96-479: Religious affiliation in the United States, per Gallup, Inc. (2023) Religion in the United States is both widespread and diverse, with higher reported levels of belief than other wealthy Western nations . Polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe in a higher power (2021), engage in spiritual practices (2022), and consider themselves religious or spiritual (2017). Christianity
192-564: A denominational label. According to the 2001 National Jewish Population Survey , 4.3 million American Jewish adults have some sort of strong connection to the Jewish community, whether religious or cultural. Jewishness is generally considered an ethnic identity as well as a religious one. Among the 4.3 million American Jews described as "strongly connected" to Judaism, over 80% have some sort of active engagement with Judaism, ranging from attendance at daily prayer services on one end of
288-500: A "Catholic Proprietary", in 1634, more than sixty years after the founding of the Spanish Florida mission of St. Augustine. The first US Catholic university, Georgetown University , was founded in 1789. Though small in number in the beginning, Catholicism grew over the centuries to become the largest single denomination in the United States, primarily through immigration, but also through the acquisition of continental territories under
384-959: A "Protestant nation" or "founded on Protestant principles", specifically emphasizing its Calvinist heritage. The modern official motto of the United States of America , as established in a 1956 law signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower , is " In God We Trust ". The phrase first appeared on US coins in 1864. According to a 2002 survey by the Pew Research Center , nearly 6 in 10 Americans said that religion plays an important role in their lives, compared to 33% in Great Britain, 27% in Italy, 21% in Germany, 12% in Japan, and 11% in France. The survey report stated that
480-535: A Fulbright scholar of Islam, estimates that 20,000 Muslims convert to Christianity annually in the United States . Beginning around 1600, Northwestern European settlers introduced the Anglican and Puritan religion, as well as Baptist , Presbyterian , Lutheran , Quaker , and Moravian denominations. Historians agree that members of mainline Protestant denominations have played leadership roles in many aspects of American life, including politics, business, science,
576-627: A few early Catholic and Jewish settlers also arrived from Northwestern Europe into the colonies; however, their numbers were very slight compared to the Protestant majority. Even in the "Catholic Proprietary" or colony of Maryland, the vast majority of Maryland colonists were Protestant by 1670. The text of the First Amendment in the US Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
672-505: A former Gallup employee, originally made the allegations against Gallup under the False Claims Act. Lindley received nearly $ 2 million of the settlement. Under the settlement, there was no prosecution and no determination of liability. Gallup decided not to conduct horse-race polling of the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Gallup focus on its consulting business. Gallup officials said polling could still be accurate during
768-691: A local phone number) plus unlisted phone numbers. Within each contacted household reached via landline, an interview was sought with an adult 18 years of age or older living in the household who would have the next birthday. Because cell phone numbers are typically associated with one individual rather than shared among several members of a household Gallup did not use the same selection procedure for cell phone interviews. Gallup Daily tracking included interviews in Alaska and Hawaii,and Spanish-language interviews. When respondents to be interviewed were selected at random, every adult had an equal probability of falling into
864-416: A multi-call design to reach respondents not contacted on the initial attempt. The findings from Gallup's U.S. surveys were based on the organization's standard national telephone samples, consisting of list-assisted random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone samples using a proportionate, stratified sampling design based on randomly generated phone numbers from all working phone exchanges (the first three numbers of
960-523: A report outlining their top five strength areas and how to apply them. For K–12 education, Gallup consults and trains schools and school systems to focus on strengths and increase engagement. The company administers the Gallup Student Poll in the U.S., which measures success based on hope, engagement, and well-being. Historically, the Gallup Poll has used opinion polling to measure and track
1056-503: A research and management consulting company that works with businesses to identify and address issues with employees and their customers. Gallup continues to conduct and report on public polls. In the 1990s, Gallup developed a set of 12 questions it called Q12 to help businesses gauge employee engagement, it entered partnerships to conduct polls for USA Today and CNN , and launched its Clifton StrengthsFinder online assessment tool. In 1999, Gallup analysts wrote First, Break All
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#17328595091431152-519: A significant role in American politics. Among the historical and social characteristics of the United States that some scholars of religion credit for the country's high level of religiousness include its Constitutional guarantees of Freedom of religion and legal tradition of separation of church and state ; the early immigration of religious dissenters from Northwestern Europe ( Anglicans , Quakers , Mennonites , and other mainline Protestants );
