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249 Comments
- Nintendesert, on 02/19/2009, -2/+57I'm surprised by Nevada, I figured they'd be ranked the most religious with all the praying in the Casinos that goes on.
- bhavinp, on 02/19/2009, -9/+61This is very interesting information, I really think this is one of the main reasons why people choose a certain politician over another. On top of this they should have also tested the average IQ, it would be interesting to see the trends from that perspective as well.
I'm not saying that Southern people are stupid but... - Enkairi, on 02/19/2009, -10/+54I thank god everyday that I'm an atheist.
- 4NDr01D, on 02/19/2009, -19/+60for some reason everyone in the south likes imaginary friends...
it sucks down here
not another free thinker for miles - costumemaker, on 02/19/2009, -5/+39This is actually a map of people who like to say they are religious and think they are religious. They are not christians in the slightest.
My favorite quote by Friedrich Nietzsche, "The last true Christian died on the cross."
I am sick of people who claim to be Christian and yet somehow manage to think its ok to bomb people, hate others etc etc.
All this map is to me is a vacation map on where I shouldn't go. - Yousty, on 02/19/2009, -7/+39Wishing the South would try and secede from the Union again cuz I'm pretty sure this time around we wouldn't try to stop 'em.
- leif77, on 02/19/2009, -17/+49Hey America. Your liberal penis is hanging out of your bible jeans.
- anexanhume, on 02/19/2009, -3/+30Ignorance indicates nothing more than a lack of knowledge. If ignorance is the culture, people are going to perform worst on standardized tests, but that doesn't mean their intelligence is actually below the rest of the nation.
- JFitzpatrick, on 02/19/2009, -6/+32Anyone who doubted that the bible belt was still around hasn't traveled much.
Every time I go to the south I meet someone I never knew existed prior to the visit. "Oh really? The disciples rode dinosaurs? Fascinating." - AlextheK, on 02/19/2009, -3/+28Congratulations. There are three classical fallacies of logic in your argument. Can you prove your supposed intelligence by finding them? I'd bet not.
- 1longtime, on 02/19/2009, -2/+23It's called Florida, and it's hardly liberal.
- davebg8r, on 02/19/2009, -5/+26The people are religious by convenvience. They do not truly believe the bible. They do not stone adulterers or do any number of things the bible tells them to do. They pick and choose what they want to believe. Now, if you truly believed the bible was the word of god, do you think it would be acceptable to pick and choose what parts you want to listen to? No.
Gallup makes the distinction, rightfully so, that people now identify themselves as spiritual, instead of religious. That is a big step forward. Spiritual people, while believing in many of the same tenets, without the inane baggage and rules that religion hangs to, should be more rational and better able to co-exist with others. - Mattwdj, on 02/19/2009, -15/+35The less religious a state the more prosperous it is.
- Zomgondo, on 02/19/2009, -4/+23Anyone who is rational isn't going to bother engaging in conversation with someone who is obviously out to bring them to Jesus, because it's completely pointless. Sorry.
- poopsybythebay, on 02/19/2009, -0/+19Please don't say that because I live here and if they secede I will need time to sell my house.
- duncan202, on 02/19/2009, -2/+20I'm an atheist.. That said, I'm willing to be there are many religious people that are smarter than you.
- GMH24, on 02/19/2009, -0/+18I don't see how this should be surprising to anybody, the term "bible belt" was developed because there is, and has been, a "belt" of "bible" states for quite some time now.. For those of you who consider this news, you may want to get out of your mothers basement every once and a while.
- Manchildcartoon, on 02/19/2009, -1/+18This will not end well.
- zephc, on 02/19/2009, -1/+17That's "wicked retahhhded" mistah!
- dickeywayne, on 02/19/2009, -3/+19Interesting that the most religious states are also the most racist. And the most Republican. And the least educated. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
- JingleHymrShmit, on 02/19/2009, -2/+17How do you know that God is real again?
- darknecross, on 02/19/2009, -2/+16Quote dump!
Benjamin Franklin
"When a Religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its Professors are obliged to call for help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." - Benjamin Franklin (from a letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780;)
John Adams - Second President
"Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole carloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days?" - John Adams
"As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." - (Treaty of Tripoli, 1797 - signed by President John Adams.)
Thomas Jefferson - Third President
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god." - Thomas Jefferson (letter to Peter Carr, 10 August 1787)
"Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." - Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 363.)
James Madison - Fourth President
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison (Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, 1785.)
