Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Mormonism leading way in U.S. religious growth
[Note, the story below is based on inconsistent numbers. See here for an update, or here for a discussion on growth rates]. Excerpts of Mormonism leading way in U.S. religious growth by Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune]
LDS Church is fastest-growth Christian faith in 30 states, report shows
The Utah-based faith is leading the way — Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota and other states far outside the West's traditional "Mormon corridor."
These are among the findings of the newly released once-a-decade U.S. Religion Census. It is "the most comprehensive local-level analysis of U.S. religious adherents" since the religious census began about 60 years ago, Clifford Grammich, who led the study's supervising committee, said in a news release. "We are especially pleased to have increased participation for several independent and non-Christian bodies."
In the latter category, researchers estimated that Muslims outpaced even Mormons between 2000 and 2010, adding 66.7 percent more adherents. During that time frame, the nation's overall Muslim tally shot up from 1,559,294 to 2,600,082.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported an increase from 4,224,026 U.S. members in 2000 to 6,144,582 members in 2010, a 45.5 percent jump.
That is "far and away the largest gain reported by any [Christian] group," the report noted, not just in percentage but also in actual numbers.
["The single largest religion in every state is Christianity," said Dale Jones, director of research services at the Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center in Kansas,"if one counts Mormons as a branch of Christendom — which the LDS Church does."]
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