Religion in the United States is characterized
by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices.
Various religious faiths have flourished,
as well as perished, in the United States.
A majority of Americans report that religion
plays a "very important" role in their lives,
a proportion unique among developed nations.
The majority of Americans identify themselves
as Christians and about 20% have no religious
affiliation. According to the American Religious
Identification Survey 76% of the American
adult population identified themselves as
Christians, with 51% professing attendance
at a variety of churches that could be considered
Protestant or unaffiliated, and 25% professing
Catholic beliefs. The same survey says that
other religions collectively make up about
4% of the adult population, another 15% of
the adult population claim no religious affiliation,
and 5.2% said they did not know, or they refused
to reply. According to a 2012 survey by the
Pew forum, 36 percent of Americans state that
they attend services nearly every week or
more.
Overview
From early colonial days, when some English
and German settlers came in search of religious
freedom, America has been profoundly influenced
by religion. That influence continues in American
culture, social life, and politics. 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, Pennsylvania by British
Quakers, Maryland by English Catholics, and
Virginia by English Anglicans.
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.
The Supreme Court has also interpreted this
as preventing the government from having any
authority in religion.
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, and
21% in Germany. The survey report stated that
the results showed America having a greater
similarity to developing nations than to other
wealthy nations, where religion plays a minor
role.
In 1963, 90% of Americans claimed to be Christians;
2% professed no religious identity. In 2012,
the percentage of Christians was closer to
70%; 13% claimed no religious identity.
Freedom of religion
Although some New England States continued
to use tax money to fund local Congregational
churches into the 1830s, the United States
claims to have been the first nation to have
no official state-endorsed religion.
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.
Abrahamic religions
Christianity
The largest religion in the US is Christianity,
claimed by the majority of the population.
From those queried, roughly 48% of Americans
are Protestants, 22% are Catholics, 2% are
Mormons, and 1% have affiliations with various
other Christian denominations. 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, and of the National Council of Churches,
the five largest denominations are:
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 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 distinctly named Protestant denominations.
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.
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
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, and other ethnic groups.
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.
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); Jehovah's Witnesses; and The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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, 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. Lutheranism is most prominent in the
Upper Midwest, with North Dakota having the
highest percentage of Lutherans
Despite its status as the most widespread
and influential religion in the US, Christianity
has undergone 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% to 76%. 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".
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. 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 believe God does not exist.
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 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.
ARIS 2008 estimated about 2.68 million adults
in the country identify Judaism as their faith.
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 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 communities
of Sephardi Jews with roots tracing back to
15th century Iberia. There are also Mizrahi
Jews, 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.
According to a 2007 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, 43%
said they were Reform Jews, 31% said they
were Conservative Jews, and 10% said they
were Orthodox Jews. 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."
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.
A 2009 study estimated the Jewish population
to be between 6.0 and 6.4 million. According
to a study done in 2000 there were an estimated
6.14 million Jewish people in the country,
about 2% of the population.
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.
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.
Beginning in the 1960s, a worldwide movement
among previously secular Jews, called baalei
teshuva has had a noticeable presence in America.
It is uncertain how widespread or demographically
important this movement is at present.
Islam
Islam is the third largest faith in the United
States, after Christianity and Judaism, representing
0.8% of the population. 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. 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. According
to some experts, 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. The first Muslim
elected in Congress was Keith Ellison in 2006,
followed by Andre Carson in 2008.
Research indicates that Muslims in the United
States are generally more assimilated and
prosperous than their counterparts in Europe.
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.
Dharmic 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.
Many foreign associations and teachers—such
as Soka Gakkai and Tenzin Gyatso—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% and 0.9%,
with 0.7% reported by both the CIA and PEW.
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 was founded
in the US.
According to recent surveys, estimates for
Hindus in the US suggest they number nearly
400 thousand people or about 0.2% of the total
population.
In 2004 the Hindu American Foundation—a
national institution protecting rights the
Hindu community of US—was founded.
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.
Sikhism
Around 1900, the state of Punjab of British
India was hit hard by British practices of
mercantilism. Some Sikhs emigrated to the
United States to work on farms in California.
They were the first community to come from
India to the US in large numbers.
The first Sikh Gurdwara in America was built
in Stockton, California in 1912.
No religion
This group includes atheists, agnostics and
people who describe their religion as "nothing
in particular".
"Unaffiliated" does not necessarily mean "non-religious".
Some people who are unaffiliated with any
particular religion express religious beliefs
and engage in religious practices.
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 theistic religious beliefs
or practices. 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. A nation-wide Pew
Research study published in 2008 put the figure
of unaffiliated persons at 16.1%, 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.
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. 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."
Some surveys have indicated that doubts about
the existence of a god were growing quickly
among Americans under 30.
On 24 March 2012, American Atheists sponsored
the Reason Rally in Washington D.C. This was
followed by the American Atheist Convention
at the Bethesda North Marriott and Convention
Center in Bethesda, MD. Organizers called
the estimated crowd of 8,000–10,000 the
largest-ever gathering of nonbelievers in
one place.
Deism
In the United States, Enlightenment philosophy
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,
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.
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.
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 in the South
at 86%.
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.
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.
