How religious is your area?

[Old_Scratch]

Wherever you live, how religious is it overall? Having recently done a bit of a road trip through the US I see that it varies quite a bit depending on where you are. Here in the metropolitan north east, religion is not very visible at all. Sure there might be the oddball preacher in the park once in a while, but in general I wouldn't be able to find very many serious believers in the city. Also, many churches are either abandoned or sold and turned into private houses or commercial establishments.

Driving through the south though was an entirely different story. Billboards with bible quotes on them. Churches everywhere. Some intersections had as many as three churches on them and huuuuuge parking lots. It was a little surprising to me considering where I had come from.

So, how religious is your area? Is the atheist the outcast, or is the believer the oddball?

[Helm]

We're talking quiant English rural Christianity for the most part those there's not really anything substantially religious about my area or nation as a whole. Jesus is kind of like the Queen, a symbolic traditional figurehead people generally respect but with no real power, he's there for the odd ceremony like a Christening, wedding or funeral. Otherwise it will be liited to watching Songs of Praise on the TV.

[Biggreenfellow]

While we do have a bible belt here in the Netherlands, I, thank God, do not live near it. I think it's pretty sparse in my region, actually. Just the old folk go to church. We've got a lot of agnostics here, though.

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

My area is not religious, and my friends always poke fun at me for being the only person in the 'group' that believes in God.

[The Dude]

Not religious at all. Having lived here since 1992, I think I can still count the amount of actively religious people I know locally on one hand.

There are more, I'm sure, I just don't know them. We have a catholic and a protestant church in our municipality but they're not that actively attended. People for the most part just can't be bothered with god, I think.

[Ciabhán]

Heavily, almost exclusively, Irish Catholic. That means most people, my age and younger anyway, pretend to be quite pious though considerably less actually are. Religious gatherings are an excuse to socialise with those you don't see so often(and sometimes drink yourself blind).

Similar in a way to what Helm describes.

[cupoftea]

I think some 10 people attend church on sunday. That's all the people I know of living in a town of 5000 citizens.

[Corvis]

To venture a guess, I'd say not very religious. Though apparently 27% of people in Nevada are Roman Catholic, which might surprise me. But I'm a cynic so I'll just say go figure. Most of the religious stuff in Vegas seems to be more of the commercial fast-food variety.

[Prince Odysseus]

I live in Texas. Enough said.

[Squiggle]

Uhhh...I dont know how to answer the question because I dont understand Canada's religiosity my self. My city only has around 130k people, but theres like 15 churches at one part of the city, and they are all attended well enough. I mean its not overwhelming but they do just fine. We have the national headquarters for the seventhday adventist, which hold a public school/highschool/college/gated community in my city, and we hold a sizeable jehovah witness population. On the other hand, those who do attend the majority of those 15 Churches are going through the motions, and even though most people outside of those who attend Church officially view themselves as religious, they are not. Nonetheless all those Churches [not to mention jehovah witness/seventh day Adventist] could not exist if there wasnt at least a decent portion who were genuine. And while ive met far less religious in my age group, I did know of a few teachers when I was younger who would basically preach during class, and quote the bible constantly. Somewhere between 50-50 and very religious I suppose.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

I live outside a small village of about 250 people. All fairly religious, the church usually has about 100 on every Saturday and Sunday.

There's also a protestand church nearby but that hasn't been used for like 80 years.

[Copperknickers II]

Unless you count Rangers and Celtic fans as religious, then no. A lot of the old people go to church, but noone under 40 really. In terms of actual religiousness outside the social or football element, almost noone.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

Unless you count Rangers and Celtic fans as religious, then no. A lot of the old people go to church, but noone under 40 really. In terms of actual religiousness outside the social or football element, almost noone.

To tie things into the football issue you mentioned, I think theres a bit of a changing social dynamic to religiosity. It used to be your typical respectable folk went to a mainstrem, fairly tolerant and non-fundementalist (if still conservative) church every Sunday. But now there's more of a sense that atheism represents the well to-do establishment. Obviously in Scotland working-class areas in the west coast and places like Fife etc are heavily built on Irish Catholic/Ulster Protestant immigration, and since religion is so influential in these peoples identity, there's been a bit of a revival of religion within these groups, while the more successfull middle-class types are more atheist.

I live in a town that was heavily built on the Irish Catholic/Ulster Protestant immigration, and religion matters a lot to people here. Things have become more polarised since the mainstream churches adopted more tolerant/less hardline views. Less people go to church, but the religious views people do have are more extreme. While the Church of Scotland has more or less imploded, fundamentalist Evangelical churches have grown rapidly. Another belief going around now in Proddy circles is British Isrealim, an ethnic-based doctrine that Britons are a New Testament chosen people. It is because of this belief if you go to Ibrox you will see the Protestant flag and Israeli flags, you never saw that even 10 years ago. Obviously this is tied to political things. The Orange Order here has grown massively (it was barely non-existant even a few decades ago) and more extreme off-shoots like the Independent Orange Order are here too now. On the other hand despite being a fairly small town, this is the only place in Scotland outside of Glasgow where Republican Sinn Fein (political wing of the CIRA) are based.

I think it will be interesting to see how religion and national identity plays into things here when the question of Scottish independence comes up.

[Augment]

I think most people in the Netherlands are religious but they also want to party and stuff so they keep it to themselves and choose to be hypocrites.

[Their Law]

Locally there's two churches, an Anglican and a Methodist, but both are failing as the only people who attend them are 40+. Though they retain there community centre aspect.

On the whole my area is basically British religious, i.e not very, and people generally just go through the motions rather than out and out believe, though there's a decent sized jewish and muslim community in the nearest town. Though they keep themselves to themselves mostly.

[Kabeloko]

almost all people here is religious (even in hypocrite ways, independent their social class)...

[Jaketh]

i live in Upstate new york, which is borderline KKK. nearly everyone is religious, im not but i almost got my ass kicked by a dozen people last time i told someone i was an atheist

[Dr. Croccer]

Hard to tell. There are a lot of ''Ietsists''. There are a surprising amount of young ''refos'' as well. And immigrants, of course. It's hard to estimate, but the traditional orthodox faithful are certainly a minority.

[Blaze86420]

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, and I'm pretty sure Atheists are a majority. The only religious people here are the occasional Catholic and the Islamic community we have. Even then, a lot of the "Muslim" kids I see at the mosque smoke pot, chase skirts, go to parties etc.

[Jack.Says]

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, and I'm pretty sure Atheists are a majority. The only religious people here are the occasional Catholic and the Islamic community we have. Even then, a lot of the "Muslim" kids I see at the mosque smoke pot, chase skirts, go to parties etc.

don't clothes stay in one place.