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so, from the Gallup 2012 poll posted in the second comment, the most religious major cities are Nashville, Memphis, and Charlotte (with over 50% of respondents from those three areas being categorized as 'highly religious'--should I have included Birmingham AL as major? If so, count it as more religious than the other three), while the least religious are SF Bay Area, Boston, Seattle, and Portland.
Curious why you (the OP) guessed Buffalo. As someone who's from there (and an atheist)...first off, about 40% of the city itself is African-American, and that tends to equate to higher levels of belief. Then you have sizable Irish and italian Catholic populations--although 'lapsed Catholics' (and vacant churches) are admittedly numerous. If including the surrounding area, the suburbs are invariably middle American and have their 'expected' share of (active) churches. Gallup has Buffalo at 36/28/36 for highly religious/moderately religious/non-religious, which is less religious than the national average but more religious than anywhere else in the state, Binghamton, Utica, and Poughkeepsie included.
The American Bible Society last year rated "Bible-minded" cities, and Buffalo showed up as one of the 10 least "Bible-minded" places of the 100 largest metros.
Many of the most Catholic cities also showed up low on the list. "Bible-minded" is more equivalent to evangelical Protestantism in my opinion, than being overall religious. Although all downstate cities weren't on the list, Albany/Schenectady/Troy did show up as the least "Bible-minded" city in the US.
Per the report, the most "Bible-minded" cities were:
Chattanooga, Tenn. - 52% of residents read the Bible in the last 7 days
Birmingham, Ala.
Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va.
Springfield, Mo.
Shreveport, La.
Charlotte, N.C.
Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C./Asheville, N.C.
Little Rock, Ark.
Jackson, Miss.
Knoxville, Tenn.
Last edited by RocketSci; 03-15-2017 at 05:58 AM..
The American Bible Society last year rated "Bible-minded" cities, and Buffalo showed up as one of the 10 least "Bible-minded" places of the 100 largest metros.
Many of the most Catholic cities also showed up low on the list. "Bible-minded" is more equivalent to evangelical Protestantism in my opinion, than being overall religious. Although all downstate cities weren't on the list, Albany/Schenectady/Troy did show up as the least "Bible-minded" city in the US.
Per the report, the most "Bible-minded" cities were:
Chattanooga, Tenn. - 52% of residents read the Bible in the last 7 days
I would say New Orleans would be the least religious city in the South. They have the largest LGBT community in the South. Also, Memphis and New Orleans are more "Catholic" which has less extremely strict adherents than a lot of the Protestant churches like the Baptists.
Overall, the percentage of unaffiliated residents in Seattle — those individuals who either don’t believe in a higher power or are unaffiliated with a faith — is 37 percent, compared to about 23 percent nationally, according to recently released Pew Research Center data.
And the total percentage of atheist and agnostic residents in Seattle is 16 percent, compared to just 7.1 percent nationally.
The difference between an athiest and an agnostic? The first is convinced there is no "supreme being" (or "God"), while the second is unconvinced that there is one.
With regards to Southern cities with the most prominent LGBT populations, New Orleans is definitely at or near the top. The same is true on a per capita population basis, though larger cities like Houston or Atlanta have larger total LGBT population, that should be quite obvious.
As for religion, most of what cBach says is pretty true, New Orleans is likely one of the least religious Southern cities and most of that does have to do with its Catholic history and population (however bizarre that may seem to some) and small Evangelical presence compared to other cities in the South. As for the country as a whole, New Orleans is probably more middle of the pack.
Most of the comments about Memphis are off the mark, its one of the more religious and evangelical cities in the nation with a small Catholic population.
so, from the Gallup 2012 poll posted in the second comment, the most religious major cities are Nashville, Memphis, and Charlotte (with over 50% of respondents from those three areas being categorized as 'highly religious'--should I have included Birmingham AL as major? If so, count it as more religious than the other three), while the least religious are SF Bay Area, Boston, Seattle, and Portland.
Curious why you (the OP) guessed Buffalo. As someone who's from there (and an atheist)...first off, about 40% of the city itself is African-American, and that tends to equate to higher levels of belief. Then you have sizable Irish and italian Catholic populations--although 'lapsed Catholics' (and vacant churches) are admittedly numerous. If including the surrounding area, the suburbs are invariably middle American and have their 'expected' share of (active) churches. Gallup has Buffalo at 36/28/36 for highly religious/moderately religious/non-religious, which is less religious than the national average but more religious than anywhere else in the state, Binghamton, Utica, and Poughkeepsie included.
Honestly it was a guess. Buffalo just doesn't strike me as a very religious area.
I would agres with that in terms of white people, but LA has so many Catholic Latinos that it is definitely higher than the other 3 cities.
Agreed, but L.A. has so many ethnicities and races, and you really can't tell who's religious/non-religious anymore especially with the younger generations. I'm young and mixed-race and I don't have any religion in my life.
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