Mississippians Go to Church the Most; Vermonters, the Least

[Eugenio]

According to Gallup:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/125999/Mississippians-Go-Church-Most-Vermonters-Least.aspx?CSTS=alert

I'd say this bodes very bad news for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, as its largest numbers are centered in the least religious region of the U.S.

[Jake C]

Holy cow, only 50% here in Texas?! If I had a dollar for every church I pass simply on the way to my Orthodox church, I'd be able to buy a lobster dinner (Only outside of fasting season, of course).

[deusveritasest]

Not necessarily. Just because the general church-going population in the area is low doesn't mean that the population of Eastern Orthodox who go to church is low.

[Nacho]

^LoL at the above!

[GiC]

Holy cow, only 50% here in Texas?! If I had a dollar for every church I pass simply on the way to my Orthodox church, I'd be able to buy a lobster dinner (Only outside of fasting season, of course).

Now why would you give up lobster during the fast? You just can't dip it in butter

[deusveritasest]

2). As for Iowa, there was no vote taken on whether the state should legalize it. Instead, the state supreme court legalized it for us, since its members are soooooo much smarter than the rest of the general voting public.

None the less, my case was made as it was recognized that Iowa is a state that has legalized same sex marriage and it also has a relatively high church attendance rate, rendering this fellow's statement completely idiotic.

[Robb]

Is this another one of these polls which is supposed to prove that Southerners are the anointed of God and so much more rightouse then the evil Northeasterners and their wicked, big city ways.

[PeterTheAleut]

Is this another one of these polls which is supposed to prove that Southerners are the anointed of God and so much more rightouse then the evil Northeasterners and their wicked, big city ways.

There are such polls?

[Robb]

It's just that polls like this always attempt to make southern Americans out to be some type of super religious zealots and portray northeasterners as secular elitist.  I'm tired of all this trash talk about my region.  There are plenty of people in the northeast who go to church on a regular basis and identify with a religious faith.  This just never seems to come out in these so called polls (which are probably run by southerners). 

[GiC]

It's just that polls like this always attempt to make southern Americans out to be some type of super religious zealots and portray northeasterners as secular elitist.  I'm tired of all this trash talk about my region.  There are plenty of people in the northeast who go to church on a regular basis and identify with a religious faith.  This just never seems to come out in these so called polls (which are probably run by southerners).  

Well, I guess I have a different take, that the polls were designed to portray northeasterners as rational and reasonable people and southerners as religious nut-cases. The truth is, there are plenty of good non-religious people in the South, they're just overshadowed by the crazies. And there are plenty of crazies in the northeast, these polls just leave out the new age spiritualists and other metaphysical-believing people who are just as problematic as the church-goers to artificially make the northeast look more advanced and civilized than they really are.

[Robb]

So you don't think that there are any practicing Christians in the Northeast?  Every church I go to is full on Sundays so somebody must be believing.

[GiC]

So you don't think that there are any practicing Christians in the Northeast?  Every church I go to is full on Sundays so somebody must be believing.

Of course there are, they're just not as statistically significant relative to the general population...and that's what polls measure. There's no hidden agenda involved, it's just how things are.

[PeterTheAleut]

It's just that polls like this always attempt to make southern Americans out to be some type of super religious zealots and portray northeasterners as secular elitist.  I'm tired of all this trash talk about my region.  There are plenty of people in the northeast who go to church on a regular basis and identify with a religious faith.  This just never seems to come out in these so called polls (which are probably run by southerners).  

Here's my take:  These polls are conducted for reasons totally irrelevant to what you might think, and you're merely projecting your own shoulder chip into them.  This is not part of any conspiracy to make the South look superior to the rest of the U.S.

[ialmisry]

It's just that polls like this always attempt to make southern Americans out to be some type of super religious zealots and portray northeasterners as secular elitist.  I'm tired of all this trash talk about my region.  There are plenty of people in the northeast who go to church on a regular basis and identify with a religious faith.  This just never seems to come out in these so called polls (which are probably run by southerners).  

