Religion in Louisville, Kentucky includes religious institutions of various faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
Religion in Louisville, Kentucky includes religious institutions of various faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
There are 135,421 Roman Catholic Louisvillians who are part of the Archdiocese of Louisville, covering 24 counties in central Kentucky, and consisting of 121 parishes and missions spread over 8,124 square miles (21,040 km2). [1] The Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville is the seat of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey, the monastic home of Catholic writer Thomas Merton, is in nearby Bardstown, Kentucky, and also in the archdiocese. Most of Louisville's Roman Catholic population is of German descent, the result of large-scale 19th-century immigration.
Bellarmine University and Spalding University in Louisville are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.
One in three Louisvillians is Southern Baptist, belonging to one of 147 local congregations. [2] This denomination increased in number when large numbers of people moved into Louisville in the early 20th century from rural Kentucky and Tennessee to work in the city's factories; some of these migrants also formed Holiness and Pentecostal churches and Churches of Christ.
German immigrants in the 19th century brought not only a large Catholic population, but also the Lutheran and Evangelical denominations, which are represented today in Louisville by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and the United Church of Christ, respectively.
The city is home to two megachurches. Southeast Christian Church, with its main campus in Middletown and three others in the surrounding region, is, as of 2013 [update] , the seventh-largest church in the United States. [3] St. Stephen Church [4] is the 38th largest in the US, [3] and has the largest African American congregation in Kentucky. [5]
The city is home to several religious institutions: the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville Bible College, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the denominational headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Louisville is home to the oldest African-American Seventh-day Adventist congregation, Magazine Street Church.
The historic Christ Church Cathedral is the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, which covers the western part of the state.
Louisville has two Eastern Orthodox parishes: Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, and the Antiochian parish, St. Michael the Archangel (with a Chapel, St. George).
The Louisville Kentucky Temple, the 76th temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), is located in nearby Pewee Valley (mailing address of Crestwood), and serves members of the church in Kentucky, Southern Indiana, parts of Ohio and West Virginia.
The city is also the home of three Unitarian Universalist churches: All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation (formerly Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church [6] ), First Unitarian Church, and Clifton Unitarian Church.
The Jewish population of around 14,200 in the region [7] is served by five synagogues. Most Jewish families emigrated from Eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century; around 800 Soviet Jews have moved to Louisville since 1991. [8] Jewish immigrants founded Jewish Hospital in what was once the center of the city's Jewish district. From 2005 to 2012, Jewish Hospital merged with two Kentucky-based Catholic healthcare systems to form KentuckyOne Health, which later in 2012 announced a partnership with the University of Louisville Hospital. A significant focal point for Louisville's Jewish community is located near Bowman Field, where there are two Orthodox synagogues (including Anshei Sfard, founded in 1893), the Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family and Career Services, and an affordable housing complex. One of the most historically prominent members of Louisville's Jewish community was Justice Louis Brandeis, a Louisville native who became the first Jew to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States in 1916.
In 2001, there were an estimated 4,000 to 10,000 practicing Muslims in Louisville attending six local mosques. [9] These mosques include the Westport Mosque, a part of the newly founded Muslim Community Center. The Muslim Community Center includes The Islamic School of Louisville (ISofL), an expanding school located on Old Westport Road. The ISofL is adjacent to the Westport Mosque.
The Hindu temple of Kentucky [10] opened in suburban Louisville in 1999, and had about 125 members and two full-time priests in 2000. [11] The temple was renovated and rededicated in the summer of 2011. [12]
Various Buddhist sanghas and organizations exist in and around the Louisville area. These include The Louisville Community of Mindful Living (formerly "The Sangha of Louisville"), [13] the Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion, [14] and the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Louisville. [15]
Taoist practices in Louisville are represented by a local branch [16] of the International Taoist Tai Chi Society. [17]
The Baháʼí Faith has been present in Louisville from the 1920s, with the first Baháʼí center opening in 1965. The current Baháʼí center, dating to 1999, was designed to accommodate a larger active Baháʼí community. [18]
Louisville is home to a strong and vibrant Pagan community, including Wicca and other neopagan religions. There are over 60 Kentucky pagan groups listed at Witchvox, including over a dozen in Louisville. [19] (Witchvox listings are voluntary, and usually represent only a small portion of the local pagan groups. Many or most covens and other pagan groups still prefer to remain private, as a way to avoid religious persecution.) Local networking for Louisville pagans is organized in various ways, not only through local covens and groves, but also through Louisville Pagan Pride, [20] local pagan meetups via meetup.com, [21] local occult shops such as MoonStruck, [22] and a CUUPS chapter at a local Unitarian church. [23] There was a Pagan Student Union active for years at the University of Louisville, but the club is currently dormant. [24] [25] [26]
Since 1996, the Center for Interfaith Relations has hosted Festival of Faiths, [27] a multi-day national interfaith gathering featuring music, poetry, film, art and dialogue with internationally renowned spiritual leaders, thinkers and practitioners. The Huffington Post ranked the Festival of Faiths sixth in its list of America's top spiritual travel destinations. [28]
The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans is an independent affiliate of Unitarian Universalists who identify with the precepts of classical or contemporary Paganism: celebrating the sacred circle of life and guiding people to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. CUUPS members foster the development of "liturgical materials based on earth- and nature-centered religious and spiritual perspectives" as well as encourage "greater use of music, dance, visual arts, poetry, story, and creative ritual in Unitarian Universalist worship and celebration." Many members of CUUPS embrace the cycle of seasons and beauty of all life forms found in nature. Unlike many mainline religious sects, Unitarian Universalists and Pagans both value the "sacredness in the present world rather than on an afterlife." CUUPS is a community open to all Unitarian Universalist members and those who support the tenets.
