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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Most/least religious states

The Gallup Polling organization released its finding on the Most and Least Religious states and came up with some surprising and some terribly predictable data. Missouri ranks as 16th "most religious", tying with Nebraska and North Dakota for that spot. Kansas came up a little bit higher on the list (unfortunately but not surprisingly) with a rating of 13, tying with South Dakota. What this means is that 44% of respondents said they were "very religious" in Missouri's shared 16th spot while 45% of Kansans said they were "very religious." Good for them. As for the "top" (or bottom, depending how you look at it) spots, no surprise there as most of them are all in the South, with the exception of the State theocracy also known as Utah. Mississippi came in the number one (or 50th) spot (again, depending how you view it. Link: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/29/where-are-the-most-religious-states-in-america/

2 comments:

Donna. W said...

I consider "religious" a bad and negative word. For instance, most people think of Christians when they say religious. But wait, aren't Muslims and Jews and Buddhists religious? Are they counted in these polls? I am a Christian, but I really don't feel very religious. I pray, I currently go to church, I believe. But PLEASE don't call me religious.

Mo Rage said...

Great points on your part. I agree.

I thought that made this poll ambiguous. If you ask someone if the're "religious", what does that mean? Everyone thinks it's something different in the first place, secondly virtually everyone thinks of "religious" as a good and positive thing and after all, we all want to think of ourselves in a positive way, by and large. Finally, one person might think "religious" means you belong to a formal religion and attend regularly, weekly or even bi-weekly whereas others might just think it means they're thoughtful and that they contemplate--who knows?--God or the next life, if there is one or whatever. It makes it pretty open and open-ended and so, vague.

A kind of fun result, in a way, but not really very scientific at all, in the end.