The "Bible-Minded City" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Posted a story a few days ago about Lancaster County being on the "Top 10 List" of nerdiest cities in the country.  Well, today I'll hit you with another fact about Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

We are #1 in PA on the American Bible Society's "Bible-Minded" list.  Do the two go hand-in-hand?  I doubt it and the story in today's paper didn't try to associate the one with the other.  We're actually #62 in the country which shows you how religious the state of Pennsylvania must be.  But, it was proven that the survey that was conducted wasn't factual.  Why? you may ask.  I assume that if you have been reading my stories or know anything at all about Lancaster County, you know that a sect of the Amish make Lancaster County home as well as plenty of Old Order Mennonites and Anabaptist groups.  And, folks, these people AREN'T reading this story today because the very large majority of these groups don't own phones or have Internet service.  Sure, some of the younger generation of the sects may have a cell phone they keep hidden from their parents, but they more than likely relinquish it when they become a full-blown member of their sect.  Seems there were two questions asked by the Barna Group who administered the survey for the American Bible Society.  

1. Have you read your Bible outside of church in the last seven days?
2. Do you strongly believe in the accuracy of the Bible?

The survey is done online or over the phone and naturally does not reach the Amish sect or the 50,000 people who make up the Old Order and conservative Anabaptist's groups in our area.  Wow, think where we might rank if they really could contact those groups.  A professor from Elizabethtown College in nearby Elizabethtown, PA, Donald Kraybill, reported that a large group of conservative Amish and Mennonites has been misrepresented in the sample and since they strongly agree with the accuracy of the Bible and most certainly read their Bible on a regular basis, you can see how the results of the survey are false.  

This is an Amish farm during a Sunday church service.
Buggies come from all the nearby farms to celebrate their
religion on Sunday. It is an all-day celebration with the
service, meal and activities afterward.

Heavens, we have numerous Mennonite elementary and secondary schools in the county as well as the Lancaster Bible College which has six campuses in three counties and these were all established by Bible-minded people.  We also have the Lancaster Theological Seminary in center-city Lancaster.  So what city was picked as the best?  #1 was Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  Oh, I get it.  You have to add three areas together to beat out good old Lancaster County.  Not quite fair, is it?  #2 was Chattanooga, Tennessee and #3 was Tri-Cities, Tennessee.  There you go again with three cities needed to beat Lancaster.  And, what about the worst.  #100 was Providence, Rhode Island/New Bedford, Massachusetts.  Well, let me tell you, if there were a Bible Jeopardy show on TV, Lancaster County would win hands down.  No doubt about it.  Heavens, you can't be nerdy and not be reading the Bible all the time.  Right?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.