The American Bible Society released a ranking of the nation's cities, from most to least "Bible-mindedness." They classified respondents who reported reading the Bible within the past seven days and who agreed strongly in the accuracy of the Bible as "Bible Minded."
Chattanooga, Tenn. was ranked as the nation's most Bible-minded city, with Providence, R.I. and Bedford, Mass. clocking in as the least.
The top ten most Bible-minded cities are:
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Birmingham, Ala.
Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va.
Springfield, Mo.
Shreveport, La.
Charlotte, N.C.
Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C./Asheville, N.C.
Little Rock, Ark.
Jackson, Miss.
Knoxville, Tenn.
The ten least Bible-minded cities are:
Providence, R.I./New Bedford, Mass.
Albany, N.Y.
Boston
San Francisco
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Buffalo, N.Y.
Hartford/New Haven, Conn.
Phoenix
Burlington, Vt.
Portland, Maine
The American Bible Society noted that they found "an inverse relationship exists between population size and Bible friendliness."
Data for the survey came from the results of telephone and online interviews with random samples of 46,274 adults conducted over a seven-year period, ending in August 2013. Sampling error was plus or minus 0.5 percentage points at the 95% level. It was done by Barna Group in partnership with the American Bible Society.