Twitter icon

Facebook icon

About this site
About us
Our beliefs
Is this your first visit?
Contact us
External links

Recommended books
Visitors' essays
Our forum
New essays
Other features
Buy a CD of this site
Vital notes

World religions
BUDDHISM
CHRISTIANITY
Christian def'n
 Shared beliefs
 Handling change
 Bible topics
 Bible inerrancy
 Bible harmony
 Interpret the Bible
 Persons
 Beliefs & creeds
 Da Vinci code
 Revelation 666
 Denominations
HINDUISM
ISLAM
JUDAISM
WICCA / WITCHCRAFT
Other religions
Cults and NRMs
Comparing Religions

Non-theistic beliefs
Atheism
Agnosticism
Humanism
Other

About all religions
Main topics
Basic information
Gods & Goddesses
Handling change
Doubt & security
Quotes
Movies
Confusing terms
Glossary
End of the World?
True religion?
Seasonal events
Science vs. Religion
More information

Spiritual/ethics
Spirituality
Morality & ethics
Absolute truth

Peace/conflict
Attaining peace
Religious tolerance
Religious freedom
Religious hatred
Religious conflict
Religious violence

"Hot" topics
Very hot topics
Ten Commandments
Abortion access
Assisted suicide
Cloning
Death penalty
Environment

Same-sex marriage
Homosexuality
Human rights
Gays in the military
Nudism
Origins
Sex & gender
Sin
Spanking
Stem cells
Transexuality
Women-rights
Other topics

Laws and news
Religious laws
Religious news

Sponsored links

!!!!!!!! Search error! If the URL ends something like .htm/ or .htm# delete the character(s) after .htm and hit return.

Menu

Religious & spiritual groups in the United States

horizontal rule

Sponsored link.

horizontal rule

Quotation:

"No denomination has ever constituted a majority in the United States as a whole. In this sense all denominations are minorities..." M J. Gunn

horizontal rule

Overview:

Little precise information is known about the size of religious faith groups in the U.S.  Members of the Church of Satan and Christian Scientists do not release their membership data.  Most of the other groups do publish their total membership.  However, there is no standardization of reporting methods:

bulletSome count only the number of active members.

bullet Others count everyone who has ever been baptized, even though they may not have darkened the door of that church in many decades.

bulletStill others inflate their figures.

A better way of estimating the size of religious groups might be through the use of telephone sampling, such as is done on the periodic ARIS and Pew surveys. However, these also have inaccuracies:

bulletEven with a sample size of 50,000 adults, relatively few members of small groups like Unitarian Universalists or Quakers will be contacted. As a result, the estimated size of small faith groups will lack accuracy.

bullet Followers of some faith groups, like Wicca and Islam may not readily admit their religious affiliation to a stranger over the phone because of the danger of persecution.

horizontal rule

Sponsored link:

horizontal rule

Topics covered in this section:

bulletIntroductory information: How many faith groups? How they count noses. Attendance; The un-churched.

bulletChristian denominations

bulletNon-Christian groups

bulletHow Americans view themselves:

bullet Findings of the ARIS studies: Religious identification in the U.S.; How American adults view themselves (Personal religious identification, shifts, religious vs. secular, switching, inter-faith marriage, geographical distribution, etc.) This survey was completed in 1990, 2001, and 2008. << A big section

bulletFindings of the Pew Forum A 2004 survey identifying of 18 distinct religious communities).

bulletComparing U.S. religious beliefs with those in other "Christian" countries

bulletCooperation and conflict motivated by religious diversity in North America
 
bulletAttitudes towards other faith groups:
bulletBy Americans, in general
bulletBy Americans towards Mormons and Evangelicals

bullet By American Christians towards non-Christians
 
bulletAdditional information: The largest denominations; numbers of Catholics; books

horizontal rule

Site navigation:

Home page > Religious info. > Basic info > here

Home page > Christianity > Christian history, beliefs, practice > Practices > here

horizontal rule

Copyright © 1996 to 2010 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last updated: 2010-OCT-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
line.gif (538 bytes)
Sponsored link

horizontal rule

Go to the previous page, or return to the Religious practices menu, or return to the Basic religious information menu, or choose:

Google
Web ReligiousTolerance.org
Go to home page We would really appreciate your help

E-mail us about errors, etc.  Purchase a CD of this web site

FreeFind search, lists of new essays...  Having problems printing our essays?

Google Page Translator:

This page translator works on Firefox,
Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only

After translating, click on the "show
original" button at the top of this
page to restore page to English.