First up from the God Machine this week is an annual study published by Gallup, showing levels of religiosity by state. The report, released every year around this time, is a reminder that, whatever one's assumptions about faith in America -- about seven in 10 Americans consider themselves "very" or "moderately" religious -- there are still significant differences between states and regions (thanks to Kent Jones for the tip).
Looking at this map, put together by Gallup, the lighter colors show states with fewer religious residents, and the darker colors show the opposite. Overall, Vermont is easily the state with the smallest religious population, followed by New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, while Mississippi is on the opposite end of the spectrum, followed by Utah, Alabama, and Louisiana.
It's hard to miss the regional similarities. In the top 12 least religious states we see the entirety of New England, along with the three most Northwestern, Pacific-coast states (Alaska, Washington, and Oregon). Among the top 10 most religious states, nine are from the Southeast's so-called "Bible Belt," stretching from Oklahoma to North Carolina.
Though Gallup didn't mention it, there's also a political angle to this -- of the top 12 least religious states, President Obama won all of them except Alaska in 2012. Of the top 10 most religious states, Mitt Romney carried the entire list.
Also from the God Machine this week:
* This doesn't look good for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles: "Pressed to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to settle clergy sex abuse lawsuits, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony turned to one group of Catholics whose faith could not be shaken: the dead." Apparently, Mahoney "quietly" appropriated $115 million from a cemetery maintenance fund to help pay the church's victims.
* A Republican state lawmaker in Missouri is pushing a bill that would "require that intelligent design and 'destiny' get the same educational treatment and textbook space in Missouri schools as the theory of evolution." It would also redefine words like "hypothesis" and "scientific theory" in a way Republicans find more politically convenient (thanks to reader R.P. for the tip).
* On a related note, a creationism measure pending in the Colorado state legislature was defeated this week. The proposal had been pushed by the Discovery Institute, which has spent several years crafting proposals intended to undermine belief in modern biology.
* And radical TV preacher Pat Robertson told his followers this week that Islam is not actually a religion, but rather "an economic and political system with a religious veneer."
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As for the correlation between guns and religion, let's not have any sour grapes, ok? You wouldn't want to be caught at the End of Days without a fully operational assault rifle and a 30 round mag, would you? Got's to be armed against the legions of Satan, you know!
But if you are counting on the Rapture, then you will just be leaving your weaponry unattended for the legions of Satan to scoop up, right?
The map looks like it could have been a RED vs BLUE States map or an map of the states that have the most anti-abortion laws. Since religion has been used as a tool by the radical right to play on those worship it seems that the stepping down of the Pope is very important to them that the next one be more Conservative. Has Benedict been poisoned by way of sacramental wine in an attempt to replace him with one that favors the Republican agenda? The prophecies of Nostradamus and Saint Malachy seem to suggest it.
266
John Paul II
(1978-2005) Jew****
110
De labore Solis (of the eclipse of the sun, or from the labour of the sun). Karol Wojtyla was born on May 18, 1920 during a solar eclipse. There was also solar eclipse on April 8, 2005, the day of his funeral. The eclipse did occur.
267
Benedict XVI
(2005-)
111
Gloria olivae
Benedict means "Blessed by God." Prior to his elevation to the Purple, Joseph Alois Ratzinger was Prefect of the Holy Office of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (previously known as The Roman and Universal Inquisition). As a staunch defender of the Church his immediate personna is one of hard line orthodoxy. He is an opponent of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and abortion. He would appear well-qualified to be pope of the cloven hoof (Revelation 17:10-11; 13:3-10 and I Thessalonians 5:3).
268
???
In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oues in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis ciuitas septicollis diruetur, & Iudex tremêdus iudicabit populum suum. Finis.
(In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.)
According to the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 and Revelation 13 and 17:10-18, the last pontiff will be the Devil-incarnate, and he will break Rome's covenant with the Jewish bankers. It seems Malachy made only 111 predictions so that John Paul II's successor, "Gloria Olivae" should be the final pope. It appears the Benedictines devised pope 112 to dissociate their order from the "Beast".
When the sepulchre of the great Roman is found,
The day after a Pontiff will be elected:
Scarcely will he be approved by the Senate
Poisoned, his blood in the sacred chalice.
century: 3, quatrain: 65
Links to this and #56http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/malachy.htm
http://nostradamus2012.com/quatrain_centurie_keyword_finder.php#showquatrainsearch
Does it really surprise anyone that Pat Robertson the religious conspiracy expert says that Islam is not a religion?
