Evangelical Protestants Comprise 58% of New Congregations
NEW
YORK, (Zenit.org).- New church development among Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
populations in the United States are being outpaced by other faiths, including
Islam and Bahai, a new survey says.The interfaith survey, "Faith
Communities in the United States Today," involved 14,301 congregations in
41 denominations or faith groups. It was conducted by researchers at Hartford
Seminary in Connecticut and released at Holy Trinity Cathedral Center in New
York, according to the Washington Post.Newly organized Catholic parishes at
midcentury represented about 10% of all new churches, said Carl S. Dudley, who
oversaw the research project with David A. Roozen.That portion has dropped to
5%, while the combined percentage of new Bahai, Muslim, Jewish and Mormon
congregations has increased from about 3% to more than 20%, Dudley told the
Post.The survey confirms that the growth of less hierarchical, more charismatic
congregations and smaller U.S. faiths such as Islam and the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints is "rapidly putting a new face on American
religion" and diminishing the dominance of traditional churches, Dudley
said.Evangelical Protestant congregations make up the largest portion, 58%, of
new congregations.It also concluded that religious history is especially
important to ethnic groups, with 64% of Latino congregations and half of black
congregations responding that their churches are a primary means of preserving
cultural heritage, the Post said.Fewer than one-third of white congregations
emphasize religious history in the same way.The two-year study also found that
half of the congregations in the United States were founded before 1945. Half
of all congregations have fewer than 100 regularly participating adults, and
one-fourth have fewer than 50. One in 10 have more than 1,000 adult
participants