Religious Diversity and Homogeneity in the USA

An interesting article in the Washington Post describes the geography of religion in the United States. The following map comes from the article:

The blue counties are the least diverse. Thus Utah, with its Mormon majority and counties that are large in area, comes out a big blue spot in the west. The South and the prairie states also show up in cool colors -- blue and green, showing low diversity.

The greatest religious diversity is found in the west, the north-east, Alaska, Hawaii and Florida.

The following map shows the religious group with the largest population per country:

The Southern Baptist Convention shows up red, and red counties cover the south. Blue counties have Catholics as the most numerous, and much of the country shows up blue. The tan area corresponding to the Lutheran Evangelical Church, perhaps corresponds to the area that drew Scandinavian immigrants, and the grey counties in the Great Basin have Mormon pluralities.

The divides that show up in our politics have rather deep cultural roots.