(upbeat music)
- [Briggs] What is going on, everyone?
Welcome back to the World According to Briggs.
Do you consider yourself a religious person?
It looks like the American public
is becoming less religious, at least by some key measures
of what it means to be a religious person to most people.
A recent survey of almost 40,000 US adults
finds that the percentage
who say they believe in a higher power, pray daily,
and go to church or other religious services
have all declined in recent years.
As far as people saying they're religious,
well, that's sort of stayed the same
or maybe even went up a fraction.
A lot of millennials say they're religious,
they just prefer not to get a church
or any other type of house of worship involved.
They'd rather do it themselves.
Today's video is about the least religious states,
a subject that has been requested
an ungodly amount of times.
(drum rolling)
This list is from the most recent survey by Pew Research.
I was surprised by the numbers and I was really surprised
at what the last three states were.
You probably will be too.
All right, let's take a look.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number 10, Hawaii.
For over a thousand years, Hawaiians were doing great.
I mean, the Polynesian had found them about 1,500 years ago
and then missionaries showed up in Hawaii
in the early 1800s.
They tried to convert all the Hawaiians to Christianity.
It worked for some, not all.
They also discouraged many Hawaiians from cultural practices
and encouraged the spread of English.
The English one, I guess, is the only one that really stuck.
The survey reports that only 47% of Hawaiians
consider themselves very religious,
only 62% of them say they believe in God
with absolute certainty,
and only 28% of them say they attend worship services
at least weekly.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number nine, New York State.
New York State has a lot of people and a lot of churches.
The archdiocese of New York
is the second largest in the United States by population,
encompassing 296 parishes that serve 2.8 million Catholics,
in addition to hundreds of Catholic schools,
hospitals, and charities.
Now, that's just the Catholic side of it.
They've all done Muslim and Jewish places,
along with everything else.
I only gave the Catholic numbers
'cause I could find those numbers,
I couldn't find the exact numbers for everyone else
or I would have included those too,
but outside of New York City, in the more rural parts,
you're gonna have a higher percentage of people
that consider themselves very religious,
but since there's so many people living in New York City,
their numbers show up like this:
Only 46% say that they are very religious,
56% say they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and 29% say they attend worship services at least weekly.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number eight, Alaska.
Doesn't look like Alaska really goes big on religion.
They're probably too busy, I don't know,
dodging wildlife on the highway, killing insects,
waiting for cruise ships, and fishing.
To give you an idea how far away these are
from the most religious states, some states in this country,
80% of the residents consider themselves very religious.
Not Alaska, they're blazing their own trail.
45% of the residents of Alaska
consider themselves very religious,
55% say they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and 30% say that they attend worship services
at least weekly.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number seven, Washington state.
The Evergreen State has never been accused
of being over religious, matter of fact,
if you see some of the things that go on in Seattle,
you might think God is ignoring this place,
either that or it's whoever's in charge
of affordable housing.
44% of the residents in the Evergreen State
consider themselves very religious,
55% say they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and 30% say they attend worship services at least weekly.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number six, Wisconsin.
This one surprised me.
Wisconsin is one of the best states to raise a family in
and being religious and a good place to raise a family
usually go hand-in-hand a majority of the time I'd say,
but here's Wisconsin at number six.
44% of the population consider themselves very religious,
56% say that they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and 27% say they attend worship services at least weekly.
That's not a lot, especially for a place like Wisconsin.
That's just, that one surprised me.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number five, Connecticut.
If you've ever visited Hartford,
you'd probably start praying as you walked down the street.
Outside of Hartford, it's a great state.
Hartford, eh, not so much.
Connecticut is our first New England state,
but if you talk to anyone else
from other states in New England,
they actually consider it part of New York
or at least they wish it would become part of New York.
43% of the residents of Connecticut
consider themselves very religious,
54% say they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and only 28% say that they attend worship services
at least weekly.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number four, Maine.
Maine is beautiful, amazing landscapes, clean air,
beautiful coastlines, and wonderful people
that really don't go too deep into religion.
Only 34% of Maine considers themselves very religious,
48% say that they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and 22% say that they attend worship services
at least weekly.
22%.
I wonder how much the snow counts
'cause it snows a bunch in Maine.
I wonder if that affects how often they get to church.
Who knows?
These people are more into "Lord of the Rings,"
"The Hobbit," and "Dungeons & Dragons."
(8-bit bleeping)
Number three, Vermont.
Look at that, it's like a trifecta of New England states,
and we're not done with New England states.
I don't know what's going on in New England,
but they've pretty much turned their back
on the whole religion thing I guess.
Vermont, like Maine, is just absolutely beautiful,
the people are decent,
and again, they don't go into the religion thing too much.
Only 34% consider themselves very religious,
41% say that they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
which that is the second lowest number on this list,
and 21% say that they attend worship services
at least weekly.
And that is the absolute lowest number on that category.
(8-bit bleeping)
Number two, Massachusetts.
You would think a state with two of their nicknames
being the Puritan State and the Pilgrim State,
they'd be all about religion.
Granted, the puritans and the pilgrims
were here hundreds of years ago,
but you know, that type of thing
sticks with a location for quite some time.
Not Massachusetts.
Only 33% of the population
consider themselves very religious,
only 40% say that they believe in a God
with absolute certainty,
and only 23% say that they attend worship services
at least weekly.
And no, a Red Sox game does not count as going to church
and when the Patriots win, it's not a religious event.
Knock it off, quit acting like that.
All right, before we get to number one, don't forget,
we got another channel called On This Day.
There's a link down below,
if you feel like going to check it out,
we'd really appreciate it.
And also don't forget to give this video a big thumbs up.
Help please the YouTube algorithm.
All right, into number one.
(8-bit bleeping)
And number one, New Hampshire.
Who saw this one coming?
The last five were New England.
Well, four and Connecticut.
(drum rolling)
I really thought New Hampshire would be a religious state
just knowing what I know about its history and the fact
that a lady swore she was going to put a curse on me.
She's from New Hampshire and it was 'cause
I said something bad about New Hampshire in a video.
Is putting a curse on someone considered a religious act?
I don't know, she was angry.
Anyway, moving on.
Not a lot of people go for religion in New Hampshire,
matter of fact, just like Massachusetts,
only 33% considered themselves very religious,
43% say that they believe in a God with absolute certainty,
and only 22% said they attend worship services
at least weekly.
Not a lot of Bible reading going on at New Hampshire.
(upbeat music)
All right, that's today's video.
You know, I'd had questions
why I didn't do anything like this.
This is just the stat about what's going on in states.
I'm not making any judgment
about anything religious whatsoever.
You do you.
Worship or don't worship however you see fit,
that I think will lead to a very happy and fulfilling life.
All right, everyone, thanks for watching the video.
Don't forget all the links below.
Everybody, have a great day.
Be nice to each other.