Massachusetts has come a long way from its puritan roots and now ranks as the third’ least religious state in the country, according to a Gallup poll released January 28.
Only 48 percent of Massachusetts residents view religion as an important part of their daily lives, according to the poll. It is second only to Vermont and New Hampshire, and tied with Maine. Every state in New England is among the top ten least religious states, in comparison to the overall 65 percent of Americans who said religion is important to them.
Boston University religious officials and students said the reasons behind Massachusetts’ disillusionment with religion are complicated and plentiful. Brother Patrick Reilly, who works with the Office for Campus Ministry in the BU Catholic Center and is a member of the Archdiocese of Boston, said he thinks the problems stem from the Boston clergy’s sex abuse scandal.
‘I think a lot of church leaders haven’t been a good example,’ he said.
‘It’s not just with Catholics, either,’ Reilly said, adding that the high level of affluence in Massachusetts could be another reason for this low number.
College of Communication sophomore Joe Stucker said he thinks the high level of education in the state is at fault.
‘I just think a lot of intellectuals in general tend to be less religious,’ he said.
College of Engineering junior Christian Rivera said he attributes the statistic to the ideological make-up of Massachusetts.
‘Inadvertently, the more liberal the state gets, the less religious it gets because it gives them freedom to be more lax at life,’ he said.
Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport said in a phone interview that this could indeed be one reason for the low percentage of religious individuals in New England.
‘The more religious you are, among white Americans, the more likely you are to vote Republican,’ Newport said. ‘How religious you are is a very strong indicator of voting, so much so that I could walk up to someone on the street and ask, ‘How often do you go to church? Is religion an important part of your life?’ and have a very strong idea of whom that person is voting for.’
Other possible explanations include cultural patterns over the years, the religious denominations in New England and the ethnic makeup of New England, Newport said.
Various explanations aside, Reilly said he was not taken aback by the results of this poll.
‘That’s certainly my sense living in Boston,’ Reilly said. ‘My sense is there’s more of apathy than anything else. But also in Massachusetts in particular, there’s a sense of anti-religious sentiments.’
Still, many religious leaders said that they still had hope that Massachusetts could eventually become more spiritual over time. BU Catholic Center Sister Olga Yaqob said a Christian Unity Event that occurred on campus Wednesday is a sign that religious groups are making progress in their outreach to young people.
‘Even though it’s a very challenging state, doesn’t mean that there aren’t very powerful signs of hope,’ Yaqob said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
Might have something to do with the clergy abuse issue? <p/>The church’s actions clearly show that it is in touch with something other than the god the people expect or the god this failed religion speaks of. When perverted incomplete men such as these fail as they have and as they will blindly continue there is a need to see them exposed as the frauds they are. Gods representative? What a perverse joke these abusers and users have played on society for centuries. Let their futile struggles to defend the indefensible crime of child rape be long, painful and maddening for them. Bringing these social monsters to account provides hope for all those deceived and abused by these incomplete men. There is no halfway point on this, the safety of children from sexual abusers and their enablers says that if you fail to speak out against these atrocities then you are as incomplete as the perpetrators, enablers and deniers. Let justice rain down on the heads of these pedophiles and their enablers and supporters.