Gallup says that Mississippi is our "most religious" state. 85% of the folks there cite religion as being very important in their life. The rest of the top five are all Bible-belt states: Alabama (82%), South Carolina (80%), Tennessee (79%), Louisiana (78%), and Arkansas (78%).
New Englanders are generally the "least religious." In Vermont, 42% said religion was very important in their lives, followed by New Hampshire (46%), Maine (48%), Massachusetts (48%), Alaska (51%) and Washington (52%).
"New England is now slightly ahead of the Pacific Northwest in terms of the high rate of unchurched people," said Silk, co-author of One Nation, Divisible: How Regional Religious Differences Shape American Politics.
Silk attributed the falling level of religious influence in New England to the decline of the Catholic population within that region. Nationally, immigration from Latin America is helping the Catholic church maintain its number of adherents in the United States, but immigration has had less impact in the northeast. In addition, the northeast was the area where the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic church struck most openly, and generated the strongest opposition.
"Most religious," by the way, does not mean "most Christian." Outward expressions of emotion and piety have very little to do with the actual practice of the Christian faith.
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