I saw a link come across Twitter this morning for a Pew Forum study on religious beliefs by state. We’ve seen a lot of studies like this before and this one isn’t too earth shattering and there aren’t any real surprises. The usual suspects are at the top and the bottom of the list.
Here are the ten states with the least belief in god:
One of the first things I thought when I looked at the list was that it looked like an inverse of a list I’d seen before; a list of the best educated states.
Here are the ten most educated states:
I’m not a sociologist so my observations are pure speculation and opinion, but upon further gazing at the list of best educated states, I had another realization; this looked like another list I have seen before…a list ranking states by how white they are.
Here are the ten whitest states:
I can’t imagine I am the first to make this connection nor will I be the last to ponder it.
What is the connection between race, education and belief in god?
Your thoughts?
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brilliant ‘listing’ – i like ur observation & speculation. your bottom line title certainly grabbed my attention on twitter. ok, so i’m thinking that it may have something to do with the camel-in-a-needle principle, because these polls are also representing our nations power & financial status. It’s usually true to say that people with higher education typically are more wealthy or more powerful or successful. And I think the “whitest” states in our country have had greater means to become more educated, gaining more wealth. When people begin to trust in their own means, they are less likely to trust in the one who gave it to them…
Interesting thought, but I don’t see much connection from the religious statistics to the demographic ones, honestly. Of the 7 states with the least belief in God, only one shows up on either of the charts below (New York). Not to say there might not be some connection with religious belief, but these stats don’t show it.
@becky // keep in mind the first to charts are flipped in the way i’m comparing them.
The least belief in god state is at the bottom of that chart and the most educated state is vermont at the top of that chart.
the first two charts have four states in common is the #1 or #2 indicator on all three