Editing Virginia (section)

===Religion===
{{See also|Religion in early Virginia}}
{{Pie chart
| caption = '''Religious Tradition ([[#CITEREFprri2023|2023]])'''
| label1 = [[Irreligion in the United States|Unaffiliated]]
| value1 = 29
| label2 = [[Protestantism in the United States|Protestantism]]
| value2 = 46
| label3 = [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholicism]]
| value3 = 16
| label4 = [[Jehovah's Witnesses]]
| value4 = 2
| label5 = [[Judaism in the United States|Judaism]]
| value5 = 2
| label6 = [[Eastern Orthodoxy in North America|Eastern Orthodoxy]]
| value6 = 1
| label7 = [[Islam in the United States|Islam]]
| value7 = 1
| label8 = [[Mormonism]]
| value8 = 1
| label9 = [[Unitarian Universalism]]
| value9 = 1
| other = 1
}}
Virginia enshrined [[Freedom of religion|religious freedom]] in [[Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom|a 1786 statute]]. Though the state is historically part of America's [[Bible Belt]], the 2023 [[Public Religion Research Institute]] (PRRI) survey estimated that 55% of Virginians either seldom or never attend religious services, ahead of the national average of 53.2%, and that the percent of Virginians unaffiliated with any particular religious body had increased from 21% in 2013 to 29% in 2023.<ref name=prri2023>{{cite web |url= https://ava.prri.org/#religious/2023/States/religion1/m/US-VA |title= PRRI – American Values Atlas |website= The American Values Atlas |year= 2023 |access-date= August 1, 2024 |ref=CITEREFprri2023}}</ref> The 2020 U.S. Religion Census conducted by the [[Association of Religion Data Archives]] (ARDA) similarly found that 55% of Virginians attend none of the state's 10,477&nbsp;congregations.<ref name=whopractices>{{cite news |url= https://www.coopercenter.org/research/who-practices-what-religion-where-virginia |title= Who Practices What Religion Where in Virginia? |date= June 8, 2021 |first1= Shonel |last1= Sen |first2= Rebecca |last2= Draughon |website= The Cooper Center |access-date= August 1, 2024}}</ref> Overall [[belief in God]] has also declined in [[Southern United States|the South region]], of which Virginia is a part, from 93% of respondents in [[Gallup, Inc.|Gallup]] surveys from 2013 to 2017, to 86% in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://news.gallup.com/poll/393737/belief-god-dips-new-low.aspx |title= Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, a New Low |website= Gallup |date= June 17, 2022 |first= Jeffrey M. |last= Jones |access-date= August 1, 2024}}</ref>

Of the 45% of Virginians who were associated with religious bodies in the 2020 ARDA census, [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Protestants]] made up the largest overall grouping, with 20.3% of the state's population, while 8.1% and 2% were [[Mainline Protestant|mainline]] and [[Black church|Black Protestant]] respectively. [[Baptists]], 84% of which are counted as Evangelical, included 9.4% of Virginians in that census.<ref name=arda2020>{{cite web |url= https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/census/congregational-membership?y=2020&y2=0&t=1&c=51 |title= Virginia - State Membership Report (2020) |website= The Association of Religion Data Archives |year= 2020 |access-date= August 1, 2024}}</ref> Their major division is between the [[Baptist General Association of Virginia]], which formed in 1823, and the [[Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia]], which split off in 1996. Other Protestant branches with over one percent of Virginians included [[Pentecostalism]] (1.8%), [[Presbyterianism]] (1.3%), [[Anglicanism]] (1.2%), and [[Adventism]] (1%).<ref name=arda2020/> The 2023 PRRI survey estimated that 46% of Virginians were Protestants, with 14% each as White Evangelical, White Mainline, and Black, though these numbers include individuals who report not attending services.<ref name=prri2023/>

[[File:Easter Sunrise Service at Arlington National Cemetery 2019.jpg|thumb|left|Since 1927, [[Arlington National Cemetery]] in [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington County]] has hosted an annual nondenominational [[sunrise service]] every Easter.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.dcmilitary.com/pentagram/community/jbm-hh-chaplains-easter-sunrise-service-offers-chance-to-celebrate-grow/article_1fce8350-c3b8-5ea2-9cbc-93d1744d4819.html |title= JBM-HH chaplains: Easter Sunrise Service offers chance to celebrate, grow |first= Arthur |last= Mondale |website= Pentagram |date= March 24, 2016 |access-date= June 20, 2021}}</ref>|alt=An outdoor auditorium with seated guests lined with neoclassical columns and a closed archway on one side and banners hanging inside the arch.]]
[[Roman Catholicism in the United States|Catholics]] accounted for 10.3% in the 2020 ARDA census,<ref name=arda2020/> and 16% in the 2023 PRRI survey, which divided them into 9% White Catholic, 6% Hispanic Catholic, and 1% other.<ref name=prri2023/> Catholic churches are organized in either the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington|Diocese of Arlington]] or [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond|Richmond]], while [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal churches]] are similarly in their [[Episcopal Diocese of Virginia|Diocese of Virginia]], [[Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia|Southern Virginia]], and [[Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia|Southwestern Virginia]]. Adherents of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] constitute just over one percent of the population, with 210&nbsp;[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Virginia|congregations in Virginia]] {{as of|2024|lc=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states/state/virginia|title=USA-Virginia|website=Mormon Newsroom|publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]|access-date=August 1, 2024|first=Lance|last=Walker}}</ref> While the state's Jewish population is small, organized Jewish sites date to 1789 with [[Congregation Beth Ahabah]].{{sfn|Olitzky|1996|p=359}}

[[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]] is the state's most religiously diverse jurisdiction.<ref name=whopractices/> [[Fairfax Station, Virginia|Fairfax Station]] is the site of the [[Ekoji Buddhist Temple]], of the [[Jōdo Shinshū]] school, and the Hindu [[Durga Temple of Virginia]]. The [[All Dulles Area Muslim Society]], on the county's border in [[Sterling, Virginia|Sterling]], considers its eleven branches the country's second-largest [[Muslim]] mosque community.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/ramadan-mubarak-goes-virtual-adams-center-northern-virginia/65-7ed1440b-8ce4-4bee-b47f-4f300ae51aa9 |title= DMV mosques adjust Ramadan observance during coronavirus pandemic |first= John |last= Henry |website= WUSA9 |date= April 24, 2020 |access-date= June 20, 2021}}</ref> [[McLean Bible Church]], with around 16,500&nbsp;weekly visitors, is among the top 25&nbsp;largest [[megachurch]]es in the U.S. and 8.4% of Virginians attend [[Nondenominational Christianity|nondenomination Christian]] churches like it, according to the 2020 ARDA census.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/30-biggest-american-megachurches-ranked/ |title= America's biggest megachurches, ranked |website= CBS News |first= Elisha |last= Fieldstadt |date= November 26, 2018 |access-date= August 2, 2024}}</ref><ref name=arda2020/> [[Lynchburg metropolitan area|Lynchburg]] and [[Roanoke metropolitan area|Roanoke]] ranked in that census as the two metropolitan areas with the highest rates of religious adherence, while the state-college-dominated [[Blacksburg–Christiansburg metropolitan area|Blacksburg–Christiansburg]] and [[Charlottesville, Virginia metropolitan area|Charlottesville]] were the lowest.<ref name=arda2020/> Two major Christian universities, [[Liberty University]] and the [[University of Lynchburg]], are based in Lynchburg, while [[Regent University]] is in [[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]].