Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Haven't found any in the South...but Seattle is about as unreligious as a city gets. A few years ago I believe they named Washington as the least religious state in the US (the highest number of folks claming no religious affiliation - it was somewhere in the high 30% range).
There are still plenty of churches and religious organizations...but you definitely don't have the obvious influence on society that you see in many cities.
04-11-2007, 12:35 PM
x4fscvdvd
n/a posts
As the above poster said, Seattle, WA.
Isn't it ironic that the city with the highest amount of educated people is also the least religious city?
Yes, as was said, I believe Seattle has been shown to be the least religious major American city and the Pacific Northwest as a whole has the lowest church attendance and the highest number of people identifying themselves as having "no religion" in the entire U.S. so I'm sure Portland and San Francisco are nipping at Seattle's heels. Lots of secular/agnostic/atheist folks in Alaska and Hawaii as well.
As far as the South, your best bet would be college towns although I suppose few of them have populations of +500K, but then again, the only cities period in the South with that many residents to my knowledge are Jacksonville, Nashville, Memphis, Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Charlotte, DC and Baltimore, and that's usually a fairly liberal definition as to what constitutes the South. If you're referring to Metro areas, there are far more choices as places like Atlanta and Miami which have only around 400K residents in the city itself, have around four million in the metro area. However, of those initial cities listed, I would say that Austin and DC are the least religious.
Isn't it ironic that the city with the highest amount of educated people is also the least religious city?
No, it isn't ironic. It makes perfect sense.
Sorry, but I had to laugh at that one...
As for the original question, I believe the others are correct - Pacific NW is your best bet. Here in San Francisco, there are plenty of religious people, but NOTHING compared to the South. And the ones we do have aren't "pushy", and generally just happy with their own beliefs and practices (not trying to convert others). But if you're really set on the south, I'd guess that Miami is the least Christian, though you'll find plenty of my Jewish kinfolk there. But Jews are usually more secular in their daily beliefs, and wouldn't make you feel uncomfortable. I've also heard that Atlanta is a good place for Jews to live, so it would probably be cool for a non-religious person too.
I find it sad that you want a nonreligious city. You are turning your back against a wonderful aspect of life that you would gain much from being part of. But if you insist....
What you will consider nonreligious in the south would probably still be heavily religious. My thoughts are:
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Atlanta metro
DC
Richmond
Charlotte
Orlando
Asheville
TUNICA!! -- all though it isn't a city, casinos are the devil
gulf coast casino areas following the same logic
many parts of Florida -- Palm Beach, Miami
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But Jews are usually more secular in their daily beliefs, and wouldn't make you feel uncomfortable. I've also heard that Atlanta is a good place for Jews to live, so it would probably be cool for a non-religious person too.
