I love being in Tennessee. You don't hear people say that very often, but compared to being raised in other parts of this country it has been such a blessing.
There are literally churches on every corner, and I have learned and seen through our travels abroad that having that many choices is rare. In California, we struggled to find a gospel-preaching church in Los Angeles.
I love living in the "Bible Belt".
The
Gallup organization has just released a major new research report that measures relative religiosity state by state, and the results are startling. There really is a Bible belt, and some regions of the country are remarkably secular.
The
poll data is straightforward. Over 350,000 persons were interviewed and asked this question: "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" I wish they would have asked specifically about faith in Jesus.
The data reveal a wide disparity among the states. In Mississippi, 85% answered "yes," while in Vermont, only 42% did so. That is an incredible margin of difference.
According to the data, the most religious states include Mississippi (85%), Alabama (82%), South Carolina (80%), Tennessee (79%), Louisiana (78%), Arkansas (78%), Georgia (76%), North Carolina (76%), Oklahoma (75%), Kentucky (74%), and Texas (74%).
The states with the lowest responses were Connecticut (55%), Nevada (54%), Rhode Island (53%), Oregon (53%), Washington (52%), Alaska (51%), Massachusetts (48%), Maine (48%), New Hampshire (46%), and Vermont (42%).
As Frank Newport of
Gallup explained:
Clearly, Southern states are populated by residents with relatively high religiosity, as are several other states in the middle of the country, stretching from Texas through Oklahoma to Kansas and the two Dakotas.
At the same time, states whose residents are least likely to report that religion is important tend to be concentrated in New England and the far West (with the exception of Utah). Additionally, levels of religiosity are lower in several Mid-Atlantic states.
Regionalism matters, and though some of the patterns may defy easy explanation, others confirm longstanding observations. The Pacific Northwest and the New England states really are far more secular than most other regions, and the South really is a Bible Belt. Amen!
Numerous theories are advanced in order to explain these disparities. New England certainly did not start as a secular experiment, but it entered the twentieth century already showing signs of deep secularization. The influence of liberal theology in the region, the aftermath of the Second Great Awakening, and the leading edge of urbanization and industrialization certainly contributed to the pattern.
The Pacific Northwest, by contrast, has been a consistently secular region throughout its history. Other regions and states have their own history and story.
The existence of the "Bible Belt" is not a myth. The Gallup map shows a swath of avid religiosity ranging from Texas to the Atlantic coast. Every state in this region is included in the pattern of highest responses, with the exception of Florida, which scored 65% -- matching the national average.
If you live in the Bible Belt, thank God today for His love and sovereignty that He has given us a home where faith in God is important.
It scares me to think that America is falling away from her first love, Jesus. But I have peace that passes all my understanding knowing that God is in control.
Amen!
Jaidyn is in China now being adopted by our church friends, the Kevin & Rhonda Skinner.
