Religious Identification and Church Membership in the US
From StatWiki
The number of people identifying with different church bodies differs from the number of church bodies report as members. Self-identification data as well as religious body numbers reported are included below.
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[edit] Religious Self-Identification
The table below shows the religious self-identification among adults in the United States.
| Religious Group | 1990 (1,000) | 2001 (1,000) |
|---|---|---|
| Total Adult Population1 | 175,440 | 207,980 |
| Total Christian | 151,496 | 159,506 |
| Catholic | 46,004 | 50,873 |
| Baptist | 33,964 | 33,830 |
| Protestant-no denomination supplied | 17,214 | 4,647 |
| Methodist/Wesleyan | 14,174 | 14,150 |
| Lutheran | 9,110 | 9,580 |
| Christian-no denomination supplied | 8,073 | 14,150 |
| Presbyterian | 4,985 | 5,596 |
| Pentecostal/Charismatic | 3,191 | 4,407 |
| Episcopalian/Anglican | 3,042 | 3,451 |
| Mormon/Latter-Day Saints | 2,487 | 2,787 |
| Churches of Christ | 1,769 | 2,593 |
| Jehovah's Witness | 1,381 | 1,331 |
| Seventh-Day Adventist | 668 | 724 |
| Assemblies of God | 660 | 1,106 |
| Holiness/Holy | 610 | 569 |
| Congregational/United Church of Christ | 599 | 1,378 |
| Church of the Nazarene | 549 | 544 |
| Church of God | 531 | 944 |
| Orthodox (Eastern) | 502 | 645 |
| Evangelical2 | 242 | 1,032 |
| Mennonite | 235 | 346 |
| Christian Science | 214 | 194 |
| Church of the Brethren | 206 | 358 |
| Born Again2 | 204 | 56 |
| Nondenominational2 | 195 | 2,489 |
| Disciples of Christ | 144 | 492 |
| Reformed/Dutch Reform | 161 | 289 |
| Apostolic/New Apostolic | 117 | 254 |
| Quaker | 67 | 217 |
| Full Gospel | 51 | 168 |
| Christian Reform | 40 | 79 |
| Foursquare Gospel | 28 | 70 |
| Fundamentalist | 27 | 61 |
| Salvation Army | 27 | 25 |
| Independent Christian Church | 25 | 71 |
| Total other religions | 5,853 | 7,740 |
| Jewish | 3,137 | 2,831 |
| Muslim/Islamic | 527 | 1,104 |
| Buddhist | 401 | 1,082 |
| Unitarian/Universalist | 502 | 629 |
| Hindu | 227 | 766 |
| Native American | 47 | 103 |
| Scientologist | 45 | 55 |
| Baha'I | 28 | 84 |
| Taoist | 23 | 40 |
| New Age | 20 | 68 |
| Eckankar | 18 | 26 |
| Rastafarian | 14 | 11 |
| Sikh | 13 | 57 |
| Wiccan | 8 | 134 |
| Deity | 6 | 49 |
| Druid | (NA) | 33 |
| Santeria | (NA) | 22 |
| Pagan | (NA) | 140 |
| Spiritualist | (NA) | 116 |
| Ethical Culture | (NA) | 4 |
| Other unclassified | 837 | 386 |
| No religion specified, total | 14,331 | 29,481 |
| Atheist | (NA) | 902 |
| Agnostic | 1,186 | 991 |
| Humanist | 29 | 49 |
| Secular | (NA) | 53 |
| No religion | 13,116 | 27,486 |
| Refused to reply to question | 4,031 | 11,246 |
[edit] Religious Bodies
However, many of the self-identification numbers differ substantially from the counts that churches themselves reported, which are shown in the following table.
