Catholic Church in the United States
With 23 percent of the United States' population as of 2018, the Catholic Church is the country's second-largest religious grouping after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided into separate denominations. In a 2020 Gallup poll, 25% of Americans said they were Catholic. The United States has the fourth-largest Catholic population in the world, after Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
St. Francis Xavier Church in Compton, Maryland, the oldest Catholic church in continuous operation from the Thirteen Colonies
John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore, the first Catholic bishop in the United States. His cousin, Charles Carroll, was a Founding Father and one of 56 founders to sign the Declaration of Independence.
18th century New Spanish Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine
Protestantism in the United States
Protestantism is the largest grouping of Christians in the United States, with its combined denominations collectively comprising about 43% of the country's population in 2019. Other estimates suggest that 48.5% of the U.S. population is Protestant. Simultaneously, this corresponds to around 20% of the world's total Protestant population. The U.S. contains the largest Protestant population of any country in the world. Baptists comprise about one-third of American Protestants. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest single Protestant denomination in the U.S., comprising one-tenth of American Protestants. Twelve of the original Thirteen Colonies were Protestant, with only Maryland having a sizable Catholic population due to Lord Baltimore's religious tolerance.
Pilgrims Going to Church, an 1867 portrait by George Henry Boughton
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, Maryland, built in 1752