A late 2009 online Harris poll of 2,303 U.S.
adults 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,
heaven, that Jesus is God or the Son of God,
in angels, the survival of the soul after
death, and in the resurrection of Jesus. Less
than half 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. This is down
only slightly 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.
A 2012 Pew Research Center survey found that
doubts about the existence of a god have grown
rapidly among younger Americans, with 68%
telling Pew they never doubt God's existence,
a 15-point drop in just five years. In 2007,
83% of American millennials said they never
doubted God's existence.
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.
Others
Many other religions are represented in the
United States, including Shinto, Caodaism,
Thelema, Santería, Kemetism, Religio Romana,
Kaldanism, Zoroastrianism, Vodou, 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. The membership
of Native American religions in the 21st century
comprises about 9000 people.
Neopaganism
Neopaganism in the United States is represented
by widely different movements and organizations.
The largest Neopagan religion is Wicca, followed
by Neo-Druidism. Other neopagan movements
include Germanic Neopaganism, Celtic Reconstructionist
Paganism, Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism,
and Semitic Neopaganism.
Druidry
According to the American Religious Identification
Survey, there are approximately 30,000 druids
in the United States. 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 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.
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. Universal Eclectic Wicca
was popularized in 1969 a diverse membership
drawing from both Dianic and British Traditional
Wiccan backgrounds.
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. The New Thought concept was named
by Emma Curtis Hopkins 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.
Taoism
In 2004 there were an estimated 56,000 Taoists
in the US. Taoism was popularized throughout
the world through the practice of Tai Chi
Chuan and other martial arts.
Major denominations founded in the United
States
Anglican Church in North America – broke
from the Episcopal Church in 2009 to protest
against the latter denomination's liberalizing
tendencies.
Calvary Chapel
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 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, the largest
denomination, is headquartered in Salt Lake
City, Utah. The Community of Christ, the second-largest
denomination, is headquartered in Independence,
Missouri.
New Thought Movement – two of the early
proponents of New Thought beliefs during the
mid to late 19th century were Phineas Parkhurst
Quimby and the Mother of New Thought Emma
Curtis Hopkins. The three major branches are
Religious Science, Unity Church and Divine
Science.
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.
Metropolitan Community Church – founded
by Troy Perry in Los Angeles, California,
1968.
Government positions
The First Amendment guarantees both the free
practice of religion and the non-establishment
of religion by the federal government. 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.
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."
President Gerald Ford agreed with and repeated
this statement in 1974.
Statistics
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:
Unaffiliated, including atheist or agnostic
Judaism
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Unitarian Universalism
WiccaDruidry
Other
Attendance
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.
In 2006, an online Harris Poll 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%
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. Church attendance
varies considerably by state and region. The
figures ranged from 63% in Mississippi to
23% in Vermont.
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, while mainline Protestants, Black
Protestants, Catholics, and the religiously
unaffiliated 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.
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.
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 won the Democratic presidential
nomination in 2004. In the 2004 election religion
was hardly an issue, and most Catholics voted
for his Protestant opponent.
Joe Biden is the first Catholic vice president.
The only Jewish major party candidate was
Joe Lieberman in the Gore-Lieberman campaign
of 2000.
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.
A Gallup Poll released in 2007 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.
ARDA survey
The Association of Religion Data Archives
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. 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, 2>Christians 3>Protestants;
and the greater number of unaffiliated.
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
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
Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply;
investigators suspect refusals are possibly
more representative of "no religion" than
any other group.
Highlights:
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" 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 or agnostic,
and another 12% are deistic.
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%.
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. 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.
See also
Freedom of religion in the United States
Historical religious demographics of the United
States
List of religious movements that began in
the United States
Relationship between religion and science
Religion in United States prisons
Separation of church and state in the United
States
References
Bibliography
Buck, Christopher. Religious myths and visions
of America: how minority faiths redefined
America's world role. Westport, Connecticut:
Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-313-35959-0. .
De La Torre, Miguel A., Encyclopedia on Hispanic
American Religious Culture 2 vol, ABC-CLIO
Publishers, 2009.
Gaustad, Edwin. Historical atlas of religion
in America. Harper & Row. .
Gordon, Melton, J. Encyclopedia of American
Religions 1408pp
Hill, Samuel S., Charles H. Lippy, and Charles
Reagan Wilson, eds. Encyclopedia of Religion
in the South
Lippy, Charles H., ed. Encyclopedia of the
American Religious Experience
National Council of the Churches of Christ.
Yearbook of American Churches: 2010
Putnam, Robert D., and David E Campbell American
Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us
excerpt and text search
Queen, Edward L. et al. eds, Encyclopedia
of American Religious History
External links
Association of Religion Data Archives
2008 ARIS Survey
CNN Article on 2008 Pew Results, 22008
Religious Affiliation Underestimated in U.S.,
Study Shows
Map Gallery of Religion in the United States
Largest Religious Groups in the United States
of America
U.S. Census links and Statistical Abstract
– ARIS Data – PDF & XLS
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
How many people go regularly to weekly religious
services? – From Religious Tolerance website.
The American Religious Landscape and Political
Attitudes: A Baseline for 2004.
Material History of American Religion
