Religion by State. Nondenominational , Evangelical, charismatic , neo-charismatic , independent, Convergence , and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., is the largest African-American religious organization. For their 2015 report on changing religious affiliation they include an index of major Protestant denominations. Christianity is the largest religion in Canada, with Roman Catholics having the most adherents. Religion in the Early United States . Closely tied to the rise of the religious “nones” is the decline of Christians, including Protestants. History of Religion in America. Protestant Christians form the biggest religious subgroup in the USA, but there are a lot of other religions which all enjoy equal rights and recognition before the law. Protestant. For more on religious affiliation, see Chapter 1. While the US is a secular nation, religion and faith, and the moral standings that come with it, play a very large role in everyday political discourse. Gallup classifies "Christian" respondents as Protestants but, as might be expected, nondenominational Christians are less likely to belong to a … Two presidents (Hayes and Obama) were Protestant, but not … Along with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism became one of three major forces in Christianity. Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of groups and beliefs. Many Christian sects with a worldwide presence have their origins in the USA, including Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses. In 2007, when the Pew Research Center … The United States remains a predominantly Christian nation, with 78% of all adults identifying with a Christian faith, and more than 9 in 10 of those who have a religious identity identifying as Christians. According to Gallup's yearly estimate on national religious preferences, more than 8 in 10 Americans say they are affiliated with a Christian religion. Collectively, white evangelical Protestants are twice as large in the South (22%) and Midwest (20%) as they are in the Northeast (8%). Although freedom of religion is well established and practiced, some religious preference is given by the government. The elephant in the room for mainline Protestants, however, is that their share of the American population has seen an unprecedented decline in the last 40 years. Evangelicals believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God. [36] The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was highly controversial in many black churches, where the minister preached spiritual salvation rather than political activism. 2 The evangelical Protestant share of the population has dipped slightly in recent years (from 26.3% in 2007 to 25.4% in 2014), but more slowly than the mainline Protestant and Catholic populations. Twelve percent of residents in the West are white evangelical Protestant. Protestantism gained ground in Texas from 1815 to 1817 in line with America's Great Awakenings. References to American religion usually meant Protestant Christianity. However, these were broken down by Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, and Historically Black Protestant. Members of three other mainline Protestant denominations – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Methodist Church –also have high household income. Once an overwhelmingly Protestant nation, the U.S. no longer has a Protestant majority. Catholicism is also a Christian religion but is not part of the Protestant denominations. Though the percentage of Americans who identify with evangelical Protestant denominations has ticked downward, the absolute number of evangelicals appears to be rising as the … The U.S. has a long history as a majority Protestant nation, and, as recently as the 2007 Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study, more than half of U.S. adults (51.3%) identified as Protestants. Introduction The issue of religious freedom has played a significant role in the history of the United States and the remainder of North America. These colonists (“Puritans”) emigrated from England to avoid conflict and purify their church of Roman Catholic influences. It is a branch of Christianity under which are numerous denominations. The Future of Mainline Protestants. Other faiths include Muslims (3.2%), Hindus (1.5%), Sikhs (1.4%), Buddhists (1.1%), and Jews (1.0%). Some individual states exceed that level, and no state falls below 76% in attachment to Christianity. Among those ages 30-49, the net movement has been away from Catholicism and toward both evangelical Protestantism and no religious affiliation. European settlers brought the Christian religion with them to the New World in the 16th and 17th Centuries. As the dominant religion in the U.S., Protestant Christianity’s dominance has long been enmeshed with the racial dominance of whiteness – white supremacy. As the United States has become more racially and ethnically diverse in recent years – with fewer whites (as a share of the population) and more Hispanics and other racial and ethnic minorities – so, too, have the racial and ethnic profiles of many religious groups become more diverse. Among Hispanics ages 50 and older, the changes in religious identity are not statistically significant. So, too, do self-identified atheists and agnostics, which may call into question any link between high levels of religious belief and wealth. Christians remain by far the