1248-432: A slight but routine under-weighting of black and Hispanic Americans that led to an approximately 2% shift of support away from Barack Obama . At the same time, Blumenthal commended Gallup for its "admirable commitment to transparency" and suggested that other polling firms disclose their raw data and methodologies. In 2013, the accuracy of Gallup polling on religious faith was questioned. Gallup's polling on religiosity in
1344-402: Is "the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today", and that 9% of all American adults and 0.5% young adults hold to what the survey defined as a "biblical worldview". Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Eastern Orthodox and United Church of Christ members have the highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita of all Christian denominations in
1440-462: Is estimated that about 10% of African slaves transported to the United States were Muslim. Most, however, became Christians, and the United States did not have a significant Muslim population until the arrival of immigrants from Arab and East Asian Muslim areas. According to some experts, Islam later gained a higher profile through the Nation of Islam , a religious group that appealed to black Americans after
1536-508: Is known for its public opinion surveys about China. Its latest survey published in March 2023 stated that a record-low of 15% Americans have a favorable view of China, a metric it has been measuring since 1979. In early November 2023, Gallup announced that it has closed all operations in China, a country that it first entered in 1993. For more than 15 years, Gallup has recognized organizations with
1632-547: Is not (the answer "very important" falling from 70% in 1965 to 45% in 2023, and "not very important" rising from 7 to 28% over the same period in Gallup polls), and a decline in church attendance (those who report attending church monthly or more often having declined from 52% to 45% from 2007 to 2018, according to a PEW poll). Still other sources insist Americans are becoming more religious, and surveys showing otherwise suffer from methodological deficiencies. According to Noah Feldman,
1728-433: Is not necessarily indicative of religious beliefs or practices. The Jewish population in the United States is approximately 6 million. A significant number of people identify themselves as American Jews on ethnic and cultural grounds, rather than religious ones. For example, 19% of self-identified American Jews do not believe God exists. The 2001 ARIS study projected from its sample that there are about 5.3 million adults in
1824-760: Is now the United States since the 17th century, and specifically allowed since the British colonial Plantation Act 1740 . Although small Western European communities initially developed and grew, large-scale immigration did not take place until the late 19th century, largely as a result of persecutions in parts of Eastern Europe . The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestors emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe . There are, however, small numbers of older (and some recently arrived) communities of Sephardi Jews with roots tracing back to 15th century Iberia (Spain, Portugal, and North Africa). There are also Mizrahi Jews (from
1920-565: Is represented. Most Eastern Orthodoxes arrived in the contiguous United States as immigrants beginning in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century. Two major groups brought Eastern Orthodoxy to America, one were Eastern Europeans like Russians , Greeks , Ukrainians , Serbians and others. The second major group were from Levant like Lebanese , Syrians , Palestinians and others. Armenians , Copts and Syriacs , also brought Oriental Orthodoxy to America. The strength of various sects varies greatly in different regions of
2016-404: Is the entire civilian, non-institutionalized population, aged 15 and older. Gallup asks each respondent the survey questions in his or her own language to produce statistically comparable results. Gallup uses telephone surveys in countries where telephone coverage represents at least 80% of the population. Where telephone penetration is less than 80%, Gallup uses face-to-face interviewing. Gallup
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#17328595091432112-641: Is the fourth largest faith in the United States, representing approximately 1% of the population in 2010s. In 2001, there were an estimated 766,000 Hindus in the US, about 0.2% of the total population. Gallup, Inc. Gallup, Inc. is an American multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Gallup provides analytics and management consulting to organizations globally. In addition
2208-416: Is the most widely professed religion, with the majority of Americans being Evangelicals , Mainline Protestants , or Catholics , although its dominance has declined in recent decades, and as of 2012 Protestants no longer formed a majority in the US. The United States has the largest Christian and Protestant population in the world . Judaism is the second-largest religion in the US, practiced by 2% of
2304-572: Is the religion of approximately 2% of the American population. According to a 2020 study by the Pew Research Center , the core American Jewish population is estimated at 7.5 million people, this includes 5.8 million Jewish adults. According to study by Steinhardt Social Research Institute, as of 2020, the core American Jewish population is estimated at 7.6 million people, this includes 4.9 million adults who identify their religion as Jewish, 1.2 million Jewish adults who identify with no religion, and 1.6 million Jewish children. Jews have been present in what
