The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-08-02
'THEY PUT THEIR TRUST IN GOD
The Religious Prosperity of the
United States.
Over Twenty Million Church Mem
bers. City Peorl, More Religious
than Country People. Most
Church Members in Pro-
porton'in New Mexico.

A largo quarto volume, containing
Che statistics of churches in the United
States, has just been added to the pub
\ lished reports of the census of 1890. 1t
gives the returns of l43 distinct do
nominations and 1876 independent or
CARNATIONS, with n total of 2O,612, SOC
commandments, or members Only one
religious body is omitted in tho onumera-
ton. No list of the number Of Worship
ers ut the Chinese temples was obtain
able, for mono is kept, the assumption be
ing that every Chinaman who has not
actually departed from his ancestral re-
ligion is included among them.
Great as are the number and variety
or denominations, all except about per
cent of the total of members belonged
in 1890 to &c denominations only. In
five Of the denominational families
alone were over 1900, 900 communi-
cants ont of the whole number Of 60,
600, 600 and over. They arc thus emu
merated:
Catholic. 80. q, 267 SCI Presbyterian. !, 27s, $50
Methodist -. 4.5S9. eSi Lutheran !. 23l, oTe
Baptist $500. .a7l2.i6s
1t appears. therefore, that of the total
church membership about seven -tenths
were Catholics, Methodists and Baptists
combined and about three -tenths Cath
olics alone. About four seventies of tho
Protestant membership were Methodists
and Baptists alone. or, in round fig
ures. 100000 out of 1900, 900 In
the number of their organizations, or
churches and congregations, both tho
Methodists and Baptists far exceeded
the Roman Catholics, the explanation
being that the Catholic parishes nro
much greater on the average. some of
them containing as many as IA, 900
communicates.
About ono-half of tho Roman Catho-
lies We're i'll the "a cities Of n popula-
ton of $4,000 and upward, where the
proportionate representation of the two
others is comparatively small. Even tho
Episcopalians, of whom there were only
$40, 900 in the whole Union, exceeded
tho Baptists i'll their urban membership
and came not far ahort Of the Metho-
dists, nearly one half of their communi.
cants also being in the cities More than
three-quarters of tho Jews anJ Of the
German Evang elical Protcstants were in
the cities, and nearly ono half of the
Unitarians
Proportionately to the population tho
number of religious communicates V As
greater in the cities than in the country.
In the l24 cities containing an aggre-
gate population of 1899, 56S there were
5,302, OILS commandments, or | in every
2.64 inhabitants; III the country there
was only to 3.04. The greatest num-
Der was in New York. 500, 954. This
city takes the lead also in the value Of
IT'S church property, nearly 500, 900, 900,
but Philadelphia has the first place in
the number of church edifces, 664, or
$50 more than New York PHILADELPHIA
therefore rather than BROOKLYN is en-
titled to be called the City of Churches.
1t has ! church edfice for every l,577
population to Brooklyn's / to 2,IO5.
Chicago comes third, to 2,20O, and
New York fourth, to 2,S3S Proper
tionately to the population the number
OF communicates was somewhat more
in the smaller cities than the greater.
New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and
Brooklyn have nearly one-third of tho
population of the l24 cities, but consid-
erably less than third of the communi-
cants.
In the Union, New Mexico, which is
strongly Roman Catholic, had the great.
est number Of commandments proportion
ately to the population, or 6S SO per cent.
Next came Utah, the seat of Mormon
ism, with 61.63 per cent; then Arizona,
largely Catholic, with 1924 per cent
Among the states South Carolina, a
BAPTIST stronghold had most communi-
cants proportionately, or 44l7 per cent
Rhode Island came next, with 42.S4,
and then followed North Carolina. an
other Baptist stronghold, 20. 80; Massa
chusetts, AZ. IL, and Connecticut. Alas
The percentage for the other states and
territories ranged from So "a for Penn
sylvania down to 7.93 for Oklahoma
In New York it was 362l
The returns Of the Protestant do.
nominations show the very remarkable
increase since 1880 of S,S95,12s, or
42.o6 per cent, though meantime the
increase in population was only 81. Sc
per cent. Comparative statistics as to
the Roman Catholics were not obtain
able, but presumably their rate of in
crease must have exceeded greatly that
OF the general population
From the great mass Of the statistics
OF the report many figures can be select
ed for interesting discussion hereafter
New York Sun.
a Valuable Otter.
A