World War II Army Chaplain Quotas

Quotas by Denomination

As approved by the Secretary of War on May 1, 1945.
With numbers on Army active duty as of September 2, 1945.
Quotas were based on the 1936 Census.

<!-- wp:more --> <!--more--> <!-- /wp:more -->

Religious Bodies with Quotas Quota
%		Quota
#		# On
9/2/45
Roman Catholic30.4625892278
Methodist11.009351200
Baptist, South8.89756947
Baptist, Colored7.2061284
Jewish3.70315243
Presbyterian, U. S. A.3.65310426
Protestant Episcopal2.92248298
Baptist, North2.66226412
Disciples of Christ2.34199387
Lutheran , Missouri Synod2.20187215
United Lutheran
(1945 total with American Lutheran)		2.31181↓
American Lutheran 2.21179374
Congregational Christian2.00170305
Evangelical and Reformed1.3711669
Latter-Day Saints1.079134
African Methodist Episcopal0.907773
Presbyterian , U. S.0.8875138
United Brethren0.736260
African M. E. Zion0.736218
Churches of Christ0.635430
Christian Science0.574824
Colored Methodist Episcopal0.463910
Evangelical0.423646
Reformed in America0.373143
United Presbyterian0.353051
Greek Orthodox0.30253
Conservative Brethren0.30251
Assemblies of God0.292534
Seventh- Day Adventists0.27232
Church of the Nazarene0.272342
American Baptist0.24200
Latter - Day Saints , Reorganized0.19161
Federated Churches0.18150
Christian Reformed0.161417
Free Will Baptist0.16140
Salvation Army0.151328
Primitive Baptists0.14121
Russian Orthodox0.14120
Friends0.14123
Unitarian0.121023
Sub-Total7920
Religious Bodies without Quotas# On
9/2/45
General Association of
Regular Baptist Churches, North		  14
Independent Fundamental Churches of America  15
Methodist, South  1
Bible Presbyterian  9
Norwegian and Danish Evangelical Free Church  1
Pentecostal Holiness   4
Brethren, General Conference  1
Brethren, Progressive  1
Brethren (Old Constitution)  1
Church of God (Indiana)  11
Church of God (Pennsylvania)  1
Foursquare  4
Reformed Episcopal  2
Cumberland Presbyterian  20
Orthodox Presbyterian  6
United Grace and T. E. A.  1
Universalists  10
Advent Christian  7
Baptist General Conference of North America  6
German Baptist  1
Seventh-Day Baptist  4
Swedish Baptist  9
Evangelical, Free  5
Christian and Missionary Alliance  28
Evangelical Missionary Covenant  23
Associated Reformed Presbyterian  9
Free Methodist  13
Wesleyan Methodist.  7
Evangelical Congregational  3
Moravian  3
Presbyterian Church in Canada  1
Sub-Total221
Total8141

Note that the language contains archaic and offensive racial terminology found in the source.

Source: Chaplains of the United States Army by Roy Honeywell [Office of the Chief of Chaplains, Washington, DC, 1958]

Popular posts from this blog

If My People

Performative civil religion was on full display this week during the America Reads the Bible series of public Bible readings. The performance is supposed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence. During the event, a series of politicians, MAGA supporters, and other ostensibly notable figures will read aloud the entire Protestant Bible in piecemeal fashion. The readers are using the King James Easy Read Bible, one of many obscure revisions of the KJV. The live readings take place at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Tickets are $50. You can also register to watch a live stream. I cannot understood why anyone thinks merely reading the words of the Bible aloud will mean anything to God, have a positive effect on the nation, or draw anyone to Jesus. On Tuesday, President Trump read from Second Chronicle. The organizer's website features a recording of the president's reading on the home page of it's website and declares, As...
Read more

The Problem with Religious Affiliation Codes

Religious preference codes only exist to give commanders and chaplains a big, one-over-the-world view of the religious needs of the unit as a whole. They reside in the big Army database of personnel records as useful data points for generalized planning. They are not terribly useful for individual religious support where people don't always fit their labels. There, chaplains need to get to know their soldiers personally.  Soldiers entering the Army are overwhelmed by an avalanche of administrative requirements. It’s a normal human response to proceed through that process without much thought.  I found that Soldiers had often chosen their religious preference codes hastily, and the religion coded in the personnel database did not accurately reflect their religious identities.  The previous list of religious codes was long (5 single spaced pages) and not logically organized. It was a jumble of institutional identities and religious categories, most of which were going to be...
Read more

Is the President Saving Religion?

The president spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, 2026. The event is sponsored by a Christian organization, but its official website says that it is open to people of all faiths. It is supposed to bring national leaders of faith together regardless of political affiliation.  As a Christian pastor, I would like to respectfully offer some reflections on the president’s 77 minute speech. This essay is long because the speech was long. What’s In the Speech What was the tone of the speech? Uplifting? Inspiring? Unifying? Spiritual? I would characterize it as political. It’s tone matched the tone of all his speeches, if you know what I mean. Most of it echoed themes and talking points common to every speech he makes. Little of it had any bearing on on the purpose of the assembly, and I can’t begin to address those parts of the speech. Simply put, I found much of it objectionable.  But what about the rest, the parts that talked about religion? In over 12...
Read more