Religious Diversity Across the North American Urban System

Abstract

This study addresses the spatiality of religious diversity in both the United States and Canada. First, it summarizes the pertinent theoretical issues regarding the conceptualization of religious diversity, particularly its connections to religiosity, a topic that has been extensively debated in sociology. Second, it summarizes the major dimensions of religious diversity in North America, the causes and implications, situating Canada, which is relatively moderate in terms of its religiosity, between the conceptual poles of a relatively secular Europe and a relatively more religious United States. Third, it lays out the data and methods, which involve three different quantitative measures of diversity at the county or census division level in both countries. Fourth, it presents the results, using both cartographic displays as well as a statistical analysis of religious diversity across the urban hierarchy. It affirms that religious diversity increases steadily with city size. The conclusions point to the implications of this line of thought for future work in human and urban geography.