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BELIEVE Religious Information Source - By Alphabet Our List of 2,300 Religious Subjects

Affil- iation	Name	Originator	Year	US Chrchs	US Members		US Clergy
Affil- iation	Name	Originator	Year	US Chrchs	Confirm	Total	US Clergy
CA--BA	Advent Christian Church	Wm Miller Ellen H White	1860	335	28000	28000	498
CM--BF	African Methodist Episcopal Church	Richard Allen	1816	8000	.	3500000	.
CM--BF	African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	William Phoebus	1820	3000	1000000	1200000	2686
CO--C-	Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America	Theophan Noli	1908	2	1873	1873	3
CMW-B-	Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection	.	.	122	1934	2060	183
CX--w-	Amana Church Society	.	1842	1	400	450	.
CB--B-	The American Baptist Association	.	1905	1705	.	250000	1760
CB--b-	American Baptist Churches in the USA	.	1907	5845	1534078	1534078	7515
CO--C-	The Am. Carpatho-Russ Ortho Greek Cathol	Alexis Toth	1891	72	18611	18611	77
CX--B-	American Evangelical Christian Churches	.	1944	.	.	.	197
CX--B-	American Rescue Workers	.	1884	16	5000	35000	96
Ca--Ag	Anglican Orthodox Church	James Parker Dees	1963	37	2630	6000	8
CO--C-	Antiochan Ortho Christian Archdioc of NA	.	1975	160	250000	250000	275
CMH-B-	Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarene)	S H Froelich	1850	48	.	2799	178
CX---g	Apostolic Christian Churches of America	Benedict Weyeneth	1847	80	.	11450	340
CX----	Apostolic Faith Mission Church of God	.	.	53	12000	14000	67
CM--p-	Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland/OR	Rev Mrs Florence Crawford	1907	55	4500	4500	95
CL--B-	Apostolic Lutheran Church of America	Lars Laestadius	1850	60	7000	9500	60
C-----	Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God	Bishop W T Phillips	1916	192	1463	1463	.
CC--x-	Armenian Apostolic Church of America	St Gregory	301 AD	32	30000	150000	27
CCE-X-	Armenian Church of America (Diocese of)	St Gregory	301 AD	72	14000	414000	70
CMA-B-	Assemblies of God	Wm Durham	1914	11689	1337321	2257846	30893
CR--B-	Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church	.	1822	196	33550	38763	254
A---n-	Atheists	.	.	.	.	1336000	.
O---t-	Baha'i	Baha'u'llah/Bab	1850	7400	.	370000	0
CB--B-	Baptist Bible Fellowship International	.	.	3500	.	1500000	.
CB--B-	Baptist General Conference	Gustaf Palmquist	1852	821	134658	134658	1700
CB--B-	Baptist Missionary Association of America	.	1950	1362	236604	236604	2700
Cn--B-	Beachy Amish Mennonite Churches	Moses Beachy Jacob Amman	1927	95	6968	6968	323
CX--B-	Berean Fundamental Church	Ivan Olsen	1936	51	2768	2768	60
CX----	The Bible Church of Christ	.	.	6	4200	6700	54
I---m-	Black Muslim	NobleDrewAli WallaceFard	1920	.	.	300000	.
CX----	The Brethren Church (Ashland/ OH)	.	1882	124	13132	13132	177
CX--B-	Brethren in Christ Church	.	1863	184	16697	16697	284
B---c-	Buddhism	Gautama Buddha	600 BC	.	.	565000	.
B---c-	Buddhism-Hinayana	Gautama Buddha	600 BC	.	.	.	.
B---c-	Buddhist Mission of N.A. (Jodo Shinshu)	Gautama Buddha	1898	62	.	250000	75
CO--C-	Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church	.	1909	9	900	1100	13
CC--P-	Christ Catholic Church	.	.	12	1301	1558	13
CX----	Christadelphians	John Thomas	1845	.	.	.	.
CX--B-	The Christian and Missionary Alliance	A B Simpson	1881	1923	142346	289391	2369
CX----	Christian Brethren	John Nelson Darby	1820	1150	.	98000	.