2400-512: The Christian right , particularly those whose ideology represents a synthesis of elements of American conservatism , conservative Christianity , and social conservatism , expressed through political means. The term theocon first appeared in 1996 in an article in The New Republic entitled "Neocon v. Theocon" by Jacob Heilbrunn, where he wrote: [T]he neoconservatives believe that America
2496-640: The Great Awakenings . Interdenominational evangelicalism and Pentecostalism emerged; new Protestant denominations such as Adventism ; non-denominational movements such as the Restoration Movement (which over time separated into the Churches of Christ , the Christian churches and churches of Christ , and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ); Jehovah's Witnesses (called "Bible Students" in
2592-463: The Latter Day Saint movement (Mormonism), Churches of Christ and Church of Christ, Scientist , Unitarian and Universalist , Pentecostalism ). Outside of Protestantism, an unprecedented number of Catholic and Jewish immigrants arrived in the United States during the immigrant waves of the mid to late 19th and 20th century. Social scientists have noted that beginning in the early 1990s,
2688-551: The Republican and Democratic parties, a position the company has continued to hold. In 1935, George Gallup released his first political opinion poll. In March 1936, Time magazine wrote that Gallup polling data was "probably as accurate a sample of public sentiment as is available," which included U.S. presidential approval ratings . In 1936, Gallup successfully predicted that Franklin Roosevelt would defeat Alfred Landon for
2784-441: The U.S. Mint and State Department for contracts and task orders to be awarded without competition. The Department of Justice alleged that the agencies awarded contracts and task orders at falsely inflated prices. The settlement also resolved allegations that Gallup engaged in improper employment negotiations with a then- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official, Timothy Cannon, for work and funding. Michael Lindley,
2880-405: The U.S. presidency in direct contradiction to the popular The Literary Digest ; this event popularized the company and made it a leader in American polling. In 1938, Gallup began conducting market research for advertising companies and the film industry. By 1948, Gallup's company established polling organizations in a dozen other countries and Gallup's polls were syndicated in newspapers in
2976-460: The United States converted to Protestantism , becoming communicants of the Presbyterian or Methodist churches. Rastafarians began migrating to the United States in the 1950s, '60s and '70s from the religion's 1930s birthplace, Jamaica . Marcus Garvey , who is considered a prophet by many Rastafarians, rose to prominence and cultivated many of his ideas in the United States. Hinduism
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3072-615: The University of San Diego . Eastern Orthodoxy was present in North America since the Russian colonization of Alaska ; however, Alaska would not become a United States territory until 1867, and most Eastern Orthodox Russian settlers in Alaska returned to Russia after the American acquisition of the Alaskan territory. However the native converts and a few priests remained behind, and Alaska still
3168-490: The Vanderbilts and Astors , Rockefeller , Du Pont , Roosevelt , Forbes , Fords , Whitneys , Morgans and Harrimans were Mainline Protestant families, although 2015/2016 (Pew) studies found households affiliated with Judaism and Hinduism to be more likely to have incomes over $ 100,000 per year than those in the mainline tradition Protestants, with other American religious groups having lower median incomes. Some of
3264-427: The nonprofit George H. Gallup Foundation as part of the acquisition agreement. SRI, founded in 1969 by the psychologist Don Clifton and not to be confused with the more widely known Stanford Research Institute (also abbreviated SRI), focused on market research and personnel selection; it pioneered the use of talent-based structured psychological interviews. Following its sale to SRI, Gallup repositioned itself as
3360-775: The religious right in the 1980s, sexual abuse scandals in established religions, the end of the Cold War (and its connection of religiosity with patriotism), and the September 11 attacks (by religious Jihadists ). Nonetheless, the majority of the "Nones", those without a religious affiliation, have belief in a higher power and spiritual forces beyond the natural world. Ever since its early colonial days, when some Protestant dissenter English and German settlers moved in search of religious freedom , America has been profoundly influenced by religion. Throughout its history, religious involvement among American citizens has grown since 1776 from 17% of
3456-744: The 1940s, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as applying the First Amendment to state and local governments. President John Adams and a unanimous Senate endorsed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797 that stated: "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Expert researchers and authors have referred to the United States as
3552-588: The 1940s; its prominent converts included Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali . The first Muslim elected to Congress was Keith Ellison in 2006, followed by André Carson in 2008. Out of all religious groups surveyed by ISPU, Muslims were found to be the most likely to report experiences of religious discrimination (61%). That can also be broken down when looking at gender (with Muslim women more likely than Muslim men to experience racial discrimination), age (with young people more likely to report experiencing racial discrimination than older people), and race, (with Arab Muslims
