Religions of New Orleans

lang="EN-US">New Orleans also notably has a presence of its distinctive variety of Louisiana Voodoo, due in part to syncretism with African and Afro-Caribbean Roman Catholic beliefs. The fame of the voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau contributed to this, as did New Orleans' distinctly Caribbean cultural influences. Although the image of Voodoo within the city has been highly promoted by the tourism industry, only a small number of people are serious adherents to the religion.

Jewish settlers were part of New Orleans since the early nineteenth century. The merchant Abraham Cohen Labatt helped found the first Jewish congregation in Louisiana in the 1830s, which became known as the Portuguese Jewish Nefutzot Yehudah congregation (as he and some other members were Sephardic Jews). By the 21st century, there were 10,000 Jews in New Orleans. This number dropped to 7,000 after the disruption of Hurricane Katrina. In the wake of Katrina, all New Orleans synagogues lost members, but most re-opened in their original locations. The exception was Congregation Beth Israel, the oldest and most prominent Orthodox synagogue in the New Orleans region. Beth Israel's building in Lakeview was destroyed by flooding. As of 2007, it was holding services in temporary quarters in Metairie