Throughout its history the city of Houston, Texas has been religiously influenced by Protestant Christianity in the Bible Belt. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the Houston area has become home to many different religions in part to its large ethnic diversity, immigration, and refugee resettlement.
According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 73% of Houstonians identified themselves as Christians, with 50% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 19% professing Roman Catholic Christian beliefs while 20% claimed no religious affiliation. The same study revealed that other religions (including Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism) collectively made up about 7% of the population.Major U.S. metropolitan areas differ in their religious profiles, Pew Research Center
, 46% of the Houston-area population was Protestant, 31% was Catholic, 5% was of other religions, and 18% was of no religion; in a separate 2020 study by the Public Religion Research Institute, 72% of the population were Christian, and 40% were Protestant while 29% were Catholic. Its unaffiliated population in 2020 was 21%, and Muslims and Jews were the second and third-largest non-Christian religions in the area.
Christianity
Christianity in Houston arrived with its settlement. Since then, Christianity has remained the most prevalently practiced religion for Houston and its metropolitan area. In 2012, Kate Shellnut of the Houston Chronicle described Houston as a "heavily Christian city."Shellnut, Kate. "For Jeremy Lin: Houston church-hunting advice ." Houston Chronicle. July 19, 2012. Retrieved on May 3, 2014. According to the Pew Research Center and D Magazine, Houston is the third-most religious and Christian area by percentage of population in the United States, and second in Texas behind the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The metropolitan area of Houston's Christian community is dominated by Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.
In 2020, the Association of Religion Data Archives determined that the Catholic Church numbered some 1,299,901 individuals for the metropolitan area; the second-largest single Christian denomination (Southern Baptists) numbered 800,688; following, non-denominational Protestant churches represented the third-largest Christian cohort at 666,548. Altogether, however, Baptists of the Southern Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Association, American Baptist Churches USA, Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, National Baptist Convention USA and National Baptist Convention of America, and the National Missionary Baptist Convention numbered 926,554. Non-denominational Protestants, the Disciples of Christ, Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and the Churches of Christ numbered 723,603 altogether according to this study.
Lakewood Church in Houston, led by Pastor Joel Osteen, is the largest church in the United States. A megachurch, it had 44,800 weekly attendees in 2010, up from 11,000 weekly in 2000. Since 2005, it has occupied the former Compaq Center sports stadium. In September 2010, Outreach magazine published a list of the 100 largest Christian churches in the United States, and on the list were the following Houston-area churches: Lakewood, Second Baptist Church Houston, Woodlands Church, Church Without Walls, and First Baptist Church. According to the list, Houston and Dallas were tied as the second-most popular city for megachurches in 2011.The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston, the largest Catholic jurisdiction in Texas and fifth-largest in the United States, was established in 1847. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston claimed approximately 1.7 million Catholics within its boundaries as of 2019. Its co-cathedral is located within the Houston city limits, while the diocesan is in Galveston. Other prominent Catholic jurisdictions include the Eastern Catholic Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as well as the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, whose cathedral is also in Houston. A relatively small Maronite Catholic community exists in the area with about 500 families as of 2008.Murphy, Bill. "Maronite cardinal tells of threat to Lebanon." Houston Chronicle. May 20, 2008. Retrieved on May 3, 2014.Vara, Richard. "Maronite cardinal visits Houston." Houston Chronicle. May 23, 2008. Retrieved on May 3, 2014.
A variety of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches can be found in Houston. Immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Ethiopia, India, and other areas have added to Houston's Eastern and Oriental Orthodox population. As of 2011 in the entire state, 32,000 people actively attended Orthodox churches. In 2013, Father John Whiteford, the pastor of St. Jonah Orthodox Church near Spring, stated that there were about 6,000-9,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians in Houston. The Association of Religion Data Archives numbered 16,526 Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Houstonians in 2020. The most prominent Eastern and Oriental Orthodox jurisdictions are the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Armenian Apostolic Church.Vara, Richard. " Head of Armenian Apostolic Church visiting Houston." Houston Chronicle. Saturday October 20, 2007. Retrieved on April 27, 2016.
Among its Eastern Orthodox community, the Greek Orthodox constitute a substantial portion and originated the annual Greek Festival. The Eastern Orthodox community, similar to Protestant and Catholic communities, operates their own private school.
Within the Coptic Orthodox community, churches are part of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. In 2004, there were three Coptic Orthodox churches in Houston: St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Bellaire, the St. Mary and Archangel Michael Church in northwest Harris County, and the Archangel Raphael Coptic Orthodox Church in Clear Lake City. The St. Mary and Archangel Michael church began church services on July 25, 2004, had 200 families in August of that year, and was built at a cost of $2.5 million.Vara, Richard. "New home is 'miracle' for Coptic Christians." Houston Chronicle. August 21, 2004. Retrieved on May 3, 2014. The St. Mary and Archangel Michael church is the largest Copt church in the Houston area.Katz, Gregory. "Egyptian Coptic Christians find bright future in Houston." Houston Chronicle. December 6, 2006. Retrieved on May 3, 2014.
