With 220 identified languages and people from more than 140 countries, Los Angeles is home to a greater diversity of religious traditions than any other city in the world.

The dominant religion in Los Angeles is Roman Catholicism, which grew by almost 40% during the past three decades, and currently has close to 300 parishes with more than three and a half million members. The next largest group is Protestant Christians, and is represented by both evangelical and Pentecostal strains. Protestant worship services can be found in dozens of languages -- and is a highly personalized form of worship that employs everything from punk-rock music and fog machines to traditional missionary work -- and takes place in open fields, parking lots, store-fronts, movie theaters, schools, stadiums, and yes, churches.

Greater Los Angeles is currently home to the third largest Jewish population in the United States, with recent estimates putting at +/- 600,000 people. Significant numbers of Reform, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, and Modern Orthodox Jews live and worship in the City of Angels -- and the communty has been growing since the first informal services were held in 1854.

Islam also has a growing population in Los Angeles, with current estimates at more than 100,000 adherents. Various forms of Buddhism and Hinduism also play a significant role in the religious life of the city, along with some lesser known faiths such as CaoDai, Baha'i, Sikh, and Zoroastrianism, and others...

Looking for God in the City of Angels is a project about 'how worship happens' across different communities, ethnicities, and faiths. It is an attempt to document the rich spiritual life of America's most diverse city -- and by extension how differences in dogma, spirituality, and ethnic identity can be adapted for peaceful coexistence while still being true to tradition.

Source: John B. Orr, et al. Politics of the Spirit: Religion and Multiethnicity in Los Angeles (Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 1994)