RELIGIOUS AGENCIES 333 



not one of the specialized agencies for the maintenance and propaga- 

 tion of religion, and, therefore, I have not included it here. 



The first of these specialized agencies is the church, some form of 

 which may be found in nearly every neighborhood. I speak now 

 of the local church, the religious congregation or assembly, organized 

 for worship and for work, and usually possessing an edifice or edifices 

 in which its work is carried on. Of all the agencies employed for 

 the maintenance and propagation of religion, this is by far the most 

 important. The local church, as it exists in America, is modeled 

 after the Jewish synagogue, of which it is the natural successor. The 

 parent organization is here, living side by side with its offspring; for 

 we have in America perhaps 600 or 700 Jewish congregations, and 

 it is easy for any of us to discover, by personal observation, to what 

 extent we are indebted to the Hebrew race for this method of 

 promoting religion. 



Other forms of faith are found in local religious organizations; 

 there are 1400 or 1500 congregations of Mormons; and there are 

 60 or 70 theosophical societies, between 40 and 50 Chinese temples, 

 a dozen or more communities of Shakers, a few groups of Free 

 Religionists, and several hundred societies of Spiritualists. 



All these, however, form but an insignificant number of local or- 

 ganizations when compared with the Christian churches of all creeds 

 and names. Adding together the congregations of all the other 

 forms of faith, we could not reach a total of more than three thou- 

 sand, while of local congregations representing the various forms of 

 Christian faith, there must be, in America, about 190,000. Of these 

 11,186 are of the Roman Catholic communion, and nearly 180,000 

 are Protestant societies. The Roman Catholics count all their 

 adherents, and they claim a population of nearly 12,000,000 con- 

 nected with their congregations. The Protestant congregations 

 count only their communicants, of whom there are not less than 

 18,000,000. If their adherents, young and old, were added, the 

 Protestant population would reach 35,000,000. These are estimates 

 for the present day, based on the latest and most trustworthy 

 statistics. 



It would thus appear that the Christian churches are at present 

 reaching by ministration and influence not less than 47,000,000 

 of the people of the United States. 



Connected with nearly all of these 190,000 Christian churches of 

 various names are Sunday-schools in which religious instruction is 

 given. But there are also many Sunday-schools not connected with 

 churches, planted and supported by undenominational agencies, 

 and not included in the figures given above. How many of these 

 religious agencies there may be I have no means of knowing. 



Closely affiliated with these churches, and indeed, as a rule, vitally 



