Religion
Northwest seen as 'unchurched' yet religious

By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter

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While fewer people in the Northwest than anywhere else in the country say they belong to a religious institution, most here do identify with some religious tradition, according to a new book examining faith in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

"The region is unchurched but not unreligious," said Patricia O'Connell Killen, co-editor of "Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone" and chairwoman of Pacific Lutheran University's religion department.

In the Northwest, 62.8 percent of the population was unaffiliated with any particular house of worship, the book says. That's compared to 40.6 percent nationwide. At the same time, two-thirds of adults identify themselves with a religious tradition.

Those who say they are part of a religious tradition but don't attend a house of worship are "the biggest unknown," Killen said at a conference launching the book. "We have no data on these people. These people are the wild cards" in politics, public debates and elections.

The Northwest also has the largest percentage of people who answer "none" to the question: "What is your religious tradition, if any?"

Twenty-five percent of adults in Washington and Oregon say they have no religious identification, compared to 14.1 percent nationwide.

But that doesn't mean Northwesterners aren't spiritual. "Even among the 'nones,' only a small minority identify as atheist or agnostic," the book says. Northwesterners may, instead, express their spirituality in anything from nature religion to working for environmental protection.

The book also points to another dichotomy.

While "we are the region with the most 'nones,' we (also) have a strong conservative Christian presence," Killen said.

The "Holiness/Wesleyan/Pentecostal" category, which includes Assemblies of God and International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, is the second-largest religious grouping in the Pacific Northwest — after Catholics — but only sixth nationally.
 
The "Other Conservative Churches" grouping, which includes the Seventh-day Adventists and Churches of Christ, ranks third regionally and fifth nationally.

"We're the only region outside of the South and Old Southwest where conservative Protestants are a group equal to Catholics in size and where they constitute a major share of the adherent pie," Killen said.

"This would seem to indicate a polarization" is growing in the region between conservative Christians and secular spiritualists, she added.