In 2023, **** percent of Americans were unaffiliated with any religion. A further **** percent of Americans were White evangelical Protestants, and an additional **** percent were White mainline Protestants. Religious trends in the United States Although the United States is still home to the largest number of Christians worldwide, the nation has started to reflect a more diverse religious landscape in recent years. Americans now report a wide range of religious beliefs and backgrounds, in addition to an increasing number of people who are choosing to identify with no religion at all. Studies suggest that many Americans have left their previous religion to instead identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, with many reasoning that they stopped believing in the religion's teachings, that they didn't approve of negative teachings or treatment of LGBTQ+ people, or that their family was never that religious growing up. Christian controversies Over the last few years, controversies linked to Christian denominations have plagued the nation, including reports of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Christian churches have also been accused of supporting discriminatory actions against LGBTQ+ people and people belonging to other religious groups. In addition, there have been increasing concerns about Christian nationalism, the political ideology that asserts that America was founded to be a Christian nation. Although the majority of Americans still think that declaring the United States a Christian nation would go against the U.S. Constitution, studies found that most Republicans would be in favor of this change.

The 2008 Conversion Recontact Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, is a follow-up to the 2007 "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey." One of the most striking findings from the Landscape Survey was the large number of people who have left their childhood faith. The Landscape Survey found that more than one in four American adults (28%) have changed their religious affiliation from that in which they were raised. This number includes people who have changed from one major religious tradition to another, for instance, from Protestantism to Catholicism or from Judaism to no religion. If change within religious traditions is included (e.g., from one Protestant denominational family to another), the survey found that roughly 44% of Americans now profess a religious affiliation different from that in which they were raised.

The Conversion Recontact Survey is designed to offer a fuller picture of this churn within American religion, with a special focus on the reasons that people change religious affiliation. The Conversion Recontact Survey is based on follow-up interviews with Landscape Survey respondents, including those from the largest segments of the population that have changed religious affiliation as well as those who still belong to the religious faith in which they were raised. Interviews were conducted by telephone with a nationally representative sample of 2,867 adults living in continental United States telephone households. The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI). Interviews were conducted on landline telephones in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source (PDS), LLC from Oct. 3 to Nov. 7, 2008. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. A full report on the survey's findings, "Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.," is available on the Pew Forum's "http://www.pewforum.org/2009/04/27/faith-in-flux/" Target="_blank">website.

This study, designed and completed by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), represents statistics for 149 religious bodies on the number of congregations within each county of the United States. Where available, also included are actual membership (as defined by the religious body) and total adherents figures. Participants included 149 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints and Unitarian/Universalist groups); two specially defined groups of independent Christian churches; Jewish and Islamic totals; and counts of temples for six Eastern religions.

It is important to understand the methodology producing these data and its limitations. While these data contain membership data for many religious groups in the United States, including most of the larger groups, they do not include every group. It is recommended that users read the notes below. Users may also want to refer to a paper by Roger Finke and Christopher P. Scheitle that explains the "adjusted" adherence rates included in the file.

Visit the "/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data.

In 2023, about 33 percent of Americans were Protestants, down from 69 percent in 1948. In that same year, about 22 percent of Americans were Catholic, while 22 percent said that they had no religion at all.

This dataset is the centerpiece of Pew Research Center's 2014 Religious Landscape Study, a nationally representative telephone survey conducted June 4-Sept. 30, 2014, among a sample of 35,071 U.S. adults. Approximately 60 percent of the interviews were conducted with respondents reached on cellphones (n=21,160) and 40 percent were completed on landlines (n=13,911). A minimum of 300 interviews were conducted in every state and the District of Columbia. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. The survey is estimated to cover 97 percent of the non-institutionalized U.S. adult population; 3 percent of U.S. adults are not reachable by telephone or do not speak English or Spanish well enough to participate in the survey. No adjustments have been made to the data to attempt to account for the small amount of non-coverage.

The size of the national sample is unusually large for a religion survey. There are two main reasons for this. First, the large sample size makes it possible to estimate the religious composition of the U.S. with a high degree of precision. After taking into account the survey's design effect (based on the sample design and survey weights), the margin of error for the results based on the full sample is +/- 0.6 percentage points.

Second, the large sample size makes it possible to describe the characteristics of a wide variety of religious groups, including relatively small groups that cannot be analyzed using data from smaller surveys. With more than 35,000 respondents in total, the Religious Landscape Study includes interviews with roughly 350 in religious groups that account for just 1 percent of the U.S. population, and with 100 or more people in religious groups that are as small as three-tenths of 1 percent of the overall population. For instance, the study includes interviews with 245 Jehovah's Witnesses, a group that accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. population and is typically represented by only a few dozen respondents in smaller surveys.

