America’s mainline Protestant denominations are losing members, the
new 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches shows.
Overall church membership in the US dropped by 1% last year, settling at
145.8 million.
Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, and Presbyterian
congregations saw their memberships fall by more than 1%.
The nation’s
largest Protestant group, the Southern Baptists, experienced a 0.42%
decline.
The Catholic Church, which dwarfs the size of any American Protestant
group, saw a slight increase in membership—0.57%-- attributable mostly
to immigration.
Among the 6 religious groups that claim more than 5 million members,
only one saw growth of more than 1%.
The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormons, grew by 1.42%.