Research and Course Guides: Religious Statistics: Home

Introduction

“To represent the religious history of America statistically and geographically is to generalize dangerously to court disaster openly.”

(Source: New Historical Atlas of Religion in America)

Statistics on religion, like most other statistics, must be interpreted with a critical eye. Data on religion may be reported at either the insitutional level or the individual level. That is, there are surveys of religious insitutions themselves and there are surveys of individuals and their self-reported attitudes and affilitiations. Keep in mind that surveys of religious institutions are also self-reporting, so over-reporting of membership is more likely that under-reporting. The diversity of religious organizations and varying definitions of membership can also have an effect on comparing membership numbers among different organizations. Some organizations may not share reports with the public, or even keep numbers. There has been no government-mandated count of religious organizations since the last Religious Bodies census taken in 1936.

Most of the resources that you encounter in this guide will have a disclaimer explaining the collection method and nature of the data. Be sure to read this section!

Getting Started

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Population: Religion. This section includes tables on the religious composition of the U.S. population, selected data on religious bodies, and numbers of Christian adherents and the Jewish population by state.

Major Producers

Some of the major organizations involved in research on religion include:

Popular Resources

Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
This comprehensive resource is more than just a data archive! Also included are National Profiles, reports and maps of U.S. Congregational Membership, information on Denominations, QuickStats from major national surveys, ranked lists of religious groups, maps, and a Learning Center.
Adherents.com
Adherents.com is a collection of more than 41,000 "adherent statistics and religious geography citations." It has no specific affiliation and claims to be the second most frequently visited general religion site on the internet. It provides access to statistics on religious groups broken down by geographical area and by name of faith group.

Statistical Indexes & Databases

FedStats
Gateway to statistics and data access tools from more than 70 U.S. federal agencies.

LibrarySearch

Librarian

Kathryn Burke

Email Me

Contact:

O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library | LIB 117

651 962-5027

Subjects: Aerospace Studies, Art History, Catholic Studies, Environmental, Geography, Geology, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Sustainability, Theology & Religion

Quick Ready Reference

Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Use for quick look ups. Oxford Reference Online contains dictionaries, encyclopedias, and Oxford Companions on a wide variety of topics. Brief entries and information about art, biology, business, classics, computing, environmental science, economics, history, language, law, literature, medicine, physical science, political science, quotations, religion and philosophy, and science.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Full-text encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Articles, journals, and books published by Wiley across a variety of disciplines.

Off Campus Access

ACCESSING ONLINE RESOURCES from OFF-CAMPUS

Online databases and electronic journals subscribed to by the UST Libraries are licensed for use by the St. Thomas community ONLY. Because of this restriction, we need to verify that anyone accessing these databases is a current member of the St. Thomas community.

Off Campus Access

Adapted from...

Information compiled by Hailey Mooney, Data Services and Reference Librarian. Michigan State University Libraries,East Lansing, Michigan.