{"id":3771,"date":"2026-07-23T04:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3771"},"modified":"2026-07-23T04:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:11:14","slug":"surprise-bible-thumping-rural-areas-less-religious-than-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3771","title":{"rendered":"Surprise: Bible-thumping rural areas less religious than cities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Apparently all those 50-foot crosses lining highways in the American South and rural areas are more of a claim <\/em>than proof, reports the Daily Yonder.<\/p>\n

Read more Prominent Trump ally \u2018starting to realize\u2019 MAGA is \u2018ignorant\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Rural residents are filled with President Donald Trump voters who take great pleasure in harping their religiosity over \u201c3rd<\/sup> world country\u201d or \u201chellhole\u201d urban areas. Driven by unending, exaggerated images of inner-city violence, even the president demonizes cities, blasting inflated claims of \u201csoaring\u201d housing costs, ‘diseases \u2026 spreading like wildfire’ and claims that ‘police can\u2019t handle the surge in crime’ after being ‘flooded \u2026 with migrants ….'”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, MAGA likes to claim that Christianity is enjoying a surge among Gen-Z, who are allegedly going to evangelical churches in big numbers.<\/p>\n

But not only does the recent \u201csurge\u201d appear to be overblown, rural areas do not appear to hold an edge over urban areas in terms of religious fervor, according to surveys.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the majority of nonmetropolitan, or rural, counties, the most popular Christian tradition is evangelicalism, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Religion Census, a county-level, once-per-decade dataset that reports the number of congregations and adherents in American faith groups. But that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that rural people are more religious than their urban and suburban counterparts,\u201d reports Daily Yonder.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals do account for a disproportionate share of the population in nonmetropolitan counties, according to the analysis, with roughly 20 percent of evangelicals living in rural counties, but writer Sarah Alexander Melotte writes that doesn\u2019t mean the passion in the countryside is exactly running high.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump court tactic just blew up in his face: analysis<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou might think that means nonmetropolitan residents are more religious, but that\u2019s actually not the case,\u201d said Melotte, explaining that the survey measures \u201creligiosity\u201d as the share of the population that regularly attends religious services. The U.S. Religion Census is essentially a headcount of congregants, not an individual survey \u2014 or apparently claims of enthusiasm, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nation\u2019s largest cities actually had the highest religious adherence rates, making up just about half of the population in metropolitan counties with populations greater than one million residents,\u201d Melotte pointed out. \u201cThe overall religious adherence rate in nonmetropolitan counties was 48 percent, meanwhile. <\/p>\n

Although the differences are small and within the margin of error, Melotte said there\u2019s little reason for country folk to consider themselves necessarily more religious than their urban or suburban counterparts. All they really are is swinging evangelical, according to datasets.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting fact to note the next time a MAGA social media poster is commenting on \u201cgodless\u201d American cities during church hours.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s rage crashes and burns as embarrassing new expos\u00e9 sets sales records<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently all those 50-foot crosses lining highways in the American South and rural areas are more of a claim than proof, reports the Daily Yonder.Rural residents are filled with President Donald Trump voters who take great pleasure in harping their religiosity over \u201c3rd world country\u201d or \u201chellhole…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSurprise: Bible-thumping rural areas less religious than cities - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3771\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprise: Bible-thumping rural areas less religious than cities - 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