For the last two or three decades new and alternative religions have been at the center of heated controversy in the United States as various advocates have debated the desirability of curbing the operations of leaders and organizations that, many believe, have abused their followers and constitute a real threat to society. This controversy has spread to the scholarly community that studies thi...

Abstract The 2010 U. S. Religious Census: Congregations and Membership Survey (RCMS) is the most comprehensive picture of U.S. religious life, county by county. How thorough RCMS in covering local groups? To answer this question, three snapshots were performed with collected data compared to reported numbers. Data suggest that there has been an underreport as much 25 percent number congregation...