Book: LDS among fastest-growing churches

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A new book says the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has among the highest number of church members in North America.

According to the National Council of Churches' 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, the LDS Church has 6,058,907 members in the U.S. and Canada.

That's the fourth highest in the yearbook's Top 25 listing of the largest national churches, but well behind the 68.5 million Catholics in North America.

The book also says the LDS Church ranked third in membership growth at 1.42 percent.

The yearbook authors acknowledge up to a two-year lag in membership totals since most churches collected member totals in 2009 and then submitted them in 2010 during the book's production.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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