The U.S. Religion Census says Buddhism is Oklahoma’s largest non- Christian faith statewide.
Tulsa is sometimes called the buckle of the Bible belt, with some 800 churches, but what’s the major non-Christian religion in this area?
Islam, it turns out, is second to Christianity in Tulsa County and three nearby counties, Creek, Payne and Muskogee counties in northeast Oklahoma. It’s No. 2 in four other counties in the state: Cleveland, Pontotoc, Carter and Comanche counties.
That’s according to the U.S. Religion Census, sponsored by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
The report put Buddhism as Oklahoma’s largest non-Christian faith statewide, though it was the dominant non-Christian faith in only one county, Oklahoma County.
Judaism was the major non-Christian faith in Kay County on the Kansas border.
Bahai held the second position in Garfield and Canadian counties, and Hinduism in Choctaw and McClain counties.
Nationwide, Christianity is the dominant faith in all of America’s 3,143 counties.
Viewed in broad strokes, Buddhism held the No. 2 position in the western states, Islam in the South and much of the Midwest, and Judaism in the New England states.
Islam was the dominant non-Christian faith in 392 U.S. counties, Judaism in 231 counties, Buddhism in 186 counties and Hinduism in 92 counties.