Our list of America's Most Religious Cities shows there's a lot of praying going on in the Bible Belt. No shocker there.

But what is surprising is who's No. 1 in worship: Colorado Springs.

While it's true that Colorado, at 5,980 feet above sea level, is closer to heaven than even the Mile High City, we used a different set of numbers to divine our findings. We scoured the U.S. Census and the yellow pages (Yellow.com) for places of worship per capita. Then we tallied up religious organizations (U.S. Census) and the number of volunteers who support these groups (VolunteeringinAmerica.gov). Finally, we considered the amount of money donated to religious organizations (Bureau of Labor Statistics and spent on religious books (Mediamark Research).

Most religious

1. Colorado Springs, CO
2. Greensboro, NC
3. Oklahoma City, OK
4. Wichita, KS
5. Indianapolis, IN
6. Jacksonville, FL
7. Portland, OR
8. Birmingham, AL
9. Charlotte, NC
10. Little Rock, AR
11. Fort Worth, TX
12. Montgomery, AL
13. Raleigh, NC
14. Durham, NC
15. Virginia Beach, VA
16. Charleston, WV
17. Dallas, TX
18. Omaha, NE
19. Kansas City, MO
20. Tulsa, OK

http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/holy-hometowns?cm_mmc=MagURL-_-Dec2010-_-metrogrades-_-holytowns

Nothing revolutionary here. Although I always felt that Tulsa had a more "churchy" feel to it.

I don't know why Colorado Springs was such a shocker. Its the headquarters of Focus on the Family among others, and I knew of at least a handful of people in ministry while living in DFW who moved up there. What is surprising is Portland, Oregon at 7. I've always thought the Pacific Northwest was one of the least religious areas in the nation.

I guess they don't define "religious organization". I know a lot of people who worship at the alters of non-traditional deities (Mother Earth for example).

Interesting that they factor in "places of worship per capita." I live in St. Louis, which is overwhelmingly Catholic. There are, no exaggeration, at least 20 Catholic high schools, for example. All these Catholics I know have their day-to-day lives intertwined with their churches (schools, sports teams, boozy trivia nights and carnivals) much more than anybody I knew in OKC, but because there are fewer churches (one per parish), they are generally bigger but the town doesn't feel as "churchy" as OKC. Also they are generally less "in your face". But St. Louis is every bit as religious in it's own way as OKC. I wonder if this is a Protestant-Catholic thing. (I'm sort of a lapsed Protestant, by the way).

I'm surprised we're above Tulsa.

Salt Lake City didn't even make the list. If I created a survey of most religious cities and Salt Lake City wasn't in the top 20 I think I would have to re-evaluate my methodology.

SLC has more athiests than mormons today. They just don't organize as well.

95% of those cities on the list are the ones always listed as great places to live, great quality of life, etc. Some people here complain about the bible belt and say its too conservative etc. but it seems like maybe it isnt such a bad thing... something to think about.

Our list of America's Most Religious Cities shows there's a lot of praying going on in the Bible Belt. No shocker there.

But what is surprising is who's No. 1 in worship: Colorado Springs.

While it's true that Colorado, at 5,980 feet above sea level, is closer to heaven than even the Mile High City, we used a different set of numbers to divine our findings. We scoured the U.S. Census and the yellow pages (Yellow.com) for places of worship per capita. Then we tallied up religious organizations (U.S. Census) and the number of volunteers who support these groups (VolunteeringinAmerica.gov). Finally, we considered the amount of money donated to religious organizations (Bureau of Labor Statistics and spent on religious books (Mediamark Research).

Most religious

1. Colorado Springs, CO
2. Greensboro, NC
3. Oklahoma City, OK
4. Wichita, KS
5. Indianapolis, IN
6. Jacksonville, FL
7. Portland, OR
8. Birmingham, AL
9. Charlotte, NC
10. Little Rock, AR
11. Fort Worth, TX
12. Montgomery, AL
13. Raleigh, NC
14. Durham, NC
15. Virginia Beach, VA
16. Charleston, WV
17. Dallas, TX
18. Omaha, NE
19. Kansas City, MO
20. Tulsa, OK

http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/holy-hometowns?cm_mmc=MagURL-_-Dec2010-_-metrogrades-_-holytowns

I am not sure that "Men's Health" is where I would start for definitive information on this subject...caveat emptor...

I am not sure that "Men's Health" is where I would start for definitive information on this subject...caveat emptor...

This is the first smart thing about source selection that I've seen you write.

This is the first smart thing about source selection that I've seen you write.

