Katana VentraIP

Religion in the United States

Religion in the United States is widespread, diverse, and vibrant, with the country being far more religious than other wealthy Western nations.[2] An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in a higher power,[3] engage in spiritual practices,[4] and consider themselves religious or spiritual.[5][6] Christianity is the most widely professed religion, with most Americans being Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, or Catholics.[7][8]

Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Many scholars of religion credit this and the country's separation of church and state for its high level of religiousness;[9] lacking a state church, it completely avoided the experiences of religious warfare and conflict that characterized European modernization.[10] Its history of religion has always been marked by religious pluralism and diversity.[11][12] In colonial times, Anglicans, Quakers, and other mainline Protestants, as well as Mennonites, arrived from Northwestern Europe. Various dissenting Protestants who had left the Church of England greatly diversified the religious landscape.


The religiosity of the country has grown greatly over time.[13] Religious involvement among American citizens has gradually grown from 17% in 1776 to 62% in 2000.[14] The Thirteen Colonies were initially marked by low levels of religiosity.[13][15] The two Great Awakenings — the first in the 1730s and 1740s, the second between the 1790s and 1840s — led to an immense rise in observance and gave birth to many evangelical Protestant denominations. When they began, one in ten Americans were members of congregations; by the time they ended, eight in ten were.[13] The aftermath led to what historian Martin Marty calls the "Evangelical Empire", a period in which evangelicals dominated U.S. cultural institutions. They supported measures to abolish slavery, further women's rights, enact prohibition, and reform education and criminal justice.[16] The Episcopal Church, splitting from the Church of England, came into being in the American Revolution. New Protestant branches like Adventism emerged; Restorationists like the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Latter Day Saint movement, Churches of Christ and Church of Christ, Scientist, as well as Unitarian and Universalist communities all spread in the 19th century. Deism also found support among American upper classes and intellectual thinkers. During the immigrant waves of the mid to late 19th and 20th century, an unprecedented number of Catholic and Jewish immigrants arrived in the United States. Pentecostalism emerged in the early 20th century as a result of the Azusa Street Revival. Unitarian Universalism resulted from the merge of Unitarian and Universalist churches in the 20th century.


The U.S. has the largest Christian and Protestant population in the world.[17] 75% of Americans report praying often or sometimes and religion plays a very (46%) or fairly (26%) important role in their lives.[18] Judaism is the second-largest religion in the U.S., practiced by 2% of the population, followed by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, each with 1% of the population.[19] Mississippi is the most religious state in the country, with 63% of its adult population described as very religious, saying that religion is important to them and attending religious services almost every week, while New Hampshire, with only 20% of its adult population described as very religious, is the least religious state.[20] Congress overwhelmingly identifies as religious and Christian; both the Republican and Democratic parties generally nominate those who are.[21][22] The Christian left, as seen through figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, and William Jennings Bryan; along with many figures within the Christian right have played a profound role in the country's politics.

Measuring religion

Census and independent polling

Since the first American census in 1790, census forms have never asked the religion of participants, with Vincent P. Barabba, former head of the United States Census Bureau, stating in April 1976 that "asking such a question in the decennial census, in which replies are mandatory, would appear to infringe upon the traditional separation of church and state" and "could affect public cooperation in the census". Data on religious affiliation comes from independent pollsters[56] by the Pew Research Center and other agencies or, on membership, from religious associations, such the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches of the National Council of Churches.

The , 71,000,000 members[63]

Catholic Church in the United States

The , 13,680,493 members[64]

Southern Baptist Convention

The , 8,415,100 members[65]

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

6,920,086 members[66]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The , 5,714,815 members[67]

United Methodist Church

A 2021 Pew Research Center Survey found that 91% of American believe in a .[206]

higher power

A 2018 Pew Research Center Survey found that 90% of American believe in a .[207]

higher power

In 2014 the Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study showed 63% of Americans believed in God and were "absolutely certain" in their view, while the figure rose to 89% including those who were agnostic.

[208]

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.

[209]

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.[210]

[203]

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.

[211]

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 late 2009 online Harris poll of 2,303 U.S. adults (18 and older) 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."

