Proximity(Canada & Ocean) = less religion

Interesting. My own migration from Colorado to Texas to Louisiana is one from less religious to most religious, yet... my Colorado tenure is where I met the most religious people ever.

Of course, I was born and grew up near the Utah border.

I also have to ask if the racial makeup of the "south" is an indicator. Most blacks that I have met in my 30 years in the south are far more religious than the whites. Could this be a factor?

If the Northwest (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) states aren't particularly religious, why do they vote Republican?

If the Northwest (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) states aren't particularly religious, why do they vote Republican?

anti-government sentiment. also, a lot of natural resource based wealth & assets.

. Most blacks that I have met in my 30 years in the south are far more religious than the whites. Could this be a factor?

yes. but southern whites are more religious than northern whites last i checked.

From my limited memory of my history classes, it looks like it's well correlated with the patterns of westward expansion of the US. Not sure how that correlates to the initial religiosity of the states though.

These are statewide averages. Colorado Springs is a major center of conservative Christianity.

I think that the irreligion of the West is partly a frontier survival. A lot of people who headed West were adventurers and freelancers (Utah being a vivid exception). By contrast, MN and WS were settled by national groups with their church identities.

In the XIXc America had a powerful mainstream irreligious strain -- Mark Twain, etc.

I was almost sure the following quote (it's approximate) was from a Twain protagonist arriving in Nevada, but it won't show up on google or books.google, so I am having my doubts. At any rate it epitomizes my vague notions of Old West irreligion. "There was drinking, swearing, and wild women. It was no place for a Christian and I did not long remain one."

Razib -- "yes. but southern whites are more religious than northern whites last i checked."

Yes, that is definitely true, and I think at least part of the reason is that for many southern whites and blacks church-going is a social event. In some of the smaller communities, church is one of the only two socializing places, the other being school activities, mostly sports.

Scandinavian immigrants could be a factor, as with with the most liberal states.

The least religious areas are the most recently settled, (Alaska) by those who moved on from their home state. They left religion behind.

Where the population has a lot of continuity with the original settlers (Tennessee? ) they are immobile just as they are set in their relgious ways.