Religion in the United States

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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]

Religious affiliation in the

United States, per Gallup, Inc.
(2022)[1]

Protestantism (34%)
Catholicism (23%)
Non-specific Christian
(11%)
Mormonism (2%)
Judaism (2%)
Other religions (6%)
Unaffiliated with organized
forms of religion (21%)
No answer (1%)

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 Thirteen Colonies were initially
marked by low levels of religiosity.[13][14] 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.[15] In the 18th century, deism found
support among American upper classes and
intellectual thinkers. 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. 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.[16]
According to Gallup, 75% of Americans report
praying often or sometimes and religion plays a
very (46%) or fairly (26%) important role in
their lives.[17] 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.[18]
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.[19] Congress
overwhelmingly identifies as religious and
Christian; both the Republican and Democratic
parties generally nominate those who are.[20]
[21] 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.

The religiosity of the country has grown greatly

over time;[22] it was far more irreligious at the
American Founding than in the present day.[23]
Throughout its history, religious involvement
among American citizens has gradually grown
since 1776 from 17% of the US population to
62% in 2000.[23] According to religious studies
professors at Baylor University, perceptions of
religious decline are a popular misconception.
[24] They state that surveys showing so suffer
from methodological deficiencies, that
Americans are becoming more religious, and
that Atheists and Agnostics make up a small
and stable percentage of the population.[25][26]
[27]

"Religious belief and interest" has remained

relatively stable in recent years; "organizational
participation", in contrast, has decreased.[28]

History

Freedom of religion

Measuring religion

Christianity

Other Abrahamic religions

Asian religions

Other religions

No religion

Major U.S.-origin movements

Statistics

Religion and politics

By age

Theism, religion, morality,

and politics

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Last edited 6 days ago by SilverStar54

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