New Jersey : Religion

New Jersey has a history of religious tolerance. Dutch immigrants founded a Reformed Church in 1662, the first in the state. After the English took control, Puritans came from New England and Long Island, Congregationalists from Connecticut, and Baptists from Rhode Island. The state's first synagogue was established in 1848, in Newark.

Catholicism was the only religion that was least tolerated by the people of New Jersey. This is evident from the fact that the first Catholic parish was organized only in 1814. The Catholics' numbers swelled as a result of Irish immigration after 1845, and even more with the arrival of Italians after 1880. Today, Roman Catholics constitute the state's single largest religious group. Passaic is the headquarters of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Rite in the Byzantine Catholic Church.
The Jews formed the next largest group with about 468,000 members. United Methodist Church is the largest Protestant denomination followed by the Presbyterian Church USA, with 119,735; the Episcopal Church with 91,964; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 79,264 adherents. There were about 120,724 Muslims in the state.