Whilst religious affiliation within Aberdeen is diverse, the majority of the population (58%) declared no religion in the

2021 United Kingdom census 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

is the dominant religion with 30% of the population associating their beliefs with Christian churches including the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

and the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Aberdeen City > Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion

Christianity

The largest Christian church in Aberdeen is the presbyterian

overseen by the Presbytery of the North East and Northern Isles which manages 23 parishes within the city boundary. The

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...

has 9 congregations in Aberdeen with a total membership of 993. The city is within the episcopal

Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Created in 1865, the diocese covers the historic county of Aberdeenshire, and the Orkney and Shetland island groups. It shares with the Roman Ca ...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

has two congregations in the city, and the

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

have one. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Aberdeen contained houses of the

Carmelites The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

(Whitefriars) and

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

( Greyfriars), the latter surviving in modified form as the chapel of

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has been the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. The building was constructed for and is on long-term lease fr ...

as late as the early 20th century. Also churches still in use today are located in the city centre including Bon Accord Free Church which is situated on

Rosemount Rosemount may refer to: Place names Australia * Rosemount, Queensland Canada * Rural Municipality of Rosemount No. 378, Saskatchewan Ireland * Rosemount, County Westmeath, an area in the Southwest of Westmeath United Kingdom * Rosemount, Aberde ...

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

near His Majesty's Theatre, Gerrard Street Baptist Church, and Gilcomston South Church situated at the corner of

Union Street Union Street may refer to: United Kingdom *Union Street, Aberdeen, Scotland * Union Street, East Sussex, between Ticehurst and Flimwell *Union Street, London * Union Street, Plymouth, Devon * Union Street, Reading, Berkshire United States *Un ...

and Summer Street. Many other churches in the city centre have been converted into bars and restaurants.

Kirk of St Nicholas

In the

there was only one burgh kirk - the

Kirk of St Nicholas The Kirk of St Nicholas is a historic church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the original parish church of the city, and is also known locally as the Mither Kirk or mother church. Following the Reformation, it was divided between two congregations, ...

, one of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

's largest parish churches. Like a number of other Scottish kirks, it was subdivided after the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, in this case into the East and West churches. The Kirk of St Nicholas congregation is now an ecumenical partnership in membership of both the

and the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

. The large

kirkyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

of the Kirk of St Nicholas is separated from

by a 147 ft (45 m) long Ionic façade, built in 1831. The divided church within, with a central tower and spire, forms one continuous building 220 ft (67 m) in length.

St Machar's Cathedral

The pre-Reformation

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of Aberdeen is said to have been first founded at Mortlach in

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

Máel Coluim II Máel Coluim mac Cinaeda (; anglicised Malcolm II; c. 954 – 25 November 1034) was King of Alba (Scotland) from 1005 until his death in 1034. He was one of the longest-reigning Scottish Kings of that period. He was a son of Cinaed mac Maíl ...

(1005–1034) to celebrate his victory there over the Danes, but in 1137

David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland ...

(1124–1153) transferred the

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the sta ...

, and twenty years later

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church (building), church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a Kirk ...

was begun, a few hundred yards from the river Don. With the exception of the period of the episcopate of

William Elphinstone William Elphinstone (143125 October 1514) was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen. Biography He was born in Glasgow. His father, also William Elphinstone, later became the first Dean of the Facu ...

(1484–1511), building progressed slowly. Gavin Dunbar, who followed him in 1518, completed the structure by adding the two western spires and the southern transept. The church suffered severely at the

, but is still used by the

as a parish church.

St Mary's Cathedral

St Mary's Cathedral is the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral. A

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

building, it was erected in 1859.

St. Andrew's Cathedral

St. Andrew's Cathedral is the Scottish Episcopal Cathedral. It was constructed in 1817, as St Andrew's Chapel, and was

Archibald Simpson Archibald Simpson (4 May 1790 – 23 March 1847) was a Scottish architect, who along with his rival John Smith, is regarded as having fashioned the character of Aberdeen as "The Granite City".Simpson, William Douglas, (1947) ''The Archibald ...

's first commission. The church was raised to Cathedral status in 1914. The Episcopal Church in Aberdeen is notable for having consecrated the first bishop of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

Samuel Seabury Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729February 25, 1796) was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He was a leading Loyalis ...

. The cathedral was renovated in the 1930s to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Seabury's consecration. The memorial was dedicated with a ceremony attended by the then US ambassador to the UK,

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the ambitious patri ...

Other Churches

Belmont street at the turn of the 19th century was better known as Holy Street as crowds would file out of six churches set over the 400 metre road. The last remaining church congregation in Belmont Street has now moved to Union Square Sout
Christ Central
Triple Kirks pub, The Academy Shopping mall, Neptune Night Club, and Slain's Castle theme pub is all that remains of the 19th-century traditional church. Ironically the last church to be in Belmont Street was the charismatic newfrontiers church, Christ Central, which met in the Belmont Picturehouse. On Justice Street, is the category B listed St Peter's Roman Catholic Church which opened in 1804.

Other religions

Other religion in Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland is represented through a Unitarian community and the city is also home to an

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in Old Aberdeen and a small

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregation. The Hazelhead area holds a Thai

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple. There is no formal

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

building. The

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

has a small society of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

Gallery

Image:St Nicholas Kirk.jpg, Kirk of St Nicholas Image:Aberdeen Saint Mark.jpg, Saint Mark's Church Image:Aberdeen Church ruin.jpg, Triple Kirks, abandoned File:Gilcomston South Church, Aberdeen.jpeg, Gilcomston South Church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Religion In Aberdeen Religion in Aberdeen,