A new release from Barna Group (@barnagroup) (@davidkinnaman) ranks the most and least “Bible-minded” cities by looking at how people in those cities view the Bible.
The report, part of Barna:Cities, is based on 42,855 interviews conducted nationwide and the analysis of Bible trends was commissioned by American Bible Society (@americanbible). Individuals who report reading the Bible in a typical week and who strongly assert the Bible is accurate in the principles it teaches are considered to be Bible-minded. This definition captures action and attitude — those who both engage and esteem the Christian scriptures. The rankings thus reflect an overall openness or resistance to the Bible in the country’s largest markets.
The top ranking cities, where at least half of the population qualifies as Bible-minded, are all Southern:
· Knoxville, TN (52% of the population are Bible-minded)
· Shreveport, LA (52%)
· Chattanooga, TN (52%)
· Birmingham, AL (50%)
· Jackson, MS (50%).
The least Bible-oriented markets:
· Providence, RI (9%)
· Albany, NY (10%)
· Burlington, VT (16%)
· Portland, ME (16%)
· Hartford, CT (16%)
· Boston, MA (16%)
Also see our previous blogposts “Clear Majority of Americans Own A Bible,” “Infographic: Books of the Bible,” and “Christian Publishing and ‘Living the Experience of Scripture’”
In another Barna:Cities study, the US megachurch audience is measured, with the result being that only about 1 in 10 (10%) self-identified Christians attend a church with at least 1,000 attenders. Barna says, “While megachurches are a much-discussed trend, the vast majority of American Christians attend smaller churches.”
Cities with the highest concentration of megachurch attenders:
· Las Vegas, NV (29% of all Christians who live in the region attend a megachurch)
· Baton Rouge, LA (27%)
· Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL (21%)
· Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (19%)
· Houston, TX (19%)
Cities with the lowest concentration of megachurch attenders:
· Salt Lake City, UT (1%)
· Toledo, OH (1%)
· Madison, WI (1%)
Also see our blogposts, "Mississippi Is Most Religious USA State" and "Study: Religiously Active People More Likely to Engage in Civic Life."
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