Posted on 08/11/2009 4:43:48 PM PDT by NYer
For those of us who love maps, Gallup today has put out a nifty set illustrating the differential religious makeup of the American states. The maps are based on new data -- survey research conducted earlier this year -- but there's no big news here: the Northeast is the most Catholic region, the South the most Protestant, Utah the most Mormon and New York the most Jewish. And the Pacific Northwest and northern New England have the biggest percentages of non-religious folks. Here is Gallup's analysis of what it calls a "remarkable pattern of religious dispersion in the U.S.,'' with an interesting unanswered question about Vermont:
"A good deal of the religious dispersion across the states is explainable by historical immigration patterns -- particularly the impact of the large waves of European Catholics and Jews who came through ports of entry in the Middle Atlantic states in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The geographic concentration of Mormons in and around Utah reflects the cross-country migration of that group in the mid-1800s from Illinois and other Eastern states to their new home. The fact that certain states like Oregon and Vermont consist disproportionately of residents with no religious identity is more difficult to explain, with hypotheses focusing on the particular and idiosyncratic cultures of those states and/or the migration of certain types of Americans to those states over the decades."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
And Protestantism:
Judaism:
Mormonism:
And, finally, a map showing states by percentage of non-religious people:
Read .... secularists .
Truly an eye opener.
I’m not surprised about the northweston the secularism, but am quite suprised by the extreme north east.
ML/NJ
Freest areas are the least Catholic. Why is that?
What? No Moos?
On the other hand, the secularization of New England is something very new.
I was surprised about California Catholicism — until I remembered the concentration of Hispanics. Are all those California Catholics really on board with the homosexual/abortion agenda? Given the success of Proposition 8, I guess not.
Great maps.
Most of the Hispanic Catholics in CA cannot vote.
I don't think so. Way back in the early 19th century, it was already the birthplace of post-Christian "churches" like the Unitarian Universalists, bizarre cults like Mormonism, and pantheistic philosophies like Transcendentalism.
Ping for later
Try cross-referencing these maps with similar maps that show voting patterns by county/state.
This is something that needs to be stressed, as there are those conservatives who insist that New England Puritanism is "responsible" for modern secular liberalism.
Even with all the Unitarians, Transcendentalists, and so on, New England was once very devout--and very Republican.
See what I mean, iowa?
Good point - and a graphic example of how religious beliefs (especially those that claim religion and politics shouldn't mix) influence political actions. Worth noting is that the movements (and more) that you mention all began or took root within a single geographic region, namely the Hudson River Valley. This region is sometimes referred to as the "burned over district" by religious historians. Unitarianism, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism, Restorationism, and a number of other movements (including Charles Finney's "Second Great Awakening" revivals) all sprang up or hit this same area within a span of a few decades. Finney himself coined the phrase "burned over district", evoking the image of forest fires exhausting an area of all flammable material, because it's inhabitants were repeatedly exposed (and became resistant) to his revivals.
This part of western New York became famous after the Erie Canal for its history of revivalism, radicalism, communitarian experiments. It was fertile ground for new ideas to take root and spread to other parts of the country. It became a "psychic highway" for New Englanders who left the East and headed West in search of new ways of life....-- Excerpt from The Burned Over District
“And, finally, a map showing states by percentage of non-religious people:
Read .... secularists .
Truly an eye opener. “
Indeed!
The Wikipedia article indicates that the burnt-over district was in western NY, not the Hudson Valley. However, one of the "leaders" who emerged in upstate NY, Jos. Smith, was born in VT. People started to leave northern New England as soon as better agricultural lands were opened up to the west. Wacky New Englanders eventually settled much of the upper Midwest and even the Northwest, down to San Francisco, where liberalism has long been strong.
The percentage ranges varry. Read the maps carefully.
;)
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