Baptist and Presbyterian churches were organized on the frontier soon after permanent settlements were made. Both the Baptists and the Presbyterians were divided over slavery. Controversies over slavery and other sectional issues also developed within the Methodist Church and, as with the Baptists and Presbyterians, divisions emerged during the 1840s. The Methodists, however, were able to resolve their differences and regroup. The United Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the US finally ended their 122-year separation in 1983, reuniting to form the Presbyterian Church (USA).

In 2000, the largest single religious group in the state was the Southern Baptist Convention with 1,414,199 adherents. Other Evangelical groups were the Churches of Christ, 216,648; the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), 66,136; Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches, 50,003; and Assemblies of God, 40,430. The major Mainline Protestant denominations were the United Methodist Church, 393,994; the Presbyterian Church USA, 67,800; and the Episcopal Church, 35,037. There were 183,161 Roman Catholics, 18,464 Muslims, and an estimated 18,250 Jews in the state.