Mississippi Most Religious State, Vermont the Least (Gallup Poll of 350,000)

Digtriad ^ | Jan 30,2009

[TornadoAlley3]

Alaska: 51%

[SeekAndFind]

Look, I have no agenda other than to look at the data. If the data tells me anything it is this — being religious does not necessarily mean being moral and vice versa.

Jesus Himself condemns the so called religious pharisees.

Therefore, one can hardly use the above stats as basis for arguing that America needs to be more religious. It depends on WHAT KIND of religiosity — CONSISTENT or INCONSISTENT.

I think we just have too many religious Americans who claim they believe in God but act as if they don’t in spite of their religious profession.

I’ll balance my question by making one observation, if you look at the stats, there are 34 states with 60% or over who are religious. That’s 68% of the country. You can’t simply look at Mississippi and make a generalized observation.

[JillValentine]

Also Wyoming (the most conservative state) 58% - virtually the same as liberal Kalifornia. Religious vs. secular doesn’t necessarily match conservative vs. liberal. There are plenty of religious leftists, and a lot of them are pretty nasty pieces of work (Muslims, Jeremiah Wrighters, Liberation Theologists, etc.)

[Dionysius]

Do you have to be told the real reason for the disparity in crime rates between Vermont and Mississippi?

[SeekAndFind]

Do you have to be told the real reason for the disparity in crime rates between Vermont and Mississippi?

Yes, because I am not too smart.

[wardaddy]

I think this was your purpose all along, which is why you posted this thread.

To discredit Christian faith meanwhile like a true humanist, you’re ignoring the glaring racial component which has everything to do with the problems you allude to over and over , not Mississippi’s Christianity.

Quite the opposite, were Mississippi’s whites and a few blacks not as religious as they are the state would be even worse off.

What is it with freepers like you?

Have you never had any experience with faith?

Do you not know what it’s like to live in a sizable black community?

Educate yourself.

It must be a boring day at Darwin Central....give them all warm hugs

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I just googled it. Mississippi has the lowest family income, lowest quality of life. lowest quality of health care, education.****

Now you see why the Unofficial motto for the state of ARKANSAS has always been...”Thank GOD for Mississippi!”

[SeekAndFind]

What is it with freepers like you? Have you never had any experience with faith? Do you not know what it’s like to live in a sizable black community?

I am sure that this so called sizable black community were part of the Gallup survey that skewed religiosity to the HIGH END in Mississippi. Now the next question is begged --- why did this religiosity NOT translate into a more MORAL community ?

BTW, your calling me a Darwinist without so much as knowing who I am tells me something about you --- you aren't a very critical thinker.

[wardaddy]

Yes...lol....apparently seekandfind needs to do some more seeking and finding

or join the peace corps

where do these folks come from?

are they seminar agitprop types like Rush talks about

I live in Nashville but go home to Jackson Mississippi a lot. I could take seekandfind out to say Farish Street between Fortification and High at night and let him out to just walk around and he could have Mississippi Demographics Acclimation 101 lab study real fast.

should he survive, we could confer a diploma

i cannot believe how obtuse some freepers are

and even if S/F is melanin enriched then he better talk like David Banner and wear the right colors or he’s chopped salad.

now take me or S/F to say Woodstock Vermont at night and drop us off....our biggest danger would be slipping on the sidewalk in winter or being overwhelmed by freaks with Obama bumperstickers

[wardaddy]

why did this religiosity NOT translate into a more MORAL community ?

So was that your point?

That religiuous blacks in Mississippi do not appear to be very moral?

Have fun with that.

[Salvation]

**And it’s a matter of them moving away from the church, he said, not the region. “Catholics are holding their own nationwide because of Latino immigration but, relatively speaking, there’s little of that in New England.”**

The Cafeteria is closed and some Catholics don’t want to adhere to certain things.

**Silk suspects some Catholics have left the church because of the Catholic sex abuse scandal that first erupted in Boston, which “kind of pushed some sort of relatively loose affiliation Catholics over the edge.” **

Leaving because of the sex abuse scandals is false. These sexual abuses take part in all churches. Just because one teacher sexually abuses a child — does that mean that ALL teachers sexually abuse children. False thinking is what this article has!