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretence, infringed.'' - James Madison (Original wording of the First Amendment; Annals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789).)
Thomas Paine - Author of "Common Sense", "The American Crisis", "Rights of Man", and "The Age of Reason"; played a large role in rallying colonists to secede from Britain.
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason, 1794-1795.)
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of... Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."- Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason, 1794-1795.)
"As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious protesters thereof, and I know of no other business government has to do therewith." - Thomas Paine (Common Sense, 1776.) - Spudster, on 02/19/2009, -5/+18Try British Columbia on for size. We're the most secular place in North America.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2006001/c-g/ ... - xdre, on 02/19/2009, -1/+14This will end well.
- greenroom628, on 02/19/2009, -0/+13otherwise known as "the tip of the penis"...
- Nintendesert, on 02/19/2009, -0/+11While California is bigger, it's on a downswing in prosperity. I live in SoCal and while beautiful, industry is leaving the state. As can be seen by ever growing budget shortfalls it isn't run very well anymore. Just look at the this years. It's a state in a total mess right now from top to bottom.
Texas seems to be a state on the surge. They are pushing forward with massive green power generation and technologies and have a thriving IT community. - JingleHymrShmit, on 02/19/2009, -5/+16I hate how this guy has to be apologetic towards the fact that its OK that some people didn't say they are religious becuase we can still assume that they pray to God. Just give me the facts and don't assume that becuase I'm not religious I could still be pious.
- homercles337, on 02/19/2009, -10/+21Its no wonder that the least educated states are also the most religious...
- realyst, on 02/19/2009, -1/+12I'll bite.
I believe God(as we created) isn't real because everything I have seen and experienced, as well as any test I can give it and all observation that has been done over the millenia have not indicated that such a thing could exist. Quite adversely, evidence suggests not only that, were some such figure to exist, it would go against all that we have observed in this Universe, but also that chaotic behavior with very little governing 'rules' can develope astounding emergent behavior, almost lifelike, in very short order at a speed much less then that would have likely occurred during the moment of the first great kapow(research Conway's Game of Life).
Equally, much of man's psychology is conducive to both imaginary flights of fancy as well as 'passing the buck' when it comes to real issues(work in IT for a bit, you'll see what I mean) which lends credibility to the fact that we are likelier to have created God then to have been created by Him(research Occam's Razor, also, Sherlock Holmes: why not).
I'm not comfortable with the idea of a larger overseer either. Especially since his tastes seem to change era by era. It used to be fine to treat women as slaves. It used to be fine to consider lust sinful(remember, Jesus himself believes getting lustful thoughts when looking at an attractive woman a sin). I also don't like eternal punishment or unforgiveness from entities created by this supposedly perfect creator(by declaring I've renounced Jesus as my savior, I am doomed to Hell for I have committed an unforgivable sin).
I find a lot of peace in the thought that not only is there not some great Governor looking over me, but that I, even without this governance, have led a good life, have good friends, and have avoided more confrontations then even most devout people I've known.
I don't need the promise of infinite life to remain true. I take pride in my contributions to humanity and that is enough. I live life as a precious thing rather then as a "rough patch before you get to the good stuff".
I also find immense beauty in those things which science and observation have brought me. The fact that there are unknowns is fascinating. The fact that our nearest solar neighbors are so far that we can only see them as they were millions of years ago but that they have so much energy that we can still see them is awesome.
The ballet of stars, galaxies, molecules and atoms is fantastic. The amazing emergent evolutions of all species from a common point on this planet is awe inspiring.
Why would I ever retreat to such a unimaginative thing as an old man in the clouds who apparently knows all, creates imperfect things and punishes severely those that are less then within a margin of perfection, tortures his 'child'(for, if omniscient, he would have foreseen what his actions would have brought upon him by his own creation) and tells us to serve him all our lives so he can give us perpetuity afterwards.
I've tried reading scripture. It made no sense to me. If it brings comfort to you, I'm happy for you. And I will not rob you of that(nor do I believe I even could). If anything, I pity you for all that you're missing but am happy for your happiness. So long as you vow the same to those around you. - drmangrum, on 02/19/2009, -3/+14Right..because Muslims, Jews, et al don't think the same thing as well?
Sorry buddy. If you're Christian, then you're religious. You can't label yourself as non-religious because you don't like being lumped with crazies. You can be religious and not be Christian, but you can't be Christian and not be religious. - topgigmedia, on 02/19/2009, -0/+10...but you are suggesting that they may not have as high of an IQ?
