Not so religious in California


There's a new Pew Survey out. I've not yet had a chance to look at it, but I've heard a little. Today, though, there's a piece in the LA Times that looks at the report's findings about California. Would it surprise you that we're much less religious than the nation as a whole?

A majority of Californians have some religous inclinations but we're our numbers are about 8-10% below national averages. And, if you were to take out the Central Valley, they'd likely be even lower. None of this surprises me. I've been pastoring in Santa Barbara County the past ten years, and while Lompoc is much more conservative than Santa Barbara (the city), even it is much less religious -- at least in terms of institutional religion.

From day 1 I've found that Santa Barbarans are more likely to be involved in spiritual traditions than institutional religion. The Unitarians do fairly well here (2 congregations). There's a Vendanta Temple and Buddhist organizations. Traditional Christianity struggles here.

Of course, on Monday I begin a trek to the great upper midwest. I expect the people are more religious there than here -- at least in the traditional sense -- but is California bucking the curve, or just slightly ahead of it?

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