Southerners are Religious -- how many go to church?

[Macrobius]

http://whigger.weremight.com/whigger/story.php?title=southerners-are-religious-but-how-many-actually-go-to-church



What makes someone religious: How important faith is in their lives, or how often they actually attend services?

According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, there's a big difference between the two, even in Bible Belt states in the South.

Last month, Pew ranked all 50 states by their "religiousness," using four different measures (importance of religion to those being surveyed, worship attendance, frequency of prayer and belief in God).

Unsurprisingly, Southern states ranked high. In all 13* Southern states the Institute and Facing South follow, the people surveyed scored above the national average in each category.

But by using four different lenses on what it means to be "religious," the survey revealed some interesting discrepancies.

For example: The difference between the percentage of people who say "religion is very important in their lives" and those who "attend religious services at least once a week."

By my calculations, there's roughly a 20-point difference between the two in South. I compiled a map that breaks it down by state:
...


http://www.southernstudies.org/assets_c/2010/01/Southern%20Religion%20Graf%20Jan10-thumb-350x418.jpg

Rest at link. Nice to see SC (after MS) tops the the chart at 'putting your feet where your mouth is'.

yeah, this whole rant is from the ultra-liberal southernstudies.org

[Petr]

Fade the Butcher, an irreligious WN Southerner, opined:


The pseudo-Christians are far more numerous than atheists/agnostics, mainline Protestants, or Evangelicals. If you ask them about Jesus, they will give you the usual spiel about how he is the Son of God, but otherwise they know little about their own religion.

These people don’t go to church. There isn’t the slightest trace of Christianity in their lives. They get their morals from movies and television.
http://www.occidentaldissent.com/2010/01/04/aggregate-correctness/#comment-31100


Petr

[Frank]

To be fair, SC and Miss both have a lot of blacks, and they ALL go to church.

-

How many more would attend if churches were more interested in helping whites? They don't even stay in the country - people fly out to the third world to seek out needy, whom they know nothing about.

[roho]

Sign Up for a nice Wednsday night bible study for just men, that openly declares that "Like Vegas, What is said here stays here"!

You will be amazed at the reasons some are in Church Attendance?;)

[amundsen]

Most churches are corrupted with liberal and corrupt theology. That being the case, I'm not sure it is a good thing if so many people attend regularly.

[Happy Hacker]

Most churches are corrupted with liberal and corrupt theology. That being the case, I'm not sure it is a good thing if so many people attend regularly.

But, people who don't attend tend to be more corrupt yet.

[Edna Sweetlove]

There is almost a direct correlation between belief in Christianity and IQ levels. Unfortunately it is a reverse correlation.

[lnelson]

There is almost a direct correlation between belief in Christianity and IQ levels. Unfortunately it is a reverse correlation.

Isn't that true of most of the world's religions?
It's just really difficult for a truly thoughtful person to believe that sort of malarkey.

[Happy Hacker]

There is almost a direct correlation between belief in Christianity and IQ levels. Unfortunately it is a reverse correlation.

Christianity is a monotheistic religion. Christians worship the Creator of the universe. Atheism is a polytheistic religion. The gods of Atheism is man himself and Atheists worship human intellect. Government funded universities are the Temples of Atheism. So, even without Atheism itself being a smarter choice, smarter people would tend to be Atheists.

A dumb atheist is inarticulate. Unfortunately, dumb Christians are very articulate. This furthers the perception that Atheists are smarter and it drives away some smarter people from Christianity.

Most people are Atheists in substance, yet they say they believe in God. If you count these people as Atheists, they'd overwhelm the Atheist intellectuals resulting in the average Atheist would be dumber than the average Christian.

A prideful Atheist intellectual thinks Evolution is as solid as gravity. Yet, I've never seen anyone document an observed example of Evolution (but, the opposite is as universally observed as gravity). It's dumb to equate Evolution with gravity, even with a high IQ.

[roho]

Many Southern Christians have a past spiritual experience that "locked them in", their faith still not wavering, yet busy lives and six day work weeks leave little worship time in their opinion. Southerners will fight you over the basics of Christianity, yet bass fish every Sunday. (The concept of once saved, always saved dominates most of the South.) They scorn Catholics, which in their eyes try to work their way into heaven, with a stronger focus on the book of James.

Blacks will have a higher attendance rate, based on the Church being the "Political Center Of The Community.".......Networking the many social-intitlement programs, takes place at the church. (Last word at worship service is, "Those that need to see Sister Tawanna about the food stamp changes, can meet in room 202.").........Obviously, Twanna works for the Government.

As a white Southerner, I must admit that most involved in music, would never return if someone made them shut up and sit in the congregation!....Ha-Ha!

[Fran]

For me, going to church is boring....( the Catholic church) . It's the same ole, same ole with a song in the beginning, gospel, sermon, collection, communion and the "go in peace" to which I give a big AMEN. Over the last few years, some churches have brought in trios with guitar, keyboard and singer. This has helped the monotony. I would attend church more if it could get out of the rut or if I could lessen my own attention disorder (kidding)

But, I admit, I'm kind of a hypocrite as far as this is concerned. When my mom was dying a few years ago, I ran to the church to get the priest to come and give her the last rights....and then, after she died, I went to the church the next Sunday to make sure her name was mentioned in the prayers for the deceased.

Religion is very complicated for some. (frown)

As far as religion in the south....and blacks especially, it is more of a way to congregate weekly (I believe more of a social thing) with religion in the back seat. There's nothing wrong with that. Whatever makes a person remember there is a God is what's important.