Leftover sends this (we share a love of this kind of stuff) from PRRI, “10 Things the American Values Atlas Teaches Us About America’s Religious Landscape.” Mostly? For our purposes, there’s this:
1. For the first time ever, America is not a majority Protestant nation. Only 47 percent of America identified as Protestant in 2014. At 81 percent, Mississippi is the most Protestant state in the union and Utah is the least at 10 percent.
Baby Jesus is crying, sinners. Real tears. Jimmy Swaggart, too.
(If you have the heart, you can read the American Values Atlas at this link.)
(And interesting, given the numbers, how much sway evangelicals still have over the country, according to the New York Times’ Frank Bruni. And thanks, Leftover, for this link.
Dating Jesus 
Well, what do you expect, with a Muslim family in the White House?
THAT’s SATIRE! SHE’S KIDDING! (I feel I need to share that, just in case a goober wanders over to the blog.)
GO NONES!
(I don’t remember if I ever asked..but…do you consider yourself unaffiliated? Being non-monolithic religious?
Notably absent from the generalities and hot-button topics included in the free version of the AVA are some topics one might think a religious-oriented outfit like PRRI might include in a compilation of data on American Values:
War…militarism…terrorism–
Violence…gun violence…domestic violence…misogyny–
Poverty…homelessness..hunger…child welfare…healthcare–
Some of these topics may be included in the expanded data tables available with subscription. PRRI has touched on some of these issues in earlier, more limited, surveys…especially during election cycles. (I see “Inequality” and “Climate Change” will be included in next years’ update.) It would make for a more attractive group of loss-leaders if, at least, some were included in the promotional version.
I have no idea where I fall, honestly, if that question is directed at me. I don’t attend a particular church — I rarely attend church at all. I read my Bible and I read commentary and I pray and I try to live like Jesus — but only within my rather unique interpretation of Jesus. I identify as “half-assed Christian” because I can’t imagine any Christian group would want me, and I don’t want to reflect badly on their game. I am the stepchild of Christianity.