Religion in the United States is widespread, diverse, and vibrant, with the country being far more religious than other wealthy Western nations. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in a higher power, engage in spiritual practices, and consider themselves religious or spiritual. Christianity is the most widely professed religion, with most Americans being Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, or Catholics.
Religion in Singapore is characterised by a wide variety of religious beliefs and practices due to its diverse ethnic mix of people originating from various parts of the world. A secular state, Singapore is commonly termed as a "melting pot" of various religious practices originating from different religious denominations around the world. Most major religious denominations are present in the country, with the Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore (IRO) recognising 10 major religions. A 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center found Singapore to be the world's most religiously diverse nation.
British society is one of the most secularised in the world and in many surveys determining religious beliefs of the population agnosticism, nontheism, atheism, secular humanism, and non-affiliation are views shared by a majority of Britons. Historically, it was dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity, which replaced preceding Romano-British religions, including Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism. Religious affiliations of United Kingdom citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the national decennial census, the Labour Force Survey, the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey.
Religion in Trinidad and Tobago, which is a multi-religious country, is classifiable as follows:
Religion in Hong Kong is characterised by a multi-faith diversity of beliefs and practices.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Bolivia, with Roman Catholicism being its largest denomination. Before the arrival of Spanish missionaries, the people residing in the territory of modern day Bolivia practiced a variety of faiths.
Christianity is the largest religion in Northern Ireland. In the 2021 census, 79.7% of the Northern Irish population identified as Christians: Catholic (42.3%); Presbyterian (16.6%); Church of Ireland (11.5%); Methodist (2.4%); Other Christian (6.9%). Meanwhile, 1.3% of the population belonged to other religions, 17.4% stated they were non-religious and 1.5% did not state a religious or non-religious identity. The Catholic Church has seen a small growth in adherents, while the other recorded Christian groups have seen a small decrease.
As of the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion in Scotland, chosen by 53.8% of the Scottish population identifying when asked: "What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?" This represented a decline from the 2001 figure of 65.1%. More recent polls of public opinion have shown that the majority today consider themselves non-religious. In 2017, the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, conducted by ScotCen Social Research found that 58% of Scots identified themselves as non-religious, compared to 40% in 1999.
Christianity is the largest religion in England, with the Church of England being the nation's established state church, whose supreme governor is the monarch. Other Christian traditions in England include Roman Catholicism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Mormonism, and the Baptists. After Christianity, the religions with the most adherents are Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, modern paganism, and the Bahá'í Faith. There are also organisations promoting irreligion, including humanism and atheism. According to the 2021 census, Shamanism is the fastest growing religion in England.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Uganda. According to the 2014 census, over 84 percent of the population was Christian, while about 14 percent of the population adhered to Islam, making it the largest minority religion. Anglicanism and Catholicism are the main Christian denominations in the country.
Buddhism is the state religion of Cambodia. Approximately 97% of Cambodia's population follows Theravada Buddhism, with Islam, Christianity, and tribal animism as well as Baha’i faith making up the bulk of the small remainder. The wat and sangha (monkhood), together with essential Buddhist doctrines such as reincarnation and the accumulation of merit, are at the centre of religious life.
Christianity is the most widely professed religion in Chile, with Catholicism being its largest denomination. The country is secular and the freedom of religion is established under its Constitution.
Christianity is the most widely professed religion in Zimbabwe, with Protestantism being its largest denomination.
Of the religions in Tunisia, Islam is the most prevalent. It is estimated that in 2022, approximately 99% of Tunisia's inhabitants identified themselves as Muslims.
Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity, now involves many faiths as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. While Protestant Christianity still maintains a strong presence in the city, in recent decades Catholic Christians have gained a strong foothold due to migration patterns. Atlanta also has a considerable number of ethnic Christian congregations, such as Korean Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches, the Tamil Church Atlanta, Telugu Church, Hindi Church, Malayalam Church, Ethiopian, Chinese, and many more traditional ethnic religious groups. Large non-Christian faiths are present in the form of Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta.
Religion in Edmonton consists of the diverse religious traditions of the people who live in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta.
More than 60 percent of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation. As of 2010, at least 30 percent of the population identified with some form of Christianity, approximately 8.1 percent were Muslim, 1 percent were Jewish, and 1 percent belonged to other religions. As of 2018, the number of registered church members has shrunk to 14.9 percent for EKD Protestants and 8.5 percent for Catholics.
Throughout its history the city of Houston, Texas has been religiously influenced by Protestant Christianity in the Bible Belt. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the Houston area has become home to many different religions in part to its large ethnic diversity, immigration, and refugee resettlement.
City of Louisville and metro area | ||
|---|---|---|
| History |  | |
| Geography | ||
| Government |
| |
| Transportation | ||
| Other subject areas | ||
| Top subjects | ||
| National Historic Landmarks | ||
| Prominent suburbs (over 10K pop.) | ||
