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 claim to belong to a religious denomination, 40 percent claim to attend services nearly every week or more, and 58 percent claim to 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.[4][5][6] 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%.[4][7]
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.
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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.
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]
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.
| 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 Witness | 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% |
The largest religion in the US is Christianity, practiced by the majority of the population (76% in 2008[4]). 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]
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 200[18] 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]
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.[25][26] 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]
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.[29][30] 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. 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.
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.[36][37] 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.[40][41] 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 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 (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 CIA[5] and PEW.[6]
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.[24][30]
In 2004 the Hindu American Foundation—a national institution protecting rights the Hindu community of US—was founded.
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]
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]
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 in the United States alone; Divine Science, the smallest of the three, is now experiencing a renewed growth.
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, Druidry, Zoroastrianism, Jediism and many forms of New Age spirituality.
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.[49][50][51][52]
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]
Various polls have been conducted to determine Americans' actual beliefs regarding God:
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.
Church attendance varies considerably by state and region. In a 2006 Gallup survey, 42% of Americans said that they attended church or synagogue once a week or almost every week. The figures ranged from 58% in Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina to 24% in Vermont and New Hampshire.
| Rank | State | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| — | National average | 42% |
| 1 | Alabama | 58% |
| 1 | Louisiana | 58% |
| 1 | South Carolina | 58% |
| 4 | Mississippi | 57% |
| 5 | Arkansas | 55% |
| 5 | Utah | 55% |
| 7 | Nebraska | 53% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 53% |
| 9 | Georgia (U.S. state) | 52% |
| 9 | Tennessee | 52% |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 50% |
| 12 | Texas | 49% |
| 13 | Kentucky | 48% |
| 14 | Kansas | 47% |
| 15 | Indiana | 46% |
| 15 | Iowa | 46% |
| 15 | Missouri | 46% |
| 15 | West Virginia | 46% |
| 19 | South Dakota | 45% |
| 20 | Minnesota | 44% |
| 20 | Virginia | 44% |
| 22 | Delaware | 43% |
| 22 | Idaho | 43% |
| 22 | North Dakota | 43% |
| 22 | Ohio | 43% |
| 22 | Pennsylvania | 43% |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 43% |
| 28 | Illinois | 42% |
| 28 | Michigan | 42% |
| 30 | Maryland | 41% |
| 30 | New Mexico | 41% |
| 32 | Florida | 39% |
| 33 | Connecticut | 37% |
| 34 | Wyoming | 36% |
| 35 | Arizona | 35% |
| 35 | Colorado | 35% |
| 37 | Montana | 34% |
| 37 | New Jersey | 34% |
| 39 | District of Columbia | 33% |
| 39 | New York | 33% |
| 41 | California | 32% |
| 41 | Oregon | 32% |
| 41 | Washington | 32% |
| 44 | Maine | 31% |
| 44 | Massachusetts | 31% |
| 46 | Rhode Island | 28% |
| 47 | Nevada | 27% |
| 48 | New Hampshire | 24% |
| 48 | Vermont | 24% |
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:
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 2007[66] 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.
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]
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 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: ARDA[13] | ||
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, 2008[4]
Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply; investigators suspect refusals are possibly more representative of "no religion" than any other group.
| 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]
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% |
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