Editing Charleston, South Carolina (section)

===Religion===
Charleston is known as "the Holy City".<ref name=why /> Despite beliefs that the term dates to the city's earliest days and refers to its religiously tolerant culture, the expression was coined in the 20th century, likely as a mockery of Charlestonians' self-satisfied attitude about their city.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gilbreth |first1=Edward M. |title=Research says 'Holy City' term not church-based |work=Post and Courier |date=May 25, 2016 |location=Charleston, South Carolina}}</ref> Many sources, however, traditionally link the term to the many old church spires dotting the skyline of downtown Charleston.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Miles, Suzannah Smith |title=Learn the History behind the Holy City's Church Steeples |url=https://charlestonmag.com/features/learn_the_history_behind_the_holy_city_s_church_steeples |website=Charleston Magazine |date=December 2020 |access-date=January 4, 2025}}</ref> Regardless of the nickname's origin, residents have embraced the term and have explained it in more flattering ways.

The Anglican church was dominant in the colonial era, and the [[Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul (Charleston, South Carolina)|Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul]] is today the seat of the [[Anglican Diocese of South Carolina]]. [[St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church (Charleston, South Carolina)|St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church]] is another historic church in Charleston. Many French [[Huguenots|Huguenot]] refugees settled in Charleston in the early 18th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huguenotsociety.org/history.htm |title=History of the Huguenot Society |publisher=Huguenotsociety.org |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000830073605/http://www.huguenotsociety.org/history.htm |archive-date=August 30, 2000 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The [[Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church]] is the oldest [[African Methodist Episcopal]] church in the Southern [[United States]] and houses the oldest [[black church|black congregation]] south of [[Baltimore]], Maryland.<ref name="NYTimes-MotherEmanuel-2015">{{cite news |last1=Weisman |first1=Jonathan |title=Killings Add a Painful Chapter to Storied History of Charleston Church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charleston-killings-evoke-history-of-violence-against-black-churches.html |access-date=June 18, 2015 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 18, 2015 |archive-date=July 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702070037/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charleston-killings-evoke-history-of-violence-against-black-churches.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

South Carolina has long allowed [[Jews]] to practice their faith without restriction. [[Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim|Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim]], founded in 1749 by [[Sephardic Jews]] from London, is the fourth-oldest Jewish congregation in the continental United States and was an important site for the development of [[Reform Judaism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kkbe.org/ |title=Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim |publisher=Kkbe.org |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-date=September 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924040949/http://www.kkbe.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Brith Sholom Beth Israel is the oldest [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] synagogue in the South, founded by Sam Berlin and other [[Ashkenazi]] German and Central European Jews in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsbisynagogue.com/ |title=Brith Sholom Beth Israel |publisher=Bsbisynagogue.com |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-date=April 12, 2008 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080412050140/http%3A//www.bsbisynagogue.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city's oldest [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] parish, [[St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church (Charleston, South Carolina)|St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church]] is the mother church of Catholicism in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. In 1820, Charleston was established as the [[Episcopal see|see city]] of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston|Diocese of Charleston]], which at the time comprised the Carolinas and Georgia and presently encompasses the state of South Carolina.

The [[Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA)|Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite]], established in Charleston in 1801, is considered the mother council of the world by [[Scottish Rite]] [[Freemasons]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Rhett A. |title=Freemasonry |url=http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/freemasonry/ |website=South Carolina Encyclopedia |publisher=University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies |access-date=November 9, 2019 |date=May 17, 2016 |archive-date=November 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109144237/http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/freemasonry/ |url-status=live }}</ref>