In the late 1960s, there were far fewer Coptic families, and they were served by a priest from Los Angeles, who would fly monthly to Houston and hold mass in a borrowed Orthodox church or in a private house. From 1968 to 2006, more than 600 Coptic families moved to Houston. Due to sectarian strife against Copts in Egypt, by 2006, the number of immigrants had increased and membership of Copt churches in Houston was growing. In 2006, Gregory Katz of the Houston Chronicle said that, partly because many Copt church leaders are accustomed to anti-Copt attitudes in Egypt, those who come to Houston are not accustomed to speaking freely about their religious beliefs. They "do not mingle easily with the rest of the large Christian community in the Houston area". After the 2011 Alexandria bombing in Egypt, Houston Coptic churches cancelled their Coptic Christmas services.Shellnutt, Kate. "Coptic Christians in Houston cancel Christmas services ." Houston Chronicle. January 6, 2011. Retrieved on May 25, 2014.
As of 2011, there were 58,200 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) in Houston, with more than 1,000 new members joining per year. The LDS Church has over 32 Spanish-speaking congregations in Houston.
Judaism
The first synagogue to open in Houston was the Orthodox Beth Israel Congregation, now the Congregation Beth Israel, which opened in 1854.Bell, p. 216. As of around 1987, about 42,000 Jews lived in Greater Houston.Bell, p. 217. In 2008, Irving N. Rothman, author of The Barber in Modern Jewish Culture: A Genre of People, Places, and Things, with Illustrations, wrote that Houston "has a scattered Jewish populace and not a large enough population of Jews to dominate any single neighborhood" and that the city's "hub of Jewish life" is the Meyerland community.Rothman, p. 358.
According to a study in 2016 by Berman Jewish DataBank, 51,000 Jews lived in the area, an increase of 4,000 since 2001. By 2016, there were over 40 synagogues in the Houston area. The Association of Religion Data Archives 2020 study determined there were 7,061 Conservative Jews and 3,050 Orthodox Jews; there were 11,481 Reform Jews throughout the area.
Islam
Houston has the largest Muslim community in Texas and the Southern United States, as of 2012. It is estimated that Muslims made up 1.2% of Houston's population. As of 2016, Muslims in the Houston area included South Asians, Middle Easterners, Africans, Turks, and Indonesians, as well as a growing population of Latino Muslim converts. In 2000 there were over 41 mosques and storefront religious centers, with the largest being the Al-Noor Mosque (Mosque of Light) of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. In 2020, there were an estimated 123,256 Muslims.
Among the largest branches of Islam, in 2007, Barbara Karkabi of the Houston Chronicle wrote that the Sunni and Shia Muslims "generally enjoy good relations in Houston."Karkabi, Barbara. "The two faces of Islam." February 24, 2007. Retrieved on May 3, 2014. The University of Houston has separate student organizations for Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims, the mostly-Sunni Muslim Students Association and the Shia Association of Muslim Students. In contrast with most Muslim communities, the Houston area has a notable LGBT Muslim base, and announced the establishment of an affirming mosque in 2022.
Buddhism In the late 1970s, Buddhists began establishing themselves in Houston. Even though the first wave of Vietnamese immigrants to Houston, occurring after the end of the Vietnam War, was mostly Roman Catholic, subsequent waves of Vietnamese immigrants were mostly Buddhist.Klineberg, Stephen L. and Jie Wu. "DIVERSITY AND TRANSFORMATION AMONG ASIANS IN HOUSTON: Findings from the Kinder Institute’s Houston Area Asian Survey (1995, 2002, 2011)" (Archive). Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University. February 2013. - Cited: p. 39.
The Texas Buddhist Association (TBA) in Houston was founded in 1978 by Reverend Jan Hai. In order to allow westerners to come to Buddhism in a context they could understand, Hai adopted a congregational form similar to that of a Christian church. The American Bodhi Center, a property located in unincorporated Waller County, near Hempstead, is a part of the TBA. It includes log houses, dormitories, and a meditation hall. In 2009 Zen T. C. Zheng of the Houston Chronicle stated that it is one of the United States's largest Buddhist developments.Zheng, Zen T.C. "A Texas starting place on Buddhism's path." Houston Chronicle. July 30, 2009. Retrieved on May 3, 2014.
The Buddha Light Temple opened in 1984, making it one of the first Buddhist places of worship. Fo Guang Shan Chung Mei Temple () is a Buddhist Temple located in Stafford, Texas. Dawn Mountain Tibetan Temple, a Tibetan Buddhist temple and community center, is located in Montrose. A husband and wife, Rice University religious studies professor Anne Klein and therapist Harvey Aronson, started the temple in 1996."Buddhist temple thrives in the heart of Montrose." Houston Chronicle. September 6, 2012. Lifestyle > Houston Belief. Retrieved on May 3, 2014.