This statistic shows the share of adults in the United States affiliated to a religious denomination in January 2017, by race/ethnicity. As of January 2017, 15 percent of Asian or Pacific Islanders in the United States identified themselves as Hindu.

This study, designed and carried out by the "http://www.asarb.org/" Target="_blank">Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on 372 religious bodies by county in the United States. Of these, the ASARB was able to gather data on congregations and adherents for 217 religious bodies and on congregations only for 155. Participating bodies included 354 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao, Zoroastrian, American Ethical Union, and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Baha'i, three Buddhist groupings, two Hindu groupings, and four Jewish groupings, and Muslims. The 372 groups reported a total of 356,642 congregations with 161,224,088 adherents, comprising 48.6 percent of the total U.S. population of 331,449,281. Membership totals were estimated for some religious groups.

In January 2024, the ARDA added 21 religious tradition (RELTRAD) variables to this dataset. These variables start at variable #8 (TOTCNG_2020). Categories were assigned based on pages 88-94 in the original "https://www.usreligioncensus.org/index.php/node/1638" Target="_blank">2020 U.S. Religion Census Report.

Visit the "https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data sources.

According to a study conducted between ********* and **********, Muslims and Hindus were more likely to be younger compared to other religious groups in the United States, with ** percent of Muslims and ** percent of Hindus aged below 50 years old. In contrast, most Protestants and Catholics in the U.S. were 50 years or older.

This study, designed and carried out by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on the number of congregations and adherents for 236 religious groups in each county of the United States. Participants included 217 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Baha'ís, three Buddhist groupings, four Hindu groupings, four Jewish groupings, Muslims and Zoroastrians. The 236 groups reported a total of 344,894 congregations with 150,686,156 adherents, comprising 48.8 percent of the total U.S. population of 308,745,538 in 2010. Visit the frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data sources.

This study, designed and carried out by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on the number of congregations and adherents for 236 religious groups in each county of the United States. Participants included 217 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Bahá'ís, three Buddhist groupings, four Hindu groupings, four Jewish groupings, Muslims and Zoroastrians. The 236 groups reported a total of 344,894 congregations with 150,686,156 adherents, comprising 48.8 percent of the total U.S. population of 308,745,538 in 2010.

Visit the "/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data.

During a survey conducted in 2023, approximately 54 percent of respondents in 17 Latin American countries claimed to be catholic. Meanwhile, 14.9 percent of the people participating in the survey said they did not profess any religion.In Mexico, more than 69 percent of respondents said they professed Catholicism. Particularly in Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador, most Christians think religion is very important in their lives.

Between 2023 and 2024, the majority of Muslim immigrants living in the United States were born in another country, with 59 percent of U.S. Muslims born outside the United States. In contrast, most Christian immigrants were U.S. born, with both parents also born in the U.S. during the provided time period.

The "https://www.pewresearch.org/" Target="_blank">Pew Research Center is a non-partisan organization dedicated to advancing social science research. They research a wide variety of topics through intensive opinion polling and demographic research. In 2014, they conducted a nationally representative telephone survey in the United States called the Religious Landscape Survey. This survey was conducted from June 4 to Sept. 30 in 2014 and featured a sample size of 35,071 U.S. adults. In a continuation of the survey, 5,000 of the respondents from the original poll were contacted again between March 17 and May 6 of 2015 for additional questions.

The survey was conducted on a large scale to develop a more precise understanding of the American religious landscape. The survey was conducted in both Spanish and English with a minimum of 300 interviews per state. The wide net, bilingual nature, and usage of telephones as the main form of communique, allows researchers to estimate that the survey covers 97 percent of non-institutionalized Americans. Though roughly three percent of Americans are not reachable by telephone or do not feature the necessary linguistic skills to participate in the survey, no additional measures were taken to account for this small percentage of the population not represented in the sample.

The large sample size of the research pool allows researchers to take a deeper look into religious groups previously under-studied in smaller surveys. The "https://www.thearda.com/data-archive?fid=RELLAND14" Target="_blank">2014 Religious Landscape study features hundreds of interviews with members of religious groups that make up less than one percent of the American religious sphere. The nature of this survey allows for a nuanced study of religious groups, and their individuals, across the whole of the country.

