |
2,000,000 |
0.7% |
| Muslim estimate |
2,600,082 |
0.8% |
| Hindu estimate |
400,000 |
0.4% |
| Source: ARDA[39][124] |
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) of 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, 2008[27]
Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply; investigators suspect
refusals are possibly more representative of "no religion" than any
other group.
Source: ARIS 2008[27]
| 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% |
| Episcopal/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:[27]
- 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.
- 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.
- 34% of American adults considered themselves "Born Again or Evangelical Christians" in 2008.
- 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.
- One sign of the lack of attachment of Americans to religion is that 27% do not expect a religious funeral at their death.
- 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).
- 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 fell from 44% to 37%, while it rose
in California from 29% to 37% and in Texas from 23% to 32%.
- 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 2014 survey.
[2] 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.
| Christian |
70% |
79% |
77% |
49% |
| Protestant |
48% |
71% |
26% |
33% |
| Catholic |
19% |
5% |
48% |
13% |
| Mormon |
2% |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 1% |
1% |
| Jehovah's Witness |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 2% |
1% |
1% |
| Orthodox |
1% |
<0 .5="" td="">
| <0 .5="" td="">
| 1% |
| Other |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 1% |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 1% |
| Non-Christian faiths |
5% |
3% |
2% |
21% |
| Jewish |
3% |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 1% |
1% |
| Muslim |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 2% |
<0 .5="" td="">
| 3% |
| Buddhist |
<0 .5="" td="">
| <0 .5="" td="">
| 1% |
4% |
| Hindu |
<0 .5="" td="">
| <0 .5="" td="">
| <0 .5="" td="">
| 8% |
| Other world religions |
<0 .5="" td="">
| <0 .5="" td="">
| <0 .5="" td="">
| 2% |
| Other faiths |
2% |
1% |
1% |
2% |
| Unaffiliated (including atheist and agnostic) |
24% |
18% |
20% |
29% |
See also
Notes
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