Finally, Mississippi is #1

When I was growing up in small-town Arkansas, we had a saying about our neighbors to the east: "We're 49, they're 50. Thank God for Mississippi!"

Call it a school kid's coping mechanism. Every time some new national poll would come out measuring poverty, or education, or whatever, it always seemed like we Arkansans were back-to-back with our Mississippian brethren - right at the bottom of the heap. Hearing all the jokes about our hillbilly accents or our supposed lack of shoes was bad enough. But to see the stereotypes about our backwardness supported by statistical evidence was enough to give a kid an inferiority complex.

Well, a new poll is out and Mississippi is finally on top. A recent nationwide Gallup poll finds that Mississippi is the "most religious" state in the nation. 85% of Mississippians report that religion is an important part of their daily lives. Arkansas ain't too far behind at 78% (and tied for 5th overall). As the green-shaded graphic at the top of this post shows, the most religious states are found mostly in the South, whereas the least religious ones are in New England and the West Coast.

I seem to remember President Obama making an unfortunate comment during the presidential campaign about the small town poor clinging to their guns and their religion. He was rightly criticized for that remark (though he claimed it was misunderstood). Still, there is at least a broad correlation between poverty and adherence to religion, at least if you consider that the Southern states are amongst the poorest in the nation. And that makes sense: the Christian faith does indeed offer a message of hope to the poor, calling on them to be united with God and one another in the church and offering the promise of an eternal salvation that puts present suffering in perspective.

But let's flip the question on its head. Why are the wealthy so unreligious? Toward the end of his life, John Wesley wrote a sermon called, "Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity," where he bemoaned the failure of Methodists in that day to adhere to the faith of their predecessors. Wesley believed that the growing affluence of Methodists was a direct cause of their weakening faith. And perhaps most disturbingly, he does not seem to offer a convincing remedy to the problem in the text of the sermon.

Besides just looking at broad brushstroke correlations between per capita income and levels of religiosity in various states, we might also look at the example of our own church. Is it possible that the lukewarm discipleship so prevalent in the United Methodist Church is a direct result of the church's great wealth? And is there a remedy for that problem?

But hey, just so you don't misunderstand me - I'm as proud as I can be about my Arkansas roots. When I go home for a visit, I'm happy as a pig in slop. I root for the Razorbacks like a maniac on Saturdays in the fall, and I speak that lingering hillbilly accent with pride.

I'm also proud at the character of my fellow Arkansans. Though they're often poorer than their neighbors in other states, they are a resilient and hospitable people who typically exhibit a deep faith in God. Don't believe me? Just read the polls!