US Religion by County, 1950 Census

[jimrtex]

The last time the US Census asked about religion:

What is your data source?

[jimrtex]

What's with all these Catholics in the Mountain West?

The US Census has never asked individuals about their religion, and it is now illegal to do so. Since answering the census is mandatory, it is felt that it would violate freedom of conscience to ask the question.

In the the latter part of 19th Century, there was a separate questionnaire for churches which would be conducted at the same time as the census. In 1890, for the first time, it included a question about church membership. Every 10 years, from 1906-1946, there was a separate census of religious bodies, though the results from 1946 were not published.

In 1890, Montana had 142K, Arizona 88K, Idaho 88K, and Wyoming 62K. By comparison, Colorado had 413K. Notice how huge the counties in Montana were.

Because it is more centrally organized, it is easier for the Catholic church to organize parishes. It might be possible because priests are single, that it would be easier to send a young priest off to a rough frontier town. It might be hard to recruit a minister and his wife and young children. Catholics may have better record keeping, and may record "members" differently. Churches might be less likely to be skipped. Each protestant body would have to organize separately. If there were 100 Catholics, and 200 protestants in a town, the 200 protestants might be divided among 10 denominations, so they would be faced with organizing a church for a couple dozen members. There might be a Methodist church in one town, and a Lutheran in the next, and so on. Methodists might not go to the Lutheran church and vice versa.

[jimrtex]

The last time the US Census asked about religion:

What is your data source?

National Historical Geographic Information System, run by the University of Minnesota. All their data is free, though you have to register.

They (or ICPSR) have blended some sources.

The Census never has had a religious question asked of individuals.

In conjunction with the population census, the census has also included surveys about manufacturing, agriculture, and religion. The religious survey was done by contacting churches, etc. 1890 was the first where the churches were asked to include the number of members.

From 1906-1946, the Census Bureau conducted a decennial census of religious bodies, though the results from 1946 were never published due to a lack of funding.

After the Census Bureau stopped collecting data on religious bodies, the National Council of Churches did so in 1952, this is the source of the 1950 data.

NHGIS data sources

[jimrtex]

The purple areas in Oregon might be Mormon.

There were 114 denominations that were aggregated into:

Baptist (groups combined)
Congregationalist
Disciples of Christ
Lutheran (lots of groups combined)
Methodist
Presbyterian
Episcopal
Roman Catholic
Jews
"Other"

In Oregon, the "Other" group is mainly Adventists and Mormons. It also appears that the other groups are somewhat balanced, and perhaps overall weak.

In Lane County, "other" was

Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints 1734
Assemblies of God 1429
Seventh Day Adventist 1084
Evangelical United Brethren Church 814
Open Bible Standard Churches, Inc. 780
Churches of God (Anderson, Indiana) 337
Church of the Nazarene 143
Church of the Brethren 142
Unitarian Church 92
Reorganized Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 81
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel 25
Pilgrim Holiness Church 21

Add them all up and

Other 6682

Disciples of Christ 6493
Roman Catholic 4392
Methodist 4372
Baptist 3971
Lutheran 2940
Presbyterian 1831 (6 groups top the largest "other" group (LDS)

Episcopal 1193
Congregationalist 903

[jimrtex]

How come they don't ask about it anymore? It would be fascinating to see how these patterns have changed over time.

Anyway, great map!

They don't ask it anymore because it's actually illegal to do so (Congress banned it from being a Census category after this), as for why while the data is interesting to us demographic nerds it doesn't serve much of a purpose in regards to the stuff Census data is actually used for.

Individuals were never asked a religion question.

The Census Bureau did not exist until 1902. Before that US Marshals would be directed to tabulate all the individuals in their jurisdiction. They were also directed to gather information about manufacturers, agriculture, commerce, education, etc. Sometimes the directions were vague, and the additional information was incomplete or little value.

In 1890, not only were churches surveyed, but the number of members of the congregation were asked about. Beginning in 1906 through 1946, there was a decennial census of religious bodies (the results from 1946 were never published due to lack of funding).

Before the 1950 Census, some groups requested a religion question. Some suggested that it would help denominations plan churches, just as McDonald's, etc. use the census to guide placement of stores. Ultimately no religion question was added. The 1950 Census was the last to rely on enumerators. Since it looked like the Census was going to stop doing the Census of Religious Bodies, the National Council of Churches organized a survey in 1952.

13 USC § 102 permits the Census Bureau to collect decennial statistics on religious bodies, and 13 USC § 224 provides fines for failure to comply.

12 USC § 221 provides fines for an individual falsely answering questions, but in 1976 subsection (c) was added providing an exception about religious questions. The 1976 law also eliminated the prison sentences for false answering.

So it appears that the Census Bureau has decided that it is better to say "You must fill out the Census form." and not include the exception, rather than "Please fill out the form, it is really fun, pretty please "

There is also a push to shorten the form so people don't think it is too long, or the questions are too personal.

[jimrtex]

I can make guesses. The primary one is that because the Southern Baptists remained a distinct body, they were not as influenced by the theological liberalism that affected the Methodist Episcopal Church even before the northern and southern wings (as well as the Methodist Protestant Church) formally reunited in 1939 as the Methodist Church. The South being theologically conservative is not a new phenomenon.

It might be worthwhile to see how the different bodies were aggregated. The 1952 survey doesn't appear to include the AME Church or National Baptist Convention.

Maybe the 1906-1936 data sets should be mapped to see if a trend can be identified, or there are differences between 1952 data set and those generated by the Census Bureau.