Really? You know this how?
Sources and links?
“Really? You know this how?”
Simple. There are tens of thousands of independent Protestant sects in the U.S. alone. In my town, for instance, there are at least six Protestant sects which own property and hung out a shingle for their church that I just found on the internet. Those 6 by the way are completely unique sects not part of a larger synod, larger denomination (i.e. as a Lutheran parish would be). I am not counting the Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian churches, etc.
This is in a town of under 3 square miles and with a population under 10,000. Now, let’s err on the side of caution. Let’s do some basic math but for a population of 150,000,000 rather than 260,000,000 (which is the population of non-Catholics in the U.S.A.). If we use those numbers we end up with at least 15,000 Protestant sects. And remember, that would be a cautious number. If you talk to any IRS agent who approves tax exempt filings you’ll see that new sects are applying all the time. I am just being cautious and saying “every few days”. In reality it is probably every hour of the work day at least. And remember, this is just in America. This is also happening on a massive scale in Africa, Asia, etc.
“Sources and links?”
By the way, did you know the “Hartford Institute estimates there are roughly 350,000 religious congregations in the United States. This estimate relies on the RCMS 2010 religious congregations census. Of those, about 314,000 are Protestant and other Christian churches, and 24,000 are Catholic and Orthodox churches.”
So-called “non-denominational churches” which are really just denominations unto themselves are located in 2,663 out of the total of 3,033 counties in the country in the U.S. That means there are 2,663 different denominations right there. Remember, there are 6 “non-denominational” churches in my little town alone.
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html