by Aaron Earls
After three years of having the most Bible-minded city, Tennessee handed over the top spot to Alabama, according to Barna’s 2015 list of the most (and least) Bible-minded cities in the United States.
With 51 percent of their population being considered Bible-minded, Birmingham, Alabama, takes over the honor from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Volunteer State, however, still had two of the top three cities and four within the top 15.
If the Super Bowl was determined by the cities’ Bible-minded score, the game would be a low-scoring affair decided by only eight points—the Seattle Seahawks (22 percent) would top the New England Patriots (Boston: 14 percent).
The study, based on interviews with thousands of adults over a 10-year period, shows how people in the nation’s 100 largest media markets view and use the Bible. Those 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.
Cities are then ranked based on the percentage of their population who qualifies as Bible-minded. Unsurprisingly, the South dominated the top of the list, while cities in the North and West filled in the bottom of the rankings.
The top 10 were:
- Birmingham, AL (51)
- Chattanooga, TN (50)
- Tri-Cities, TN (50)
- Roanoke, VA (48)
- Shreveport, LA (46)
- Springfield, MO (46)
- Jackson, MS (46)
- Charlotte, NC (46)
- Greenville, SC (46)
- Little Rock, AR (46)
The bottom 10 were:
- New York, NY (17)
- Phoenix, AZ (17)
- Buffalo, NY (16)
- Hartford, CT (16)
- Las Vegas, NV (15)
- Cedar Rapids, IA (15)
- San Francisco, CA (15)
- Boston, MA (14)
- Albany, NY (10)
- Providence, RI (9)
Churches in and around cities with higher rankings should recognize there is still work to be done. At best, half of the population is still not Bible-minded. They do not esteem and are not engaged with God’s word.
For those who see their city near the bottom, they can take comfort that they are not alone. More than 1-in-6 people in New York City are Bible-minded. Even in the least biblically engaged city in America, 1-out-of-every-10 people has a desire to know and obey Scripture.
Where does your city rank? Check out the full listings at Barna’s website.
Aaron Earls (@WardrobeDoor) is online editor of Facts & Trends.