Well, I guess I have a different take, that the polls were designed to portray northeasterners as rational and reasonable people and southerners as religious nut-cases. The truth is, there are plenty of good non-religious people in the South, they're just overshadowed by the crazies. And there are plenty of crazies in the northeast,

of course, they are the ones running the place.

[Heorhij]

As someone who lives in Mississippi and teaches at a small university where the vast majority of students are Southern Baptists, I can testify that here, going to church is a deeply ingrained cultural habit, like having manners, saying Sir and Maham and "She is such a ..., bless her heart." 

[Orual]

As someone who lives in Mississippi and teaches at a small university where the vast majority of students are Southern Baptists, I can testify that here, going to church is a deeply ingrained cultural habit, like having manners, saying Sir and Maham and "She is such a ..., bless her heart."  

I grew up in the South.  I found that while a lot of people attended church of some kind, the amount of real religious sentiment behind it was surprisingly low.  People would go out of pressure from family members or other social obligation - like you said, a deeply ingrained cultural habit.

[Jake C]

Holy cow, only 50% here in Texas?! If I had a dollar for every church I pass simply on the way to my Orthodox church, I'd be able to buy a lobster dinner (Only outside of fasting season, of course).

Now why would you give up lobster during the fast? You just can't dip it in butter

Because I'll be darned if I'm eating it without the butter!

[Jake C]

As someone who lives in Mississippi and teaches at a small university where the vast majority of students are Southern Baptists, I can testify that here, going to church is a deeply ingrained cultural habit, like having manners, saying Sir and Maham and "She is such a ..., bless her heart."  

I grew up in the South.  I found that while a lot of people attended church of some kind, the amount of real religious sentiment behind it was surprisingly low.  People would go out of pressure from family members or other social obligation - like you said, a deeply ingrained cultural habit.

Exactly. It drives me nuts that my old Baptist church funds missionaries to go proselytize the (predominantly) Orthodox Russians, claiming that Russia was a nation of lost people because "everyone is just a nominal Christian". Even when I was a Baptist I used to look at that and say, "Look around you!" I've never believed in "Once Saved, Always Saved" (I know, I was terrible at being Baptist, because I rejected a doctrine I didn't see anywhere in Scripture), so maybe that has something to do with my annoyance; I felt it was extremely hypocritical.

[Marc1152]

According to Gallup:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/125999/Mississippians-Go-Church-Most-Vermonters-Least.aspx?CSTS=alert

I'd say this bodes very bad news for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, as its largest numbers are centered in the least religious region of the U.S.

I dunno.. It seems to me that this indicates that Americans are extraordinarily religious. If only 1/3 of a States population goes to Church every week ( or nearly so) you are at the back of the pack. This goes right up to States where a majority go every week...

Those are high numbers especially when you factor in believers who just go once in awhile or just Christmas and Easter. But they do believe. And then there are religious people not likely to answer a question about going to "Church" since they are Jews or Buddhists etc.

This is not good news for the atheists, agnostics and skeptics.

[Robb]

Just because a person doesn't go to Church every week consecutively does not mean that they are atheist or irreligious (If that were the case then a whole lot of Orthodox would be lumped in as unbelievers).  Yea, it would be nice if more people went every week but a lot of religions, even Christian Churches do not require their members to attend every week (even if they don't preach it as an official doctrine, it's sort of an understanding amongst some Churches that weekly Church attendance is not a requirement for membership). 

[Keble]

I suspect the hidden variable in this is that Mississippi is one of the blackest states in the union, and that the black subculture is much stronger in its church-going than the country as a whole.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

The posts in violation of our moratorium on discussion of homosexuality, together with the admonitions from other posters regarding said violations, have been split into the aptly-titled Another Thread in Violation of our Moratorium on Discussion of Homosexuality. Please regard our moratorium, which lasts until Pentecost. Anyone who discusses homosexuality before then will receive a public warning, whether you brought up the subject or continued it.

--YtterbiumAnalyst

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