Episcopal dioceses that voted against gay bishop-elect grew more…and more

 By David E. Sumner, Ph.D.

     In the first Virtuosity story I wrote about growth patterns among “yes” and “no” dioceses on the Robinson confirmation vote, I concluded that the “yes” dioceses lost 85,374 members between 1995 and 2001, while the “no” dioceses lost only 345 members. I based these conclusions on statistics in the 1997 and 2003 Episcopal Church annuals for those two years. This story was posted on the e-mail listserv to bishops and deputies by a Virtuosity reader, and the figures were later challenged by Louis Crew of the Diocese of Newark.  Mr. Crew and I had a polite e-mail discussion about the figures, and he later admitted that he had made a calculation error with his figures.

    Nevertheless, this incident prompted me to verify my figures with the Episcopal Church’s Research Office, which is the source for the statistics published in the church annuals. “The figures in the annuals for both years are incorrect,” according to Lee Clark, reports coordinator for the Research Office.  “I was brought in two years ago to clean up the data,” which he says had been sloppily recorded for several years.  Mr. Clark then e-mailed me Excel spreadsheet files with updated figures for both 1995 and 2001—the latest available year.

   The revised results indicate that the disparity between the “yes” and “no” dioceses are even greater than I originally reported.  Bishops who voted “yes” to the confirmation of Canon Robinson came from dioceses that lost 101,711 baptized members during this six-year period. Bishops who voted “no” to the confirmation of Robinson came from dioceses with a total net gain of 147 baptized members.  Overseas dioceses and three dioceses whose bishops did not vote are not included in these totals.
(See a complete table of diocesan membership gains and losses at the end of this article).

   The ten fastest-growing dioceses included: Texas (7,549), Virginia (5,133), Dallas (5,003), Alabama (3,409), Mississippi (3,365), San Diego (2,985), North Carolina (2,901), Atlanta (2,879), Florida (2,391), and Southeast Florida (1,852).  Four of those bishops--Virginia, North Carolina , Atlanta , and Southeast Florida --voted “yes” on the Robinson confirmation.

   The ten fastest-shrinking dioceses included: Massachusetts (18,398), Connecticut (11,911), Los Angeles (8,574), Pennsylvania (8,136), Long Island (7,737), Michigan (6,998), Newark (4,754), Albany (4,187), Western New York (3,978), and West Tennessee (3,694).  Among these dioceses, the bishops of Albany and West Tennessee voted “no” on the Robinson confirmation while the others voted “yes.”

   Episcopal dioceses whose bishops voted “no” to the confirmation of Bishop-elect Gene Robinson also displayed substantially higher giving among their households than those dioceses whose bishops voted “yes” to his confirmation.  The average pledge among the 36 dioceses whose bishops voted “no” was 21 percent higher in 2001 than those whose bishop voted “yes.”  The average pledge was $1,846 for the “no” dioceses and $1,522 for the “yes” dioceses. The average pledge among all 100 domestic dioceses that year was $1,668.

     Dioceses ranking in the top ten on both giving and growth included Alabama , Atlanta , Dallas , Texas , and Mississippi . 

     These findings reinforce similar findings by Barna Research Group, Ventura , California , in a 2000 telephone survey of individual giving patterns.  In his study, George Barna concluded, “The subgroups with the highest average giving were evangelical Christians ($2,476)….born-again Christians ($1,651); ….and residents of the South ($1,281).”  Further details about Barna’s study are available at www.barna.org.

     Geography is another independent variable in these results.  Migration in the U.S. has generally moved from the Northeast and Midwest to the Southeast and Southwest and those dioceses have benefited from this population growth.  That alone, however, doesn’t explain the fact that southern dioceses have much higher giving patterns while per capita income is much higher along the Eastern seaboard.  The Diocese of San Diego, a “no” diocese, also has a considerably higher growth and pledge rate than its neighboring Diocese of Los Angeles or other California dioceses.

   I believe these findings reinforce other studies indicating that conservative churches that challenge their members to a higher standard of living than the secular culture are those churches most likely to grow.  Churches that challenge their members to follow the teachings of the Bible—including the biblical tithe—are generally the most healthy.

    David E. Sumner (dsumner@bsu.edu) is a professor of journalism at Ball State University , Muncie , Indiana , and author of The Episcopal Church’s History 1945-1985 (Morehouse, 1987). 
He was editor of the Diocese of Southern Ohio newspaper from 1981 to 1986.

