About 66% of New U.S. Arrivals Are Christian
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Nearly two-thirds of new immigrants to the United States are Christian, fueled mostly by Catholics coming from Latin America, according to research sponsored by several government agencies.
Forty-two percent of immigrants are Catholic, 19% are Protestant and 4% are Eastern Orthodox, according to a study of almost 1,000 adult immigrants in 1996. Eight percent are Muslim, 4% are Buddhist, 3% are Jewish and 3% are Hindu. An additional 15% or so claimed no religion, and 1% named other religions.
The percentages of Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus in the immigrant population are all higher than their share of the current U.S. population.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the National Science Foundation.
It was conducted by Guillermina Jasso of New York University, Douglas Massey and Mark Rosenzweig of the University of Pennsylvania, and James Smith of Rand Corp.
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