Religion in California - Religion

Religion

California has the most Roman Catholics in the U.S., ahead of New York state, as well as large Protestant, non-religious, Jewish, and Muslim populations. It also has the largest Mormon population outside of Utah. The state's second largest group next to Christianity is the non-religious, which consists of atheists, agnostics, and deists. It is one of the fastest growing groups in the state. The state also has a large American Jewish community, the largest in the western U.S., mainly concentrated in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Palm Springs. It also has large Muslim communities in west Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Santa Clara County, and the Modesto area.

Most Roman Catholics in California are of Mexican, other Hispanic, Irish, and Italian ancestry. The population of Catholic Californians is rapidly growing due to the influx of Latin American immigrants. In the state, Roman Catholicism is highly represented among non-Hispanic European-Americans, but less represented among non-Hispanic African-Americans. Protestantism is the majority Christian denomination in non-Hispanic black and white groups.

The largest Christian denominations in California in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 10,079,310; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 529,575; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 471,119. Jewish congregations had 994,000 adherents, or 3% of the Californian population.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintō, Sikhism, and Taoism were introduced in part by Asian immigrants. As the twentieth century came to a close, forty percent of all Buddhists in America resided in Southern California. The Los Angeles metropolitan area has become unique in the Buddhist world as the only place where representative organizations of every major school of Buddhism can be found in a single urban center. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Northern California and Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California are two of the largest Buddhist temples in the Western Hemisphere. The state also has a growing Hindu population.

With almost one million Jews, California has the highest number of Jews of any state except New York. Many of these Jews live in the West Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley regions of Los Angeles. At the present time, both of California's Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, are Jewish.

California has the highest Hindu population in the United States, most of them Indian Americans. Many of the prominent Hindu temples including the Malibu Hindu Temple are located in California.

California also has the largest Muslim community in the United States, an estimated one percent of the population, mostly residing in Southern California. Approximately 100,000 Muslims reside in San Diego.

California has more members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Temples than any state except Utah. Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have played important roles in the settlement of California throughout the state's history. For example, a group of a few hundred Mormon converts from the Northeastern United States and Europe arrived at what would become San Francisco in the 1840s aboard the ship Brooklyn, more than doubling the population of the small town. A group of Mormons also established the city of San Bernardino in Southern California in 1851. According to the LDS Church 2011 statistics, just over 750,000 Mormons reside in the state of California, attending almost 1400 congregations statewide.

The religious affiliations of the people of California:

• Protestant – 36%
  • Evangelical Protestant – 18%
  • Mainline Protestant – 14%
  • Black Protestant – 4%
• Roman Catholic – 31%
• Jewish – 2%
• LDS – 2%
• Hinduism – <1%
• Muslim – <0.5%
• Other Religions – 4%
• Non-Religious/ Atheist/ Agnostic – 21%

A Pew Research Center survey revealed, however, that California is less religious than the rest of the United States: 62% of Californians say they are "absolutely certain" of the belief in God, while in the nation 71% say so. The survey also revealed that 48% of Californians say religion is "very important", while the figure for the U.S. in general is 56%.