Not Everyone Has Stopped Building U.S. Houses of Worship

Religious construction is downway downin the U.S. over the last decade or so. New religious buildings and additions to existing structures will total an estimated 10.3 million square feet this year, down 80% from 2002, according to Dodge Data & Analytics.

But that overall decline doesnt mean every denomination and faith has stopped building new houses of worship.

The Catholic Church and many mainline Protestant denominations are shrinking, according to the decennial U.S. Religion Census conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shed 22% of its adherents between 2000 and 2010, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America shrank by 18.2% over the same period and the United Church of Christ saw its ranks decline by 24.4%.

It makes sense that many shrinking congregations wouldnt be in a position to embark on ambitious construction projects. But other faiths are seeing strong growth. The estimated number of Muslims in the U.S. rose by 66.7% between 2000 and 2010, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew by 45.5%, according to the census.

Those congregations would be ramping up construction as their memberships grow. A mosque-building boom, for example, more than doubled the number of purpose-built U.S. mosques between 2000 and 2011.

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Not Everyone Has Stopped Building U.S. Houses of Worship