Interesting news from the Barna Group. Money quotes:
Nationally, four out of every ten adults is a born again Christian. (This measure is based on people's beliefs, not a self-definition. The two questions that qualify people are described in this report's Research Methodology section.) But there is a wide range of incidence levels related to the location of born again adults. For instance, the market with the largest percentage of its adults classified as born again – by a large margin – is Jackson, Mississippi, where 83% of adults meet the criteria.
. . . One of the measures developed by George Barna for the Faith By Market report estimates how Christian-oriented a market's population is, based upon a combination of faith factors. The top market was Jackson, Mississippi, whose indexed score was 46% higher than the national norm.
Not having access to the data itself (I think I'd have to buy a Barna subscription to get it), I don't know much about the methodology. Barna is unique in that it's an evangelical group that still seems to do really good surveys.
Cheers,
TH