Sorry...I am still waiting for you to do the same...think about it...

SLC has more athiests than mormons today. They just don't organize as well.

Athiests typically don't 'organize' anyway.

This survey has nothing to do with athiest anyhow. It was comparing religious people in one city with religious people in another city.

What a load of ****......Okies are the lowest bottomfeeders in the nation.

I don't really agree with this. I think Oklahomans like to talk mad game about being religious, but really they are not. They are church attenders.

A bad side of Oklahoma...everyone--and I mean EVERYONE bows up and pretends to defend children and their safety--and still the plight of children in Oklahoma is literally abominable...and DHS is just as bad as any crack/meth mama there ever was...a total and complete disgrace and no one should give one flying F*** about how heavy their "case load" is...there needs to be a torchlight parade down there some day and a thorough housecleaning...And, they claim to be religious--which is a cruel burlesque of reality...

I TOTALLY agree with that statement dismayed.

I dont think OKC is any more religious than any other big city, yes it probably has more prodestent (sp) churches per capita, but the city as a whole isn't very religious just church going and a bit in your face with regard to church.

I am extremely shocked Tulsa is lower than OKC, seems like they should be switched in those spots.

OKC is...a bit in your face with regard to church.

I agree with this, and agree that Tulsa's placement relative to OKC is a bit surprising.

Regardless of whether OKC is truly religious or not, church attendance is embedded in the social fabric of the city--for many people, perhaps, as nothing more than a venue to meet and mingle. Similar things could probably be said about other places, sure, but I suspect in only a few other cities is this behavior so widespread and accepted, i.e., "in your face..."

This survey has nothing to do with athiest anyhow. It was comparing religious people in one city with religious people in another city.

Atheism is a religion. Their belief is in nothing. Per the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

Atheism is a religion. Their belief is in nothing. Per the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

No such thing.

I always just assume someone is a Mormon is they tell me they're from Utah.

Atheism is a religion. Their belief is in nothing. Per the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

Midtowners comment withstanding, unless the athiest are meeting in a building and listing said building in the Yellow Pages, they aren't part of this survey.

From the Mens Health methodology

http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/holy-hometowns?cm_mmc=MagURL-_-Dec2010-_-metrogrades-_-holytowns


We scoured the U.S. Census and the yellow pages (Yellow.com) for places of worship per capita.

Salt Lake City didn't even make the list. If I created a survey of most religious cities and Salt Lake City wasn't in the top 20 I think I would have to re-evaluate my methodology.

Agreed. There are some real problems with this list. They just picked some criteria out of thin air and threw it out there.

No such thing.

Eau contraire.
http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/

spartan, I think you mean Au contraire, eau is water.

I think Oklahomans like to talk mad game about being religious, but really they are not. They are church attenders.

...I thought it was just me with that observation.

Our list of America's Most Religious Cities shows there's a lot of praying going on in the Bible Belt. No shocker there.

But what is surprising is who's No. 1 in worship: Colorado Springs.

While it's true that Colorado, at 5,980 feet above sea level, is closer to heaven than even the Mile High City, we used a different set of numbers to divine our findings. We scoured the U.S. Census and the yellow pages (Yellow.com) for places of worship per capita. Then we tallied up religious organizations (U.S. Census) and the number of volunteers who support these groups (VolunteeringinAmerica.gov). Finally, we considered the amount of money donated to religious organizations (Bureau of Labor Statistics and spent on religious books (Mediamark Research).

Most religious

1. Colorado Springs, CO
2. Greensboro, NC
3. Oklahoma City, OK
4. Wichita, KS
5. Indianapolis, IN
6. Jacksonville, FL
7. Portland, OR
8. Birmingham, AL
9. Charlotte, NC
10. Little Rock, AR
11. Fort Worth, TX
12. Montgomery, AL
13. Raleigh, NC
14. Durham, NC
15. Virginia Beach, VA
16. Charleston, WV
17. Dallas, TX
18. Omaha, NE
19. Kansas City, MO
20. Tulsa, OK

http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/holy-hometowns?cm_mmc=MagURL-_-Dec2010-_-metrogrades-_-holytowns

There's a big difference between going to church and being religious some of the biggest crooks I know go to church just so people will think they are good christians when they actually are not. They talk the talk but don't walk the walk some people need to learn that just because you walk into the building does not make you a christian to be a true christian you have to act like one.

