Ask An Atheist: Why is the PNW so unchurched?

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By Jim Downard

Why do you think the Pacific Northwest is such an ‘unchurched’ area?

As I’m not religious, I cannot claim by personal experience how “churched” or not the region is compared to others.  I have conducted no rigorous study here.

There does appear to be no shortage of physical churches in Spokane, though, they’re far commoner block on block than Starbuck’s or Zip’s.

Perhaps the questioner senses that the region is not sufficiently overt in their religious convictions, or fails to reflect their particular vision of religiosity.  Those are quite different issues.

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About Jim Downard

Jim Downard is a Spokane native (with a sojourn in Southern California back in the early 1960s) who was raised in a secular family, so says had no personal faith to lose.

He's always been a history and science buff (getting a bachelor's in the former area at what was then Eastern Washington University in the early 1970s).

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