3648-457: The 3143 counties in the country. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life, 1.7% of adults in the US identify Judaism as their religion. Among those surveyed, 44% said they were Reform Jews , 22% said they were Conservative Jews , and 14% said they were Orthodox Jews . According to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey , 38% of Jews were affiliated with
3744-461: The American Jewish population: 2.83 million adults (1.4% of the US adult population) are estimated to be adherents of Judaism; 1.08 million are estimated to be adherents of no religion; and 1.36 million are estimated to be adherents of a religion other than Judaism. ARIS 2008 estimated about 2.68 million adults (1.2%) in the country identify Judaism as their faith. According to a 2017 study, Judaism
3840-444: The American population, while another 18% belonged to mainline Protestant churches, and 7% belonged to historically black churches . A 2015 study estimates some 450,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism. In 2010 there were approximately 180,000 Arab Americans and about 130,000 Iranian Americans who converted from Islam to Christianity. Dudley Woodbury,
3936-603: The Americas increased at the outset of the 20th century due to the famine during World War I that killed an estimated one third to one half of the population, the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war , and the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1990. The United States is the second largest home of Druze communities outside the Middle East after Venezuela (60,000). According to some estimates there are about 30,000 to 50,000 Druzes in
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4032-835: The CEO since 1998. Gallup, Inc. has no affiliation with Gallup International , a Swiss-based polling organization founded by George Gallup in 1948. Gallup has sued Gallup International and other organizations for the unauthorized use of the Gallup name. George Gallup (1901–1984) founded the American Institute of Public Opinion, the precursor of the Gallup Organization, in Princeton, New Jersey , in 1935. Gallup attempted to make his company's polls fair by sampling demographics representative of each state's voters. Gallup also refused to conduct surveys commissioned by organizations such as
4128-768: The Catholic Church has founded hundreds of other colleges and universities, along with thousands of primary and secondary schools. Schools like the University of Notre Dame is ranked best in its state (Indiana), as Georgetown University is ranked best in the District of Columbia. The following 10 Catholic universities are also ranked among the top 100 universities in the US: University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University, Boston College , Santa Clara University , Villanova University , Marquette University , Fordham University , Gonzaga University , Loyola Marymount University , and
4224-569: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ). Christianity was introduced during the period of European colonization . The United States has the world's largest Christian population . According to membership statistics from current reports and official web sites, the five largest Christian denominations are: The Southern Baptist Convention, with over 13 million adherents, is the largest of more than 200 distinctly named Protestant denominations. In 2007, members of evangelical churches comprised 26% of
4320-542: The Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award. This award is reserved for organizations that meet standards set by the Q12 employee engagement survey, which includes analysis of more than 2.7 million workers across 100,000+ teams. Through 2015 Gallup's in-house publishing division, Gallup Press, had published approximately 30 books on business and personal well-being-related themes. Its most recent titles include It's
4416-738: The Gallup News team. Until 2018 Gallup Daily tracking had two surveys: the Gallup U.S. Daily political and economic survey and the Gallup–Healthways Well-Being Index. For both surveys, Gallup conducted 500 interviews across the U.S. per day, 350 days out of the year, with 70% on cellphones and 30% on landline (with 34% of the nation relying on cell phones only in 2012. Gallup Daily tracking methodology relied on live interviewers, dual-frame random-digit-dial sampling (which included landline as well as cellular telephone phone sampling to reach those in cell phone-only households), and used
4512-548: The Irish immigration in the latter period amounted to only 520,000." Of the four major national groups of clergy (early and mid-19th century)—Irish, German, Anglo-American, and French—"the French emigre priests may be said to have been the outstanding men, intellectually." As the number of Catholics increased in the late 19th and 20th century, they built up a vast system of schools (from primary schools to universities) and hospitals. Since then,
4608-699: The Manager , Wellbeing at Work , and Blind Spot . Other notable Gallup Press books include First, Break All the Rules and StrengthsFinder 2.0 , which in 2017 was reported to be one of Amazon's 20 best selling books of all time. Religious right in the United States The words theoconservatism and theocon are portmanteaus of " theocracy " and " conservatism "/"conservative" coined as variants of " neoconservatism " and "neocon". They have been used as labels, sometimes pejorative, referring to members of
