page_title: Religion in Houston
section_title: Judaism
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Houston / Judaism
caption_attribution_description: English: Congregation Beth Israel
context_page_description: The city of Houston which historically was centered on Protestant Christianity, and a part of the Bible Belt, is now home to many different religions owing to its large ethnic diverse population.
  According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 73% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians, with 50% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 19% professing Roman Catholic beliefs. while 20% claim no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions collectively make up about 7% of the population. The Kinder Institute for Urban Research circa 2016 determined that 46% of the Houston-area population was Protestant, 31% was Catholic, 5% was of other religions, and 18% was of no religion.
context_section_description: As of around 1987 about 42,000 Jews lived in Greater Houston. In 2008 Irving N. Rothman, author of The Barber in Modern Jewish Culture: A Genre of People, Places, and Things, with Illustrations, wrote that Houston "has a scattered Jewish populace and not a large enough population of Jews to dominate any single neighborhood" and that the city's "hub of Jewish life" is the Meyerland community.
  The first synagogue to open in Houston was the Orthodox Beth Israel Congregation, now the Congregation Beth Israel, which opened in 1854.
caption: The current Congregation Beth Israel
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