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I don't see how you would quantify that, but I don't think it would be true anyway. I think "religiously unaffiliated" people are more individualistic than Catholics or Protestants and from the data it appears that the more Catholic a city is the more it is also "religiously unaffiliated".
One of the main reasons for Protestants splitting with Catholics was so people could have an individual connection with God, without going through a priest. From its inception, protestantism has been about individuality.
Yeah, sorry, not buying the Protestant/Catholic deal. Catholics tend to be more "live and let live," progressive and urban.
Really? I grew up in the Lutheran church (Protestant), and I felt that was light years more progressive and inclusive than Catholicism. Lutherans even have openly gay clergy.
Of those choices, I'd say NYC for sure. All major cities in the US you can pretty much be what you want, but with NYC it's more noticeable than other cities.
Really? I grew up in the Lutheran church (Protestant), and I felt that was light years more progressive and inclusive than Catholicism. Lutherans even have openly gay clergy.
Episcopalians/Anglicans are by far the most progressive official denomination of the Christian church. They have been since the days of the founding of the Church of England by Henry VIII. And this is a Protestant denomination, but it is a small denomination overall (albeit with the prettiest and most grandiose churches of all Protestant denominations, on par with the best the Catholics have in this country).
That should solve that debate.
In terms of individualistic and expressive metros, I'd say the clear leader is San Francisco, probably followed closely by LA, Seattle, and New York. Really all one has to do is follow the demographics of Burning Man or similar events and experiments to realize that most of this country is rather conservative/averse to such expression or veering from some well maintained course. Only a few cities are really all that progressive/expressive to begin with, and most of the E Coast, almost all of the SE and Midwest, and some parts of the West are not this at all. In general, as with much of history, the west has had a very "out there" people filled with "out there" ideas. New York is New York and all that comes with that (in a very good way). But other Eastern cities like Boston or DC are pretty darn vanilla and in my opinion "boring" when comparing the people that inhabit all these places and how they shape the cities they live in.
I'd say San Francisco is still by a noticeable margin the most individualistic city in America, and definitely one of the most in the world. It is what defines the city after all - come with an open mind and be whoever you want to be and you'll undoubtedly be accepted and appreciated by at least someone in the city. Social norms and constructs are mostly out of the question. This is also how the city is able to support industries that are so innovative and thinking outside the box. This is a large reason why Silicon Valley was even set up after a bunch of high level executives left NY/NJ and settled on the Bay Area to do research and manufacture chips in a work setting that was totally contrarian to E Coast industry and was only accepted (because *anything* is accepted) in the Bay Area.
All of them? Outside of city data nobody really cares about what's going on outside of where their living. America's are often criticized for that.
Not true.
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
Charlotte
Four cities suffering from extreme identity crisis issues.
Savannah is the only metro area in Georgia that is content in its position and in what it has to offer. It doesn't aspire to be anything, because it knows it is everything. Austin would be the Texas equivalent.
Imagine what Atlanta would be like if it wasn't busy comparing itself to damn New York and Los Angeles all the time.
Miami certainly gives off the unbothered vibe, and it does so convincingly.
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