Iowa

The first church building in Iowa was constructed by Methodists in Dubuque in 1834; a Roman Catholic church was built in Dubuque the following year. By 1860, the largest religious sects were the Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Baptists, and Congregationalists. Other religious groups who came to Iowa during the 19th century included Lutherans, Dutch Reformers, Quakers, Mennonites, Jews, and the Community of True Inspiration, or Amana Society, which founded seven communal villages.

Mainline Protestantism is predominant in the state even though the largest single Protestant denomination is the Evangelical Free Church of America, which had about 268,211

members in 2000. Other major Protestant denominations include the United Methodist Church (with 248,211 adherents), the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (120,075 adherents), the Presbyterian Church USA (69,974 adherents), and the United Church of Christ (49,205 adherents). Roman Catholic church membership was about 558,092 in 2000. The Jewish community had about 6,400 members. Muslims numbered about 4,717. Nearly 41.5% (over 1.2 million) of the state population were not counted as members of any religious organization.