Source: The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/10/18/a1.nones.1018.html
On October 18, 2003 The Register-Guard reported that Oregon was "one of only four states where 'no religion' was the most common answer in a religious identification survey commissioned by City University of New York in 2001. The other states were Washington, Idaho and Wyoming. Other recent studies draw similar conclusions, including a 2002 survey commissioned by the Glenmary Research Center in Tennessee that identifies several cities in Southern Oregon and Northern California - including Corvallis, Eugene, Medford and Redding - as those where Americans are least likely to have a religious affiliation. Yet most of the 29 million Americans who pick no religion say they believe in God and often pray or meditate - habits not that different from the folks who fill the pews each Sunday... It's a mistake to assume Oregonians aren't religious just because many of them avoid organized religion, says Mark Shibley, who teaches sociology of religion at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. 'Religion is about fundamental questions of meaning and purpose,' Shibley says. 'If dominant institutions aren't providing that for individuals, they'll seek and explore and find those things in other arenas.'"