Interesting that they factor in "places of worship per capita." I live in St. Louis, which is overwhelmingly Catholic. There are, no exaggeration, at least 20 Catholic high schools, for example. All these Catholics I know have their day-to-day lives intertwined with their churches (schools, sports teams, boozy trivia nights and carnivals) much more than anybody I knew in OKC, but because there are fewer churches (one per parish), they are generally bigger but the town doesn't feel as "churchy" as OKC. Also they are generally less "in your face". But St. Louis is every bit as religious in it's own way as OKC. I wonder if this is a Protestant-Catholic thing. (I'm sort of a lapsed Protestant, by the way).

I had no idea St. Louis was so Catholic.

Yup, evangelism is a defining characteristic of many protestant faiths. The Catholics grow their own. <vbg>

Eau contraire.
http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/

The territorial jurisdiction of the Tenth Circuit includes the six states of Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, plus those portions of the Yellowstone National Park extending into Montana and Idaho.

It has nothing to do with California. Follow your own cite. The Tenth Circuit's headquarters is in Denver.

We scoured the U.S. Census and the yellow pages (Yellow.com) for places of worship per capita. Then we tallied up religious organizations (U.S. Census) and the number of volunteers who support these groups (VolunteeringinAmerica.gov). Finally, we considered the amount of money donated to religious organizations (Bureau of Labor Statistics and spent on religious books (Mediamark Research).

This seems more of a measurement of industry than faith. God is big business here and, given their methodology, I think that's what the survey really measures.

Now, I am not saying that there aren't more religious people here than in most markets, but I am not sure that's what this survey actually measured. Of course, I am not sure how you would measure that. First, you'd have to define religion and/or faith (good luck!), the quantify it (good luck!), and then poll a large sample of individuals.

Here is an interesting map I found that belongs in this thread...interesting to see the large divide between the South (which includes Oklahoma) and the Midwest, Northeast and West.

http://blog.moregoodfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/church_bodies.jpg

I'm trying to figure out what denomination "Christian" is - see yellow. I'm thinking someone had the foresight to grab a pretty good name for their church. And what's up with the Lutherans in Alaska? What's those blobs of "other" in SW Colorado and in parts of the plains? Did this map not include jewish people? Was it restricted to christian churches? I don't see any Native American, either.

I remember there being a church called 'Assembly of God' in my hometown, and whenever I asked members what denomination they were, they just said 'Christian.'

Maybe just plain Christian = non-denominational?

That is a very striking map!

That is a very striking map!

I think because it looks like a "winner take all" map, like those ridiculous red state/blue state maps. It may show what denomination is best represented in each county, but it ONLY represents one denomination for any given county. In doing so, it doesn't accurately represent the diversity within those counties. As you can see, only a few counties awarded to each denomination represent an actual majority for that county.

And, by doing it geographically instead of by population, it also gives a misleading impression of overall participation in any given denomination.

I didn't realize there was such animosity towards religion on this board. It is revealing.

It is always interesting that people who have little-to-no faith always like to point out someone who has fallen and try to use them to discredit the whole group...it shows a complete lack of understanding. Sorry there is such hate, anger and judgementalism here. The fact that there are flawed humans does nothing to discredit God or his faithful.

I didn't realize there was such animosity towards religion on this board. It is revealing.

It is always interesting that people who have little-to-no faith always like to point out someone who has fallen and try to use them to discredit the whole group...it shows a complete lack of understanding. Sorry there is such hate, anger and judgementalism here. The fact that there are flawed humans does nothing to discredit God or his faithful.

It is sad, isn't it? The same people who would consider criticism of minority religions as fighting words and evidence of an intolerant hater will call the Christians just nasty stuff. Go figure.

I'm trying to figure out what denomination "Christian" is - see yellow. I'm thinking someone had the foresight to grab a pretty good name for their church. And what's up with the Lutherans in Alaska? What's those blobs of "other" in SW Colorado and in parts of the plains? Did this map not include jewish people? Was it restricted to christian churches? I don't see any Native American, either.

Total number of adherants by each church divided by the county population in 2000. It likely has changed now, and will be interesting to see the map with Census 2010 data.

Broken down by % Baptist
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/baptist.gif

...by % Methodist
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/methodist.gif

...by % Pentecostal
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/pentecostal.gif

...by % Unitarian
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/unitarian.gif

...by % Catholic
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/catholic.gif

...by % Mormon (LDS)
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/mormon.gif

...by % Jewish
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/jewish.gif

...by % Muslim
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/muslim.gif

The same people who would consider criticism of minority religions as fighting words and evidence of an intolerant hater will call the Christians just nasty stuff.

