Abstract Search Find and explore abstracts from the RSS Annual Meeting

Population

Finding the Lost Sheep of Appalachia: Exploring Religion Census Undercounts in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia Jonathan May*, Jonathan May,

The Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), often referred to as the Religion Census, attempts to accumulate data on organized religion at the county level.  This research appears to be somewhat robust in much of the United States.  While it does not count every congregation, it counts enough to acquire a reasonable understanding of the religious diversity of a county or region.  However, the present study calls into question the ability of the RCMS to adequately represent the religious diversity of some parts of Appalachia, leading to a misrepresentation of the actual religious milieu of the region.  This paper argues that the organizational structure of traditional mountain religion leads national surveys to miss these congregations when collecting data, thus misrepresenting areas in which traditional mountain religious groups are numerous.  It thus calls for more rigorous presurvey research of this region when conducting national congregation studies.