section_path: Demographics/Religions
section_name: Religions
paragraph_text: Religions
  
  Christianity is the largest religion in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, 77% of the population considered themselves Christians. Christianity also is the predominant religion in the 23 dependent territories in North America. The U.S. has the largest Christian population in the world, with nearly 247 million Christians (70%), although other countries have higher percentages of Christians among their populations. Mexico has the world's second-largest number of Catholics, surpassed only by Brazil.
  
  According to the same study, the religiously unaffiliated (including agnostics and atheists) make up about 17% of the population of Canada and the U.S. Those with no religious affiliation make up about 24% of Canada's total population.
  
  Canada, the U.S., and Mexico host communities of Jews (6 million or about 1.8%), Buddhists (3.8 million or 1.1%) and Muslims (3.4 million or 1.0%). The largest number of Jews can be found in the U.S. (5.4 million), Canada (375,000) and Mexico (67,476). The U.S. hosts the largest Muslim population in North America with 2.7 million or 0.9%, while Canada hosts about one million Muslims or 3.2% of the population. In Mexico there were 3,700 Muslims in 2010. In 2012, U-T San Diego estimated U.S. practitioners of Buddhism at 1.2 million people, of whom 40% are living in Southern California.
  
  The predominant religion in Mexico and Central America is Christianity (96%). Beginning with the Spanish colonization of Mexico in the 16th century, Roman Catholicism was the only religion permitted by Spanish crown and Catholic church. A vast campaign of religious conversion, the so-called "spiritual conquest", was launched to bring the indigenous peoples into the Christian fold. The Inquisition was established to assure orthodox belief and practice. The Catholic Church remained an important institution, so that even after political independence, Roman Catholicism remained the dominant religion. Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in other Christian groups, particularly Protestantism, as well as other religious organizations, and individuals identifying themselves as having no religion. Christianity is also the predominant religion in the Caribbean (85%). Other religious groups in the region are Hinduism, Islam, Rastafari (in Jamaica), and Afro-American religions such as Santería and Vodou.