Two Danvilles, two Monroes and no church

A map by request. Here is where all those metropolitan areas without Unitarian Universalist congregations are. The usual caveats apply, but note how most are east of the population fall-off line around Interstate highway 35; these are not lost in the desert. Funny how there are two cities each named Danville (Illinois and Virginia) and… Continue reading Two Danvilles, two Monroes and no church

Two (more) unhappy numbers about Unitarian Universalism

I’m no statistician, but I know that the facts we use to understand ourselves shape how we see ourselves — that sounds more like the work of a theologian, doesn’t it? — so bad or outdated facts give ourselves an incorrect self-understanding. So, first, what proportion of the American population is Unitarian Universalist? We’ve suffered… Continue reading Two (more) unhappy numbers about Unitarian Universalism

Putting the congregational data project to bed; requests?

It’s been a fun series, crunching though United States towns and cities and matching them with Unitarian Universalist congregations. Feel free to comment away; I certainly will, since there are also issues about Unitarian Universalist culture implied there. Here are the blog posts, in reverse chronological order. A METROPOLIS WITHOUT UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS; NO, DOZENS, REALLY… Continue reading Putting the congregational data project to bed; requests?

A metropolis without Unitarian Universalists; no, dozens, really

Later. Title changed to its opposite to correctly reflect the facts herein. Oops. Dear readers, to recap. I data-hacked the Unitarian Universalist Association directory and mapped it to Office of Management and Budget-defined areas: some metropolitan, some micropolitan, the balance rural. More or less. I wanted to find which low-population areas had Unitarian Universalist congregations… Continue reading A metropolis without Unitarian Universalists; no, dozens, really

A word about rural churches

I was going to move directly to metropolitan areas, but thought I would detour first to those congregations that are neither in metropolitan or micropolitan areas. That is, rural churches. These are very few — only about 5% of all Unitarian Universalists congregations — and most (from personal knowledge) are in small towns, not in… Continue reading A word about rural churches

The largest micropolis without a Unitarian Universalist congregation

So if you wanted to fill in the largest places that don’t have a Unitarian Universalist congregation, where would you start? This is a continuation of the series I begun yesterday. First, some caveats. Would Queens, one of the boroughs of New York City, be considered its own entity, or given its population — 2.3… Continue reading The largest micropolis without a Unitarian Universalist congregation

The Unitarian Universalist micropolitan area breakdown

How small a town can support a Unitarian Universalist congregation? In time, I hope to answer this, but for the moment want to consider the middle scale of United States habitations: the micropolis. As I’ve mentioned before, a micropolitan area “consists of one or more counties and includes the counties containing the core urban area,… Continue reading The Unitarian Universalist micropolitan area breakdown