Mapping religion in America

web blog ^ | April 3, 2006 | Geitner Simmons

[scrabblehack]

Why the difference between Wisconsin and Michigan?

Consider the degree of religious adherence ? acknowledging one's membership in a particular religious grouping. According to this map, developed by the Cincinnati-based Glenmary Research Center, religious adherence is greatest in the middle of the country ? from Texas and Louisiana up through the Dakotas. Religious adherence in the Southeast, long dubbed the "Bible Belt," is more spotty that one might expect. The American West, with the exception of Utah, has long been described by scholars of the region as an area with weak religious intensity, and the map buttresses that conclusion. Religious adherence is generally strong in the Mid-Atlantic region. Of course, while North Dakota stands out on the map as an area of particular intensity, the population of that state is quite small compared to the populations of, say, Oregon or Florida, where religious enthusiasm is noticeably weaker.

[scrabblehack]

I don't have complete confidence in the data collection....

I'm surprised at southern Ohio, for one thing....

The Alabama Black belt and the Mississippi/Louisiana delta regions stand out also as areas of relative non-adherence. I wonder if some just didn't respond to the survey...

[Incorrigible]

Interesting maps. The specific locations may not be accurate but at the macro level, it's interesting.

It must be a bit dated given so many northern Catholics invading GA and NC!

[siunevada]

According to the note on the map, they are relying on the 149 religious bodies that participated in a study conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies in 2000. Those numbers were divided by the U.S, Census numbers for the year 2000 to get the percentages.

[siunevada]

"northern Catholics invading GA and NC!"

Southern numbers up to the year 2000:

http://www.frinstitute.org/southern.htm

[Salvation]

Aggregate Data

The American Catholic Church has seen a considerable shift from the Northeast and North Central states toward the South and West (Figure 1). In 1971, the West and South were home to 29 percent of American Catholics; today, more than 43 percent are in these two regions. In 1971, the South had 6.5 million Catholics; in 2000, this number had grown 89 percent to 12.3 million. By contrast, the total population of the South grew from an estimated 64.5 million in 1971 to 100.2 million in 2000, or 55 percent. The more rapid increase in Southern Catholic numbers means Southern Catholics have increased from 10.1 percent of the total population in 1971 to 12.3 percent in 2000.

[Salvation]

This growth has been particularly strong in the metropolitan areas of the region (Map 1). In the Dallas — Fort Worth Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), the number of Catholics increased from 147 thousand in 1971 to 809 thousand in 2000 and now exceeds 15 percent of the total population. In the Houston CMSA, the number of Catholics increased from 307 thousand to 850 thousand and now exceeds 18 percent of the population. In the Atlanta area, Catholics increased from 60 thousand to 272 thousand; in the Charlotte area, from 16 thousand to 86 thousand; and in the Raleigh area from 13 thousand to 79 thousand. The number of Catholics also tripled in the Tampa area, from 122 thousand to 369 thousand, and nearly quintupled in the Orlando area, from 47 thousand to 217 thousand. In other words, in many areas where the Catholic community was small, it is now substantial, and in many areas where it was substantial, it is now very large.

[Salvation]

To be sure, Catholics remain concentrated in selected areas. The population of Southern metropolitan areas is now 14.4 percent Catholic, while the population of non-metropolitan areas is only 5.6 percent Catholic, although some ethnic communities in non-metropolitan counties boast higher Catholic numbers. The eleven non-metropolitan civic parishes in Louisiana where at least ten percent of the total population has French ancestry have a total population that is 48 percent Catholic, while the eleven non-metropolitan counties scattered in six Southern states where at least five percent of the total population has Italian ancestry have a total population that is 15 percent Catholic, as do the 14 counties, eight of which are in Texas, where at least three percent of the total population has Polish ancestry.

[Salvation]

The result of this varying population concentration means that the South is home to both substantial Catholic mission areas and to many communities with large Catholic churches (Map 3). Between 1971 and 2000, the number of Catholic churches in the region grew from 4,200 to 4,832, a substantial rate of increase, but not nearly as fast as the total Catholic population increased. As a result, the mean number of Catholics per church increased from 1,551 to 2,543. By contrast, there are, on average, 515 Southern Baptists per church in the South, and 310 United Methodists per church.

[Salvation]

Of the 1,424 counties in the South, 156 have no Catholic church, and another 147 have but a single church with less than 100 adherents. At the other extreme, 52 counties, and 14 metropolitan areas, have at least 5,000 Catholics per church. In 1971, only one metropolitan area, Miami, had more than 5,000 Catholics per church.