CC----	Christian Catholic Church (Evang-Protest	John Dowie	1896	5	.	2000	12
CX--b-	Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)	Barton Stone	1810	3996	655652	1011502	7018
CX----	Christian Church of N America/ Gen Counc	.	1927	104	.	13500	169
CX--B-	Christian Churches and Churches of Chris	Thomas Campbell	1800	5579	.	1070616	6596
CX--b-	The Christian Congregation	.	1887	1437	111324	111324	1433
CM---F	Christian Methodist Episcopal Church	.	1870	2340	.	718922	2650
CX----	Christian Nation Church USA	.	.	5	.	200	23
CR--B-	Christian Reformed Church in N America	.	1847	736	145911	223617	1162
CB--B-	Christian Union	.	1864	240	9790	9790	558
CY----	Christian Zionism	Blackstone	1891	.	.	.	.
CY----	Church of Christ/Scientist	Mary Baker Eddy	1866	2500	.	250000	0
CMH-B-	Church of God (Anderson/ IN)	.	1880	2330	214743	214743	3576
CM--pF	Church of God (Cleveland/ TN)	The Tomlinsons	1886	5776	672008	672008	6898
CA--B-	Church of God (Seventh Day)(Denver/ CO)	.	1884	153	5000	5000	132
CX----	Church of God (Which He Purch w/His Blood	.	.	7	800	800	16
CB--B-	Church of God General Conference	.	1847	87	4085	5336	80
CX----	Church of God by Faith	.	1914	145	6819	8235	170
Cn--B-	Church of God in Christ (Mennonite)	John Holdeman	1859	79	10234	10234	358
CMH-B-	Church of God in Christ	C H Mason C P Jones	1897	15300	5499875	5499875	33593
CM--pF	Church of God of Prophecy	A J Tomlinson	1923	2072	72465	72465	7964
CX----	Church of God of the Mountain Assembly	.	.	111	5000	5000	136
CX----	Church of Illumination	Swinburne Clymer	1908	10	1200	1700	18
Cm--M-	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Sts	Joseph Smith	1830	9654	4430000	4430000	.
Cm--M-	Church of Jesus Christ(Bickertonites)	Sidney Rigdon	1846	63	.	2707	262
CL--B-	Church of Lutheran Brethren of America	.	1900	110	7684	12182	207
CX----	Church of the Brethren	Peter Becker	1719	1139	147912	147912	1214
CX----	Church of the Living God	William Christian	1889	170	.	42000	170
CL--B-	Church of the Lutheran Confession	.	1961	70	6418	8798	77
CMW-B-	Church of the Nazarene	John Wesley	1908	5172	572152	573834	9363
CY----	Church of Scientology	L Ron Hubbard	1955	.	.	.	.
CX--B-	Churches of Christ	.	1906	13174	1284056	1684872	.
CX--BF	Churches of God/ General Conference	John Winebrenner	1845	359	33096	33096	423
CX----	Community Churches/ Int'l Council of	.	1923	410	500000	500000	616
c---r-	Confucianism	Confucius	600 BC	.	.	26000	.
CX----	Congregational Christian Churches-Nat As	.	1955	405	90000	90000	600
CMH-B-	Congregational Holiness Church	.	1921	176	7116	7116	349
CB--B-	Conservative Baptist Assoc of America	.	1947	1084	200000	200000	.
CX--B-	Conserv. Congregational Christian Cn	H B Sandine	1935	188	30387	30387	513
J---OW	Conservative Judaism	Moses	1600 BC	.	.	2400000	.
CL--B-	Conservative Lutheran Association	.	.	12	.	1530	27
CO--C-	Coptic Orthodox Church	.	85 AD	.	180000	180000	68
CX--B-	Crystal Cathedral	Robert Schuller	1955	.	.	.	.
CP--B-	Cumberland Presbyterian Church	Finis Ewing	1810	782	92240	92240	782
CX----	Disciples of Christ	T Campbell	1800	.	.	.	.
CCE-P-	Eastern Rite Catholic Church	.	1596	.	.	.	.
