[America’s Most and Least] Bible-Minded Cities

http://cities.barna.org/americas-most-and-least-bible-minded-cities-2/ ^ | 1/21/2013 | Barna Research

[daniel1212]

The report ranks the most and least “Bible-minded” cities by looking at how people in those cities view the Bible....

Regionally, the South still qualifies as the most Bible-minded. The top ranking cities, where at least half of the population qualifies as Bible-minded, 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%).

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%). To put this in perspective, 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.

Though these two cities are the most extreme, 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.

See where your city ranks. See all 96 cities here..

[daniel1212]

Notice the correlation in the statistics, the least Bible minded and liberal area of the country, the Northeast, is heavily Catholic, and always vote Democrat. Whilst the most Bible minded areas of the country, the south and midwest, are heavily Protestant, and vote Republican.

True, though money also is a large factor.

Yet FR, an obviously Catholic site, its Religious section flogging Protestants in one thread after another, is a very conservative site. Go figure. Which is usually due to the incessant posts about Rome, often advertising her or defending her doctrine, which invites refutations, and sometimes results in overreactions by her defenders when she is impugned in the least, as well as more exposure of problems. But both faiths are in spiritual declension overall, and atheism and witchcraft are on the rise as the US goes into its tailspin.

[daniel1212]

Notice the correlation in the statistics, the least Bible minded and liberal area of the country, the Northeast, is heavily Catholic, and always vote Democrat. Whilst the most Bible minded areas of the country, the south and midwest, are heavily Protestant, and vote Republican.

True, though money also is a large factor.

Yet FR, an obviously Catholic site, its Religious section flogging Protestants in one thread after another, is a very conservative site. Go figure.

Which is usually due to the incessant posts about Rome, often advertising her or defending her doctrine, which invites refutations, and sometimes results in overreactions by her defenders when she is impugned in the least, as well as more exposure of problems.

But both faiths are in spiritual declension overall, and atheism and witchcraft are on the rise as the US goes into its tailspin.

[daniel1212]

Thank God if these edify and spur born again believers to pray and preach. I do not think New Hampshire is the least-religious state in the Nation, as that goes to . Vermont

Then you have this

The study released Monday by the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that residents in states where religious participation is higher than the rest of the nation, particularly in the South, gave the greatest percentage of their discretionary income to charity.

The Northeast, with lower religious participation, was the least generous to charities, with the six New England states filling the last six slots among the 50 states.

The study also found that patterns of charitable giving are colored in political reds and blues.

Of the 10 least generous states, nine voted for Democrat Barack Obama for president in the last election. By contrast, of the 10 most generous states, eight voted for Republican John McCain.

The below map is from 2011

[daniel1212]

Another graphic:

[daniel1212]

Opps. The above is for Church or synagogue attendance by state

[Elsie]

#32

[Elsie]

States with highest ratio of religious adherents...

An adherant ain't necessarily a CHRISTIAN.

MORMONism's firm grasp on it's 'adherants' pushes UTAH to #1; where 57% of the state claim to be some type of MORMON.

[Elsie]

These kind of people tend to believe that the Bible is a myth...

Only AFTER they take Comparative Religion 101

[Elsie]

I must be missing the point - what does Bible-Minded mean?

It's vague; so a person can PROJECT whatever meaning they want onto it.

[Elsie]

HUH?

How does SLC being #84 correlate with 1 Utah 74.7%???

[Elsie]

Nana; this is for you!

...Knoxville east to the NC/VA borders is a great place to live!

[Elsie]

Yet FR, an obviously Catholic site, its Religious section flogging Protestants in one thread after another, is a very conservative site.

Nah; they're just mouthy...

[Elsie]

A graph of WHAT?

[Elsie]

Opps; just saw it.

But what does ‘attendance’ mean?

[Alex Murphy]

Regionally, the South still qualifies as the most Bible-minded. The top ranking cities, where at least half of the population qualifies as Bible-minded, 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%).

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%). To put this in perspective, 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.

Ping to read and digest later.

[Gamecock]

We just moved from NY to SC.

I suspect that NY dropped a point or two and SC moved up a notch. :-)

[daniel1212]

How does SLC being #84 correlate with 1 Utah 74.7%???

The latter is simply “States with highest ratio of religious adherents,” while the former is how people in those cities view the Bible. Individuals who report reading the Bible in a typical week and who strongly assert the Bible is accurate in the principles it teaches are considered to be Bible-minded.

Thus they are kind of like Muslims and to somewhat like Catholics, as for them the Bible is not their real authority, thus the low numbers. The more basically literally Catholics take the Bible (unlike much of their primary post V2 scholarship) then the more conservative they are.

Catholics that are Biblical literalists [11.8%] hold more conservative political views than the Catholic population in general does. The Biblical literalist Catholic is as politically conservative as the Biblical literalist who is Evangelical [47.8%] or Mainline Protestant. [11.2%] American Piety in the 21st Century, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf

Note that “literal” does not mean forcing allegorical language to be literal (David referring to water as blood, or the Canaanites being “bread” for them), but the historical accounts such as Jonah and the fish are literally real, and that Jesus really did preach on a boat, etc., and that Hell is as real as described, as is its counterpart. To the glory of God. May i always walk according ti so great salvation.

“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: “ (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

[Mr. Jeeves]

Phoenix, AZ (17%)

Snort. There's a church on every corner around here. I don't buy it. Even Las Vegas has many more church-goers than, say, San Francisco or Seattle.

[metmom]

My daughter lives in LA and there are some absolutely enormous churches there that have VERY active ministries and outreaches.

Bible minded or not, there is a lot of evangelism going on.

[metmom]

What is a non-denomination Christian category that isn’t Protestant?

Evangelical?

A believer?

Why does a Christian have to be labeled? What exactly is Protestant anyway?