Throughout its history, Kentucky has been predominantly Protestant. A group of New Light Baptists who, in conflict with established churches in Virginia, immigrated to Kentucky under the leadership of Lewis Craig, built the first church in the state in 1781, near Lancaster. The first Methodist Church was established near Danville in 1783; within a year, Roman Catholics had also built a church, and a presbytery of 12 churches had been organized. There were 42 churches in Kentucky by the time of statehood, with a total membership of 3,095.
Beginning in the last few years of the 18th century, the Great Revival sparked a new religious fervor among Kentuckians, a development that brought the Baptists and Methodists many new members. The revival, which had begun among the Presbyterians, led to a schism in that sect. Presbyterian minister Barton W. Stone organized what turned out to be the era's largest frontier revival meeting, at Cane Ridge (near Paris), in August 1801. Differences over doctrine led Stone and his followers to withdraw from the Synod of Kentucky in 1803, and they formed their own church, called simply "Christian." The group later formed an alliance with the sect now known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
As of 2000, Evangelical Protestantism was predominant with the single largest denomination within the state being the Southern Baptists Convention with 979,994 adherents. The next largest Protestant denominations are the United Methodist Church with 208,720 adherents and the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ with 106,638 adherents. The Roman Catholic Church has about 406,021 members. There were an estimated 11,350 Jews in Kentucky in 2000 and about 4,696 Muslims. Over 1.8 million people (46.6% of the population) were not counted as members of any religious organization in the 2000 survey.