Pat's been smoking too much of the sacramental weed! Or maybe he's switched to brownies at communion!
Robertson, as usual, got it all backwards and thinks he speaks for the country when he doesn't even speak for Christians any longer. You could take his statement and substitute the term Republican Party for Islam and have a truer meaning of the situation.
Here's a place where OLD Newsvine Friends can meet and have some fun!
http://lostbutnotforgotten.newsvine.com/_tps/_group/settings?msgType=edit
I find it interesting that the centers of intellectual capacity are the least religious. Boston and Cambridge MA have the highest concentration of higher education institutions on planet earth. I also find it fascinating that the most religious states receive more government tax dollar assistance from federal tax dollars paid by other states, yet they are the folks that eschew gov't assistance. Of course, I am tempted to be snarky, but what's the point of that? It does however call out the blurring of the lines of separation of church and state in the states that show the highest concentration of people that regard themselves as very religious. They are, in many ways, being led down the road, like lambs to the slaughter to political ideals, that if enacted, would screw them first... Amazing that so many would subjugate their true beliefs (and fiscal needs) because a greedy, or misguided flock leader convinces them that it's best for them... I could go on, but that's enough for now.
um... he's talking about Christians, right? Like, Catholics?
"Gotta serve Somebody" -- Bob Dylan
"Though Gallup didn't mention it, there's also a political angle to this -- of the top 12 least religious states, President Obama won all of them except Alaska in 2012. Of the top 10 most religious states, Mitt Romney carried the entire list."
Some of the Tea Party and other wackos have claimed Obama is the anti-Christ. Now they have evidence. I can't wait to hear what Fox, Robertson and the other holy rollers have to say about this.
No doubt Mike you got that right!
Infoxication:
FOX: Obama proven to be Anti-Christ by Gallup poll!
@maddow where can i watch "Hubris" on Monday? Don't have cable. Will it be streaming? Can i watch on NBCNews.com?
Try this....http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036750
Among the interesting comparisons we could make is the relation of religiosity to Income Per Capita. It has been seen throughout the world that lower Income Per Capita nations tend to be more religious. I am not aware of the correlation coefficient for the world. However, if we plot these rankings in religiosity from the States and DC against rankings in Income Per Capita, which I just did, taking 2011 IPC from Wikipedia. We have a corelation of -.65, which points out a pretty strong inverse relationship. Of course, not the most scientific analysis, since there are other variables at play regarding IPC (geography, natural resources, etc).
The question is which way are religiosity and IPC influencing each other. Do poorer people tend to be more religious (they look for comfort and hope) or do religious people tend to make less money (education, self-reliance and critical thinking are discouraged). Possibly the answer is that they feed each other in a vicious circle.
In communities within the most rural counties, there may be no industry driven economy, there may be no institutions of higher education, there may be no cultural events, there may be no representation from national organizations, there may be no funded library or museums, there may be no functioning community center... but there is always a church.
locknpost . . . Very good point. What's interesting is the disconnection between rural residents' voting patterns and the economic bases of their communities. Republicans, who argue for cuts in government spending, dominate in rural areas, despite the fact that rural economies are driven by--in fact, largely supported by--various types of public spending (Social Security, Medicare, schools, state/county/local governement, federal highway and other public works projects, etc.).
Um, PR...
If the correlation coefficient, R, is -0.65, the 'goodness of fit parameter' R^2 is 0.42, which is not all that great a correlation.
I suspect the real correlation to be looked at would be % rural population vs religiosity. A major component of church attendance is socialization with others across the community (which is a basic human need), and rural areas have fewer readily accessible venues for such interaction than more urban areas.
Since state per capita incomes are roughly correlated with the prevalence of urban populations, this would explain the 'second hand' correlation.
Again, God is one to a customer.. The more selfless you are the closer to your "god"!
The God Gun thing does not look all that highly correlated. Using google trends, compare these heat maps
But consider Country Singers like
Seems to me that the darker the green (more religiosity) the more obese people are. Also seems to me that being glutinous is a deadly sin. I mean don't they have to fit through an eye of a needle to get into heaven? Oh well, Natural selection happens.
In re the Missouri creationist who has made up his own definitions of "theory" and "hypothesis": I see from his website that his district includes a town called Peculiar. A coincidence???
Old Pat wants to get more of our people hurt overseas huh! And these so called men of god are all for peace! BUNK!