Vote	Diocese	1995	2001	Change	Percent
No	Texas	78,317	85,866	7,549	10%
Yes	Virginia	82,704	87,837	5,133	6%
No	Dallas	34,680	39,683	5,003	14%
No	Alabama	31,163	34,572	3,409	11%
No	Mississippi	21,623	24,988	3,365	16%
No	San Diego	19,808	22,793	2,985	15%
Yes	North Carolina	45,162	48,063	2,901	6%
Yes	Atlanta	52,256	55,135	2,879	6%
No	Florida	30,102	32,493	2,391	8%
Yes	Southeast Florida	36,788	38,640	1,852	5%
Yes	New York	62,912	64,264	1,352	2%
No	Rio Grande	14,006	15,335	1,329	9%
No	Tennessee	13,752	15,005	1,253	9%
Yes	Arkansas	13,426	14,668	1,242	9%
No	Georgia	17,523	18,557	1,034	6%
Yes	Western North Carolina	14,731	15,612	881	6%
Yes	Delaware	12,204	12,962	758	6%
Yes	El Camino Real	15,664	16,261	597	4%
Yes	Utah	6,224	6,779	555	9%
Yes	Idaho	5,720	6,217	497	9%
No	Central Gulf Coast	20,456	20,828	372	2%
Yes	East Carolina	17,803	18,130	327	2%
No	San Joaquin	10,484	10,758	274	3%
No	South Carolina	27,142	27,391	249	1%
No	Fort Worth	18,088	18,335	247	1%
Yes	Wyoming	8,580	8,773	193	2%
No	Louisiana	19,993	20,150	157	1%
Yes	Nevada	5,553	5,686	133	2%
No	Upper South Carolina	26,448	26,519	71	0%
Yes	Eastern Oregon	3,640	3,687	47	1%
Yes	New Hampshire	16,709	16,628	(81)	0%
Yes	Lexington	8,999	8,903	(96)	-1%
No	Quincy	3,156	3,020	(136)	-4%
Yes	Kentucky	10,320	10,157	(163)	-2%
Yes	West Missouri	12,856	12,663	(193)	-2%
No	Eau Claire	2,582	2,388	(194)	-8%
No	Western Kansas	2,791	2,522	(269)	-10%
No	Northwest Texas	9,207	8,909	(298)	-3%
Yes	Northern California	19,035	18,728	(307)	-2%
Yes	Milwaukee	14,276	13,866	(410)	-3%
No	Pittsburgh	20,961	20,532	(429)	-2%
Yes	Missouri	15,059	14,627	(432)	-3%
Yes	Indianapolis	12,718	12,280	(438)	-3%
Yes	Vermont	9,309	8,833	(476)	-5%
No	North Dakota	3,364	2,789	(575)	-17%
No	East Tennessee	17,357	16,713	(644)	-4%
No	Springfield	7,259	6,603	(656)	-9%
No	Kansas	14,754	14,067	(687)	-5%
Yes	California	29,669	28,974	(695)	-2%
No	Western Louisiana	14,434	13,711	(723)	-5%
Yes	Northern Michigan	2,915	2,134	(781)	-27%
Yes	Maryland	48,244	47,444	(800)	-2%
Yes	Chicago	44,423	43,581	(842)	-2%
No	Southern Ohio	26,504	25,617	(887)	-3%
Yes	Easton	10,308	9,397	(911)	-9%
Yes	Washington	42,208	41,175	(1,033)	-2%
No	Northern Indiana	8,252	7,165	(1,087)	-13%
Yes	Hawaii	11,694	10,572	(1,122)	-10%
Yes	Iowa	12,676	11,551	(1,125)	-9%
Yes	Southwestern Virginia	13,700	12,558	(1,142)	-8%
Yes	Spokane	9,825	8,667	(1,158)	-12%
Yes	Olympia	34,813	33,645	(1,168)	-3%
Yes	Oregon	22,091	20,887	(1,204)	-5%
No	Northwestern Pennsylvania	6,964	5,745	(1,219)	-18%
Yes	South Dakota	12,913	11,691	(1,222)	-9%
Yes	Eastern Michigan	11,261	9,998	(1,263)	-11%
No	Southwest Florida	39,424	37,998	(1,426)	-4%
No	Southern Virginia	34,974	33,507	(1,467)	-4%
Yes	Western Michigan	14,391	12,876	(1,515)	-11%
No	Central Florida	39,620	38,045	(1,575)	-4%
Yes	Central Pennsylvania	18,454	16,870	(1,584)	-9%
No	Nebraska	11,646	10,003	(1,643)	-14%
Yes	Bethlehem	17,603	15,857	(1,746)	-10%
Yes	Oklahoma	19,707	17,685	(2,022)	-10%
No	West Virginia	12,455	10,326	(2,129)	-17%
Yes	Maine	17,329	14,931	(2,398)	-14%
Yes	Central New York	25,395	22,897	(2,498)	-10%
Yes	Arizona	29,291	26,669	(2,622)	-9%
Yes	Alaska	7,002	4,293	(2,709)	-39%
Yes	Rochester	16,531	13,762	(2,769)	-17%
No	Fond Du Lac	9,285	6,485	(2,800)	-30%
No	West Texas	30,653	27,837	(2,816)	-9%
Yes	Colorado	36,485	33,216	(3,269)	-9%
Yes	Ohio	36,730	33,441	(3,289)	-9%
Yes	Rhode Island	29,978	26,659	(3,319)	-11%
Yes	Minnesota	31,619	28,285	(3,334)	-11%
No	West Tennessee	13,120	9,426	(3,694)	-28%
Yes	Western New York	21,176	17,198	(3,978)	-19%
No	Albany	24,424	20,237	(4,187)	-17%
Yes	Newark	39,927	35,173	(4,754)	-12%
Yes	Michigan	36,348	29,350	(6,998)	-19%
Yes	Long Island	67,018	59,281	(7,737)	-12%
Yes	Pennsylvania	64,305	56,169	(8,136)	-13%
Yes	Los Angeles	78,745	70,171	(8,574)	-11%
Yes	Connecticut	78,159	66,248	(11,911)	-15%
Yes	Massachusetts	91,919	73,521	(18,398)	-20%
	Totals for these 97 dioceses	2,326,266	2,223,143