4704-617: The Middle East, Caucasia and Central Asia ), as well as much smaller numbers of Ethiopian Jews , Indian Jews , and others from various smaller Jewish ethnic divisions . Approximately 25% of the Jewish American population lives in New York City. According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published March 2017, based on data from 2010, Jews were the largest minority religion in 231 counties out of
4800-422: The Q12 employee engagement survey, and CliftonStrengths . The Q12 employee engagement survey asks employees 12 questions about their workplace, coworkers, and management, to measure engagement and help managers and organizations improve productivity. CliftonStrengths (also known as StrengthsFinder) is an assessment that uses paired statements to measure a person's aptitudes in 34 strength categories, and produces
4896-577: The Reform tradition, 35% were Conservative, 6% were Orthodox, 1% were Reconstructionists, 10% linked themselves to some other tradition, and 10% said they are "just Jewish". This way, the American Jews' majority continue to identify themselves with Jewish main traditions, such as Conservative, Orthodox and Reform Judaism. But, already in the 1980s, 20–30 percent of members of largest Jewish communities, such as of New York City, Chicago, Miami, and others, rejected
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#17328595091434992-589: The Rules , a bestselling book on management. In 2002, Fortune Small Business wrote that the success of First, Break All the Rules bolstered Gallup's consulting business. In July 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice and Gallup reached a $ 10.5 million settlement based upon allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act and the Procurement Integrity Act. The complaint alleged that Gallup overstated its labor hours in proposals to
5088-572: The U.S. and abroad. The modern Gallup Organization formed in 1958, when George Gallup grouped all of his polling operations into one organization. George Gallup died in 1984. Four years later, his family sold the firm for an undisclosed price to Selection Research, Incorporated (SRI), a research firm in Lincoln, Nebraska . The family's involvement with the business continued; sons George Gallup Jr. and Alec Gallup kept their positions as co-chairmen and directors. George Gallup Jr. (1930–2011) established
5184-493: The U.S. has produced results somewhat different from other studies on religious issues, including a 2012 study by the Pew Research Center , which found that those who lack a religious affiliation were a fast-growing demographic group in the U.S. In 2016, The Wall Street Journal published a comparison of Gallup's survey-based measurement of unemployment with the same estimate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from 2010 to 2016. The numbers almost exactly match and
5280-491: The US population to 62% in 2000. Approximately 35-40 percent of Americans regularly attended religious services from eighteenth-century colonial America up to 1940. That influence continues in American culture, social life, and politics. Several of the original Thirteen Colonies were established by settlers who wished to practice their own religion within a community of like-minded people: the Massachusetts Bay Colony
5376-748: The United States federal government was the first government to be designed with no established religion at all. However, some states established religions until the 1830s. Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom , the framers of the Constitution rejected any religious test for office, and the First Amendment specifically denied the federal government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise, thus protecting any religious organization, institution, or denomination from government interference. The decision
5472-420: The United States, after Christianity and Judaism, followed, according to Gallup, by 0.8% of the population in 2016. Hinduism and Buddhism follow it closely in numbers (in 2014 the large scale Religious Life Survey found Islam with 0.9% and the other two with 0.7% each). According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published in March 2017, based on data from 2010, Muslims were
5568-405: The United States, as well as the most high-income earners . However, owing to the sheer size or demographic head count of Catholics, more individual Catholics have graduate degrees and are in the highest income brackets than have or are individuals of any other religious community. After Christianity, Judaism is the next largest religious affiliation in the United States, though this identification
5664-580: The United States, with the largest concentration in Southern California . American Druze are mostly of Lebanese and Syrian descent. Members of the Druze faith face the difficulty of finding a Druze partner and practicing endogamy ; marriage outside the Druze faith is strongly discouraged according to the Druze doctrine. They also face the pressure of keeping the religion alive because many Druze immigrants to
5760-439: The arts, and education. They founded most of the country's leading institutes of higher education . According to Harriet Zuckerman , 72% of American Nobel Prize laureates between 1901 and 1972, have identified from Protestant background. Traditionally Episcopalians and Presbyterians tended to be wealthier and better educated than most other religious groups, and numbers of the most wealthy and affluent American families as