Cp--B-	Elim Fellowship	.	1947	66	.	12000	322
Ca--A-	Episcopal Church	White/Seabury	1789	7367	1615505	2471880	14878
CL--B-	Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church	.	.	24	.	7298	19
CX----	Evangelical Church	Jacob Allbright	1807	43	3336	3336	88
CX----	The Evangelical Congregational Church	.	1894	155	24437	32700	222
CX--BF	Evangelical Covenant Church	.	.	596	89648	89648	1028
CX----	Evangelical Free Church of America	.	1884	1173	117027	214186	1817
CL--B-	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	.	1917	11055	3878055	5234568	17416
CL--B-	Evangelical Lutheran Synod	.	1918	126	15929	21525	151
Cn--B-	Evangelical Mennonite Church	Henry Egly	1865	27	4130	4130	58
CM----	The Evangelical Methodist Church	.	1946	132	8500	8500	.
CP--B-	Evangelical Presbyterian Church	.	1937	174	51423	55008	382
CX----	Evangelical United Brethren	Otterbein/Boehm Albright	1807	.	.	.	.
CX----	Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches	.	.	14	.	1925	47
CX----	Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches	.	.	25	1436	2090	52
CMW-B-	Fire Baptised Holiness Church (Wesleyan)	.	1908	49	.	692	67
CY--v-	Followers of the Way	Victor Paul Wierville	1953	.	.	.	.
CC--P-	Franciscans	St Francis of Assisi	1226	.	.	.	.
CL--B-	Free Lutheran Congregations/ (Assoc of)	.	1962	225	20945	28469	181
CC----	Freemasonry	.	.	.	.	.	.
CM---F	Free Methodist Church of North America	B T Roberts	1860	1055	58220	74168	1854
CQ--I-	Friends Gen Conf of Relig Societ of Frnd	George Fox Wm Penn	1868	520	31500	31500	.
CQ--I-	Friends United Meeting	George Fox Wm Penn	1902	.	50803	50803	637
CMA-p-	Full Gospel Assemblies International	.	.	4	.	.	327
CX----	Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches+Minis	.	.	475	.	.	1243
CM----	Fundamental Methodist Church	.	.	12	675	1075	25
CB--Bg	General Assoc of Regular Baptist Churchs	.	1932	1532	.	160123	.
CB--B-	General Baptists (General Assoc of)	Roger Williams	1823	876	74156	74156	1384
CA--B-	Gen Conf of Church of God (Seventh Day)	.	1933	153	.	5700	130
Cn--B-	General Conf Mennonite Church	.	1860	229	33937	33937	394
CX----	Grace Brethren Churches/ Fellowship of	.	1882	308	36220	36220	600
CX--Bg	Grace Gospel Fellowship	.	.	128	.	60000	196
H-----	Hindu	.	1500 BC	.	.	1285000	.
CR--B-	Hungarian Reformed Church in America	.	1904	27	.	9780	32
Cn--B-	The Hutterian Brethren	Jacob Hutter	1536	95	.	6700	195
CX----	Independent Fundamental Churches of Amer	.	1930	708	71672	71672	1369
CM--B-	International Church of FourSquare Gospel	Aimee Semple McPherson	1890	1558	203043	207455	2403
CMP-p-	International Pentacostal Church of Chri	.	1907	73	2661	4593	167
CMP-p-	International Pentacostal Holiness Church	.	1898	.	.	131674	.
I---m-	Islam	Muhammad	620 AD	.	.	3000000	.
H-----	Jainism	.	.	.	.	4000	.
CY--BW	Jehovah's Witnesses	Charles Taze Russell	1876	9890	914079	914079	0
J---OW	Judaism	Moses	1650 BC	.	2750000	5728000	.
CC----	Jesuits	.	.	.	.	.	.
CC----	Knights of Columbus	Michael McGivney	1882	9000	1470000	1470000	.
CP--B-	Korean Presbyterian Church in America	.	.	203	21788	26988	381
B---c-	Lamaism	.	.	OO	.	.	.
CL--B-	Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amer	.	.	56	11432	12553	48
CC--P-	Liberal Catholic Church-Province of USA	.	.	34	.	2800	127
CB--B-	Liberty Baptist Fellowship	.	.	100	.	.	110
CL--B-	Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod	.	1847	5369	1953248	2609905	8799
CL--B-	Lutheran Churches/ (American Assoc of)	.	1960	78	.	15150	80
CL--B-	Protestant Conference (Lutheran)	.	1927	7	800	1100	8
B---c-	Mahayana Buddhists	Gautama Buddha	500 BC	.	.	565000	.
