The Most Godless Part Of America – Right Here In The Pacific Northwest

“If you’re an atheist, then the Pacific Northwest is the place for you.” That’s how a recent article from World Net Daily beings as it tells of the most “Godless Cities in America.”
50,000 people were surveyed by the Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Atlas and the rose to our south was the brightest bloom of atheism. The survey revealed 42 percent of Portland’s residents are “religiously unaffiliated.” Congratulations? Seattle and San Francisco tied at second place with 33 percent.
The mile high city may closer to heaven in elevation but not in participation as Denver came in third . The heat of the desert is a far cry from the gates of Hades but Phoenix falls in fourth on the least of the least faithful. http://www.wnd.com/files/2016/01/Keep-Portland-Weird.jpg
Portland bills itself as “quirky and different” (the city’s unofficial motto is “Keep Portland Weird”) and researchers surmise this kind of atmosphere is “very attractive to people who may not feel comfortable in other social environments, particularly with a stigma against those who are atheists.” In fact Portland has twice the number of atheists or unaffiliated as does Sin City - Las Vegas!

In a report from WND, survey authors reach an interesting conclusion about why God may be left behind by those who move to the Northwest. “In the 2004 book “Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone,” the authors note, “A clearly recognizable religious reference group functions as a social mirror, alongside or against which an individual can define himself or herself. The Pacific Northwest has neither. … Most people who come into the region do not come seeking to replicate what they left behind.”