5856-716: The company offers educational consulting, the CliftonStrengths assessment and associated products, and business and management books published by its Gallup Press unit. Gallup is a private employee-owned company based in Washington, D.C. , founded by George Gallup in 1939. Headquartered in The Gallup Building, it maintains between 30 and 40 offices globally, in locations including in New York City, London, Berlin, Sydney, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, and has approximately 1,500 employees. In 2022, Jon Clifton became Gallup's CEO, replacing his father, Jim Clifton , who had been
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#17328595091435952-624: The country, with rural parts of the South having many evangelicals but very few Catholics (except Louisiana and the Gulf Coast , and from among the Hispanic community, both of which consist mainly of Catholics), while urbanized areas of the north Atlantic states and Great Lakes , as well as many industrial and mining towns, are heavily Catholic, though still quite mixed, especially due to the heavily Protestant African-American communities. In 1990, nearly 72% of
6048-401: The election, but the company decided to reallocate resources. In October 2015 Frank Newport, then Gallup's editor-in-chief, told The Washington Post that Gallup felt polling the public on issues was a better use of resources. In addition to its Gallup Poll, which contributes a small proportion of the company's revenue, Gallup offers research and management consulting services, including
6144-473: The first colleges and universities in America, including Harvard , Yale , Princeton , Columbia , Dartmouth , Pennsylvania , Duke , Boston , Williams , Bowdoin , Middlebury , and Amherst , all were founded by mainline Protestant denominations. By the 1920s most had weakened or dropped their formal connection with a denomination. James Hunter argues: Several Christian groups were founded in America during
6240-609: The following global indexes: law and order, food and shelter, institutions and infrastructure, good jobs, wellbeing, and brain gain. Gallup also works with organizations, cities, governments, and countries to create custom items and indexes to gather information on specific topics of interest. Gallup additionally publishes other studies and results such as its State of the Global Workplace report, Global Emotions report and Rating World Leaders report. Gallup interviews approximately 1,000 residents per country. The target population
6336-609: The former French and Spanish colonies that were eventually absorbed into the United States, the vast majority of Catholics in the United States today derive from unprecedented waves of immigration from primarily Catholic countries and regions (Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom until 1921 and German unification didn't officially occur until 1871) during the mid-to-late 19th and 20th century. Irish , Hispanic , Italian , Portuguese , French Canadian , Polish , German , and Lebanese ( Maronite ) immigrants largely contributed to
6432-462: The free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It guarantees the free exercise of religion while also preventing the government from establishing a state religion . However, the states were not bound by the provision, and as late as the 1830s Massachusetts provided tax money to local Congregational churches. Since
6528-499: The growth in the number of Catholics in the United States. Irish and German Catholics, by far, provided the greatest number of Catholic immigrants before 1900. From 1815 until the close of the Civil War in 1865, 1,683,791 Irish Catholics immigrated to the US. The German states followed, providing "the second largest immigration of Catholics, clergy and lay, some 606,791 in the period 1815-1865, and another 680,000 between 1865 and 1900, while
6624-740: The jurisdiction of French and Spanish Catholic powers. Though the European Catholic and indigenous population of these former territories were small, the material cultures there, the original mission foundations with their canonical Catholic names, are still recognized today (as they were formerly known) in any number of cities in California, New Mexico and Louisiana. (The most recognizable cities of California, for example, are named after Catholic saints.) While Catholic Americans were present in small numbers early in United States history, both in Maryland and in
6720-479: The labor market, with government, in marriage and in other aspects of life, backlash against the religious right in the 1980s, sexual abuse scandals, particularly those within the Southern Baptist Convention and Catholic Church . Other signs of a decline in religiosity include a decline in the percentage of respondents who say religion is "very important" in their lives compared to those who say it
6816-874: The largest minority religion in 392 counties out of the 3143 counties in the country. According to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in 2018, there are approximately 3.45 million Muslims living in the United States, with 2.05 million adults, and the rest being children. Across faith groups, ISPU found in 2017 that Muslims were most likely to be born outside of the US (50%), with 36% having undergone naturalization. American Muslims are also America's most diverse religious community with 25% identifying as black or African American, 24% identifying as white, 18% identifying as Asian/Chinese/Japanese, 18% identifying as Arab, and 5% identifying as Hispanic. In addition to diversity, Americans Muslims are most likely to report being low income, and among those who identify as middle class,
6912-596: The latter part of the 19th century); and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormonism ). While the Puritans were securing their Commonwealth, members of the Catholic Church in England were also planning a refuge, "for they too were being persecuted on account of their religion." Among those interested in providing a refuge for Catholics was the second Lord of Baltimore, George Calvert, who established Maryland ,
