Alaska’s Empty Pews

Only 22% of Alaskans say they attend religious services at least once a week, making Alaska the least religious state judged by this measure. In Utah and several Southern states, more than half of those surveyed by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life said they were weekly service attenders. Along with Alaskans, residents of Colorado, Arizona and Northeastern states were the least likely to attend religious services once a week or more. When measured against four indices of religiosity — the importance of religion in people’s lives, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer and absolute certainty of belief in God — Mississippi stands out on all four, while several other Southern states also rank very high on the measures. Click on “read more” for the full and interactive graphic. Read More