Holier than thou?

Christian Century, August 23, 2005

The red states are understood to be more conservative and religious than the blue states. But consider this:

* Today the per capita rate of violent crime is 421 per 100,000 in the red states and 372 in the blue states.

* The five states with the highest rates of alcohol abuse, as of 2000, are red states.

* In the same year in three red states--Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico--46.3 percent of births were to unwed mothers compared to an average of 31.7 percent in the blue states.

* The per capita rate of gonorrhea in 2002 was 140 per 100,000 in the red states compared to 99 in the blue ones.

--From Bill Press, How the Republicans Stole Christmas (Doubleday, forthcoming)