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i see a ton of orthodox jewish ppl and my aunt lives near an orthodox jewish school. its nothing to see women in veils that cover their head all the way down to their toes.
i've seen a woman in a veil that covers even her eyes with glasses on outside of the veil.
i seriously don't think that the south has a monopoly on religious beliefs being a part of everyday social life.
i live in an area with tons of muslims. ppl in veils and all that behind cash registers at the ctown here, lol.
its really funny how a lot of us here went to catholic school, go to mass, etc. every sunday, etc. etc. but the north is considered this land of atheists...
especially when everyone i've ever met in the south (afaik) went to public school where the teachers aren't allowed to talk about religion.
the idea that we aren't just as religious as the south is definitely an exaggeration. we aren't trying to shove our beliefs down ppl's throats and we probably don't have as many religious extremists (like the westboro baptist church) but in no way are we "less religious."
Teachers aren't allowed to talk about religion in public schools because it's against the law. That really has nothing to do with the students' or the teachers' personal beliefs. Even in public schools you have a lot of church kids and Christian teachers. Catholic schools are elective private schools, so it's the parent's choice to have their child attend a school where religion is discussed.
When people call the South more religious, they're referring to the Protestant/evangelical element. It's part of that double standard. Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. get a pass, but if you're a Protestant Christian, you're just another backwards Jesus freak. At the end of the day, it all boils down to politics, not beliefs.
To the OP, I haven't noticed that transplants have changed the religiosity of the South, but there has been progression towards the "open-mindedness" of southerners.
As far as looking for that atmosphere, it will be harder to come across in the larger cities, but still not at all uncommon to meet fellow believers. Your best bet would be to simply join a church you are comfortable with, so you'll be able to easily make friends with those who share your beliefs and practices.
That's embarrassing. What ethnicity are you? Unless you say full-blood Native American, then you are a transplant.
Embarrassing? To who...you? Does that burn your biscuits because you disagree with me?
I understand what you're getting at. I meant "transplant" in the contemporary sense of the word. And quite honestly, my Native American ancestors were from Mississippi...so they're transplants too as they were forced off of their original homeland.
Part Native American. 4th generation Okie. A transplant by your definition not mine. Agree to disagree.
Last edited by Bass&Catfish2008; 04-01-2011 at 01:17 PM..
I keep reading in the various forums here on C-D that church life is extremely important in the South, that one's social life often revolves around church activities, and that people place great importance on going to church. To each their own, but to me, this is also vitally important and one of the things that I so love about the Southern culture and really feel is lacking in many parts of the North, or at least to the same degree as it is found in the South.
My dh, who is the son of Southern parents who moved North for a job in the mid-1950s, wants very much to move South in a couple of years for a variety of reasons. I think that would be wonderful, since to me, living in a place known as "The Bible Belt" sounds absolutely wonderful. Still, I'm wondering if the recent influx of Northerners who don't necessarily value religion in their lives are causing a shift in the way of thinking across the South, and if it is becoming less religious as a whole because of it. I would like to think that Northerners who move to the South don't try to mold it to fit their image, sort of a "Boston with palm trees", more or less, but I know that that probably isn't always the case.
So, I guess my question boils down to, if my dh wants us to move to a Southern city such as the outerlying areas of Atlanta metro or Charleston, will we still be able to find that Bible Belt culture, or is it being bleached out of the fabric of areas of the South that are seeing the greatest wave of Northern immigration? I know that it is still that way in the smaller towns, but I have also heard that those places aren't generally very open to Northern transplants (and understandably so), and I would hate to live somewhere where I wasn't accepted because my parents chose to raise me in Ohio.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
(Oh, and please overlook my typo. I realize it isn't "thransplants", but I was typing quickly on my way out the door.)
I'm actually from Ohio, and I have mixed feelings about your post. I am not in Georgia, but I am living in Virginia. I am part of a church that would really like to do that, where that is all that we do and we do not have a life outside of church. For various issues I will not go into that is not the case though. I do not think it is about Northerners being hellions or agnostic or anything like that. If anything Northerners have a different approach to life and religion is not their life like it would be for a Jew in Jerusalem, for example. Northerners love God, but they also have other things.
