Top Five Most Religious U.S. States

[Willy Woz]

This was taken from a SurveyUSA poll about church attendance:

Utah -56%
Alabama -53%
Louisiana -53%
Arkansas -52%
Mississippi -50%

It's funny TN or SC didn't appear at the top.

[Alcon]

Weekly church attendance does not equal religiousness.

The 2004 National Surveys of Religion and Politics did what you're looking for.  The most to least religious states were:

North Dakota - 97%
Alabama - 94%
Mississippi - 93%
South Carolina - 93%
South Dakota - 92%
Lousiana - 91%
Nebraska - 91%
Tennessee - 91%
...
Nevada - 80%
Wyoming - 80%
Colorado - 79%
Oregon - 79%
Vermont - 78%
Washington - 75%

As for Christian, the lowest are New York (70%), Oregon and Vermont (67%) and Washington (63%).

[Willy Woz]

Weekly church attendance does not equal religiousness.

Says you. Sure, any moron can claim  to be religious, and not really be. Why do you think Massachusetts is so strongly Catholic and yet is pro-choice and pro-gay.

[Dr. Cynic]

Weekly church attendance does not equal religiousness.

Says you. Sure, any moron can claim  to be religious, and not really be. Why do you think Massachusetts is so strongly Catholic and yet is pro-choice and pro-gay.

And says you that weekly church attendance equals religiousness? I've known alot of them that would sing the hymn in the church and stab you in the back after it was all over. Your assumption is laughable.

[Willy Woz]

Weekly church attendance does not equal religiousness.

Says you. Sure, any moron can claim  to be religious, and not really be. Why do you think Massachusetts is so strongly Catholic and yet is pro-choice and pro-gay.

And says you that weekly church attendance equals religiousness? I've known alot of them that would sing the hymn in the church and stab you in the back after it was all over. Your assumption is laughable.

As is yours.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I'm pretty religious but don't go to church because I think the Catholic Church is about as far from religious as you can get, all they want is money and children

[Alcon]

Says you. Sure, any moron can claim  to be religious, and not really be. Why do you think Massachusetts is so strongly Catholic and yet is pro-choice and pro-gay.

I didn't say that it's a perfect measure of religiousness either, but, which seems a better indicator of overall religiousness?

1. A number that includes only those who attend brick-and-mortar churches
2. A number that may include a number of lapsed people, but is self-identification?

That's actually quite debatable, but what I gave is certainly no more ridiculous of a measure than yours.

And, by the way, mine had a much better sample size...

P.S. There are people who are church attenders who are pro-gay and pro-choice!  If you want those who practice True Religion, why bother counting anyone other than your own denomination?  And beyond that, I'm sure they're all secretly sinners anyway, so why count them?  You're the only religious person in the world.  Congrats.

(...now that was ridiculous.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

That's actually quite debatable,

Not really. Your's wins pretty easily.

[Alcon]

That's actually quite debatable,

Not really. Your's wins pretty easily.

Well, yeah, I suppose, 53% religious in Alabama?  Yeah right.

I was being a little generous.  Mine isn't objectively correct, but I'd have trouble yours over it, Woz.  Or Willy.  Whatever you are.

[Willy Woz]

That's actually quite debatable,

Not really. Your's wins pretty easily.

I don't know. Saying Mississippi and Arkansas are less religious than North Dakota is pretty ridiculous. A good way to tell is by looking at them by the perecentage who are evangelical (since evangelicals are the most religious group - definitely more than ND's Lutherans):

Mississippi
South Carolina
Alabama
Arkansas
Tennessee

[Alcon]

I don't know. Saying Mississippi and Arkansas are less religious than North Dakota is pretty ridiculous. A good way to tell is by looking at them by the perecentage who are evangelical (since evangelicals are the most religious group - definitely more than ND's Lutherans):

Mississippi
South Carolina
Alabama
Arkansas
Tennessee

What kind of weird-ass measurement of religiosity are you going for - most Holy Spirit per capita?

[Gabu]

Weekly church attendance does not equal religiousness.

It does suggest strong (and probably likelier to be fundamentalist) religiousness, however.  The states listed there are ones that I do certainly associate with that description.

[Smash255]

I don't know. Saying Mississippi and Arkansas are less religious than North Dakota is pretty ridiculous. A good way to tell is by looking at them by the perecentage who are evangelical (since evangelicals are the most religious group - definitely more than ND's Lutherans):

Mississippi
South Carolina
Alabama
Arkansas
Tennessee

What kind of weird-ass measurement of religiosity are you going for - most Holy Spirit per capita?

