When it comes to most Bible-minded cities, Chattanooga takes the cake. A new study shows the Tennessee’s metropolis population comes in at No. 1 on a list that reveals where the Bible is best regarded — and where it’s not.
Bible-mindedness considers how often the residents regularly read the good book, and how many consider its text to be the inerrant advisements of God. More specifically, Barna, the organization that conducted the study of 46,000-plus adults around the nation in conjunction with the American Bible Association, deems the Bible-minded as those who engage is “regular Bible reading with belief in the Bible’s accuracy,” the website stated.
More to point, those who “report reading the Bible within the past seven days and who agree strongly in the accuracy of the Bible are classified as Bible-minded,” the site continued.
The group examined responses across 100 metropolitan areas in the nation.
And following Chattanooga, in order: The Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa areas of Alabama; the Roanoke-Lynchburg areas of Virginia; Springfield, Mo.; and Shreveport, La.
The least Bible-minded cities, meanwhile, were found to be the Cedar Rapids and Waterloos areas of Iowa, at No. 96 on the list, followed by the areas of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose at No. 97. No. 98: Boston, Mass., and Manchester, N.H. No. 99: The Albany-Schenectady-Troy regions of New York.
And last on the list — the least Bible-minded city in the nation: A tie between Providence, R.I., and New Bedford, Mass.
The survey included random interviews with 46,274 adults over a seven-year period that ended in August 2013. The margin of error with the aggregate sample is plus or minus 0.5 percentage points.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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