7008-492: The least accurate of the 23 major polling firms Silver analyzed, having the highest incorrect average of being 7.2 points away from the final result. Following the results of the election, Gallup spent six months reviewing its methodology. The company concluded that its methodology was flawed as it made too few phone calls in Eastern and Pacific time zones, overestimated the white vote, and relied on listed landline phones that skewed
7104-480: The majority are Muslim women, not men. Although American Muslim education levels are similar to other religious communities, namely Christians, within the Muslim American population, Muslim women surpass Muslim men in education, with 31% of Muslim women having graduated from a four-year university. 90% of Muslim Americans identify as straight. Islam in America effectively began with the arrival of African slaves. It
7200-538: The majority of American Christians belonging to a Protestant denomination or a Protestant offshoot (such as the Latter Day Saint movement or the Jehovah's Witnesses ). According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published March 2017, based on data from 2010, Christians were the largest religious population in all 3,143 counties in the country. Roughly 48.9% of Americans are Protestants, 23.0% are Catholics, 1.8% are Mormons (members of
7296-595: The most likely to report experiencing religious discrimination). Muslims born in the United States are more likely to experience all three forms of discrimination, gender, religious, and racial. Research indicates that Muslims in the United States are generally more assimilated and prosperous than their counterparts in Europe. Like other subcultural and religious communities, the Islamic community has generated its own political organizations and charity organizations. The Baháʼí Faith
7392-402: The percentage of Americans professing no religious affiliation began to rise from 6% in 1991 to 29% in 2021 — with younger people having higher rates of unaffiliation. Similarly, polling indicated a decline in church attendance, and the number of people agreeing with the statement that religion is "very important" in their lives. Explanations for this trend include lack of trust, backlash against
7488-611: The population of Utah was Mormon, as well as 26% of neighboring Idaho . Lutheranism is most prominent in the Upper Midwest , with North Dakota having the highest percentage of Lutherans (35% according to a 2001 survey). The largest religion, Christianity, has proportionately diminished since 1990. While the absolute number of Christians rose from 1990 to 2008, the percentage of Christians dropped from 86% to 76%. A nationwide telephone interview of 1,002 adults conducted by The Barna Group found that 70% of American adults believe that God
7584-430: The population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or 'nothing in particular,' now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009" and that "both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share." Many of the unaffiliated retain religious beliefs or practices without affiliating. There have been variant proposed explanations for secularization including lack of trust in
7680-633: The population, followed by Hinduism , Buddhism , and Islam , each with 1% of the population. States vary in religiousity from Mississippi , where 63% of adults self-describe as very religious, to New Hampshire where only 20% do. The elected legislators of Congress overwhelmingly identify as religious and Christian; with few exceptions, both the Republican and Democratic parties nominate those who are. Religious figures ( Carrie Nation , William Jennings Bryan , Martin Luther King Jr. , Wallace Fard Muhammad , Jimmy Carter , Jerry Falwell ), have played
7776-497: The public's attitudes concerning political , social , and economic issues, including sensitive or controversial subjects. The Gallup Poll division's results, analysis, and videos are published daily in the form of data-driven news. As of 2012, conducting polls generated financial losses of about $ 10 million a year for the company, but gives Gallup brand name visibility, which helps promote its corporate research. In 2019, Mohamed Younis replaced Frank Newport as editor-in-chief to lead
7872-744: The religious revivalism of the first (1730s and 1740s), and second (1790s and 1840s) Great Awakenings , which led to an enormous growth in Christian congregations -- from 10% of Americans being members before the Awakenings, to 80% belonging after. The aftermath led to what historian Martin Marty calls the "Evangelical Empire", a period in which evangelicals dominated US cultural institutions. They supported (and opposed) measures to abolish slavery , further women's rights , enact prohibition , and reform education and criminal justice . New Protestant denominations were formed ( Adventism , Jehovah's Witnesses ,
7968-407: The respondents' reliance on cell phones to adjust for any disproportion in selection probabilities. The data were then weighted to compensate for nonrandom nonresponse, using targets from the U.S. Census Bureau for age, region, gender, education, Hispanic ethnicity, and race. The resulting sample represented an estimated 95% of all U.S. households. From 1936 to 2008, Gallup Polls correctly predicted
8064-498: The results showed America having a greater similarity to developing nations (where higher percentages say that religion plays an important role) than to other wealthy nations, where religion plays a minor role. In 1963, 90% of US adults claimed to be Christians while only 2% professed no religious identity . In 2016, 73.7% identified as Christians while 18.2% claimed no religious affiliation. In 2019, Pew Research Center survey report concluded that "the religiously unaffiliated share of
