By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — Counted together, independent evangelical congregations comprise one of the largest religious groups in the nation, after their evangelical compadres in the Southern Baptist Convention and the biggest group, Roman Catholics.
That’s according to the census of American religious congregations unveiled in Chicago Tuesday.
This year, for the first time, the nationwide aggregation of religious traditions, dubbed the “Religion Census,” counted non-denominational evangelical congregations, ranging from storefront sanctuaries to megachurches.
That calculation revealed that evangelicals affiliated with independent churches make up the third-largest religious group in the nation.
In fact, in 48 out of 50 states, sovereign evangelicals fall in the top five.
Meanwhile, Mormons rank as the fastest-growing group in the U.S., followed by Muslims.
Catholics, though still the largest denomination in the state and the nation, declined about 5 percent nationwide.
The Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia saw the greatest percentage decline in the U.S.
The religious census is the latest in a series of reports released each decade to coincide with figures from the U.S. census. It is compiled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies and published by the Glenmary Research Center. The 2010 edition is the sixth since the U.S. Census Bureau stopped asking questions about religious affiliation after World War II.
In most cases, numbers are supplied by the headquarters of each denomination, although in a few cases such as the non-denominational category, scholars’ surveys were used. The geographical spread reflects where people worship — not where they live.