Having said that one thing I do like about the area is that you can find a church on every corner and people seem to be more open about their Christianity around here. When I was in Newport News they had service in the middle of the street and people were catching the Holy Ghost and laying on pavement. It was an awesome sight to behold. I never witnessed that in Ohio. People are polite and will say "God Bless You" or whatever, it is just part of life. You don't see that up North as much. Religion and spirituality can be more random, people witnessing and giving their testimony and everything, not just in church and not just on Sunday. I like that aspect of it, makes you feel that people are more God fearing around here. At the same time, you should not feel as though Northerners are really changing anything in the South. The only real differences you might see are perhaps in areas like Northern Virginia, or Miami, that is where the South has changed. But the rest of the South is pretty much as it has always been. Yes Atlanta has churches, but it is also a pretty progressive city (or at least has the image of being one); if you think it is perfect you are probably in for a rude awakening as no city is. Yes there are a lot of Northerners in Atlanta, but it had its own vibe even before the Northerners started streaming in. Atlanta was a decent sized city even before the transplants; has been over 400,000 people in the city for at least 50 years. So I doubt that Northern transplants have had that much of an effect, if any, on the town. Your post precludes that Atlanta was like this backwater or stagnant before the Northerners came in, which is not the case at all.
A lot of Northerners hate the South and they move back home. But others like myself take advantage of the opportunities here and make the best of it. People are nicer here, they do not have their hangups about how urban your town is, how many people does it have or how tall your buildings are. People in the suburbs do not have the same animosity towards the inner city that they do back up North, for the most part. Usually the city and the county is one and the same, as far as metropolitan areas go, but in some cases as far as the city core goes. The South is a wonderful place, but no, it isn't Boston, it isn't New York, it isn't Cleveland, it isn't Detroit, Chicago, Philly, so many incredible dense, urban, misanthropic cities we have grown to love the South does not have that vibe and it probably never will. I wouldn't want it to be any of the cities up North either.
Actually, you can find Christian schools, colleges and even cities with a strong Christian basis. I'm surprised that the OP being from MI hasn't considered Grand Rapids, which is known for having a strong Christian vibe, as does much of Western MI. Here in Upstate NY, you can find the Baptist/Evangelical churches, as well as your Mega churches. There are Christian colleges like Houghton College and Davis College near Binghamton. Here are some other examples in my area I can think of: Home
According to the following Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee had low growth in the percent claiming "No religion" from 1990 to 2008. Arkansas also saw no growth in the percent saying "Don't know/Refuse to answer." Mississippi's growth in "Don't Know/Refuse to Answer" looks to be on the low side.
If you want specifically Baptist look at the red counties that have dots on them in this map. Those counties are over 50% Baptist. Although in much of Arkansas, in my experience, the Pentecostals have a good deal of significance and can be more intense than Baptists. Even us Southern Catholics are relatively intense or at least more intense than many Midwestern Catholics. At least in my experience. I think it's being a historically disadvantaged minority, Flannery O'Connor dealt with some of the Southern Catholic experience. Also Walker Percy I hear did as well, although he was a convert.
However there are some things about my family's specific experiences I should add as it occurs to me it might be misleading if I don't. The Baptists "down home" had one Anabaptist influence I knew of, that being a tendency to do something almost like "Rumspringa" before they "got saved." Essentially from about 16 to the time they get saved many young men, and it was largely the men, would kind of "go wild." Religion was very emotional for them so it wasn't uncommon to see a cycle of falling, reviving, falling, reviving again. So you'll see young men who cat around, drink, smoke, gamble, and maybe even act profanely. In some cases they stay that way or they only briefly leave that life. (Larry Flynt, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc) You might also see women who do the same. However it's probably more common that they'll decide they need to "straighten out" and do get religious. So in an odd way my Southern relatives I think were surprisingly, to me, tolerant of the period when my Dad was atheist. I think from their perspective a man doesn't "really mean it" until he's like 30. Before then he's just running-around. Also, as with many places, appearance can matter more than the reality. Going to church, making the appearance, can matter more than how you live or what you personally believe. Another factor is my family lived in rural Arkansas so it's not really analogous to a place like even Fort Smith or Little Rock let alone Nashville or Jackson. (As I mentioned Mississippi and Tennessee)
Last edited by Thomas R.; 06-22-2011 at 01:50 AM..
Just like I doubt you would make it in Flushing Queens or East LA.
I'd make it just fine, I've been to NYC. I'm not religious at all, only go to church for funerals. I'm just saying it like it is, even atheists here don't have much tolerance for people in public with their face covered up.
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