SIC 8661 Religious Organizations
SIC 8661
This category covers organizations operated for worship, for religious training or study, for government or administration of an organized religion, or for promotion of religious activities, including religious groups reaching the public through radio or television media. Other establishments maintained by religious organizations, such as educational institutions, hospitals, publishing houses, reading rooms, social services, and secondhand stores, are classified according to their primary activity. Establishments of such religious groups that produce taped religious programming for television are covered in SIC 7812: Motion Picture and Video Tape Production, and those that produce live religious programs are classified in SIC 7922: Theatrical Producers (Except Motion Picture) and Miscellaneous Theatrical Services. Radio or television stations operated by religious organizations are classified under SIC 4832: Radio Broadcasting Stations or SIC 4833: Television Broadcasting Stations.
813110
Religious Organizations
Religious organizations in the United States have been involved in an innumerable range of activities. In recent years, these activities have included everything from organizing food drives for the poor, to campaigns to aid those victimized by the terrorist attacks and school shootings, to grassroots measures to remove the teaching of biological evolution in U.S. science classes. In 2006, there were approximately 368,000 different religious organizations in operation nationwide.
On a comparative level, the greatest number of religious organizations, and those boasting the largest membership figures, remain overwhelmingly Christian. Between the mid-1960s and the mid-2000s, Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism increased their membership as mainstream Protestant groups suffered significant losses in membership. This shift in numbers in America's religious groups was especially painful for the largest, most well established denominations. With membership a paramount concern for congregations across the country, many churches adopted active philosophies designed to attract and keep worshippers. According the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, in 2007 approximately 44.2 million people were members of one of the 105,427 reporting churches, which spanned a wide range of denominations.
According to a 2004 Gallup Poll, six in ten Americans consider religion to be a "very important" part of their lives and another 26 percent responded that religion was fairly important. More than eight in ten were affiliated with a Christian religion, and half of the respondents said they were Protestants. The largest single religious denomination was Catholic, accounting for about 25 percent of Americans. Some 2 percent were Mormons and another 2 percent were Jewish. Another study done in 2004 by the Barna Group measured the proportion of "unchurched" Americans, those who only see the inside of a church at Christmas, Easter, weddings, or funerals. Americans fitting this description increased from 21 percent in 1991 to 34 percent in 2004.
The United States has long prided itself on its diversity of religious expression. Numerous faiths are practiced in the United States, ranging from the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam to the other major world religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as myriad others. The church has traditionally functioned as a major institution for vast numbers of the U.S. populace.
Although churches do not have to pay government taxes, they still must secure income for a variety of purposes. Most churches sustain themselves financially through "tithes," which are contributions made to the church by those who worship there. Tithing permits churches to meet their financial obligations in the realm of operating costs and payroll, as well as to contribute to charitable or social causes. In recent years, this primary source of income has risen in value but fallen as a proportion of the...
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