Second-Largest Religions By State

Via the Washington Post:

In the Western U.S., Buddhists represent the largest non-Christian religious bloc in most states. In 20 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, Islam is the largest non-Christian faith tradition. And in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast, Judaism has the most followers after Christianity. Hindus come in second place in Arizona and Delaware, and there are more practitioners of the Baha’i faith in South Carolina than anyone else. All these data come from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, which conducts a U.S. Religion Census every 10 years.

Hit the link for a breakdown by every US county. Christianity dominates in all but one of the 3143 counties in the nation.

Tweet Of The Day

Buddhists Win Google Stereotypes

When you begin a Google search with the question "Why are [Christians, Jews, Muslims] so" - you get the above suggestions. The same query regarding Buddhists yields only "happy."

UPDATE: It's not listed in the above-linked story, but I've done the same query on atheists.

Olbermann: Brit Hume Is A Holier Than Thou Cliche Come To Life

Gay Monks Gone Wild

Thailand's Buddhist rule-maker wants the country's gay and transgender monks to tone things down and has issued a new set of behavioral guidelines.

Phra Maha Wudhijaya Vajiramedhi, a senior monk, told the BBC the guidelines would address issues like smoking, drinking alcohol, walking and going to the toilet properly, which are all detailed in the traditional 75 Dharma principles of Buddhism, and the 227 precepts for monks. But he was especially concerned, he said, by the flamboyant behaviour of homosexual and transgender monks, who can often be seen wearing revealing robes, carrying pink purses and sporting effeminately-shaped eyebrows.

Fark: "What is the sound of one hand reaching around?"