[212]

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 or agnostic, and another 12.1% are deistic (believing in a higher power/non-personal God, but no personal God).[108]

atheist

Mark Chaves, a 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.[213]

Duke University

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%.

[214]

— 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.[219][220]

Adventism

— a denomination founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 19th century.

Christian Science

— a movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century American Methodism with the belief that the Christian life should be free of sin.[221]

Holiness movement

— originated with the religious movement known as Bible Students, which was founded in Pennsylvania in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell. In their early years, the Bible Students were loosely connected with Adventism, and the Jehovah's Witnesses still share some similarities with it.[220][222]

Jehovah's Witnesses

founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith in upstate New York – a product of the Christian revivalist movement of the Second Great Awakening and based in Christian primitivism. Multiple Latter Day Saint denominations 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 it has members in many countries. The Community of Christ, the second-largest denomination, is headquartered in Independence, Missouri.[223]

Latter Day Saint movement

— founded by Troy Perry in Los Angeles in 1968.

Metropolitan Community Church

and Charismatic movement — a large movement which emphasizes the role of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata), finds its historic roots in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles from 1904 to 1906, sparked by Charles Parham.[224]

Pentecostalism

(a.k.a. American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement) — seeking primitive undenominational Christianity. Two groups which independently developed in the first years of the 19th century: "Christians" led by Barton W. Stone at Cane Ridge, Kentucky and "Disciples of Christ" championed by Thomas Campbell in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Presently, the movement is incorporated to the Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ with no governing body.

Restoration Movement

— a nontrinitarian denomination developed out of the Congregational Churches. In 1825 the American Unitarian Association was formed in Boston.

Unitarianism

's first regional conference was founded in 1793.[225]

Universalist Church of America

Sources: Based on Pew Center Research, especially editions 2007-2014 and 2019,[19] CID-Gallup Center since 1948,[237] Public Religion Research Institute,[238] Christianity Today 1900-1950:Religious Trends in the United States,[239] The Database of Religious History,[240] and Historical information sources.[241][242]

[123]

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.

Alfred E. Smith

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 F. Kennedy

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.[256]

John Kerry

a Catholic, won the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, and then won the 2020 presidential election, becoming the second Catholic president, after John F. Kennedy.[257] Biden was also the first Catholic vice president.[258]

Joe Biden

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.[254]


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.[255]


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


Joe Lieberman was the first major presidential candidate that was Jewish, on the Gore–Lieberman campaign of 2000 (although John Kerry and Barry Goldwater both had Jewish ancestry, they were practicing Christians). Bernie Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary of 2016. He was the first major Jewish candidate to compete in the presidential primary process. However, Sanders noted during the campaign that he does not actively practice any religion.[259]


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.[260] André Carson is the second Muslim to serve in Congress.


A Gallup poll released in 2007[261] indicated that 53% of Americans would refuse to vote for an atheist as president, up from 48% in 1987 and 1999. But then the number started to drop again and reached record low 43% in 2012 and 40% in 2015.[262][263]


Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, is Mormon and a member of 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.


On January 3, 2013, Tulsi Gabbard became the first Hindu member of Congress, using a copy of the Bhagavad Gita while swearing-in.[264]

Theism, religion, morality, and politics

Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center has routinely conducted surveys surrounding theism, religion, and morality since 2002, asking:[266]

American civil religion

Christianity in the United States

Confucianism in the United States

Church property disputes in the United States

Freedom of religion in the United States

Historical religious demographics of the United States

List of religious movements that began in the United States

List of U.S. states and territories by religiosity

Protestantism in the United States

Relationship between religion and science

Religion in United States prisons

School prayer in the United States

Separation of church and state in the United States

Televangelism

- compilation of religion data from a project jointly supported by Penn State University, Chapman University, the Lilly Endowment, and the John Templeton Foundation

Association of Religion Data Archives

- website of academic research team that conducted "three large replicate, representative, national surveys of adults" in the continental United States in 1990, 2001 and 2008. Includes reports, data sets, and other information.

The ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey) time series surveys

- based at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School and supported by the Lilly Endowment

Material History of American Religion Project

- a project of the Pew Research Center, publishing statistical reports on religion and American life

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

- opinion polling of Americans by the Gallup Poll from the 1940s to the present

Religion: Gallup Historical Trends