For generations, sociologists have believed that cities are less hospitable to religion than are rural areas and that where many faiths compete for followers, the credibility of each is reduced. In this essay we attempt to explain why these received truths are, in fact, nostalgic myths. We try to demonstrate that religious participation is and ought to be higher in cities and that competition among religious bodies increases levels of religious mobilization. Our analysis is based on the 1906 U.S. Census of Religious Bodies, and the units of analysis are the 150 largest cities--all of those having an estimated population of 25,000 or more.
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