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Talk-show personality Glenn Beck isn’t known as one of Colorado’s biggest cheerleaders.
Granted, he did say, back in 2010, that he might move to the state if Tom Tancredo was elected governor – but that didn’t come to pass.
Now, however, he’s named Denver was of the top fifteen “cities to avoid like the plague.”
Why? Allow us to explain.
During a broadcast last week, excerpted in a video on view below, Beck, joined by sidekicks Stu Burguiere and Pat Gray, announced: “I want to give you the top ten or fifteen cities that I think are going to melt down. These are the cities that you do not want to live anywhere around as things get worse and worse.”
Here’s the list, starting at number fifteen (and including one that he accidentally skipped during the show):
15. St. Louis, Missouri
14. Washington, D.C.
13. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
12. Las Vegas, Nevada
11. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10. Los Angeles, California
9. Boston, Massachusetts
8. Detroit, Michigan
7. Columbus, Ohio
6. St. Petersburg, Florida
5. Phoenix, Arizona
4. Denver, Colorado
3. Seattle, Washington
2. San Francisco, California
1. Portland, Oregon
Upon reaching the end of this roster, Beck then asked his compatriots, “What do all these cities have in common?”
One suggestion: They’re all liberal.
“These are the most progressive cities in America,” Beck agreed. However, he added, “that’s not what I based it on.”
So…what criteria did he use?
Answer: religion.
A companion piece on Beck’s website, TheBlaze.com, lists the thirty least religious cities in the country as judged by the number of residents who list themselves as unaffiliated when it comes to faith, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.
St. Louis, at number fifteen, scored 22 percent by this standard, while Portland topped out at 42 percent.
And Denver? 32 percent.
In Beck’s view, the least-religious-cities designation corresponds to other problems in these communities. In his words, “if you look at that list, these are the cities that already having trouble. We haven’t even hit the road bump.”
Here’s the video spotlighting the plague-city countdown.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.
