Religion and Region in America

Abstract

A decline in the differences between regions has been occurring in a number of demographic and socioeconomic aspects. Religion is one of several areas in which regional differences persist. Zelinsky's classification of seven religious regions remains standard. Americans migrating from one part of America to another are aware of this, and recent research supports popular perceptions. Migrants have been shown to be more likely to adapt to the level of religious commitment of the new region than to be dislocated by the move. As long as this remains true, migration should not be accompanied by a decline in the distinctiveness of religious regions. The continuing strength of the historically prominent denominations in the several regions is impressive.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. Roger Stump , “Regional Migration and Religious Commitment in the United States,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 23:292 (Sept. 1984).

2. Wilbur Zelinsky , “An Approach to the Religious Geography of the United States: Patterns of Church Membership in 1952,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 51: 139-193 (June 1961).

3. James R. Shortridge , “ A New Regionalization of American Religion,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 16:143-154 (June 1977).

4. Ibid., p. 152.

5. Interview of John Shelton Reed , Charlotte Observer, 25 Nov. 1984.

6. Roger Stump , “Regional Divergence in Religious Affiliation in the United States,” Sociological Analysis, 45(4) (Winter 1984).

7. See esp. Raymond D. Gastil , Cultural Regions of the United States (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975).

8. Stump , “Regional Divergence in Religious Affiliation.”

9. Stump , “Regional Migration and Religious Commitment,” p. 292.

10.

10. Ibid., p. 302.

11.

11. Ibid., pp. 302-3.

12.

for the recent scene, see Jackson W. Carroll , Douglas W. Johnson , and Martin E. Marty , Religion in America: 1950 to the Present (New York: Harper & Row, 1979).