Once again, as it has done each decade since the 1970s, the Glenmary Research Center is publishing the most complete and exhaustive data on the number of churches and church members in the United States: Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States: 2000. This every-10-year study is conducted at the same time as the U.S. Census in cooperation with the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and other participating religious groups.

This study provides the most complete data available anywhere on U.S. religious affiliation. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau Web site directs people with questions about religion to the Glenmary Research Center.

In the 19th century and into the 1940s, the U.S. Census Bureau attempted, in various ways, to collect religious information about Americans. When this became no longer feasible because of concerns over the separation of church and state, many feared this valuable information would be lost.

In 1956 the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. made an effort to respond to this need and published what became known as the “Church Membership Study.” It used 1952 data for 53 denominations. The Glenmary Research Center, founded in 1966, became a key stakeholder in the development of every subsequent edition of this Church Membership Study: 1970, 1980, 1990 and, now, 2000.

With the participation and leadership of the Glenmary Research Center, this study has grown each decade in the number and diversity of religious bodies covered and the number of church members included. Because of the increasing breadth of this ecumenical endeavor, a more inclusive name has been chosen for this new edition: Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States: 2000.

The study contains information for about 150 Christian and non-Christian religious bodies. This includes the number of churches/congregations and members for each group for each county in all 50 states. Data are also presented by state, region and religious group.

For the first time, the 2000 study will present partial data on the race and ethnicity of church members. The total population for each county is also presented so that the number and percentage of persons in each county who are “unclaimed” by any of the participating religious bodies can be computed.

Glenmary regularly uses this data source as a major component in its decisions to accept or return mission territory, establish various ministries and engage in ecumenical activities.

Glenmary’s role in the current study is threefold: to collect the Catholic data (Eastern and Latin Rite); to publish and distribute the resulting book, wall map and CD-ROM; and to serve as the primary information source for the interpretation of findings. And requests are many!

Research Center staff regularly respond to inquiries about religion in America from researchers at institutions such as Harvard, the University of Michigan and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University. Other inquiries are regularly received from Catholic dioceses as well as Protestant denominational headquarters, regional departments and local churches (e.g., evangelism, church planting).

In addition, requests for information about the distribution of U.S. religious groups are regularly received from a wide spectrum of groups from The New York Times and ABC News to Catholic newspapers to Hallmark Cards and various marketing companies.

Copies of this new study (including a book with 24 color maps, a denominational families wall map and a CD-ROM with data from 1980, 1990 and 2000 studies in several formats) may be ordered through the Glenmary Web site (www. glenmary.org/grc) or by calling 615-256-1905, ext. 125. Selected data may also be viewed and reports printed from the Religious Congregations and Membership 2000 study at the American Religion Data Archive Web site (www. thearda.com) and the Glenmary Research Center section of Glenmary’s Web site.

Ken Sanchagrin, a Ph.D. in sociology, is the director of the Glenmary Research Center.