Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-08-15
CHURCH FIGURES.
Interesting Statistics From the
Eleventh Census.
PROGRESS MADE IN FORTY YEARS.

Methodism Retained the Leads in Value
of Property, But Roman Catholicism
Is Coming on Rapidly and Numbers
,oOo,ooo-cthe Most Comm unicants-
BewiIderirg Subdivisions on the Bap-
fist Connection-PecuIia of the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of Religious De-
nominations.
WAsHrNGT On, Aug. 15.-Superintendent
Robert p. Porter, in an address prepared
for delivery yesterday at Asbury park,
makes public the preliminary figures of
the church statistics of the eleventh cen
sus, which are both curious and interest
ing There are shown to be in the Unite
States nearly $50 separate and distinct
church organizations holding widely diff
ferent creeds. They vary greatly in pra c.
tice and represent all possible variations
of church polity. There are dozen diff
ferent branches of the Presbyterian fam
lily. There are some denominations that
will answer only TO the simplest, most in
definite title-such as the various churches
that claim TO be simply Brethren -Four
of these are branches of what popular
lily called plymouth Brethren" but
shey do not own the title plymouth"
nor is there any designation which they
have adopted by which these four bodies
IF plymouth Brethren" may be distin-
yuished from other Brethren.
Didn't Like to BE Enumerated.
There are two REFORMED" Churches,
known as the reformed Church in Anne
rica' and the reformed church in the
United States Some of the denomina-
tons were never numbered before, and it
required the utmost powers of persuasion
to induce them to submit to the process.
Sects have been found and enumerated
who claim less than 100 communicates.
Here seven secJs which altogether
number only about 4, 600 members and yet
own church edifices worth so, O00-Shak-
ers, Amananites. Mennonites, Harmony,
Separatists New 1carian and Altruists.
All societies observing the communal
life, whether founded on religious or
secular basis, are embraced in the returns
Two of these societies are not religious,
the Icarian and Altruists, but are organ
lied to apply a social principle.
Split Fine Theological Hairs.
After the seven great denominations
Congregational, Lutheran, Methodist,
PresL terrain, Roman Catholic, Baptist
and EpiscopaI-have been accounted for
the other l3i religious associations repre-
sent less than 10 per cent of the church
edifices and less than IL per cent of the
aggregate value of church property.
Some of the subdivisions of the Baptist
churches are peculiar. The uninitiared
person finds it difficult to define the d fer
ence between the seventh Day" and the
"Sixth PrinciPal' Baptists; between the
"Mud- Head Baptists and the "River
Brethren; between the "Primitive" and
the "Free WHIP; between the Original
Free WIZ and the "OId Two Seed in
Spirit; between the "General" and the
"General Free Will" Besides these there
are also the Regular South, the "ReSu-
lar North" and the Regular Colored Bap-
lists" The Society of Friends is divided
into the Orthodox and Hicksite, the Will
burite and Primitive branches. There are
seventeen or eighteen different branches
of the Lutheran churches in this country.
The Number of Church Building.
The following table shows the number
of churches in the United States to-day as
compared with forty years ago: