Religion in the United States is characterized
by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices.
Various religious faiths have flourished within
the United States.
A majority of Americans report that religion
plays a very important role in their lives,
a proportion unique among developed countries.Historically,
the United States has always been marked by
religious pluralism and diversity, beginning
with various native beliefs of the pre-colonial
time.
In colonial times, Anglicans, Catholics and
mainline Protestants, as well as Jews, arrived
from Europe.
Eastern Orthodoxy has been present since the
Russian colonization of Alaska.
Various dissenting Protestants, who left the
Church of England, greatly diversified the
religious landscape.
The Great Awakenings gave birth to multiple
evangelical Protestant denominations; membership
in Methodist and Baptist churches increased
drastically in the Second Great Awakening.
In the 18th century, deism found support among
American upper classes and thinkers.
The Episcopal Church, splitting from the Church
of England, came into being in the American
Revolution.
New Protestant branches like Adventism emerged;
Restorationists and other Christians 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.
Pentecostalism emerged in the early 20th century
as a result of the Azusa Street Revival.
Scientology emerged in the 1950s.
Unitarian Universalism resulted from the merge
of Unitarian and Universalist churches in
the 20th century.
Since the 1990s, the religious share of Christians
has decreased due to secularization, while
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and other religions
have spread.
Protestantism, historically dominant, ceased
to be the religious category of the majority
in the early 2010s.
Christianity is the largest religion in the
United States with the various Protestant
Churches having the most adherents.
In 2016, Christians represent 73.7% of the
total population, 48.9% identifying as Protestants,
23.0% as Catholics, and 1.8% as Mormons, and
are followed by people having no religion
with 18.2% of the total population.
Judaism is the second-largest religion in
the U.S., practised by 2.1% of the population,
followed by Islam with 0.8%.
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.
The most religious region of the United States
is American Samoa (99.3% religious).
== History ==
From early colonial days, when some English
and German settlers moved 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
(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
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.
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."Expert researchers
and authors have referred to the United States
as a "Protestant nation" or "founded on Protestant
principles," specifically emphasizing its
Calvinist heritage.The modern official motto
of the United States of America, as established
in a 1956 law signed by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower, is "In God We Trust".
The phrase first appeared on U.S. coins in
1864.According to a 2002 survey by the Pew
Research Center, 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.In 1963, 90% of U.S. adults
claimed to be Christians while only 2% professed
no religious identity.
In 2016, 73.7% identified as Christians while
18.2% claimed no religious affiliation.
== Freedom of religion ==
The United States federal government was the
first national government to have no official
state-endorsed religion.
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.
== Abrahamic religions ==
=== Christianity ===
The most popular religion in the U.S. is Christianity,
comprising the majority of the population
(73.7% of adults in 2016).
According to the Association of Statisticians
of American Religious Bodies newsletter published
March 2017, based on data from 2010, Christians
were the largest religious population in all
3,143 counties in the country.
Roughly 48.9% of Americans are Protestants,
23.0% are Catholics, 1.8% are Mormons (the
name commonly used to refer to members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
Christianity was introduced during the period
of European colonization.
According to a 2012 review by the National
Council of Churches, the five largest denominations
are:
The Catholic Church, 68,202,492 members
The Southern Baptist Convention, 16,136,044
members
The United Methodist Church, 7,679,850 members
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
6,157,238 members
The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 membersThe
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.A
2015 study estimates some 450,000 Christian
believers from a Muslim background in the
country, most of them belonging to some form
of Protestantism.
In 2010 there were approximately 180,000 Arab
Americans and about 130,000 Iranian Americans
who converted from Islam to Christianity.
Dudley Woodbury, a Fulbright scholar of Islam,
estimates that 20,000 Muslims convert to Christianity
annually in the United States.
==== Mainline Protestant denominations ====
Historians agree that 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.
According to Harriet Zuckerman, 72% of American
Nobel Prize Laureates between 1901 and 1972,
have identified from Protestant background.Episcopalians
and Presbyterians tend to be considerably
wealthier and better educated than most other
religious groups, and numbers of the most
wealthy and affluent American families as
the Vanderbilts and Astors, Rockefeller, Du
Pont, Roosevelt, Forbes, Whitneys, Morgans
and Harrimans are Mainline Protestant families,
though those affiliated with Judaism are the
wealthiest religious group in the United Statesand
those affiliated with Catholicism, owing to
sheer size, have the largest number of adherents
of all groups in the top income bracket.Some
of the first colleges and universities in
America, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton,
Columbia, Dartmouth, Williams, Bowdoin, Middlebury,
and Amherst, all were founded by mainline
Protestant denominations.
