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Old 11-28-2009, 05:42 AM
 
357 posts, read 1,456,159 times
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i thought it would be fun if each person could post a map of the USA showing any trend or theme, political, ecological, social, legal or otherwise

I'll start with a map of marijuana laws (no, i don't smoke)

http://andrikyrychok.files.wordpress...ates-20081.gif


and a map of the religion i follow, Pentecostal Christianity

http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo...entecostal.gif
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Old 11-28-2009, 05:59 AM
 
Location: 30-40°N 90-100°W
13,809 posts, read 26,452,459 times
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That one source, Valapraiso University, is neat.

Like North Dakota seems to be one of the most "religious" states in the country with more people in some religious body than Tennessee by the looks of it. The coastal part of the Pacific Northwest, perhaps unsurprisingly, looks the least religious.

http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo.../adherents.gif

Neat source, thanks.

I can't think of a map at the moment though.
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Old 11-28-2009, 06:10 AM
 
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Interesting map.

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Old 11-28-2009, 06:32 AM
 
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i always found it interesting that the dakotas have more adherents than west virginia and some southern states....

but i believe that while people from the Dakotas might identify with the religion they were born into (usually Lutheranism), they probably don't take it as seriously as the born-again Baptists/Pentecostals in the South....same goes for Massachusetts, most people there are from catholic Irish/Itralian stock and identify as Catholics, but a high number of these are lapsed Catholics.

I find it surprising that the so-called "black belt", between appalachia and the coastal south does'nt seem to have that many adherants...i always thought southern blacks were among the most spiritual people in the nation. Maybe this low level of religiousity amongst southern blacks accounts for the reason why the south in general doesn't have as many adherents as the lily-white dakotas
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Old 11-28-2009, 06:34 AM
 
Location: 30-40°N 90-100°W
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Looking at it I notice Piscataquis County, Maine is among the least religious. That intrigues me as it was the only county in New England to support McCain and supported repealing same-sex marriage by 66%. Socially conservative secularists? Liars?

Bangor Daily News (http://www.bangordailynews.com/electionresults.html - broken link)
2008 Presidential General Election Results - Maine
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Old 11-28-2009, 06:54 AM
 
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remember, the areas with the lowest level of adherents on that map could have up to 35 percent adherents, which is still a formidable number. Futhermore, i have a feeling that most of the religious people in areas with a low number of adherents would be recent converts to born-again Christianity, and thus, more conservative/fervant than the lapsed Catholics of Boston or lapsed Lutherans of Duluth, Mn.

I have seen this in places like the Pacific Northwest where the majority of people are lapsed Catholics/Mainline Protestant (some lapsed so much that they don't identify with any religion) however, the minority that is religious consists mostly of people who were once lapsed but have become born-again evangelicals as they have grown up, often attending new non-denominational evangelical churches that didn't even exist in their parents time.
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Old 11-28-2009, 07:39 AM
 
Location: Sacramento, Placerville
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The Sacramento Bee had an article on this in 2002. The original link only works on archive.org, but doesn't show the graphics. I have a link that worked last year. Give it time to load. Archive.org can be a little slow.

The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- America: A religious mosaic


If I find it I'll post it. Anyway, the same map that was in the article, with data from the same source as the above map, but with a little more detail.

http://www.glenmary.org/GRC/RCMS_2000/maps/All_Groups.jpg (broken link)

The referenced report

Glenmary Home Missioners - Serving Rural America Since 1939 (http://www.glenmary.org/GRC/RCMS_2000/maps.htm - broken link)

Keep in mind that it is hard to get a really accurate idea of how religious people in an area are. It really depends on the questions and how they are presented. For example, I live in Sacramento. The people in this city are very agnostic. I would say 80% don't give religion a thought. If you were to ask them if they are affiliated with a denomination you would get a lot more, "No, I'm not religous" answers than if you asked them if they were affiliated with religion A, B, or C. In the latter case, someone with an Italian background would be much more likely to state they are Catholic.

And the growth in the number of evangelicals on the West Coast has come from Eastern Europe. Ukraine in particular. There have also been quite a number of Russian-speaking Jews from the former Soviet Union. They are also reflected as having a religious affiliation if that is how they answered.
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Old 11-28-2009, 07:49 AM
 
3,631 posts, read 10,197,417 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scottyr View Post
i always found it interesting that the dakotas have more adherents than west virginia and some southern states....

but i believe that while people from the Dakotas might identify with the religion they were born into (usually Lutheranism), they probably don't take it as seriously as the born-again Baptists/Pentecostals in the South....same goes for Massachusetts, most people there are from catholic Irish/Itralian stock and identify as Catholics, but a high number of these are lapsed Catholics.

I find it surprising that the so-called "black belt", between appalachia and the coastal south does'nt seem to have that many adherants...i always thought southern blacks were among the most spiritual people in the nation. Maybe this low level of religiousity amongst southern blacks accounts for the reason why the south in general doesn't have as many adherents as the lily-white dakotas
eh, I don't know, I know a guy who went all Jesus crazy when I lived in Tennessee then all of a sudden he up and moved to North Dakota. There must be something great for religious folks up there.
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Old 11-28-2009, 08:00 AM
 
357 posts, read 1,456,159 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by supernerdgirl View Post
eh, I don't know, I know a guy who went all Jesus crazy when I lived in Tennessee then all of a sudden he up and moved to North Dakota. There must be something great for religious folks up there.
well, yeah, North Dakota is still a republican-friendly state, and does'nt have very many granola-crunching volvo drivers....i don't think it's as evangelical as many of the southern states however...although im sure there are some good Christian camps/retreats up there (maybe the reason why your friend went)..and also, it is probably safer, quieter and cleaner than Tennessee.

Again, i think North Dakota is more mainline protestant (Lutheran) than all-out evangelical, and it's awfully close to Canada to be part of the real Bible belt.
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Old 11-28-2009, 03:42 PM
 
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That map is crazy. It says that there's a county on Long Island that has 75% adherents and that my county in TN has 35-50% adherents. I wouldn't doubt that about my county, but I highly doubt it about that county on Long Island.
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