Mississippi tops religion survey

A survey by the Pew Research Center says Mississippi is the most
religious state.

For the survey, the center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life used
polling data to rank states.

In Mississippi, 82 percent of those surveyed said religion is important
in their lives.

Alabama and Arkansas came in at 74 percent and Louisiana followed with
73 percent based on that same measure of the survey.

Vermont and New Hampshire, which were lumped together for the survey,
were ranked at the bottom of the list.

Polling data was used to rank states for the survey based on four
measures: the importance of religion in people's lives; frequency of
attendance at worship services; frequency of prayer; and absolute
certainty of belief in God.

Mississippi stood out on all four measures. For the first measure more
than eight-in-ten people said religion is very important in their lives.
At least seven-in-ten people in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee
and South Carolina also said so.

Fewer than four-in-ten people living in New Hampshire and Vermont said
religion was very important to them. In Alaska 37 percent said religion
was very important.

In Mississippi 60 percent said they attend religious services at least
once a week. Utah came in second with 57 percent, followed by South
Carolina (54 percent) and Louisiana (53 percent).

Seventy-seven percent of people polled in Mississippi said they pray at
least once a day. In Louisiana it was 76 percent, followed by Alabama
with 73 percent.

Of those who say they believe in God with absolute certainty,
Mississippi ranked first with 91 percent, followed by South Carolina and
Alabama, both with 86 percent, then Tennessee and Arkansas both with 84
percent.

Graphic on where states stand:

http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=504