The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has released its annual state-by-state survey on the importance of religion, worship attendance, frequency of prayer and belief in God.
Which of the 50 states has the most religious population? Since there are many ways to define "religious," there is no single answer to this question. But to give a sense of how the states stack up, the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life used polling data to rank them on four measures: the importance of religion in people's lives, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer and absolute certainty of belief in God. Mississippi stands out on all four, and several other Southern states also rank very high on the measures.
I am proud amused obliged to report that the state(s) at the opposite end of the spectrum, .i.e., least religious, are a combo Vermont/New Hampshire. Other irreligious states competing for low rankings are Alaska, and Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut/RI (with the rankings shifting slightly depending on the question
I did a diary on this annual survey a year ago. There are not that many surprises.
Here's the link:
Pew Forum state-by-state religion survey
The rankings shown at this link are by "importance of religion in one's life" responses, but you can also click on the rankings by church attendance, frequency of prayer, and belief in God.
In the introduction to this diary, I hinted at my own views on the subject, as a Vermonter. That's not intended to disparage anyone's religious affiliation, and I know many people who are motivated to do good things and to work for progressive causes by their faith. But for too many, religion seems to..... well, do not-so-good things....
Where does your state rank?
And what do you think about that?