| Religious body | Year reported | Churches reported (number) | Membership (number) | Number of Ordained Clergy Serving Parishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| African Methodist Episcopal Church | 1999 | 4,174 | 2,500,000 | 7,741 |
| The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church | 2005 | 3,260 | 1,440,405 | 3,507 |
| The Alliance of Baptists | 2005 | 117 | 62,460 | 274 |
| The American Baptist Association | 2000 | 1,760 | 275,000 | 1,740 |
| American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. | 2005 | 5,740 | 1,396,700 | 4,267 |
| The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America | 2005 | 245 | 400,000 | 425 |
| Armenian Apostolic Church of America | 2005 | 35 | 360,000 | 29 |
| Armenian Apostolic Church, Diocese of .America | 1991 | 72 | 414,000 | 49 |
| Assemblies of God | 2005 | 12,298 | 2,830,861 | 19,663 |
| Association of Vineyard Churches | 2004 | 600 | 140,000 | 700 |
| Baptist Bible Fellowship International | 1997 | 4,500 | 1,200,000 | |
| Baptist General Conference | 2002 | 902 | 145,148 | |
| Baptist Missionary Association of America | 2004 | 1,270 | 232,350 | 1,300 |
| The Catholic Church | 2005 | 18,992 | 69,135,254 | 28,538 |
| Christian Brethren (also known as Plymouth .Brethren) | 2005 | 1,150 | 86,000 | |
| Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada | 2005 | 3,777 | 722,823 | 4,112 |
| Christian Churches and Churches of Christ | 1988 | 5,579 | 1,071,616 | 5,525 |
| The Christian Congregation, Inc. | 2004 | 1,496 | 122,181 | 1,574 |
| Christian Methodist Episcopal Church | 2005 | 3,320 | 850,000 | 3,006 |
| The Christian and Missionary Alliance | 2005 | 2,004 | 429,760 | 2,429 |
| Christian Reformed Church in North America | 2005 | 776 | 272,130 | 679 |
| Church of the Brethren | 2005 | 1,068 | 128,820 | 760 |
| Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) | 2004 | 2,240 | 252,419 | 5,124 |
| The Church of God in Christ | 1991 | 15,300 | 5,499,875 | 28,988 |
| Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) | 2005 | 6,587 | 1,013,488 | 4,764 |
| Church of God of Prophecy | 2004 | 1,901 | 114,476 | 3,100 |
| The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | 2005 | 12,753 | 5,690,672 | 38,259 |
| Church of the Nazarene | 2005 | 5,225 | 636,296 | 5,484 |
| Churches of Christ | 2005 | 15,000 | 1,639,495 | 14,500 |
| Community of Christ | 2005 | 1,236 | 180,339 | |
| Conservative Baptist Association of America | 2002 | 1,200 | 200,000 | 1,800 |
| Coptic Orthodox Church | 2000 | 100 | 300,000 | 140 |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church | 2005 | 759 | 81,464 | 600 |
| Episcopal Church | 2004 | 7,200 | 2,247,819 | 5,719 |
| The Evangelical Church Alliance | 2005 | 293,375 | 2,347 | |
| The Evangelical Covenant Church | 2005 | 775 | 117,962 | 1,157 |
| The Evangelical Free Church of America | 2003 | 1,420 | 350,000 | 2,025 |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | 2005 | 10,549 | 4,850,776 | 9,185 |
| Evangelical Presbyterian Church | 2005 | 182 | 73,019 | 295 |
| Free Methodist Church of North America | 2005 | 1,032 | 75,885 | |
| Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International | 2004 | 902 | 414,100 | 2,248 |
| General Association of General Baptists | 2004 | 842 | 78,863 | 1,281 |
| General Association of Regular Baptist Churches | 2005 | 1,383 | 132,900 | |
| General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches | 1996 | 368 | 82,130 | 590 |
| Grace Gospel Fellowship | 1992 | 128 | 60,000 | 160 |
| Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America | 2005 | 566 | 1,500,000 | 553 |
| IFCA International, Inc. | 1998 | 659 | 61,655 | |
| International Church of the Foursquare Gospel | 2003 | 1,888 | 326,614 | 5,506 |
| International Council of Community Churches | 2005 | 150 | 108,806 | 283 |
| International Pentecostal Holiness Church | 2005 | 1,990 | 303,277 | 2,942 |
| Jehovah’s Witnesses | 2005 | 12,384 | 1,046,006 | |
| The Lutheran Church-- Missouri Synod (LCMS) | 2005 | 6,144 | 2,440,864 | 5,270 |
| Mennonite Church USA | 2005 | 913 | 109,315 | |
| National Association of Congregational Christian Churches | 2001 | 432 | 65,392 | 507 |
| National Association of Free Will Baptists | 2005 | 2,425 | 198,924 | |
| National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. | 2000 | (NA) | 3,500,000 | |
