Alabama now holds the crown as the most Bible-minded area in America, narrowly wresting the honour from Tennessee, according to the latest survey conducted by Barna Group and the American Bible Society.
The survey was conducted via phone and online interviews among 62,896 adults over a 10-year period ending in August 2014. The respondents were asked if they had read the Bible in the past seven days and if they agreed strongly with the accuracy of the Bible.
Not much has changed since the 2013 survey as cities occupying the top 10 are still from southern cities. These areas have posted over 46 per cent of their population as Bible minded.
While the top spot was passed on to Birmingham, Anniston and Tuscaloosa, Alabama with 51%, cities in Tennessee still held on to the second and third spots with Chattanooga posting 50 per cent and the Tri-Cities also at 50 per cent. Surprisingly, the former most Bible minded city Knoxville, Tennessee only ranked 11<sup>th this year with 42 per cent.
Other cities in the top 10 include Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia (48%), Shreveport, Louisiana (46%), Springfield, Montana (46%), Jackson, Mississippi (46%), Charlotte, North Carolina (46%), Greenville and Asheville, North Carolina (46%) and Little Rock, Arkansas (46%).
On the flipside, cities that rank as the least Bible minded cities in America include Las Vegas, (15%), Hartford, Connecticut (16%), Buffalo (16%), Phoenix (17%).
Meanwhile, the lone area to post less than 10 per cent of the population as Bible minded was Providence, Rhode Island with a mere 9 per cent. This comes as no surprise as Providence also ranked last and posted the same statistics in 2013.