This study assessed the effects of male inmate religiosity on post-release community adjustment and investigated the circumstances under which these effects were most likely to take place. The researcher carried out this study by adding Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history information to an existing database (Clear et al.) that studied the relationship between an inmate's religiousness and his adjustment to the correctional setting. Four types of information were used in this study. The first three types were obtained by the original research team and included an inmate values and religiousness instrument, a pre-release questionnaire, and a three-month post-release follow-up phone survey. The fourth type of information, official criminal history reports, was later added to the original dataset by the principal investigator for this study. The prisoner values survey collected information on what the respondent would do if a friend sold drugs from the cell or if inmates of his race attacked others. Respondents were also asked if they thought God was revealed in the scriptures, if they shared their faith with others, and if they took active part in religious services. Information collected from the pre-release questionnaire included whether the respondent attended group therapy, religious groups with whom he would live, types of treatment programs he would participate in after prison, employment plans, how often he would go to church, whether he would be angry more in prison or in the free world, and whether he would be more afraid of being attacked in prison or in the free world. Each inmate also described his criminal history and indicated whether he thought he was able to do things as well as most others, whether he was satisfied with himself on the whole or felt that he was a failure, whether religion was talked about in the home, how often he attended religious services, whether he had friends who were religious while growing up, whether he had friends who were religious while in prison, and how often he participated in religious inmate counseling, religious services, in-prison religious seminars, and community service projects. The three-month post-release follow-up phone survey collected information on whether the respondent was involved with a church group, if the respondent was working for pay, if the respondent and his household received public assistance, if he attended religious services since his release, with whom the respondent was living, and types of treatment programs attended. Official post-release criminal records include information on the offenses the respondent was arrested and incarcerated for, prior arrests and incarcerations, rearrests, outcomes of offenses of rearrests, follow-up period to first rearrest, prison adjustment indicator, self-esteem indicator, time served, and measurements of the respondent's level of religious belief and personal identity. Demographic variables include respondent's faith, race, marital status, education, age at first arrest and incarceration, and age at incarceration for rearrest.

Literature and art have long depicted God as a stern and elderly white man, but do people actually see Him this way? We use reverse correlation to understand how a representative sample of American Christians visualize the face of God, which we argue is indicative of how believers think about God’s mind. In contrast to historical depictions, Americans generally see God as young, Caucasian, and loving, but perceptions vary by believers’ political ideology and physical appearance. Liberals see God as relatively more feminine, more African American, and more loving than conservatives, who see God as older, more intelligent, and more powerful. All participants see God as similar to themselves on attractiveness, age, and, to a lesser extent, race. These differences are consistent with past research showing that people’s views of God are shaped by their group-based motivations and cognitive biases. Our results also speak to the broad scope of religious differences: even people of the same nationality and the same faith appear to think differently about God’s appearance.

Anti-Jewish attacks were the most common form of anti-religious group hate crimes in the United States in 2023, with ***** cases. Anti-Islamic hate crimes were the second most common anti-religious hate crimes in that year, with *** incidents.

The Religious Freedom Index gives a unique look into American public opinion on First Amendment freedoms. The Index's focus on core religious liberty principles, contextualized with questions on some of the year's most pressing social issues, provides a yearly cross-section of public sentiment on the intersection of law, religion, and culture. The Index covers six dimensions of religious freedom: Religious Pluralism, Religion and Policy, Religious Sharing, Religion in Society, Church and State, and Religion in Action. The scores on these dimensions contribute to an annual composite Index score on a scale from 0 to 100 where 0 indicates complete opposition to principles of religious freedom and 100 indicates robust support. In addition to the annual Index questions, this year's publication also included questions that gauged American's understanding of the First Amendment, their support for the religious freedom of Native Americans, and other issues related to religious freedom.

The Index surveys a nationally representative sample of around 1,000 American adults each fall.