[Salvation]

Southern Catholics are also a very diverse population in their racial and ethnic characteristics. In particular, they are more likely to be African American than other Catholics, more likely to be Hispanic than other Southerners, and more likely to be of other non-white origins (e.g., Asian) than either Catholics elsewhere or other Southerners (Figure 4). It is noteworthy that Southern Hispanics appear to be less Catholic than other Hispanics, particularly given that six of the seven Latin dioceses with the fastest rates of total Hispanic population growth — Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Little Rock, Raleigh, and Birmingham — are in the South. The NORC-GSS data indicate that 54 percent of Southern Hispanics are Catholic, compared to 65 percent of Hispanics elsewhere.

Southern Catholics have some characteristics that may help the Church build its institutional presence in the region. In particular, Southern Catholics have higher levels of income and education than other Catholics or other Southerners (Figure 5). Thirty six percent of Southern Catholics have annual family incomes of at least $50 thousand, while 27 percent have at least four years of college education.

[Salvation]

Nevertheless, by some measures Southern Catholics are less attached to their Church than southerners of other faiths are attached to theirs (Figure 6). Thirty percent of Southern Catholics report going to church at least weekly, trailing the 36 percent of those deemed to be in “fundamentalist” Protestant churches (e.g., Southern Baptist Convention) doing so. At the other extreme, 46 percent of Southern Catholics report going to church less than once per month, compared to only 38 percent of fundamentalist Protestants who fail to attend at least monthly. Southern Catholic attendance at church is roughly comparable to that by those deemed to be in non-fundamentalist Protestant churches (e.g., United Methodist Church).

Another measure of detachment among Southern Catholics is the number of persons who have converted to the Church compared to those who have left it (Figure 7). Analyzing total population statistics and NORC-GSS statistics on the current religion of respondents with data on their religion at 16 years of age indicates that 1.4 million Southern adults who are now Catholic were of another religious group, whether Protestant, other, or none, at age 16, but 4 million adults now in the South who were Catholic are now members of another religious grouping.

[Salvation]

Conclusions and Implications

How can we best summarize the demographic characteristics of Southern Catholicism and their likely future effects? I would emphasize four points. First, the growth of Southern Catholicism appears to have been fueled primarily by migration, as demonstrated by the large number of Southern Catholics in the region who moved from other, more Catholic regions, and as indirectly shown by the large number of persons now in the South who used to be Catholic but who have left the Church. Second, even if based on migration, it is indisputable that Catholicism has grown in the South, that it has grown faster than other religious bodies in the region, and that its numbers of churches have increased, albeit not as fast as its adherents have, meaning Southern churches are now serving far larger numbers of parishioners than they have. Third, as demonstrated by comparatively low attendance at church and by a propensity of many to leave Catholicism, many Southern Catholics may have only a tenuous relationship with the Church. Strengthening this relationship may be key to sustaining the growth Southern Catholicism has enjoyed by migration.

Fourth and finally, the “growing pains” of Southern Catholicism, or the difficulties in sustaining the growth it is enjoying from migration, may increase the diversity of Southern Catholics continues to increase. While the data are somewhat sketchy, it may be that continuing to meet the needs of new populations, whether migrants from elsewhere or a burgeoning Hispanic population growing most rapidly in areas where Hispanics traditionally have not been, may be critical to meeting this challenge.

[PeteB570]

Well it shows my county as < 35.

I can buy that, as I'm sitting here typing and not planning on going to church today.

[VeritatisSplendor]

I want to be a southern Catholic. It surprised me, the map showing NJ generally more churched than NC. The feel down there is so different - God an acknowledged every day part of people's lives. Maybe I just know a better class of people in NC.

Mrs VS

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Thankfully there's now a Catholic College just north of Atlanta to keep us all educated in the South!

www.southercatholic.com

[Alex Murphy]

Interesting study - ping to review the original link later

[Uri’el-2012]

Consider the degree of religious adherence ? acknowledging one's membership in a particular religious grouping

Interesting maps, however it only seems to identify Denominations.

Thus leaving out the vast majority of the those who are followers of the Christ.

b'shem Y'shua

[Between the Lines]

Religious adherence in the Southeast, long dubbed the "Bible Belt," is more spotty that one might expect.

This map only identifies those that belong to one of 149 denominations. In areas where there is a large number of nondenominational churches or independent churches as in the South, the data is terribly inaccurate and of little use.

[Between the Lines]

It must be a bit dated given so many northern Catholics invading GA and NC!

Catholics as a Percentage of all Residents 2000

[Between the Lines]

More maps from this study:

Religious Adherents Church Bodies Catholic Baptist Methodist Lutheran     Lutheran Groups     ELCA     LCMS     WELS Jewish Pentecostal Latter-Day Saints (Mormon)

Christian Presbyterian Episcopal United Church of Christ Muslim Eastern Orthodox Church of the Nazarene Reformed Mennonite     Amish Unitarian Congregational Friends (Quaker)