Atheism For Dummies (For Dummies (Religion & Spirituality)) (66 page)

United States: The Unchurched Belt(s)

Most people know about the Bible Belt. Journalist H.L. Mencken first came up with that description in 1924 for the Southeastern quarter of the United States, a place with about 2.5 Baptist churches per person.

Less well known — and much less catchy — is the Unchurched Belt, a region along the Pacific coast so named in 1985 for having the lowest church attendance and lowest professed belief in the country.

The Unchurched Belt originally included Washington, Oregon, and California, all with 22 to 25 percent nonreligious populations. But by 2000, California had become more religious (mostly because of an increase in the Catholic Hispanic population) while New England became even less religious than it was before. The top US states for nonreligious identity in 2012 are

Vermont (34 percent)

New Hampshire (29 percent)

Wyoming (28 percent)

Alaska (27 percent)

Maine (25 percent)

Washington (25 percent)

Nevada (24 percent)

Oregon (24 percent)

So the “Bible Belt” isn’t really any kind of a Belt at the moment. Stuck on opposite ends of the continent, the two relatively secular zones look more like the Unchurched Earring-and-1980s-Mobile-Phone.

Comparing the United States and United Kingdom

On the face of it, the United States and United Kingdom are like siblings. But when it comes to religious culture, they’re about as different as they can be:

The United States has no state religion, no prayer or Bible study in public schools, and belief in God is really high, around 82 percent.

The United Kingdom has a state religion, religious education and prayer services in the schools, and belief in God is really low, around 38 percent.

US politicians must wear religion on their sleeves. Presidents often end speeches with “God bless America.” When the Democrats didn’t include a 2008 platform reference to “God-given potential” in the 2012 platform, a firestorm erupted among conservatives, and Democrats put it in.

British politicians almost never make religious references while in office. When Prime Minister Tony Blair suggested ending a speech with “God bless Britain,” a firestorm erupted among his advisors, so he took it out.

For many years, exactly one member of the US Congress publicly identified as nontheistic (Pete Stark, D-California).