2010 Religion Census

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The percentage of adherents figures look bogus to me. Given for example that about 12%-13% or something of the population is black, then that 1.6% for Black Protestants means that only about 15% or so of the blacks are Protestants. Really?  The Catholic percentage of 38% or so also looks way high. It might be closer to 25%.  Maybe the issue is that "adherents" really means "congregants," and those who claim an affiliation, may not be members of any congregation, and far more Catholics tend to be congregants than blacks. Or something.

BK explained one problem with the methodology, but another is that many churches don't have a formal membership, or they do but people are reluctant to join. Interesting and kind of funny article on this sort of thing with one church here: http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-05/dismembership-plan

I find the band reference in the title very amusing, just because it's not something I'd ever expect to see a reference to in the Christian Century.

Keep in mind by the way the Black Protestant bit refers only to blacks that go to specific "black Protestant" churches, blacks that go to churches that aren't predominately black are counted as just evangelical or mainline Protestant.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Orange Counties = Freedom Counties



I AM THE 0.1% (in my county)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Could "Black Protestant" = AME, while other predominantly African-American congregations in diverse national groups don't count?

Likely. I doubt Obama's church in Chicago would count for instance and the idea of a Lutheran church being counted as a "black church" seems pretty funny but there are in fact predominately black Lutheran churches in the Twin Cities.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Appalachian churches are often the types that don't keep membership reports.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Interesting and great map but I have a few questions:

1. Will the Southern Baptist Convention expand into to South Texas or perhaps into Northern Virginia anytime in the decades to come?

2. Will the LDS make some inroads in Northern Arizona?

3. If Irreligions (Athiests/Agnostics) is really the number one "religious group" that is fast growing, where do you think they'll show up in the map?

1. In Northern Virginia they probably had big numbers that got diluted by the northern transplants. I don't see northerners likely to conver to the SBC en masse any time soon, so the exact opposite will likely happen, they'll continue to roll back in the state. Ditto with South Texas, just replace "northerners" with "Hispanics"

2. I don't think Mormon transplants will be much faster than northern retirees and typical Sunbelt movers.

3. The maps don't include them.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Largest religious group by county:

Wow -look at all that blue.  If you took this map literally, you'd think the United States is predominately Catholic with a noticeably large Southern Baptist, Mormon, Methodist, and Evangelical Lutheran minority pockets...

It's colored by plurality which can be quite misleading. Some of those blue counties are probably less than 20% Catholic.