Religious wackjobs who use religion to promote their own bigotry perhaps???

[Alcon]

It does suggest strong (and probably likelier to be fundamentalist) religiousness, however.  The states listed there are ones that I do certainly associate with that description.

Yeah, certainly there is some sort of correlation to religiosity, but there are other factors, such as that some denominations are more likely to worship and home, some don't emphasize church attendance as much, etc.  And certainly more than 53% of people in Alabama are religious, irrespective of how fervently religious they may be.

[Willy Woz]

It does suggest strong (and probably likelier to be fundamentalist) religiousness, however.  The states listed there are ones that I do certainly associate with that description.

Yeah, certainly there is some sort of correlation to religiosity, but there are other factors, such as that some denominations are more likely to worship and home, some don't emphasize church attendance as much, etc.  And certainly more than 53% of people in Alabama are religious, irrespective of how fervently religious they may be.

Here's the ultimate list:

http://editthis.info/Alterealitiky/Atlasian_Bible_Study

[Friz]

Hmm...interesting how some of the least educated, poorest, and most obese states are also religious.  What does that tell you?  Perhaps the more feeble minds are most likely to subscribe to religion?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Hmm...interesting how some of the least educated, poorest, and most obese states are also religious.  What does that tell you?  Perhaps the more feeble minds are most likely to subscribe to religion?

What a vile Social Darwinist you are.

[Alcon]

Hmm...interesting how some of the least educated, poorest, and most obese states are also religious.  What does that tell you?  Perhaps the more feeble minds are most likely to subscribe to religion?

What a vile Social Darwinist you are.

As much as I think that comment was mean-spirited, what does "stupid people are more likely to be religious" have to do with Social Darwinism?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Hmm...interesting how some of the least educated, poorest, and most obese states are also religious.  What does that tell you?  Perhaps the more feeble minds are most likely to subscribe to religion?

What a vile Social Darwinist you are.

As much as I think that comment was mean-spirited, what does "stupid people are more likely to be religious" have to do with Social Darwinism?

Aimed at the whole, disgusting, comment rather than the specific target of the comment.

[Alcon]

Aimed at the whole, disgusting, comment rather than the specific target of the comment.

Again, it was mean-spirited, but the contents (the less intelligent are more likely to be religious) are, by most estimates, true.  It doesn't equate to evidence against religion.  And, frankly, I get a little sick of the "intellectuals" here who assume that "feeble-mindedness" (a conveniently negative euphemism for lack of intelligence) is something for which to fault others.  That, to me, seems a more offensive turn of "Social Darwinism."

[Ebowed]

Hmm...interesting how some of the least educated, poorest, and most obese states are also religious.  What does that tell you?  Perhaps the more feeble minds are most likely to subscribe to religion?

What a vile Social Darwinist you are.

As much as I think that comment was mean-spirited, what does "stupid people are more likely to be religious" have to do with Social Darwinism?

The poor, uneducated, and obese are all likely to die faster.

Though frankly I have nothing against any of the above three groups.  They all seem like decent people to me.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And, frankly, I get a little sick of the "intellectuals" here who assume that "feeble-mindedness" (a conveniently negative euphemism for lack of intelligence) is something for which to fault others.  That, to me, seems a more offensive turn of "Social Darwinism."

Why do you think I snapped?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I only noted that religion seems to be able to be sold more easily to those less mentally equipped.

Don't you just love the way that His Lordship implies that He is Very Clever Indeed, while Those Damn Proles are obviously all Very Thick Indeed.

Arrogant ****.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Just a warning to say that things could easily get uglier. Regrettable, but I know what I'm like.

[Alcon]

And, frankly, I get a little sick of the "intellectuals" here who assume that "feeble-mindedness" (a conveniently negative euphemism for lack of intelligence) is something for which to fault others.  That, to me, seems a more offensive turn of "Social Darwinism."

Why do you think I snapped?

If it was because his intent was to cast doubt on your religion by saying most believers are stupid, that was a fair point.

If it was because you object to the idea that all followers of your religion are stupid on the grounds that being stupid is a negative thing, I consider that morally tantamount to replying to gay jokes with "I'm no f****t!"

The blue-collar deserve defense, and the willfully ignorant deserve defense to some degree, but I don't think that the "stupid" deserve any less defense than the blue-collar.  And certainly they do not deserve any implications that their consisting the bulk of religious persons would be a negative thing, IMHO.  (Apologies for the last sentence being awkward to hell.)