The Bible Belt = South, not totally accurate (fit in, to live)

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

The Bible Belt has always been defined as that part of the country whose dominant religion is fundamentalist Christianity, usually Southern Baptist and off-shoots. No, majority Catholic areas do not qualify. Catholics do not take the Bible literally.

You are correct. I remember being taught at an early age that though the bible claims Moses lived to be something like 900 years old, the priest explained that what that means is that he lived a long life, not that he actually lived to be 900. There are many other examples of this I learned as a young catholic. Catholics are very, very diff from fundamentalist christians. Another important point is that catholics don't wear their religion on their sleeve or push it on people(usually).

[danielj72]

Originally Posted by ram2

Southwest Michigan is a "Bible Belt".

Yes it is, really all of Michgian is quite religious. That is a good thing in my opinion.

[Double-G]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Do you think I'm somewhat accurate?

No, I think you're full of ****.

HTH.

[tvdxer]

I think the "Bible Belt" describes a certain kind of religiosity, not religiosity in general.

For example, the Bible Belt is generally associated with a vehement rejection of the theory of evolution, Christian fundamentalism, and "evangelical" churches.

I don't think any of this is true in Minnesota, where Lutherans and Catholics dominate the religious scene. They may attend church weekly, but they're religious in a different way than perhaps Southerners are. They're still religious, though.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Interesting...so blacks as a whole are more pro-choice than whites? They're also much more likely to visit Planned Parenthood on average.

According to this poll: Support For Abortion Slips | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press , blacks are slightly less likely than whites to think that abortion should be legal. The difference is probably not outside the margin of error, however.

Blacks have a higher abortion rate (is that what you mean by "visit Planned
Parenthood") than whites, but I think that the difference is due more to poverty and unstable family situations than anything else.

[justme02]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

According to this poll: Support For Abortion Slips | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press , blacks are slightly less likely than whites to think that abortion should be legal. The difference is probably not outside the margin of error, however.

Blacks have a higher abortion rate (is that what you mean by "visit Planned
Parenthood") than whites, but I think that the difference is due more to poverty and unstable family situations than anything else.

Blacks are also more likely to oppose gay rights vs. whites, Hispanics or Asians.

[Double-G]

Originally Posted by justme02

Blacks are also more likely to oppose gay rights vs. whites, Hispanics or Asians.

Shut up racist.

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

Yeah, but the borders of North and South are kind of fluid in a way.

I mean, technically speaking, Indiana is the Midwest, but the southern part of my state is the south in terms of the culture, same thing with Ohio and Illiniois and Missouri, but the northern parts are generally more urban and liberal, so Chicago, Gary, Cleveland, etc. . . represent the more Midwestern mindset, so while I agree there is some Bible Belt tendencies in these states, it's only part of those states.



It has more to do with the fact that The Democrats took up the social justice mantle of MLK, Rosa Parks, and people like that

Basically John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson made Black people permanent Democrats with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

It's not about charity as much as it's about Republicans purposely after the Civil Rights Movement going out of it's way to used the "Southern Strategy" which often vilifies Blacks in those Bible Belt towns to convince Southern Whites to vote for them.



Yeah, but like you said, it's not really set in stone, whereas in the Bible Belt, there is NO abortion that is tolerable, not in cases of rape, incest, or chance of death for the mother.

Just think about it, when have you ever seen Black people outside of an abortion clinic harassing people, or heard of a Black person bombing an abortion clinic?

It just doesn't happen that much.



Yeah, you're right, the central part of Indiana is dominated by the college towns like West Lafayette, Terre Haute, Bloomington, and Indianapolis, so I kind of agree with you here.



It's the college culture of Iowa.

It's Big 10 country, whereas Kansas is Big 12 country, which are two TOTALLY different mentalities.

Iowa is still close enough to the industrial, Midwestern blue-collar point of view, whereas Kansas is much closer to the culture of Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska, which are rural, agrarian, and country in mentality.

I'd have to disagree about Texas and Oklahoma. Most of Kansas relates to Nebraska more than anything else...Kansas is definitely the Midwest. Oklahoma and Texas are the south.

[polo89]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

What you gotta understand is that about 80% of Americans identify as Christians, so that means that it's everywhere, but when people talk about the "Bible Belt", they're talking about an aggressive, "fire & brimstone" type of Christianity that's very fundamentalist.

It's not just about being Christian or even very devout. It's about these towns in the South that literally like Barack Obama said, "cling to guns and religion".

I don't think there's too many places outside of The South, even in small towns, which tend to be more religious that are that way.

As midwesterners, even if we're religious, we're more like church on Sunday, handle your business the rest of the week, as opposed to blowing up abortion clinics and accusing Obama of being a Muslim. We're more Ned Flanders than Jerry Falwell

That's why I definitely think that there is a "Bible Belt", which has it's own unique fundamentalist Christian, mostly White, Evangelical base in the south that exists outside of the rest of the country.

I like that analogy.

[polo89]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Aren't the blacks in the Deep South just as Fundamentalist? The only difference is they tend not to vote Republican although many still do.

So even in rural Kansas, you won't find the same type of fundamentalism? Is it more the aggressiveness you're talking about? What about the Westboro folk from Topeka, Kansas?

Those are extremist. I'm sure they don't represent anyone's opinion in the city of Topeka, the state of Kansas or the Midwest in general.