I think there's definitely a backlash, but it's mostly political. There's a very vocal sect of Christianity that is very adamant about codifying their religious beliefs into law, using public resources to establish and practice their religion, and, in some extreme cases, want it to be the de jure state religion. That naturally gets people defensive and, unfortunately, reflects bad on the religion as whole, while many people do manage to keep it a personal choice and can separate personal policy from public policy.

I also think there is an ingrained sense of patriotic duty of many people to stand up against oppressive tendencies and make sure that the government is used more to protect the rights of all people, regardless of their belief system, rather than use it to promote and endorse the belief system of a chosen religious organization. So, when people see a group actively working to use public resources and state authority to promote and enforce their beliefs, there's a backlash. If one of the religions that is currently a minority religion did the same thing, you would see backlash against it as well. For that matter, we just saw it happen in Oklahoma against Islam and that was just because someone had the idea that maybe one day it could possibly happen that Muslims would try and do the same thing and use legislative authority and state resources to practice and enforce their own beliefs. The Irony is that it came from a legislative body that openly does the same thing.

If they weren't so nasty about it, I've be more convinced the anti-Christians were motivated by patriotism or other good motives. Based on the language used and comments, most seem motivated by profound dislike and, candidly, an amazing level of ignorance and intolerance regarding different Christian beliefs and the diversity within the different denominations.

Most of my life I've been fairly opposed to organized religion. I am amazed at how many pro choice, pro women's rights people will sputter at the awful christians but spew spit if someone says something negative about muslims. What gives? That is nonsensible. If you don't like the rigid christians and think they are too judgmental, noninclusive, intolerant, anti-women, etc., how could you possibly be happy with the muslims? And yet - in our neck of the woods, the christians are open season for rude comments and wild assumptions but the only thing anyone anti-christian says about muslims is that people are awful to not give them the benefit of the doubt. It is absolutely inconsistent.

Let me say those are some cool maps! Thanks for posting the new ones.

Nifty maps. One thing, none of those maps are distiguishing between American Baptist (Midwest, moderate view of the Bible) versus Southern Baptist (Southern, more conservative), versus National Baptist (largely African American)

Just curious, as there are obviously going to be divisions in any sort of Protestant demonition, of which itself is a splitoff of from Lutheranism that itslef split off from Catholicism.

I am extremely shocked Tulsa is lower than OKC, seems like they should be switched in those spots.

Don't be too shocked. Most of inner-Tulsa has become more "liberal" as time has gone by. Most of the "highly-religious/conservative" populations have moved south and out to the suburbs.

It is absolutely inconsistent.

No doubt about that. But let's not pretend that some Christian groups aren't nasty to those they disfavor and many do it from a position of legal power, which is what I think the difference is. The reality is there are jerks in every group, but there is a difference between being a bigot or being intolerant and codifying that intolerance into law or spouting it as a legislative representative. It seems many believe it is okay to do that, if there is a Christian justification for it. As that position is hard to reconcile with any true concept of liberty, you're naturally going to see a backlash in a country that often claims its concept of freedom as the best the world has ever seen.

Don't be too shocked. Most of inner-Tulsa has become more "liberal" as time has gone by. Most of the "highly-religious/conservative" populations have moved south and out to the suburbs.


Look at the maps, Tulsa County is less Baptist and less Pentecostal and more Methodist and Unitarian than Oklahoma County is.

Look at the maps,

Those maps are pretty arbitrary. For example, the difference between the two counties' Unitarian numbers could be a low as 400 people or as high as 2000 (either way, not that many Unitarians in either place). For Baptists, it could be a difference between the counties of 25,000 people or 340,000 people. The graduations aren't even the same in each map.

I don't really agree with this. I think Oklahomans like to talk mad game about being religious, but really they are not. They are church attenders.I couldn't have put it better myself I totally agree with you. They don't seem to know the difference between living like a Godly person and just going to church.

A bad side of Oklahoma...everyone--and I mean EVERYONE bows up and pretends to defend children and their safety--and still the plight of children in Oklahoma is literally abominable...and DHS is just as bad as any crack/meth mama there ever was...a total and complete disgrace and no one should give one flying F*** about how heavy their "case load" is...there needs to be a torchlight parade down there some day and a thorough housecleaning...And, they claim to be religious--which is a cruel burlesque of reality...Hurrah for you I wish I could find more people like you that would be willing to do a sitin at the State Capital.

Hurrah for you I wish I could find more people like you that would be willing to do a sitin at the State Capital.

Life to me is a pretty simple thing. Either you protect kids--or you don't. The graveyard is the scorekeeper...

OSU is good at attracting Muslims.