ALBANY, New York (WordNews.org) April 25, 2013 – If you live in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy region of upstate New York, you have the distinction of being the most post-Christian are in the United States.
That’s according to the latest Barna Group study. Following Albany are Burlington, Vermont; Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; and Hartford, Connecticut.
Barna said the country as a whole has seen a rise in a group it referred to as the “Nones,” a group that claims no religious affiliation. Barna analyzed 42,855 interviews conducted in recent years and looked at 15 different measures. To be considered a post-Christian, respondents in cities had to meet nine of the following 15 factors: do not believe in God; identify as an atheist or agnostic; disagree that faith is important in their lives; have not prayed to God in last year; have never made a commitment to Jesus; disagree with the premise that the Bible is accurate; have not donated money to a church in the past year; have not attended a Christian church in the past year; agree that Jesus committed sins; do not feel a responsibility to share their faith; have not read the Bible in the last week; have not volunteered at a church in the last week; have not attended Sunday school in the last week; have not attended religious small group in the last week; and do not participate in a house church.
At the same time, Barna reported more than seven out of 10 adults describe themselves as “Christian” and more than six out of 10 Americans say they are “deeply spiritual.”
Barna’s study included a ranking of the nation’s largest 96 markets, from most to least post-Christian.
The top post-Christian markets are in the Northeast and in the West. The gap between the most post-Christian city (Albany, NY) and least (Shreveport, Louisiana) is 63 percent to 12 percent, respectively.
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