For those who missed it, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews covered Weiner’s illicit online activities recently, creating his own controversy in the process. The June 9^th, 2011 transcript excerpt reads:

I want you to pick this up, Ben. This is, to me, the stakes here. If he stays, they never get the leadership back. They never get the Speakership back because the people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian conservative culturally – you can say backward if you want – but they don’t like this kind of stuff at all. They’re not part of that 56 percent in Brooklyn and Queens who say, “okay, we can live with this guy.” Your thoughts, Ben? Isn’t that the cutting edge of this? [Emphasis added]

According to Matthews, Christians are backward and rural. But is this stereotype true?

In the Barna Group’s most recent report on Faith in America (based on 2010 research), the lowest cities noted included:

The lowest share of self-identified Christians inhabited the following markets: San Francisco (68%), Portland, Oregon (71%), Portland, Maine (72%), Seattle (73%), Sacramento (73%), New York (73%), San Diego (75%), Los Angeles (75%), Boston (76%), Phoenix (78%), Miami (78%), Las Vegas (78%), and Denver (78%). Even in these cities, however, roughly three out of every four residents align with Christianity.[1]

So even in New York City, which Matthews contrasts against “rural Christians,” 73 percent claim to be Christians. I doubt these New York Christians would appreciate being labeled backward or rural.

As Barna president David Kinnaman noted regarding the research:

“However, one of the underlying stories is the remarkably resilient and mainstream nature of Christianity in America.  Nearly three out of four people call themselves Christians, even among the least ‘Christianized’ cities.  Furthermore, a majority of U.S. residents, regardless of location, engage in a church at some level in a typical six-month period. The real differences spiritually between various regions are not so much what they call themselves; the faith gaps are more likely to be issues of belief, practice, politics and spiritual emphasis – how people think about, prioritize and express their faith.”[2]

Finally, it is worth pointing out the dubious connection between Christians and educational attainment. As early as 1980, educational scholars have noted that statistically there has been no major differentiation between Christians and other religious groups in America in terms of educational attainment, such as completion of college degrees. The facts simply do not support the claim.[3]

Matthews and others like him may label Christians as backward or rural, but that does not make the claim true. Christians are found in all parts of our nation in high levels, representing a wide variety of diversity regarding social class, educational attainment, and geography. Rather than attacking those who would call for the resignation of a national leader due to his racy online exchanges, it would be more helpful to discuss the real issue at hand and refrain from belittling the beliefs held by millions of Americans.