-the 5 most religious states in the union are : Mississippi,Alabama,Louisiana,Tennessee and Arkansas
-The 5 least religious states: Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut
-The Least Religious states rank higher in HDI, education, wealthy, lower crime, overall QOL, political stability and economy. While the most religious states are in the bottom of said metrics.
-The most religious states rank higher in Hate Crimes, Bigotry,Xenophobia, Obesity, Teen pregnancy, corruption to name a few. Least religious states rank in the bottom of it.
45 comments
However, I’m not sure the most secular states are teaching enough statistics and correlation.
All 5 of the religious states you mentioned are in the South. Religion may play a role in why they have issues today, but I would say the legacy of slavery and reconstruction were significantly more impactful to those states. You have to remember that it was less than a human lifetime ago that segregation ended in the South. Those issues don’t disappear overnight.
Those top five states spend heavily on education
I don’t agree with the framing. States in the U.S. are all secular. What you seem to be describing and asking about is the rates of religiosity among the populations of the various States.
I don’t think there is any one thing can be pointed to that explain the differences. Religion may be one variable but with a population so complex such as that of an entire state religion would be but one of many variables. There could be various degrees of poverty and education and cultural norms and aspirations that are unrelated to the religiosity of that particular population.
Probably the other way around. Safe, rich, educated states lose interest in religion.
Probably more to do w the fact that the South has always been poorer and industrialized a lot later than New England which was the first part of the country to industrialize after the UK kickstarted the Industrial Revolution.
The South in comparison was always more agrarian and didn’t develop their economy past that until post WW2 when a lot of companies moved industry south for cheaper labor.
As for bigotry, we’ve definitely had our fair share of that in New England even if we don’t have the history of slavery and segregation, and in a lot of ways the South is less racially segregated than New England nowadays.
We might be the least religious part of the country, but I think we have a better standing on why our states perform fairly well on most indexes which is more to do w the fact that we have solid education systems, close proximity to the ocean so we’ve always had a ton of trade w Europe, early industrialization, and strong economic sectors in the present day such as medicine, biotech, defense/aerospace, finance, and education.
Religion is more common among less abundant regions across the world, not only in the US. When times are hard and resources are not abundant, people are more likely to turn to religion.
Adjusted for cost of living those states aren’t necessarily doing better.
New England used to be the most religious part of the country. (Think puritans).
Generally, increased standards of living lead to less religiosity, and poor standards of living tend to create an environment in which religiosity maintains more of its traditional foothold
Highly educated people tend to be less religious. Those states have a high degree of educated people. It is inverse for the other states.
It doesn’t help that religious constituents in the South continue to push policy that is anti-progress.
Despite the illusionary separation of church and state
All of those states has mandatory schools for all.
In the South they had private academies for Whites early on (poor White had little and Blacks none) and then later some counties didn’t even have a high school in the 1960s.
Chicken/egg. Are they prosperous because they’re less religious or less religious because they’re prosperous?
Maine is more comparable to Tennessee or Arkansas in terms of quality of life (with the major exception of crime) than Massachusetts. I’d also wager that backwards attitudes on race and immigration are also pretty common here. You’re just generalizing to try to spread your agenda
I’ll take loaded questions for 800 alex
There’s a litany of complex reasons, but the point to make here is one of correlation, rather than causation….the south being religious as well as behind in all of those categories are likely caused by a lot of similar factors, rather than the south being behind in those things BECAUSE they’re religious. Generally, southern citizens place an emphasis on the church and family, while distrusting “the establishment,” and things like science, higher education, the federal government, and strangers who generally live a different lifestyle than they do. The north meanwhile has always placed an emphasis on the community, higher education, trust and belief in the government, both locally and federally, progressivism, and general acceptance of everyone based on quality of character and regardless of economic status, family background, or faith. I am NOT saying that one approach is right or wrong, and also not saying that this generalization can or should be taken as a blanket statement that refers to every single person living in those areas, but I personally feel like it’s historically accurate.
Rural areas are not thriving.
There’s no such thing as a religious state in America.
Because people without religion generally care more about improving their day to day lives, as there is less of an afterlife to look to. The focus becomes on how I can make my daily life good, vs how can I make things good with god.
The secular states do have racism as well, but it is not overt or in your face, because they tend to like things being calm. But they do look down on people alot, like as the Italian American community has secularized our relationship with educated Asian Americans has improved alot, on the other hand, we look down more on the Hispanics and African Americans, whereas in the past they were seen as fellow Christians and brother’s and sisters in Christ, today they are seen as an underclass that makes America look bad. I do think religion was a good mediator of racism and still is, the south is not more racist, they are just more obnoxious and loud about it than the North is, and online research has shown that people in the Secular North use just as much discriminatory language online when nobody is looking.
Criminals can’t survive the cold?
Why do people delve into religion? Suffering. Why do people turn secular? Prosperity.
Economic powerhouses vs the beleaguered former slave states in America’s unwashed and unwanted ass crack? Of course they’d turn to God.
There are no such thing as religious states. They’re all secular.
Religion has no bearing on wealth and success trends in the country.
This is pretty much shooting an arrow and painting a target around it. You’ve chosen an agenda and are trying to frame data to support it.
Because the religious right has used the Christian church to launder their anti-education, racist, sexist worldview. This has primed their voters to accept bad governmental policy based on that worldview. Why? Because Southern Baptist Jesus wants it that way.
Usually it’s just deep water ports and the (pardon the pun) downstream industry that resulted from it. Institutional momentum is a bitch to overcome.
This is one of those “choices have results” things.
Like, for example, abstinence-only programs tend to end up in more teen pregnancy when the teens involved *don’t know what to do* when they’re not abstaining any more.
Many of the more secular states historically had a culture that emphasized endowing things like hospitals, museums and universities over personal displays of wealth. This had returns, obviously.
They had an industrial base sooner. (The New England states, in particular, had *two* industrial revolutions, one based on hydro-based factories and mills, the second based on steam like everyone else’s.) The other states in question didn’t industrialize until later. This set up an economy of attraction, after a fashion (much like how you “go to Hollywood” to make movies or “Go to Wall Street” to get into finance, an innovation culture started early, and drew innovation-minded people in.)
I’d also say that there were more-active union movements in the New England states than in the other examples, which meant pushing for more equitable pay and labor conditions.
Vermont probably ranks low on hate crimes because hardly any POC or other minorities even live there. Of the 5 whitest states in the country, 3 are in New England. Of the 10 whitest states, only one is in the southern half of the country, Kentucky.
Boston also has a terrible reputation among black people.
ALL states are “Secular” its in the US constitution. I think you’re using the word wrong. 1st Amendment & all that.
Where in New York do you live?
Downstate/the Island/Jersey (NYC METRO) is FULL of Catholic high schools & has the highest concentration of observant Jews in the country.
Similarly…there are a LOT of religious Hispanics & Caribbean peoples’ in FL, TX, CA.
Yet New York New Jersey & CA ABSOLUTELY beats New Hampshire & Maine & East Connecticut in Average Income, Quality of Life, Opportunity, Diversity.
Also I REALLY question where you’re getting these dubious rankings.
Hate crimes…where did that come from? The south doesnt actually have a lot of hate crimes these days. I checked.
This is one of the most loaded questions I’ve ever seen on this sub
Before COVID they did. Afterwards not so much.
Because among other things, religion is a tool used by conmen to separate fools/voters from their money. The more we take away that tool, the harder it is for the conmen to sell us out to themeselves and their cronies.
Bring on the downvotes, haters. 😎
New England has always been one of the richer areas of the country. That probably has more to do with their prosperity than any perceived lack of religiosity.
Old money states vs not. But truthfully, you can’t draw any meaningful conclusions on just one variable like this.
One of the reasons is that many people who are struggling seek guidance or spiritual help. It’s sometimes said that people in poorer regions “cling” to religion. I know that offends many people, but there is some truth to it. Those who are well off have fewer reasons to pray … seriously.
Sounds like you came here looking to tell us something, not ask us something. Reddit edgelord atheism can get pretty tiresome
Religious people tend to be less interested in materialism.
Correlation does not equal causation. I don’t think the religion is relevant to the issues.
This is a soap box question and I hope the Mods remove it. All US states are secular. There are no “religious” states in the US. This question has an agenda and is fishing for answers they like.
The states of NY and Illinois are well known for corruption and are not considered to be highly “religious states” as you call them.
Questions like these remind me that we are in an election year, and the useful idiot, bots and agitators brigade are out in full force
How is the state founded by Puritans the least religious?
Totally not loaded
There’s a reason red states do worse.
It has everything to do with money. The five lowest-performing states also happen to face economic issues that have nothing to do with religion.
Look at the demographics of the states.