Robertson, as usual, got it all backwards and thinks he speaks for the country when he doesn't even speak for Christians any longer. You could take his statement and substitute the term Republican Party for Islam and have a truer meaning of the situation.
I could've predicted this.
Gallup was wrong about everything in the last election. Their definition of religious is probably dubious as well. They were probably defining religious as conservative.
I bet Gallup executives and their clients have no idea how many progressives there are in the country or how religious they are. FYI, Gallup. Their numbers are rising and they religiously take things more seriously and personal than even rednecks. As conservatives are dying off, it might be to your advantage to start tracking those whose numbers are growing instead.
Those age 55 and younger got Paul Ryan's message that they are mere second class citizens, as well as Mitt Romney 47% line that he doesn't care about them, and the GOP's complete disgust for the 99% of which the Tea Party now knows also means them.
The line has been brazenly drawn between the Haves and the Have Nots and it does no good to track conservatives when they don't count anymore to Republicans or to the changing demographics within this country.
Gallup asks two questionsto create this map:
The first: "Is religion an important part of your daily life" with four possible answers: yes, no, don't know,and refused
The second "How often do you attend church?" with multiple answers
http://www.gallup.com/poll/159050/seven-americans-moderately-religious.aspx#2
----------------
If anyone's interested, here's Pew's 2012 breakdown of Democratic voters by religion
http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedImages/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Unaffiliated/nones-exec-5.png
And religious identification of all Americans by age
http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedImages/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Unaffiliated/nones-exec-3.png
If I ever move back to the US it should be Vermont. To hear "God" in every other spoken sentence makes me barf. Keep Christianiy out of politics, schools & my face. God damn it :D
The church in England promotes reason and says that the bible is not to be taken literally. In the USA there are many fundamentalist cults like the baptists evangelicals etc these people make up their own rules of reality. More people are rejecting the view that mary gave birth to jesus when she was a virgin and when she died she was taken 25'000ft.up to heaven as well as all the other nonsense in the bible.
The Bible contains no account of Mary's death or assumption into heaven. Those are medieval legends.
And the word in scriptures usually translated "virgin" could also simply mean "young woman" or "unmarried woman."
Oddly, the best source of information on Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the Koran.
Pity it is a text on economics.
(*giggle*)
In re the Virgin Birth idea: the Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, in which the operative word is in the original Hebrew is "almah," which is indeed best translated as "young woman." However, in the New Testament, the key word is "parthenos"--and that can only mean "virgin."
So, Pat Robertson and others like him use peoples faith and beliefs for their own personal gain. This is a surprise? Something rational people didn't recognize? Many elected government officials do the same thing. This is also a surprise? This is prof that there is no God? Everyone that does have faith, believes in God, believes we have a spirit/soul should now renounce their faith? If there was no religion there could be no corruption? If there was no religion greed would suddenly disappear and everyone would love and care for one another? What exactly is the point of "This Week in God"?
If you're getting your information about Islam from Pat Robertson, you have more problems than I can begin to address.
Here's a radical idea, Pat: Try asking some Muslims what they really believe.
Pat Robertson is sounding like his typical self as a false Pharisee and even to the point of a false prophet. Jesus talks about love and compassion for everybody, regardless of their religious faith. And it would be most assuredly that God, Jesus, and the light would have something different to say about what Pat Robertson likes to pretend to preach. Especially when God, Jesus, and the light has too many times throughout our history that these false Pharisees and rich bastards are power craving, corrupt, arrogant, hypocrites, greedy and deceivers way too much already. The unfortunate thing about it all, these people never seem to learn their lesson well.
And this is why you can't have a political debate with Republicans, they don't even start with the basic requirement, FACTS! If they are only going to base their decisions on their choice to "believe in a god", how can you ever hope to persuade them on anything to reach a bipartisan common ground?
It was quite a while ago in this country when blacks changed to be Muslims, Cassius Clay/ Bobby Moore/Ferdinand Alcindor many others. And it wasn't a problem then and many disassociate with them being Muslim. And most of us haven't found them to be a problem because they're not! Maybe these guys should go and have a visit with old Pat.
The Idea behind the Muslim faith is solely economic as the profit intended....He say too many groups of interest fighting for trinkets and lesser gods on the way to mexx==cca. His solution was common belief...ha ha ha how could he be so child like to try and enforce a common belief for commerce to run more smoothly,,,lolol Same goes for Jesus..was he not the one who kicked over the money tables...