Cn--B-	Mennonite Brethren Churches (Amer Assoc)	.	1860	144	16843	16843	470
Cn--B-	Mennonite Church	.	1683	1056	99446	99446	2784
Cn--B-	Mennonite Church/ General Conference	.	1860	227	34040	34040	904
CX----	Metropolitan Community Churches/ UnivFel	Troy Perry	1968	291	14664	30000	296
Cn--B-	Missionary Church	.	1889	309	28196	28196	765
I---m-	Mohammedanism	Muhammad	620 AD	.	.	3000000	.
CO----	Moravian Church in America/ Northern Pro	.	850 AD	97	22533	29469	176
CO----	Moravian Church in America/ Southern Pro	.	850 AD	56	17300	21513	95
I---m-	Moslem	Muhammad	620 AD	.	.	3000000	.
CB--B-	Nat'l Assoc of Free Will Baptists	Paul Palmer Benj Randall	1727	2495	209223	209223	2900
CB--B-	Nat'l Baptist Convention of America	.	1880	2500	.	3500000	.
CB--B-	Nat'l Baptist Convention/ USA	.	1880	33000	8200000	8200000	32832
CB--B-	Nat'l Missionary Baptist Convention	.	.	.	.	2500000	.
CC----	Nat'l Org of New Apostolic Church of NA	.	1862	549	41201	41201	925
CR--B-	Netherlands Reformed Congregations	.	1865	15	2778	5336	9
B---c-	Nichiren Soshu of America	Gautama Buddha	500 BC	.	.	.	.
CB--B-	North American Baptist Conference	.	1840	289	43446	43446	277
CC--P-	North American Old Roman Catholic Church	.	1911	5	400	400	10
CQ--I-	Northwest Meeting of Friends Church	George Fox Wm Penn	.	53	4813	7422	160
CB--B-	Old German Baptist Brethren	.	1881	56	5477	5477	244
Cn--b-	Old Order Amish Church	Jacob Amman	1730	873	78570	78570	3517
CM--p-	Open Bible Standard Churches	.	1919	368	33000	40000	1004
CO--C-	Orthodox Church in America	.	1970	700	400000	600000	945
CO--C-	The Orthodox Church of Greece	.	1922	7	1000	1000	23
J---pW	Orthodox Judaism	Moses	.	.	.	630000	.
CP--B-	The Orthodox Presbyterian Church	.	1936	170	12265	18137	315
CMP-p-	Pentecostal Assemblies of the World	.	1907	1005	.	500000	.
CMP-p-	Pentecostal Church of God	.	1919	1170	42985	101786	1657
CMP-p-	Pentecostal Fire-Baptised Holiness Church	.	.	27	234	234	26
CMP-pg	Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church	.	1959	150	15000	18000	250
CX----	Plymouth Brethren	.	.	.	.	.	.
CP--D-	Presbyterian Church (USA)	.	1861	11456	2780406	3758085	20527
CP--B-	Presbyterian Church in America	.	1936	1212	194825	239500	2217
CA---A	Primitive Advent Christian Church	Wm Miller Ellen H White	c. 1830	10	340	340	11
CM---F	Primitive Methodist Church in the USA	Lorenzo Dow	1829	81	7677	7677	98
CB--B-	Progressive Nat'l Baptist Convention	.	1961	1400	2500000	2500000	1400
O-----	Rastafarians	.	.	.	.	.	.
J---OW	Reconstructionist Judaism	.	.	.	.	10000	.
CR--B-	Reformed Church in America	T Frelinghuysen	1748	927	190400	274521	1670
CR--B-	Reformed Church in the United States	.	1793	37	3200	4178	36
CR--A-	Reformed Episcopal Church	Bishop George Cummins	1873	83	5882	6565	147
J---oW	Reformed Judaism	.	1820	.	.	1900000	.
CR--BF	Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church	.	1885	.	.	3800	33
CR--B-	Reformed Presbyterian Church of NA	.	1752	68	.	5174	127
CQ--I-	Religious Society of Friends (Conservatv	George Fox John Wilbur	1652	28	.	1744	17
Cm--M-	Reorganized Church of JesusChrist LDS	Joseph Smith	1852	1001	150143	150143	16742
CC--P-	Roman Catholic Church	.	33 AD	19863	.	59220723	50907
CO--C-	Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America	.	1929	37	65000	65000	81
CY----	Rosicrucians (AMORC)	Johan Valentin Andrea	1614	.	.	.	.