By the 1920s most had weakened or dropped
their formal connection with a denomination.
James Hunter argues that:
The private schools and colleges established
by the mainline Protestant denominations,
as a rule, still want to be known as places
that foster values, but few will go so far
as to identify those values as Christian....
Overall, the distinctiveness of mainline Protestant
identity has largely dissolved since the 1960s.
==== Christian settlers ====
Beginning around 1600 European settlers introduced
Anglican and Puritans religion, as well as
Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Quaker, and
Moravian denominations.
Beginning in the 16th century, the Spanish
(and later the French and English) introduced
Catholicism.
From the 19th century to the present, Catholics
moved 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.
During the 19th century, two main branches
of Eastern Christianity also arrived to America.
Eastern Orthodoxy was brought to America by
Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and other
immigrant groups, mainly from Eastern Europe.
In the same time, several immigrant groups
from the Middle East, mainly Armenians, Copts
and Syriacs, brought Oriental Orthodoxy to
America.
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 from among the Hispanic
community, both of which 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.
Lutheranism is most prominent in the Upper
Midwest, with North Dakota having the highest
percentage of Lutherans (35% according to
a 2001 survey).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%.
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".Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
Eastern Orthodox and United Church of Christ
members have the highest number of graduate
and post-graduate degrees per capita of all
Christian denominations in the United States,
as well as the most high-income earners.However,
owing to the sheer size or demographic head
count of Catholics, more individual Catholics
have graduate degrees and are in the highest
income brackets than have or are individuals
of any other religious community.
=== 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 do not believe God exists.
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.
ARIS 2008 estimated about 2.68 million adults
(1.2%) in the country identify Judaism as
their faith.
According to a 2017 study, Judaism is the
religion of approximately 2% of the American
population.
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.According to the Association
of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies
newsletter published March, 2017, based on
data from 2010, Jews were the largest minority
religion in 231 counties out of the 3143 counties
in the country.
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.
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 (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.
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.The Jewish American community
has higher household incomes than average,
and is one of the best educated religious
communities in the United States.
=== Islam ===
Islam is the third largest religion in number
in the United States, after Christianity and
Judaism, representing the 0.8% of the population
in 2016.
According to the Association of Statisticians
of American Religious Bodies newsletter published
in March 2017, based on data from 2010, Muslims
were the largest minority religion in 392
counties out of the 3143 counties in the country.
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 André 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 George Kheiralla, a Syrian
Bahá'í immigrant, established a community
in the U.S.
He later left the main group and founded a
rival movement.
According to the Association of Statisticians
of American Religious Bodies newsletter published
March, 2017, based on data from 2010, Bahá'ís
were the largest minority religion in 80 counties
out of the 3143 counties in the country.
=== Rastafarianism ===
Rastafarians began migrating to the United
States in the 1950s, '60s and '70s from the
religion's 1930s birthplace, Jamaica.
Marcus Garvey, who is considered a prophet
by many Rastafarians, rose to prominence and
cultivated many of his ideas in the United
States.
== 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 travelled 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
in 1880 who is still honored in Sri Lanka
for these efforts.
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.According
to a 2016 study, Buddhists are approximately
1% of the American population.
According to the Association of Statisticians
of American Religious Bodies newsletter published
March, 2017, based on data from 2010, Buddhists
were the largest minority religion in 186
counties out of the 3143 counties in the country.
=== Hinduism ===
Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the
United States, representing approximately
1% of the population in 2016.
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 766,000 Hindus
in the US, about 0.2% of the total population.
According to the Association of Statisticians
of American Religious Bodies newsletter published
March, 2017, based on data from 2010, Hindus
were the largest minority religion in 92 counties
out of the 3143 counties in the country.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.
=== 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 ===
Sikhism is a religion originating from the
Indian subcontinent 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.
The first Sikh Gurdwara in America was built
in Stockton, California, in 1912.
In 2007, there were estimated to be between
250,000 and 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.The
United States also has a number of non-Punjabi
converts to Sikhism.
== East Asian religions ==
=== Taoism ===
In 2004 there were an estimated 56,000 Taoists
in the US.
Taoism was popularized throughout the world
through the writings and teachings of Lao
Tzu and other Taoists as well as the practice
of Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan and other Chinese
martial arts.
