BURLINGTON, Vt.—A new poll suggests that people in Vermont and New Hampshire are less religious than those in other states.
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released last month by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, found that people in the two northern New England states pray more infrequently and are less likely to believe in God and attend weekly church services.
The survey, which combined Vermont and New Hampshire into one for reporting purposes, based its results for the two states on 320 responses, with a 6 percent margin of error.
It found that 71 percent of the 35,000 people polled nationally said they believed in God or a universal spirit, compared with 54 percent of those in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Other findings for Vermont-New Hampshire:
--about 23 percent of respondents said they attend services at least once a week, compared with 39 percent nationally.
--36 percent said religion is very important to them, compared with 56 percent nationally.
--26 percent said they were unaffiliated with a religion, compared with 16 percent nationally.
The Rev. David Wright, pastor of the College Street Congregational Church in Burlington, said the survey results neither surprised nor discouraged him.
They may be a sign of open-mindedness, he said.
"Some of our best theologians would say that doubt is not antithetical to faith, that they are really twin brothers in a way," Wright said.
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Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com
