Exploring the Religious Landscape of the United States

This guided exercise will utilize interactive maps and membership reports to help you better understand the religious composition of your neighborhood, state, and entire nation. The ARDA has two sources of data that can be used to explore the religious landscape of the U.S. One of those sources of data is the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), which is conducted every 10 years by asking denominations to submit counts of members and congregations for every county in the United States. The other source of data that can be used to explore the religious landscape of the U.S. is the ARDA’s Community Profiles. This module will use both the RCMS and Community Profiles to explore the religious landscape of the U.S.