CO--C-	Russian Orthodox Church in USA	.	988 AD	38	.	9780	45
CM--B-	The Salvation Army	William Booth	1878	1151	133214	446403	5241
CY--d-	The Schwenkfelder Church	Caspar Schwenckfeld	1734	5	2475	2475	10
I---m-	Semites	Muhammad	620 AD	.	.	.	.
CB--BF	Separate Baptists in Christ	.	1695	100	8000	8000	140
CO--C-	Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA	.	1219	68	.	67000	82
CA---A	Seventh Day Adventist Church	Wm Miller Ellen H White	1844	4261	748687	748687	4355
CA--bF	Seventh Day Baptist General Conference	Stephen Mumford	1672	90	5250	5250	81
CX--z-	Shakers	James Wardley Mother Ann Lee	1747	.	50	50	.
CX--y-	Shepherd's Church (Ft Laud/ FL)	.	1962	.	.	.	.
I---m-	Shiites	Muhammad	661 AD	.	.	.	.
S-----	Shintoism	.	.	.	.	1000	.
K-----	Sikhism	Gure Nanak	1500	.	.	257000	.
CB--B-	Southern Baptist Convention	.	1845	38401	15358866	15358866	63352
CM---F	The Southern Methodist Church	.	1939	133	7745	7745	139
CB--B-	Sovereign Grace Baptists	.	.	300	3000	3000	400
I---m-	Sufism	Muhammad	690 AD	.	.	.	.
I---m-	Sunnites	Muhammad	620 AD	.	.	.	.
CY--SF	Swedenborgian Church	Emmanuel Swedenborg	1783	50	.	2423	54
CO--C-	Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch	.	1907	16	33000	33000	18
T---q-	Taoism	Lao-Tse	600 BC	.	.	.	.
CO--C-	Ukranian Orthodox Church in America	.	988 AD	27	.	5000	37
O---x-	Unification Church	Sun Myung Moon	1954	.	.	.	.
CY--EC	Unitarian Church	.	1819	1005	175233	175233	.
Cn--B-	United Brethren in Christ	Wm Otterbein Martin Boehm	1800	251	26879	26879	494
CX----	United Christian Church	.	1889	12	.	420	11
CX----	United Church of Christ	.	1931	6264	1555382	1555382	10203
CMW--F	United Methodist Church	John Wesley	1729	37100	8789101	8789101	38492
CM--p-	United Pentecostal Church International	.	1945	3728	550000	550000	7483
CX----	United Zion Church	Bishop Matthias Brinser	1855	13	.	850	20
CX----	Unity of the Brethren	.	1457	26	2615	3615	28
I---m-	Wahhabism	Abd al-Wahhab	1744	.	.	.	.
CMW-BF	The Wesleyan Church (USA)	Orange Scott	1843	1612	106397	114174	2539
CL--B-	Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod	.	1850	1211	316813	420039	1607
CY--B-	Worldwide Church of God	Herbert W Armstrong	1931	.	67000	67000	.
B---c-	Zen Buddhists	.	.	.	.	.	.
J-----	Zionism	.	.	.	.	.	.
Z---Z-	Zoroastrianism	Zoroaster	600 BC	.	.	.	.

Notes:
In the first 'Affiliations' column, we tried to identify 'belief groups' that this particular group was closely associated with. These 'affiliations' are not precise, and since there is sometimes great diversity in a listed religion or denomination, they may not even be accurate in some cases! They are offered merely as a general guideline in trying to make sense of the sometimes bewildering variety of belief systems!

The one letter codes are as follows:

First letter:
- C Christian
- J Jewish
- I Islam
- B Buddhist
- H Hindu
- S Shintoism
- K Sikkism
- Z Zoroastrianism
- T Taoism
- O or A other
Second letter:
- M Methodist
- L Lutheran
- C Catholic
- O Orthodox
- A Adventist
- B Baptist
- a Anglican
- m Mormon
- R Reformed
- n Mennonite
- P Presbyterian
- Q Quaker
- X combination
The remaining letters are intended to some day indicate specific beliefs and are currently relatively meaningless.

The individual articles presented here were generally first published in the early 1980s. This subject presentation was first placed on the Internet in May 1997.

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