largest religious group in the United States, but the Christian share of the population has declined markedly. Latinos Make Up a Rising Share of Catholics. The U.S. has been steadily losing its religion for decades. Three presidents (Jefferson, Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson) did not have any religious affiliations. Evangelicalism (/ ˌ iː v æ n ˈ dʒ ɛ l ɪ k əl ɪ z əm, ˌ ɛ v æ n-,-ə n /), evangelical Christianity, or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity that maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, solely through faith in Jesus's atonement. The movement acknowledges that grace gains salvation through faith and it is not achieved by an individual's achievement or effort. … Protestantism, Christian religious movement that began in northern Europe in the early 16th century as a reaction to medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices. 2000 - 2005: "What, if any, is your religious preference -- are you Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, or an Orthodox religion such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church?" Overview: Protestant Christianity is not necessarily a denomination. There is substantial variation in religious identity between the four regions of the United States. Handbook of Denominations in the United States The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations: Understanding the History, Beliefs, and Differences Denominations Comparison: Compare 12 Major Denominations and Their Beliefs Nelson's Guide to Denominations ReligionFacts; Religions; Christianity; Christian Branches; Protestantism; Branches; Protestant Denominations. Christianity was the most prevalent religion, with French colonists primarily being Catholic Christians, while British colonists were mainly Protestant Christians. In contrast, Catholics represent a much larger share of Northeastern residents. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic president. Europeans came to America to escape religious oppression and forced beliefs by such state-affiliated Christian churches as the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. At midcentury, Americans streamed back to church in unprecedented numbers. Protestantism came about in the 16th Century when some believers broke off from the Catholic Church.For this reason, many denominations still bear a close resemblance to Catholicism in certain practices and traditions. Most Americans consider themselves Christians.Almost 50% identify with Protestant Christianity, while approximately 20% identify with Roman Catholicism.However, only about 36% of Americans attend church regularly. All main world religions integrate in some way the concept of celibacy, the vow of abstaining from marriage and sexual relations, and the Catholic and Protestant churches are no exception. One starting point is the Pew Research Center. Much of the decline in Protestant membership is attributable to the increasing percentage of Americans who simply identify their religion as "Christian" rather than as a specific Protestant denomination such as Baptist, Lutheran or Methodist. The Pew Research Center found Protestant individuals (anyone who identified themselves as non-Catholic, but Christian) had a divorce rate of approximately 51 percent out of a sampling of 4,752 individuals. Christians, representing 67.3% of the population in 2011, are followed by people having no religion with 23.9% of the total population. RNS covers global religion news, including politics, culture, spirituality, institutions and more through articles, photos, podcasts and videos. Traditional Christianity faced some challenges in the first half of the century, especially from the literary elite of the 1920s, but after the second great war, the populace seemed eager to replenish its spiritual wells. . American religion is as diverse as its population.. More presidents have been Episcopalian than any other religion - 11. Mormons are the most heavily Republican-leaning religious group in the U.S., while a pair of major historically black Protestant denominations – the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the National Baptist Convention – are two of the most reliably Democratic groups, according to data from Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study. The United States is an overwhelmingly Christian nation. For instance, in the mid 1970’s, 3 in 10 Americans identified as mainline. The majority of contemporary Protestants are members of Adventism, Anglicanism, the Baptist churches, Calvinism (Reformed Protestantism), Lutheranism, Methodism and Pentecostalism. This religious heritage is still apparent today, with almost 70% of Canadians identifying as Catholic or Protestant. Adherents of the movement further believe that the death and resurrection of … Protestantism is a Christian religion, that is, its members believe in Jesus Christ. In the past seven years, the percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christians has dropped from 78.4% to 70.6%. The largest Protestant groups or denominations in the 1930s were Baptist, Methodist, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Disciples, Episcopalians, Holiness Movement, and Congregationalists. In the case of the monarchy for example, only Protestants may become king or queen (although they are now free to marry Catholics without losing their succession to the throne).