Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-19
THE RELIGIOUS CENSUS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

faith. The Baptist membership in.
cludes a few more than 3,00000
colored Baptists while there are i
excess of 100000 colored Methodists
Each of these denominations has
Northern and Southern branch. thu
Methodists being about two-thirds il
the North, with the Baptists showiui
similar pTeponderance in the South.
Jews, Lutherans and Others.
The Jewish faith is reported as hav
ing 4,087. 357 adherents in the Unitel
States. This report in 1915 showed oni,
about one-tenth that many members
The change is largely accounted for b.
the method OF counting. In previot.
takings of the religious census tbs
Jewish congregations as a rule reported
only pewholders in the synagogues
In 1926 they were asked to report al
members of the faith. The earlier
figures showed only a fraction Of thoS
who attended services of their faith
The 1926 figures probably show all o
even more than the regular church
attendance.
The 20 Lutheran Church groups IL
America report 4,044,657 members
These various groups Of Lutherans co.
operate in two ways, through the Sy
nodicaI Conference and through the Ma
tional Lutheran Council Steady progress
has been made for some years TOWARD
uniting the branches Of the Lutheran
faith through these groupings. Next II
membership come the nine divisions o.
the Presbyterians. with 2,625, 284 mem
bers reported More than half of theS
/ belong to the Presbyterian Church il
the United States of America. TIL
Episcopalian membership is reported a
1,358,966, very large increase over tn
1916 figures, part Of which is accounteS
for by the fact that all baptized mem
bers were counted in the recent enumer
alton, where formerly only those con
firmed were included. The Disciples ol
Christ, with BIT sos. complete the lis
of churches having more than 100000
membership.
Changed Methods Of Counting.
The Congregational, Reformet
Church, MormonS and Evangelical
churches are listed as with between
100000 and 100000 members each
The United Brethren, Churches Of
Christ and Eastern Orthodox churches
have more than a quarter of miller
each Others with more than 100000
members are the Christian Science
Bunker. Adventists, Christian Church
and Quaker groups. Almost all of thes.
are made up Of two or more subdenomi
nations.
AS in the cases OF the Jewish anc
Episcopal faiths, many others show
decided change from the 1916 reports
because of new and more complet
methods Of recording the membership
The Christian Science churches hays
never before been reported at all. OWL
to objections raised by the denomins
No 1rN ri n
members includes large members'l.y
IN the Mother Church, which is not OF.
ficially affiliated with any local con-
gregation.
In 1916, when total church member,
ship was returned as a little over 40.
100000, an average of 80 per cent Of
this membership was above Is years o.
age. With the much larger return ir
1925, the age average is probably lower
but complete tabulation of this has moi
yet been made by the Bureau OF the Gen.
sus. The distribution of membership be-
tween cities and rural cornmunitie,
varies greatly in different denomina-
tons. OF the 100000 Roman Cath.
olics. more than four-ifths belonged
to churches in cities. OF the Method.
lists in the North. almost half were
members Of country congregations.
Generally speaking. the membership
and wealth of the churches have prob
ably increased materially in 10 years
yet the varying basis for securing sta.
tistics makes accurate comparisons very
difficult. Rough comparisons from in.
complete census returns have led Il
many misleading statements. The stu.
dent who wants TO get at facts rather
than merely to bolster up arguments
must wait until the entire compilation
is complete, and then give careful study
to exactly how each set o. figures wa
arrived at