| National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc." | 2004 | 9,000 | 5,000,000 | |
| National Missionary Baptist Convention of America | 1992 | (NA) | 2,500,000 | |
| National Primitive Baptist Convention, Inc. | 2002 | 1,565 | 600,000 | |
| Old Order Amish Church | 2001 | 898 | 80,820 | 3,592 |
| The Orthodox Church in America | 2004 | 737 | 1,064,000 | 824 |
| Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc. | 1998 | 1,750 | 1,500,000 | 4,500 |
| Pentecostal Church of God | 2005 | 1,170 | 117,000 | |
| Polish National Catholic Church of America | 2004 | 126 | 60,000 | 112 |
| Presbyterian Church in America | 2003 | 1,534 | 325,791 | 3,287 |
| Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | 2005 | 10,960 | 3,098,842 | 8,752 |
| Progressive National Baptist Convention, .Inc. | 1995 | 2,000 | 2,500,000 | |
| Reformed Church in America | 2005 | 894 | 269,815 | 827 |
| Religious Society of Friends (Conservative) | 1994 | 1,200 | 104,000 | |
| The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia | 2003 | 190 | 480,000 | 210 |
| The Salvation Army | 2005 | 1,316 | 422,543 | 2,632 |
| Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada | 1986 | 68 | 67,000 | 60 |
| Seventh-day Adventist Church | 2005 | 4,750 | 964,811 | 2,580 |
| Southern Baptist Convention | 2005 | 43,669 | 16,270,315 | 99,062 |
| Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations | 2002 | 1,010 | 214,738 | 1,267 |
| United Church of Christ | 2005 | 5,567 | 1,224,297 | 4,293 |
| The United Methodist Church | 2004 | 34,660 | 8,075,010 | 24,380 |
| United Pentecostal Church International | 2005 | 4,358 | 646,304 | 9,085 |
| The Wesleyan Church | 2005 | 1,626 | 128,385 | 2,182 |
| Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod | 2005 | 1,263 | 398,282 | 1,281 |
[edit] Sources
US Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/religion.html.
[edit] Self Identification Data
The US Census Bureau obtained the self-identification data from The American Religious Identification Survey 2001.
The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2001 was based on a random digit-dialed telephone survey of 50,281 American residential households in the continental U.S.A (48 states). Respondents were asked to describe themselves in terms of religion with an open-ended question. Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers. Moreover, the self-description of respondents was not based on whether established religious bodies, institutions, churches, mosques or synagogues considered them to be members. Quite the contrary, the survey sought to determine whether the respondents themselves regarded themselves as adherents of a religious community. Subjective rather than objective standards of religious identification were tapped by the surveys.<ref>http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0075.xls Source: 1990 data, Barry A. Kosmin and Seymour P. Lachman, "One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society", 1993; 2001 data, Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, <http://www.trincoll.edu/secularisminstitute/> (Copyright).
[edit] Religious Bodies Data
The US Census Bureau obtained the religious bodies data from the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.
Includes the self-reported membership of religious bodies with 60,000 or more as reported to the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches. Groups may be excluded if they do not supply information. The data are not standardized so comparisons between groups are difficult. The definition of "church member" is determined by the religious body. Does not include retired clergy or clergy not working with congregations. Source: National Council of Churches USA, New York, NY, 2007 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, annual (copyright). (For more church-related info visit <http://www.ncccusa.org> or call 888-870-3325).
[edit] Footnotes
1. Refers to the total number of adults in all fifty states. All other figures are based on projections from surveys conducted in the continental United States (48 states).
2. Because of the subjective nature of replies to open-ended question, these categories are the most unstable as they do not refer to clearly identifiable denominations as much as underlying feelings about religion. Thus they may be the most subject to fluctuation over time.