8160-569: The sample to an older demographic. Frank Newport, then editor-in-chief of Gallup, responded to the criticism by stating that Gallup simply makes an estimate of the national popular vote rather than predicting the winner and that their final poll was within the statistical margin of error. Newport also criticized analysts such as Silver who aggregate and analyze other people's polls, stating that "It's much easier, cheaper, and mostly less risky to focus on aggregating and analyzing others' polls." In 2012, poll analyst Mark Blumenthal criticized Gallup for
8256-527: The sample. The typical sample size for a Gallup poll, either a traditional stand-alone poll or one night's interviewing from Gallup's Daily tracking, was 1,000 national adults, generating a margin of error of ±4 percentage points. Gallup's Daily tracking process allowed Gallup analysts to aggregate larger groups of interviews for more detailed subgroup analysis, but the accuracy of the estimates derived only marginally improved with larger sample sizes. After Gallup collected and processed survey data, each respondent
8352-544: The single largest Baháʼí population was South Carolina . From 2010 data the largest populations of Baháʼís at the county-by-county level are in Los Angeles, CA, Palm Beach, FL, Harris County, TX, and Cook County, IL. However, estimates of the total number of Baháʼís varies widely from around 175,000 to 500,000. Druze began migrating to the United States in the late 1800s from the Levant ( Syria and Lebanon ). Druze emigration to
8448-535: The spectrum to attending Passover Seders or lighting Hanukkah candles on the other. The survey also discovered that Jews in the Northeast and Midwest are generally more observant than Jews in the South or West . The Jewish American community has higher household incomes than average, and is one of the best educated religious communities in the United States. Islam is probably the third largest religion in numbers in
8544-488: The trend is highly correlated, despite a larger sample size from the BLS, suggesting Gallup design and weighting methods generate estimates consistent with government agencies. In 2005, Gallup began its World Poll, which continually surveys citizens in 160 countries, representing more than 98% of the world's adult population. The Gallup World Poll consists of more than 100 global questions as well as region-specific items. It includes
8640-413: The winner of the presidential election with the notable exceptions of the 1948 Thomas Dewey – Harry S. Truman election , where nearly all pollsters predicted a Dewey victory (which also led to the infamous Dewey Defeats Truman headline ), and 1976 , when they inaccurately projected a slim victory by Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter . For the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Gallup correctly predicted
8736-483: The winner, but was rated 17th out of 23 polling organizations in terms of the precision of its pre-election polls relative to the final results. In 2012, Gallup incorrectly predicted that Mitt Romney would win the 2012 U.S. presidential election . Gallup's final election survey had Mitt Romney at 49% and Barack Obama at 48%, compared to the final election results showing Obama with 51.1% to Romney's 47.2%. Poll analyst Nate Silver found that Gallup's results were
8832-403: Was assigned a weight so that the demographic characteristics of the total weighted sample of respondents matched the latest estimates of the demographic characteristics of the adult population available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Gallup weighted data to census estimates for gender, race, age, educational attainment, and region. The data were weighted daily by number of adults in a household and
8928-570: Was established by English Puritans (Congregationalists), Pennsylvania by British Quakers , Maryland by English Catholics , and Virginia by English Anglicans . Despite these, and as a result of intervening religious strife and preference in England the Plantation Act 1740 would set official policy for new immigrants coming to British America until the American Revolution . While most settlers and colonists during this time were Protestant,
9024-462: Was eventually built in Wilmette, Illinois and dedicated in 1953. Worldwide , the religion has grown faster than the rate of population growth over the 20th century, and has been recognized since the 1980s as the most widespread minority religion in the countries of the world. Similarly, by 2020, the religion was the largest minority religion in about half of the counties. Since about 1970 the state with
9120-605: Was first mentioned in the United States in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago . Soon after, early American converts began embracing the new religion. Thornton Chase was the first American Baháʼí, dating from 1894. One of the first Baháʼí institutions in the US was established in Chicago to facilitate the establishment of the first Baháʼí House of Worship in the West, which
9216-414: Was mainly influenced by European Rationalist and Protestant ideals, but was also a consequence of the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups and small states that did not want to be under the power or influence of a national religion that did not represent them. The most popular religion in the United States is Christianity , comprising the majority of the population (73.7% of adults in 2016), with
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