Diversity Section Religious Establishments

The vast majority of religious worshippers in DuPage County are from Christian denominations, as they are in the nation as a whole.

DU PAGE COUNTY RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS, 2000*

Faith	Congregations	Adherents	Percent of total Adherents
Catholic	50	349,415	64.8%
Evangelical Protestant	162	74,429	13.8%
Mainline Protestant	127	83,048	15.4%
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	7	2,805	0.5%
Orthodox	8	4,680	0.9%
Unitarian	3	769	0.1%
Jewish	1	1,900	0.4%
Muslim	5	14,991	2.8%
Buddhism	7	N.A.	N.A.
Baha'i	6	372	0.1%
Zoroastrian	3	N.A.	N.A.
Hindu	13	N.A.	N.A.
African American Congregations	4	6,450	1.2%
TOTALS:	392	538,859	100.0%

Source: American Religion Data Archive, based on data collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The above total number of adherents represents 59% of the total 2000 DuPage County population (904,161).

*The data for traditional African-American congregations and their members obtained via personal interview.

This indicator shows the number of congregations and religious adherents by faith within DuPage County. The term ‘adherents’ is used because it includes adults and children who practice a particular faith. Using adherents allows for more meaningful comparisons between groups that count children as members (such as Catholics) and those that don't (such as Baptists).

More than 90 percent of the congregations, and nearly 97 percent of religious adherents, in DuPage County are affiliated with the Catholic, Protestant, or other Christian faiths. This religious snapshot of DuPage County is fairly representative of the United States overall. According to a study conducted by William Peters in the late 1990s, of the 163 million Americans who identified themselves with a particular religion, 92 percent considered themselves Christian.

TAPESTRY

Religion has a positive effect on communities; it encourages child development, community safety, and volunteerism. In fact, according to Faith and Public Life, congregations are a basic unit of American religious life with significant influences in local communities. Congregations provide religious identity and offer opportunities for political action, charitable giving and volunteer work, and social service. This is true regardless of the denomination, so although Christianity may dominate the beliefs of DuPage County residents, it is important that we all respect and celebrate other faiths.