(UNCLASSIFIED) The Liberian population is religiously heterogeneous, comprised 85.6 percent Christian, 12.6 percent Muslim, 0.6 percent adherents of tribal or indigenous traditions, 1.5 percent non-religious, and less than 1 percent a combination of Bahais, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Primary denominations within the country’s Christian majority include Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal (AME), AME Zion, and Pentecostal. Many individuals identified as "Christian" retain a mix of Christian and indigenous (often animistic) beliefs. Both Christian and Muslim Liberians are dispersed throughout the country. Most Muslims belong to two distinct ethnic groups, the Mandingo—who are widely distributed—and the Vai who live mostly in western areas.Christianity reached Liberia in the 19th century with the arrival of freed slaves from the United States. Missionaries of various Protestant denominations started arriving in the 1820s, eventually forming what became one of the highest per capita missionary populations in the world. The first permanent Catholic mission in the country was established in the early 1900s. A Liberian Council of Churches composed of Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, and other similar groups now exists, and an evangelical association of churches and missions has operated on and off since 1966. Though religiously-motivated violence in Liberia is relatively uncommon, tensions between Christians and Muslims have escalated in the past. In October 2004, approximately 25 people were killed and several churches and mosques were destroyed in Monrovia during clashes between Christians of several ethnic groups and Mandingo Muslims. The Liberian constitution provides religious freedom for all inhabitants, and in practice, the government respects minority religious groups. According to a 2013 document published by the U.S. Department of State, the Liberian government does not discriminate based on religious affiliation, belief, or worship. Although there is no state religion in the country, government ceremonies commonly begin and end with prayers or hymns, the majority of which are Christian, though some are Muslim. Most private schools in the country are operated by churches or missions. The majority receive government funding, though non-religious schools are also heavily subsidized. Religious education is available as an elective in public schools, but is not required. Social welfare institutions are largely managed or affiliated with religious organizations, often in conjunction with international aid agencies. As regards the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa, some religious leaders in Liberia have cited “immoral acts” as the cause of the outbreak. In August 2014, Liberia’s Council of Churches agreed, “God is angry with Liberia,” and urged Liberians to seek forgiveness for corruption and immorality by staying indoors and fasting for three days.Attribute Table Field DescriptionsISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero identification / name ADM1_NAME - Administration level one identification / name ADM2_NAME - Administration level two identification / name NAME - Name of religious institution TYPE - Classification in the geodatabase (type of institution) CITY - City location available SPA_ACC - Spatial accuracy of site location (1 – high, 2 – medium, 3 – low) COMMENTS - Comments or notes regarding the religious institution SOURCE_DT - Source one creation date SOURCE - Source one SOURCE2_DT - Source two creation date SOURCE2 - Source two CollectionThe feature class was generated utilizing data from OpenStreetMap, Wikimapia, GeoNames and other sources. OpenStreetMap is a free worldwide map, created by crowd-sourcing. Wikimapia is open-content mapping focused on gathering all geographical objects in the world. GeoNames is a geographical places database maintained and edited by the online community. Consistent naming conventions for geographic locations were attempted but name variants may exist, which can include historical or less widespread interpretations.The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources.Metadata information was collected form U.S. Department of State publications as well as news media articles. Sources (HGIS)"Cathedral of St. Therese of The Child Jesus." GCatholic. July 2014. Accessed October 7, 2014. http://www.gcatholic.org.DigitalGlobe, "DigitalGlobe Imagery Archive." Accessed October 01, 2014. GeoNames, "Liberia." September 23, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.geonames.org.Google, September 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. www.google.com.OpenStreetMap, "Liberia." September 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.openstreetmap.org.Wikimapia, "Liberia." September 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://wikimapia.org.Sources (Metadata)Baden, Joel and Candida Moss. “Ebola Is Not God’s Wrath: Religious leaders are perpetuating dangerous, dehumanizing beliefs about sin and disease.” Slate. August 20, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.slate.com.“Country Profile: Liberia.” Soudan Interior Mission. January 01, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.sim.org.“Education System in Liberia.” Classbase. January 01, 2012. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.classbase.com.“Liberia 2005 International Religious Freedom Report.” United States Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. January 01, 2005. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.state.gov.“Liberia 2012 International Religious Freedom Report.” United States Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. January 01, 2005. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.state.gov.“Liberia 2014 International Religious Freedom Report.” United States Department of State. January 01, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.state.gov.

This statistic shows the gender distribution of religious groups in the United States, as of January 2017, by faith tradition. In January 2017, about 48 percent of Jews in the United States were men.

The census is undertaken by the Office for National Statistics every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. The most recent census took place in March of 2021.The census asks every household questions about the people who live there and the type of home they live in. In doing so, it helps to build a detailed snapshot of society. Information from the census helps the government and local authorities to plan and fund local services, such as education, doctors' surgeries and roads.Key census statistics for Leicester are published on the open data platform to make information accessible to local services, voluntary and community groups, and residents.Further information about the census and full datasets can be found on the ONS website - https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/aboutcensus/censusproductsReligionThis dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by religion. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.Definition: The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practice or have belief in it.This question was voluntary and the variable includes people who answered the question, including 'No Religion', alongside those who chose not to answer this question.This variable classifies responses into the eight tick-box response options. Write-in responses are classified by their "parent" religious affiliation, including 'No Religion', where applicable.This dataset contains details for Leicester City and England overall. There is also a dashboard that has been produced to show a selection of Census statistics for the city of Leicester which can be viewed here: Census 21 - Leicester dashboard.