- carve, on 02/19/2009, -2/+12Uhhhh no. It's because nobody is telling them what to think.
- Burrito, on 02/19/2009, -0/+10Does that mean California is the ass? It's kinda curvy like one and we have a reputation for liking ass play.
- scottk59, on 02/19/2009, -2/+12As in every comment where I see your handle, I digg you down and don't read your BS.
- inactive, on 02/19/2009, -5/+15Man, that's some real Stockholm syndrome ***** right there. We have this invisible dude who never makes his presence known, never gives anyone advice, or comfort, never lifts a finger to help people in need, and you have all these people claiming he's an important part of their lives. What good does it do to have this dude in your life, if he never does anything?
And I'm saying this as someone who used to be religious. I just never got the point of it all. You go to church every Sunday, you pray to him, etc., but it's not like it actually matter. It doesn't accomplish anything, and it doesn't seem to make a difference if you just stop. - Hetman, on 02/19/2009, -1/+11I dunno. Saint Frances of Accissi lived a very christ like life. But he is the execption not the rule.
- serif69, on 02/19/2009, -9/+18"Religion is wicked bad" - New England
- publiclurker, on 02/19/2009, -2/+11He said stupid, not ignorant. while ignorance is the lack of knowledge, stupidity is more accurately described as the willful ignoring of knowledge.
- daPhoenix, on 02/19/2009, -2/+11I wonder if we were to overlay the most guns per capita states..
- Pwelborn1, on 02/19/2009, -11/+20Meaning the average digg user is about 95% out of touch with the rest of America.
- Kitakaze, on 02/20/2009, -0/+8There IS a correlation between intelligence and religiosity. The higher a person's IQ is, the less likely that person is to be religious. However, this does not mean that there is an absolute, 100% correlation — ie., there are plenty of idiot atheists, and plenty of ingenious religious people.
- owlsley, on 02/19/2009, -6/+14Move to Austin. It's the only free-thinking oasis in an otherwise spiritual wasteland.
- ousthouse, on 02/19/2009, -3/+11Also from the Wall Street Journal, about who is most likely to believe in things like bigfoot and palm readers;
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178219865054585 ... - theexitwound, on 02/19/2009, -4/+12Looks like the belt is sagging a bit. America is overweight.
- bombula, on 02/19/2009, -6/+14"Having a religious belief system makes you a better person"
No it doesn't, it makes you a stupid, weak, delusional person. A truly good person doesn't need the lure of reward or the threat of punishment from Big Brother In The Sky to lead a life of responsibility, service and self-sacrifice.
Doing the right thing for the right reasons is, in my opinion, vastly more moral and ethical than doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.
Some, like you it seems, would argue that religion keeps bad people from doing bad things. Overwhelmingly it's poor people that are 'bad' - that commit crimes, etc. If we need religion - a big set of lies and oppression and threats masquerading as Truth - as a bandaid to stop poor people from committing crimes, what does that say about our society? Sweden is 80%+ atheist and has far lower crime rates than the US. It also a far smaller proportion of its society either in poverty or in jail than our society.
Religion is just treating symptoms. We would do better to treat the root causes of our problems, namely income inequality. We could start by leveling the playing field with equal opportunity: universal _quality_ education (through college level); universal healthcare; universal liveable wages (not our current minimum wage nonsense which will barely allow you to eat in most places).
It's also funny that the country that has the richest people and that celebrates being rich the most (i.e. is the least socialist and most averse to 'spreading the wealth around') is also the most Christian, seeing that Christianity (and Christ specifically) expressly condemns wealth: "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." - inactive, on 02/19/2009, -2/+9What you're talking about only applies to certain protestant sects. Catholics and Orthodox would completely disagree with what you said.
I can't talk to God, I have to go to my priest or go to a church with a holy relic buried under the altar if I want God to hear me.
I say this because the biggest Christian sect, even in the U.S. I think, is Catholicism. - PactumServa, on 02/19/2009, -0/+7You've never visited the southern part of the state have you?
- theloofa, on 02/19/2009, -0/+7FTA: "The 10 most religious states were:
1. Mississippi
2. Alabama
3. South Carolina
4. Tennessee
5. Louisiana
6. Arkansas
7. Georgia
8. North Carolina
9. Oklahoma
10. Kentucky
11. Texas"
Wait, what? - mjk340, on 02/19/2009, -5/+12I want to get on my knees and please you Jesus. I want to feel your salvation all over my face.
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