Least Christian parts of the US? (Buddhist, America, church, atheist)

[kelsius]

Are there any states where you would say less than half the population is composed of believing (rather than simply nominal) Christians?

[Thomas R.]

Interestingly Alaska comes out as fairly irreligious according to studies. Also it seems at least possible some of its people are of indigenous-people religions rather than Christianity. New Hampshire has very low church-attendance and a comparatively high, though still low, percent of Unitarians. Oregon and Washington have low church-attendance plus, I think, they have a fair amount of non-Christian religions.

If we do counties rather than states Rockland County, New York is apparently 31.4% Jewish. Oahu in Hawaii is listed as low in "religious adherents." Hawaii in general might be a good example, if we mean least Christian rather than irreligious, as a good deal of its population is Buddhist or other "Eastern religion."

http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo.../adherents.gif
Religious Identity: States Differ Widely

[kelsius]

Originally Posted by Thomas R.

Interestingly Alaska comes out as fairly irreligious according to studies. Also it seems at least possible some of its people are of indigenous-people religions rather than Christianity. New Hampshire has very low church-attendance and a comparatively high, though still low, percent of Unitarians. Oregon and Washington have low church-attendance plus, I think, they have a fair amount of non-Christian religions.

If we do counties rather than states Rockland County, New York is apparently 31.4% Jewish. Oahu in Hawaii is listed as low in "religious adherents." Hawaii in general might be a good example, if we mean least Christian rather than irreligious, as a good deal of its population is Buddhist or other "Eastern religion."

http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo.../adherents.gif
Religious Identity: States Differ Widely

Interesting. I guess what I'm asking mostly is like, people who are atheist, agnostic, New Age, etc.

Yeah I know Cascadians (PNWers) are relatively irreligious by American standards, but if they were countries in western Europe, would they be seen as bible belts? I mean most of them still claim Christianity as their religion.

[xenokc]

The NW states are least religious. This site seems to conflict a bit with the graphic above otherwise.

The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports | Select Report

Here are some metros... The first number apparently excludes black specific congregations, the second includes black per link above.

US 50% 63%

NYC 62 79
BOS 64 73
PIT 66 78

KC 48 59
STL 51 65
MSP 56 64
Chi 56 71

DFW 52 64
HOU 50 63
ATL 44 62

DEN 40 45
SEA 32 37
SF 39 46
LA 52 61

Curious that Kansas City is less religious than NYC, LA and Chicago.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by kelsius

Interesting. I guess what I'm asking mostly is like, people who are atheist, agnostic, New Age, etc.

Vermont has the highest percentage of atheists.

[Smtchll]

Originally Posted by xenokc

The NW states are least religious. This site seems to conflict a bit with the graphic above otherwise.

The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports | Select Report

Here are some metros... The first number apparently excludes black specific congregations, the second includes black per link above.

US 50% 63%

NYC 62 79
BOS 64 73
PIT 66 78

KC 48 59
STL 51 65
MSP 56 64
Chi 56 71

DFW 52 64
HOU 50 63
ATL 44 62

DEN 40 45
SEA 32 37
SF 39 46
LA 52 61

Curious that Kansas City is less religious than NYC, LA and Chicago.

Just because people identify with a religion, doesn't mean they're religious. I know tons of people who identify as Catholics, and they're very proud of it, but they're not religious. A lot of countries in Europe have a large percentage of the population identifying as Catholic (70% of Spaniards, for example) but only a small percentage of the population is actually practicing. I'm going to assume that Boston & New York fall into this category.

And that wasn't to pick on Catholics. It's just I've that noticed when Protestants stop believing, they also stop identifying as Protestant, or whatever denomination they belong to. For Catholics & Jews, identifying with a religion seems a lot more important.

[18Montclair]

Christian and Christlike are sadly not the same thing anymore.

I have found many Christlike people in places that are supposed to be UnChristian, and some of the most UnChristlike people in places that are supposed to be Christian strongholds.

Isnt it funny how that happens?

[Chicago60614]

Large cities maybe? I don't know any friends in Chicago who are religious. I think mostly younger people are less religious as well.

[Lille Ida]

Every single U.S. state and medium-large size city is predominately Christian, including NYC, LA, Miami, Chicago etc.

Not all Christians are religious. Some go to church only on high holidays, but are proud being Christians and don't call themselves non-Christian.

[Lille Ida]

Originally Posted by Gantz

Vermont has the highest percentage of atheists.

It's not necessary Atheists. It has the highest percentage of non-believers/non-religious, but even in Vermont the majority are Christians.

Just because someone is not religious doesn't mean they don't belive in God.