== No religion ==
In 2016, approximately 18.2% of the Americans
declared to be not religiously affiliated.
=== 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.
A nationwide 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 amorality, 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 the divine were growing quickly
among Americans under 30.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.
==== 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.
==== Belief in the existence of a god ====
Various polls have been conducted to determine
Americans' actual beliefs regarding a god:
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.
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.
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.
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 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."
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).
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.
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%.
=== Spiritual but not religious ===
"Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR) is self-identified
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," so holistic activities
such as tai chi, reiki, and yoga are common
within the SBNR movement.
In contrast to religion, spirituality has
often been associated with the interior life
of the individual.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.
== Others ==
=== 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 9,000
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 (ARIS), there are approximately 30,000
druids in the United States.
Modern Druidism arrived in 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.
==== 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 for a diverse membership drawing from
both Dianic and British Traditional Wiccan
backgrounds.Nordic Paganism
Nordic Paganism is the umbrella term for polytheistic
followers of the Proto-Norse period religions
involving the Nordic pantheon of gods.
This pantheon includes: the Æsir; Odin,Thor,
Loki, Sif, Heimdallr, Baldr, and Týr to name
a few, and the Vanir; Freyja, Freyr, Njörðr,
Nerthus, and others.
The followers of Nordic Paganism include Odinists,
Tyrists, Lokians, Asatru, and practitioners
of Seiðr, among other varying followers.
Nordic Pagans follow the teachings of the
Hávamál.
This old text, along with the Prose Edda and
Poetic Edda, gives the basis for Norse mythology,
stories, legends, and beliefs.
In popular culture, Norse mythology is well
known.
Fairy tale creatures, such as Elves, Dwarves,
Giants, and Trolls all come from Norse mythology.
These can be seen in famous works such as
J.R.R.
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
This is one of the earlier works to bring
Norse concepts to life.
Comic book producer Marvel Comics has taken
a different approach, making Thor a modern
superhero, and Loki a villain.
These comics have spawned several movies and
toys.
Norse Mythology and the Scandinavian-Germanic
lifestyle were looked at more in-depth than
ever before with the popular TV series Vikings.
Though not perfect on accuracy, it is very
close to how these people would have lived
and worshiped in the 1st and 2nd centuries.
There is also a more negative light to Nordic
Paganism's popularity.
Many white supremacy groups, including the
Aryan Brotherhood, Sons of Odin, and the Nazis
all used Nordic symbols and express Norse
teachings in a skewed manner to support their
beliefs that White Men are the superior race
and gender of the world.
Nazis famously used the symbol Sowilō, for
their SS pins.
Their use of symbols such as these were originally
tied to Guido von List.
The Aryan Brotherhood and Soldiers of Odin
use the Hammer of Thor (Mjölnir) and the
symbol Odal (rune), which they use to represent
Odin, to mark themselves as part of the gang.
This has led to many prisons banning the wearing
of Mjölnir by inmates due to their gang affiliation.
=== 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 Ralph Waldo 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 ("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 (UU's) are among the
most liberal of all religious denominations
in America.
The shared creed includes beliefs in inherent
dignity, a common search for truth, respect
for beliefs of others, compassion, and social
action.
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.
UU's have historical ties to anti-war, civil
rights, and LGBT rights movements, as well
as providing inclusive church services for
the broad spectrum of liberal Christians,
liberal Jews, secular humanists, LGBT, Jewish-Christian
parents and partners, Earth-centered/Wicca,
and Buddhist meditation adherents.
== 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.
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 – 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.
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.
In their early years, the Bible Students were
loosely connected with Adventism, and the
Jehovah's Witnesses still share some similarities
with it.
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.
Unitarianism Developed out of the Congregational
Churches.
In 1825 the American Unitarian Association
was formed in Boston, MA.
Universalist Church of America's first regional
conference was founded in 1793.
=== Other ===
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.
Scientology – founded by L. Ron Hubbard
in 1954.
Numbers estimated from a few tens of thousands
to 15 million (latter is the religion's estimation
in 2004).
Reconstructionist Judaism – founded by Mordecai
Kaplan and started in the 1920s.
Native American Church – founded by Quanah
Parker beginning in the 1890s and incorporating
in 1918.
An estimated 250,000 followers.
Nation of Islam – a sect of Islam, created
and followed predominantly by African-Americans.
