Did you know there are about 17,000 independent Christian groups in the world?

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According to David Barrett et al, editors of the World Christian Encyclopedia:

A comparative survey of churches and religions shows that 34,000 separate Christian groups have been identified in the world.

Over half of them are independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big denominations.

These data are based on census or public opinion data.

Thus, a person is considered to be of a particular religion if they say that they are of that faith.

Thus, about 75% of the adults in both the U.S. and Canada are Christians.

Many individuals and religious groups have much more strict definitions for membership.

Many conservative Christians believe that one has to be "born again" in order to be counted as a Christian.

Using this definition, only about 35% of Americans would be counted as Christians.

This difference in definitions between conservative Christians and the rest of the population causes much confusion.

Some of the approximately 1,000 Christian faith groups in the U.S. and Canada believe themselves to be the only true Christian denomination.

Thus, depending on the definition used, the percentage of Christians in the U.S. are between 0.1 and 75% of the total population.

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