States & Territories

Illinois

Midwest

Nauvoo, on a bend of the Mississippi in western Illinois, was Joseph Smith's headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints from 1839 until his murder there by a mob in 1844, after which Brigham Young led the main body of Mormons west to Utah. Chicago grew into one of the country's most religiously diverse cities through immigration, home to a large Catholic archdiocese built on Polish, Irish and Italian parishes, a major Jewish population, and the Bahai House of Worship in Wilmette, the oldest Bahai temple in the world, completed in 1953.

Facts

Religion

Leading Religious Affiliation

Catholic 2

Illinois: Catholic is 23% of adults, ahead of Nothing in particular at 19%. Margin of error plus or minus 4.8 points. Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/state/illinois/

Geography

Census Region

Midwest 1

Law and State

Establishment Status

No Establishment 1

Illinois has had no established church since its admission as a state in 1818.

Identity

Jurisdiction Status

U.S. state 1

Origins

Origin of the Name

A French adaptation of Illiniwek, the name of the Illinois Confederation, commonly translated as the men or the people. 1

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Nine Sides, Three Decades, and a Site Chosen in 1912

Abdul-Baha, son of the Bahai Faith's founder Baha'u'llah, traveled to the Chicago area in 1912 and personally laid the cornerstone for what would become the Bahai House of Worship in Wilmette, on land Bahai contributors had purchased along Lake Michigan five years earlier. The building he set in motion took another four decades to finish. The French Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois developed the temple's distinctive nine sided design, refined after Abdul-Baha reviewed it during a 1920 visit to Haifa, and construction proper began in 1921, with the Foundation Hall usable as a meeting space by 1922, but the Great Depression and the Second World War repeatedly stalled the work, and the temple was not completed until 1953. Nine sides and nine entrances reflect Bahai numerological symbolism, nine being the highest single digit and, in Bahai teaching, a symbol of unity and completeness, so the building's geometry carries the same doctrine its dedication ceremony proclaimed.

It remains the only Bahai House of Worship in North America and one of only a handful in the world. Chicago's own religious geography grew far more through immigration than through any single monument, a large Catholic archdiocese built on Polish, Irish and Italian parishes and a major Jewish population, and Catholic identification leads the state today at twenty three percent of adults, per Pew's 2023-24 study.

Connections

Associated With

Ancient Faith Radio

This source names Illinois directly: "Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois."

Source Ancient Faith Radio (Wikipedia)

Blumhofer, Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture (University of Illinois Press, 1993)

This source names Illinois directly: "of God, published by the University of Illinois Press, traces the denomination's transition from a separatist millenarian sect toward the American evangelical mainstream, including its 1943 vote to..."

Source Blumhofer, Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture (University of Illinois Press, 1993)Edith L. Blumhofer

Chicago

This source names Chicago directly: "the main body of Mormons west to Utah. Chicago grew into one of the country's most religiously diverse cities through immigration, home to a large Catholic archdiocese built on Polish, Irish and..."

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Faithfully Funding Our Future: Frequently Asked Questions (Community of Christ)

This source names Illinois directly: "Kirtland Temple and related Nauvoo, Illinois, historic properties and artifacts (the Smith Family Homestead, the Mansion House, the Nauvoo House, the Red Brick Store, and manuscripts including pages..."

Source Faithfully Funding Our Future: Frequently Asked Questions (Community of Christ)Community of Christ

JAINA Convention 2025 (JAINA)

This source names Illinois directly: "Biennial Convention in Schaumburg, Illinois, held 3 to 6 July 2025 under the theme Unity in Diversity, A Path to Peace, with day by day photographs and video of the gathering."

Source JAINA Convention 2025 (JAINA)

JAINA Holds Its Twenty Third Biennial Convention in Chicago

This source names Illinois directly: "biennial convention in Schaumburg, Illinois, under the theme Unity in Diversity, A Path to Peace."

Source JAINA Convention 2025 (JAINA)

Kemetic Orthodoxy

Source Kemetic Orthodoxy (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Kenekuk

This source names Illinois directly: "from their traditional lands in Illinois."

Source Kenekuk, the Kickapoo Prophet (Herring)Joseph B. Herring

Kickapoo Peoples

This source names Illinois directly: "were pushed successively through Illinois and Missouri under nineteenth century United States removal pressure before groups settled in Kansas, Oklahoma and, following a further migration, in..."

Source Kenekuk, the Kickapoo Prophet (Herring)Joseph B. Herring

Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

This source names Illinois directly: "fourteen congregations across Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin signed a constitution founding the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States."

Source About The LCMS (LCMS.org)

Report on Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse in Illinois

This source names Illinois directly: "The Illinois Attorney General's own report, released May 23, 2023 after a four year investigation, naming Catholic clergy and religious brothers credibly accused of child sexual abuse across the..."

Source Report on Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse in IllinoisOffice of the Illinois Attorney General

The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, Organizes in Chicago

This source names Illinois directly: "fourteen congregations from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, New York and Ohio met in Chicago and signed a constitution founding the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and..."

Source About The LCMS (LCMS.org)

The St. George Utah Temple Is Dedicated, the Church's First Since Nauvoo

This source names Illinois directly: "since abandoning the Nauvoo Temple in Illinois three decades earlier."

Source Five Things You Should Know about the St. George Utah Temple (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Department

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

This source names Illinois directly: "and Linda Shelton in West Frankfort, Illinois, and named for the three angels' messages of Revelation 14."

Source Three Angels Broadcasting Network (Wikipedia)

Regions Where This Is Principal

Roman Catholicism

Plurality religious identification among the state's adults per the source's survey.

Source Pew Research Center: 2023-24 Religious Landscape StudyPew Research Center

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The Bahai World Marks Its Centenary With the Publication of God Passes By

Source Shoghi Effendi, "God Passes By" (1944)Shoghi Effendi

Sources

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)

Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2024View the Source

2. Pew Research Center: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study

Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 2025View the Source

The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism

Terryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2015View the Source

A Religious History of the American People

Sydney E. Ahlstrom, Yale University Press, 1972View the Source

Kemetic Orthodoxy (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia contributors, WikipediaAssociated With: Kemetic Orthodoxy, Lead section

Quote, Associated With: Kemetic Orthodoxy, Lead section

The main temple is located in Joliet, Illinois and various shrines are maintained by priests worldwide.

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Illinois

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