Wed 16 Sep 2009
In the Sept, 09 issue of Wired, page 26, there was a short blurb on how geographers at Kansas State produced some infographics on the 7 deadly sins–plotting per capita statistics for things like theft (envy) and STDs(lust). You can see their maps here, but here’s how the 7 deadly sins panned out across the nation:
GREED - average income compared with number of people living below the poverty line.
Lots in most of California and SW Arizona, southern tip of Florida, encircling the Great Lakes area and the DC-New York corridor.
ENVY - total thefts per capita
Plenty around Los Angeles, southern tip of Florida and all the way up through AL, GA, SC, and NC, pockets around Dallas, and up in Oregon/Washington State.
WRATH - number of violent crimes per capita
all over New Mexico, a swath running from all of Louisiana up into Tulsa, OK area and over to Missouri and into Tennessee, Memphis area. Almost all of Florida, All of South Carolina, much of NC, southern half of Georgia
SLOTH - Expenditures on art, entertainment, and recreation compared with employment.
not much anywhere really, except one tiny corner of Oregon, and one little square of Montana.
GLUTTONY - Number of fast-food restaurants per capita
A bunch around the coast of NC and into Virginia and another cluster in SW Texas, Austin area.
LUST - number of STD cases reported per capita
huge swath running from Dallas, TX through all of Louisiana, all of Mississippi,most of Alabama, southern Georgia, much of SC and half of NC, into Virginia (basically the whole Bible Belt!). Another cluster in South Dakota, interestingly enough.
PRIDE - Aggregate total of the other six offenses–because pride is the root of all sin.
Almost all of California, Sw Arizona, all of Louisiana, much of Arkansas, all of Mississippi, southern half of Alabama, southern Georgia, all of Florida, all of SC and nearly all of NC, central New Mexico.
You can make your own observations as to why this is the way it is, according to their research!
September 17th, 2009 at 12:47 am
I am so relieved to see that NC is a strong member across the board here. That’s pretty interesting. One observation that can’t help but pointed out is the Bible Belt is heavily represented here. Which leads to the following shooting from the hip analysis - the Church is not impacting society like it should in its strongholds. A corollary is probably that “believers” in these same areas may not be allowing their lives to be impacted by the Holy Spirit as thoroughly as he would like.
Thanks for always bringing such interesting tidbits to our attention.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Don’t think my attempt to comment went thru first time, so here I go again.
It’s interesting that the Bible Belt is strongly represented here. Quick draw analysis from the hip says: the church (i.e. the Evangelical church) is not impacting society like it should be. Also, believers lives are not as impacted by the Holy Spirit like they should be either.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Matt,
Got both comments.
Yeah, the geographic distribution is fascinating. I tend to agree with your analysis, on both counts. Additional thoughts… may be that Christians have turned inward so much (christian subculture in and of itself) that interaction with society is not there.
Whatever the analysis, it sures does speak volumes!
June 5th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I have no clue why yahoo sent me over here but I need to say I have become more or less intrigued by the site conent you have aggregated together. How much time did it take to get so many WWW users coming to your blog pages? I am pretty darn to all this.
June 25th, 2010 at 4:01 am
sweet page! I’ve actually enjoyed it!
August 21st, 2010 at 7:26 am
soon your old phone is going to be obsolete. i just read an artile that they are coming out with 3d phones.