Why is New England least religious region in U.S.?

[ Originally published on: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 ]

GREENFIELD -- New England is a region that was founded as a haven for religious freedom and many modern-day residents are still exercising that freedom.

They're exercising their freedom to not believe.

According to Trinity College's American Religious Identification Survey, New England has supplanted the Pacific region as being the least religious region in the country.

Twenty-two percent of New England respondents to the survey identified themselves as having no religious preference, atheist or agnostic.

Vermont was ranked least religious overall with 34 percent claiming ''none.'' Massachusetts was ranked 10th, according to the survey report.

The survey received responses from 54,461 respondents and was conducted between February and November of 2008.

Nationwide, 15 percent of respondents identified themselves as having no religious affiliation, up from 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the survey.

''My first question is, if they don't have faith in religion, what do they have faith in?'' asked Rabbi Efraim Eisen of Temple Israel in Greenfield, when told of the survey.

Eisen said that people may have faith in many other things, family and neighbors for example, but do not identify themselves as subscribing to any particular religious faith.

Eisen said that in the eight years he has been with Temple Israel, he has seen the congregation size double.

''We have a solid core (of worshippers),'' Eisen said. ''Not a large core, but a solid core.''

When asked why New Englanders in particular might be more averse to considering themselves religious, Eisen said that they come from a very rugged, self-reliant tradition and that may explain some of it.

''Strong individualism may mean less need for a connection to a higher power,'' Eisen said.

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