Another thing to think about is that the Catholic Church has been the one and ONLY church through the ages to speak out against sex abuse, same-sex marriage, abortion, stem-cell reseatch, contraception, etc.

The Catholic Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Aanother thing to consider — once a person is baptized Catholic, unless they fill out lots of paperwork and have a hearing in front of a panel — they are still and always will be a Catholic.

[wardaddy]

I am sure that this so called sizable black community were part of the Gallup survey that skewed religiosity to the HIGH END in Mississippi.

actually you missed the point....the black community is responsible for the crime rate by and large

there are some black Christians but not at nearly the rate as whites

where do you live to be so ignorant of the South and black crime and Christianity?

or are you just playing ignorant in your Christian and southern bashing scheme of things?

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

I can’t comment on how these stats were developed.
what I can comment on is Vermont is no such heaven and yes,there are less than 700,000 people here.
We get lots of snow & some are still depending on dial up to connect w/the ‘net.
Burlington is a big college town but on the whole it’s fairly insular here and I think it takes a special kind of person to live north of Massatwoshits.

[SeekAndFind]

So was that your point?

Here's the point --- You don't have to be religious to be moral. And religiosity does NOT necessarily translate to a peaceful, harmonious, moral community.

[SeekAndFind]

there are some black Christians but not at nearly the rate as whites where do you live to be so ignorant of the South and black crime and Christianity?

Mississippi is 37% black. That means about 1.2 Million people in the state are black ( in a state with about 3 Million inhabitants as per 2006 census. See here : http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/28000.html).

Now, I am not saying that you are right or wrong, but it seems clear that the large black population account for the high crime rate. What you need to show me is data to support your claim : "there are some black Christians but not at nearly the rate as whites."

[x]

New England is less religious because of the rot within the old Congregational churches, which were once the Puritans, I believe. That denomination, now the Church of Christ, is extremely left wing. The left wing politics disiplaced the preaching of the Gospel and old-time New Englanders drifted away from the church. That began long ago, probably in the 19th century. Maybe some church historian can shed some light on this.

Good point.

In earlier days, the Congregationalists (now the UCC)became too identified with political power. They were like one of Europe's established churches, and you didn't get as much evangelical fervor as in other parts of the country.

Another thing about New England is you're never that far from cities, so you don't get the large rural areas that you do in other parts of the country. The urban influence is stronger, hence the region is less religious.

Now just why one of the most rural states in New England should be the most irreligious, I don't know. It may be that you have fewer Catholics in Vermont and they assimilated more to Protestant habits.

It also may have something to do with all the "flatlanders" who moved in from elsewhere. Rural Northern Vermont is more Methodist and Baptist than Congregationalist and may be more religious.

Or maybe where it's snowy and cold, people want to stay home on Sundays.

[SeekAndFind]

That religiuous blacks in Mississippi do not appear to be very moral?

What I need to be shown is this --- HIGH CRIME RATES AND HIGH OUT OF WEDLOCK PREGNANCY RATES IN MISSISSIPPI ARE UNCORRELATED WITH RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ( BLACK OR WHITE ).

At this point in time, I don't have stats that show me correlation at all. All I see are two sets of data (incomplete I might add ) --- Mississippi being the Nation's MOST RELIGIOUS STATE and the state with one of the highest crime rates.

The argument thus far has been --- the crime rates are caused mostly by irreligious, black people. Well, where is the data to support this claim ? I'm waiting...

[ml/nj]

Want to be almost certain you'll have religious neighbors?

Want to be really sure? Move to Kiryas Joel!

why isn’t religiosity inversely correlated with crime rate ?

Interesting question given my posts on the Kiryas Joel thread yesterday.

ML/NJ

[SharpRightTurn]

Post 20: “now the Church of Christ”.

Perhaps “now the United Church of Christ”, but most assuredly not the nondenominational group known as the church of Christ.

[elpadre]

when you are in the pit and no way out, you look for a hand to help you climb out. There is always One.

Poverty by the world’s standards is not poverty by God’s.