Posted on 02/25/2014 11:35:37 PM PST by Viennacon
Gallup publishes in February of each year a survey of the extent of self-described religiosity in each state; and they report that religiosity is rising throughout the country.
Gallup headlined this year’s survey on February 3rd, “Mississippi Maintains Hold as Most Religious U.S. State; Vermont is the least religious.” Last year, it was “Mississippi Most Religious State, Vermont Least Religious.” No change there: in fact, the rank-orders of the 50 states (plus D.C.) are almost unchanged during the past 12 months.
What’s notable is instead that the percentages of people saying that they are “Very religious” have increased in almost every state. For example, whereas last year, 58% of Mississippians said that they were “Very religious,” it’s 61% now. And whereas 19% of Vermonters last year said that they were “Very religious,” it’s 22% now. The median state is Ohio: it’s the 25th-most-religious state this year, just as it, too, was last year (again, no change in rank); and, whereas last year 38% of Ohioans said that they were “Very religious,” that’s now risen to 41%.
Across the board, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as “Very religious” has increased from about 38% to about 41%. At the opposite end, only about 28% of Americans are “Nonreligious” today; whereas, a year ago, about 31% described themselves that way.
Perhaps, as Americans become disenchanted with both politics and economics (the two main secular means of dealing with social problems), they move toward religion in their hopes for solutions and improvement in their conditions.
Odd development, although it is probably an overly simplistic view of things. What we may be seeing is the complete collapse of the 'liberal religious' groups, and their members going to either camp. A few things throw this off, those being which religions are actually being practiced which would be helpful to know since Islam is obviously something mainly fueled by immigrants from Somalia etc., and also the exclusion of some groups from the survey (I doubt Ohio's numbers includes the Amish, who typically cannot be reached by phone).
Still, surprising.
In City of God, St. Augustine wrestled with the notion of civilizational collapse as he was present at the collapse of the Roman Empire. His classically trained mind could not comprehend such destruction. The only answers he was able to arrive at were theological and not philosophical.
Many of us are now turning to religion because the post-enlightenment secular tradition does not provide adequate answers for the evils that we are witnessing and are leading to our own societal collapse. We are St. Augustine.
“We are St. Augustine.”
If that were only true...
Considering the stats on Sunday worship, closing churches, and shrinking congregations, I suspect that the question needs to be asked what religion are they becoming more religious to?
The Church of Me?
“Organized” religion is dying in the civilized world. Anyone can see that.
“Religious sentiment” will swell in parallel with the collapse of the present social order. This is the historical pattern.
/Gallup also says that over 50% of U.S. citizens believe in astrology and that 75% believe UFO’s are “visitors” from space. Let’s be careful about cherry-picking poll results.
State ranking according to 2009 Gallup survey response as to religion being an important part of peoples daily lives (highest to lowest): * Mississippi: 85% * Alabama: 82% * South Carolina: 80% * Tennessee: 79% * Louisiana: 78% * Arkansas: 78% * Georgia: 76% * North Carolina: 76% * Oklahoma: 75% * Kentucky: 74% * Texas: 74% * West Virginia: 71% * Kansas: 70% * Utah: 69% * Missouri: 68% * Virginia: 68% * South Dakota: 68% * North Dakota: 68% * Indiana: 68% * Nebraska: 67% * New Mexico: 66% * Pennsylvania: 65% * Florida: 65% * Maryland: 65% * Ohio: 65% * Iowa: 64% * Minnesota: 64% * Illinois: 64% * Michigan: 64% * Delaware: 61% * Wisconsin: 61% * District of Columbia: 61% * Idaho: 61% * Arizona: 61% * New Jersey: 60% * Wyoming: 58% * Colorado: 57% * Hawaii: 57% * California: 57% * Montana: 56% * New York: 56% * Connecticut: 55% * Nevada: 54% * Rhode Island: 53% * Oregon: 53% * Washington: 52% * Alaska: 51% * Massachusetts: 48% * Maine: 48% * New Hampshire: 46% * Vermont: 42%. - Overall nationwide mean of 65% http://www.gallup.com/poll/114022/State-States-Importance-Religion.aspx
Read more: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/RevealingStatistics.html
Regionally, the South still qualifies as the most Bible-minded. The top ranking cities are all Southern cities. This includes the media markets for Knoxville, TN (52% of the population are Bible-minded), Shreveport, LA (52%), Chattanooga, TN (52%), Birmingham, AL (50%), and Jackson, MS (50%). Other markets in the top 10 include Springfield, MO (49%), Charlotte, NC (48%), Lynchburg, VA (48%), Huntsville-Decatur, AL (48%), and Charleston, WV (47%). http://cities.barna.org/americas-most-and-least-bible-minded-cities-2/
The least Bible-oriented markets include a mix of regions, but tend to be from the New England area. Easily the lowest Bible-minded scores came from Providence, RI (9%) and Albany, NY (10%). The most Bible-minded markets are five times more likely to have residents who qualify as Bible-minded than is true in these two Northeastern cities. ^
None of the cities in the bottom 10 break 20%, where even one in five people could be considered Bible-minded. The New England area is home to most of the markets in the bottom 10 Bible-minded cities, including Burlington, VT (16%), Portland, ME (16%), Hartford, CT (16%), Boston, MA (16%), Buffalo, NY (18%) and New York, NY (18%).
The remaining markets in the bottom 10 are primarily in the West and include San Francisco, CA (16%), Phoenix, AZ (17%), and Las Vegas, NV (18%). Cedar Rapids, IA (18%) being something of an outlier. ^
The Eastern United States is the only region of the country where Protestants account for less than half (44.1%) of the population. Catholics are the best represented religious tradition in this region; claiming 35.1% of the population. 5
The West has the highest percentages of religiously unaffiliated people (17.6%) and people in other religious traditions (10.3%) - .5Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21 Century – September 2006 . Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21 Century – September 2006 . http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf of any U.S. Region.
Here is a chart showing states according to various aspects.
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