Geographers Map Membership, Diversity Changes in Plains Religions

Lincoln, Neb., May 25, 2004 -- The Great Plains is experiencing a shift in the membership of its traditional religious denominations, two Kentucky geographers say in studies published in the spring 2004 issue of Great Plains Research.

Stanley D. Brunn, professor of geography at the University of Kentucky, and Holly R. Barcus, assistant professor at Morehead State University, gathered denominational membership from 1952 to 2000 and compared it to population changes during the same period.

"Mapping county-level data of the four major denominations reveals that Catholics and Lutherans are strongest in the northern plains, Methodists in the central plains, and Baptists in the southern plains," Barcus said. "Counties that are increasing in populations and closest to metropolitan and interstate areas experience the most diversity."

Using tables and maps, Barcus and Brunn illustrated the shift in denominational membership from more rural areas to metropolitan. The number of Catholics more than doubled in the past half century, which the authors attributed to the growth of Hispanic populations in the plains.

The geographers said the central and southern plains witnessed the greatest shifts in denominational membership. The once almost entirely Baptist-dominated Texas counties diversified by 2000 to include more Methodists, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ and Catholics. Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado were mixes of Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists in 1952, but by 2000 there were several counties with Baptist, Congregational Christian and Disciples of Christ majorities.

"Beneath the prevailing religious majorities are others that are declining or increasing in membership and places of worship, while Jews, Muslims, Charismatics and Baha'i are increasing in metropolitan areas, where the greatest population diversity exists," Brunn said.

The geographers expanded their study of the major denominations with an examination of the changing religious diversity and how population change relates to that diversity. They concluded that the Great Plains' religious makeup reflects both the expansion of new religious groups and the contraction of traditional groups. The metropolitan centers with increasing population diversity exhibit the greatest religious diversity, while rural areas with no change or decreases in population exhibit little religious diversity currently or historically. The authors caution that population is not the only factor in religious diversity and that the economic changes in land use may play a major role.

Great Plains Research, a journal of social and natural history, is edited by Robert F. Diffendal Jr., emeritus professor of conservation and survey at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and published by the Center for Great Plains Studies at UNL. The journal is available for purchase from the center at (402) 472-3082.

CONTACTS:: Linda Ratcliffe, Center for Great Plains Studies, (402) 472-3965; Holly Barcus, Asst. Professor, Geography, Morehead State University, (606) 783-2920; and Stanley Brunn, Professor, Geography, University of Kentucky, (859) 257-6947