USA Today had a story a few weeks ago about how religious beliefs have changed in this country over the years. The story contains an interactive graphic that is quite fun to play with.
You can see how things have changed between 1990 and 2008. It’s also broken down by type of religion. Very interesting to see.
Here are some basic conclusions i drew:
- Catholics have gained ground in about a third of the states. Most of these states are in the South and West.
- Other Christian denominations have almost unilaterally lost ground, and often by large numbers. Only four states show an increase.
- Other religions have gained ground in almost every state. I think this demonstrates that the country is becoming more diverse.
- Every single state showed a significant increase in the percentage of people professing no religion, and all but one state showed an increase for people who don’t know or refuse to answer.
Go explore the data yourself. It’s fascinating. And fun – i like watching the bubbles change sizes.