Church of Satan – founded in San Francisco
in 1966 by Anton LaVey.
Eckankar – founded in Las Vegas in 1965
by Paul Twitchell.
Self-Realization Fellowship - founded in Los
Angeles by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920.
Unitarian Universalist Association in 1961
from the consolidation of the American Unitarian
Association and the Universalist Church of
America.
Historically Christian denominations, the
UUA is no longer Christian and is the largest
Unitarian Universalist denomination in the
world.
== 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).
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 ==
See also: List of U.S. states and territories
by religiosity
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.
=== 2016 Gallup, Inc. data ===
Gallup carries out since 2008 the Gallup Daily
tracking survey, an unprecedented survey of
1,000 U.S. adults each day, 350 days per year.
It covers political, economic, wellbeing and
demographic topics.Data is weighted to match
the U.S. population according to gender, age,
race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region,
population density, and phone status in order
to correct data for unequal selection probability.
=== 2016 Public Religion Research Institute
data ===
In 2016, a poll by the Public Religion Research
Institute estimated that 69% of the Americans
are Christians, with 45% professing attendance
at a variety of churches that could be considered
Protestant, and 20% professing Catholic beliefs.
The same study says that other non-Christian
religions (including Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism,
and Islam) collectively make up about 7% of
the population.
=== 2014 Pew Research Center data ===
=== Attendance ===
A 2013 survey reported that 31% of 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 (they stated that
the magnitude of errors cannot be estimated
due to sampling errors, non-response, etc.;
2,010 U.S. adults were surveyed) 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
a church, synagogue, or mosque 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, updated to 2014, ranged from
51% in Utah to 17% in Vermont.
=== Territories ===
The following is the percentage of Christians
and all religions in the U.S. territories
as of 2010:
== Religion and politics ==
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.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.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.Joe Biden is the first
Catholic vice president.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.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.
André Carson is the second Muslim to serve
in Congress.
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.
But then the number started to drop again
and reached record low 43% in 2012 and 40%
in 2015.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.
The Romneys were involved in Mormonism in
their states and in the state of Utah.
On January 3, 2013, Tulsi Gabbard became the
first Hindu member of Congress, using a copy
of the Bhagavad Gita while swearing-in.
== 2010 ARDA data ==
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.
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%).
== 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, 2008Figures
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" (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.
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 ==
American civil religion
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
Relationship between religion and science
Religion in United States prisons
School prayer#United States
Separation of church and state in the United
States
== References ==
=== Bibliography ===
Buck, Christopher (2009).
Religious myths and visions of America: how
minority faiths redefined America's world
role.
Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.
ISBN 978-0-313-35959-0..
Richard Dawkins, "Secularism, the Founding
Fathers and the religion of America", in The
God Delusion, Black Swan, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-552-77429-1).
De La Torre, Miguel A., Encyclopedia on Hispanic
American Religious Culture 2 vol, ABC-CLIO
Publishers, 2009.
FitzGerald, Thomas (2007).
"Eastern Christianity in the United States".
The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
pp. 269–279.
Gaustad, Edwin (1962).
"Historical atlas of religion in America".
Harper & Row..
Gordon, Melton, J. Encyclopedia of American
Religions (7th ed. Thomson, 2003) 1408pp
Hill, Samuel S., Charles H. Lippy, and Charles
Reagan Wilson, eds.
Encyclopedia of Religion in the South (2005)
Lippy, Charles H., ed.
Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience
(3 vol Scribners, 1988)
National Council of the Churches of Christ.
Yearbook of American Churches: 2010 (2010)
Putnam, Robert D., and David E Campbell American
Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us
(2010) excerpt and text search
Queen, Edward L. et al. eds, Encyclopedia
of American Religious History (3rd ed. 3 vol,
Facts on File, 2009)
=== Historiography ===
Goff, Philip, ed.
The Blackwell Companion to Religion in America
(2010) online; 43 essays by scholars
== External links ==
Association of Religion Data Archives - compilation
of religion data from a project jointly supported
by Penn State University, Chapman University,
the Lilly Endowment, and the John Templeton
Foundation
The ARIS (American Religious Identification
Survey) time series surveys - 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.
Material History of American Religion Project
- based at the Vanderbilt University Divinity
School and supported by the Lilly Endowment
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life - a project
of the Pew Research Center, publishing statistical
reports on religion and American life
Religion: Gallup Historical Trends - opinion
polling of Americans by the Gallup Poll from
the 1940s to the present
