--- description: Based on how much residents read the Bible title: These Are the Most Godless Cities in America image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb061a5434bc542f5/69877abd0b72e302fa6dd36f/boston.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [faith](/tag/faith/) ## faith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # These Are the Most Godless Cities in America by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 21, 2015 5:46 PM CUT  Boston, Mass. Boston, Mass.Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 21, 2015 5:46 PM CUT At the end of the age, according to Matthew, the angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous. Well, they should have an easy time of it: The wicked are, roughly speaking, already somewhere north of St. Louis. That’s where the least “Bible-minded” cities are in America, at least according to a study released Wednesday by the [American Bible Society](http://demoss.com/newsrooms/americanbible/news/birmingham-tops-the-list-as-americas-most-bible-minded-city "undefined"). Cities in the Northeast appear to have strayed furthest from the upright path, with wicked dens of iniquity like Providence, R.I., New Bedford, Mass., Albany, N.Y., and Boston, Mass., leading the list for least Bible-minded. Also on the naughty list are San Francisco, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and gambler’s haven Las Vegas. The American Bible Society measures “Bible-mindedness” by how strictly survey respondents read the book and believe in its accuracy. A spokesperson told [TIME last year](http://time.com/1541/godless-cities-in-america/ "undefined") that the study poses respondents the question, “How many times do you read the bible outside of church or a synagogue?” The most Bible-minded respondents say they read the Bible in the last week and believe strongly that it is accurate. The top city for biblical stricture was Birmingham, Ala., followed by Chattanooga, Tenn. All the 10 most-Bible-minded cities are, naturally, somewhere in the Bible Belt. The American Bible Society found that only 27% of Americans are Bible-minded. The data was based up on telephone and online interviews with 62,896 adults over a 10-year period ending in August 2014. _Read next:_ [_How Evangelicals Are Changing Their Minds on Gay Marriage_](http://time.com/3669024/evangelicals-gay-marriage/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3676607/american-bible-society-cities/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3676607/american-bible-society-cities/"},"headline":"These Are the Most Godless Cities in America","datePublished":"2015-01-21T17:46:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:45:08.140Z","description":"Based on how much residents read the Bible","url":"https://time.com/3676607/american-bible-society-cities/","keywords":["faith","Religion"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb061a5434bc542f5/69877abd0b72e302fa6dd36f/boston.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb061a5434bc542f5/69877abd0b72e302fa6dd36f/boston.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Boston","caption":"Boston","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3676607/american-bible-society-cities/","name":"These Are the Most Godless Cities in America"}}]}] ```