22 Jul Traditional Religions in L.A.
With our independent streak and tendency toward identifying as “spiritual but not religious,” traditional religions have not been as strong in L.A. as elsewhere in the country. In 1906, for example, it was estimated that only 35% of California’s population belonged to a church compared to 70% of the rest of the country. This does not mean, of course, that traditional religions do not provide deep spiritual sustenance for many, many Angelenos. Of course they do.
About 65% of L.A. identifies as Christian, 3% Jewish, 3% Muslim, 2% Buddhist, and Other Faiths or Nothing 26% (includes agnostics, atheists, “spiritual but not religious,” and “don’t know”).
Racial discrimination against non-whites has, unfortunately, been very strong in L.A., however, there has been a surprising lack of religious intolerance. Far less tension exists between Catholics and Protestants than in the East, and the spiritual tenets and customs of blacks, Jews, Muslims, and Asians have been treated on more or less equal footing with their Catholic neighbors.
The Catholic Church
Priests from the Mission San Gabriel established L.A.’s first church, The Church of Our Lady Queen of the Angels as a sub-mission. It remained L.A.’s only Catholic church for many years.
Today there are about 4 million Catholics in L.A. attending services at roughly 300 churches. These are primarily Latino but include services held in 40 different languages.
Unfortunately, there have been a record-breaking numbers of cases of Catholic clergy sexual abuse which are still not settled to this day.
Protestants
The New England ministers who came to California cherished the idea of remaking their religions as they saw fit. They tended to be personalities who gravitated to the new, to independence and freedom of thought.
The first Protestant Church in L.A was First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, established in 1867. Various denominations settled into different geographic areas: Methodists in Long Beach, German Presbyterians founded Anaheim, and other Presbyterians and Methodists chose Pasadena and established it as a temperance (no alcohol) town. Mormons settled in San Bernardino.
Of the 65% Christians in L.A., Protestants are made up of 18% Evangelicals, 9% Mainline Protestants, and 3% Historically Black Protestants. Jehovah’s Witness are 1%.
© 2020 Catherine Auman
This is an excerpt from Catherine Auman’s book Guide to Spiritual L.A.: The Irreverent, the Awake, and the True
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