Is Louisville mostly conservative/evangelical? (Lexington, St. Matthews: transplants, how much, neighborhoods)

[Rawlings]

I've heard that Louisville is actually a very Catholic city and tends to lean to the left. Is that true for Jefferson County and the wider metro area or is that just Old Louisville and the East End? Which areas are best for conservative evangelicals? I'd guess Anchorage, Springhurt, and St. Matthews--am I wrong?

[Louisvilleslugger]

Originally Posted by Rawlings

I've heard that Louisville is actually a very Catholic city and tends to lean to the left. Is that true for Jefferson County and the wider metro area or is that just Old Louisville and the East End? Which areas are best for conservative evangelicals? I'd guess Anchorage, Springhurt, and St. Matthews--am I wrong?

Louisville is actually very Catholic for a Southern city, though it is no where near as Catholic as New Orleans or Houston. St. Matthews is the first to mind when I think leftist. The Southend is definantly the most conservative area of the state.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Rawlings

I've heard that Louisville is actually a very Catholic city and tends to lean to the left. Is that true for Jefferson County and the wider metro area or is that just Old Louisville and the East End? Which areas are best for conservative evangelicals? I'd guess Anchorage, Springhurt, and St. Matthews--am I wrong?

Those areas you listed have people who are all highly educated, wealthy, and at best neutral. There is nothing "evangelical" about anchorage lol. They are conservative in that they are Republican but that is because they are rich and know who pays the bills! Many in the east suburbs attend Southeast Christian, which is not evangelical but is mighty borderline. It is one of those mega stadium churches.

The city of Louisville itself is quite liberal in many parts. From Wikipedia:

"Old Louisville is one of the most liberal neighborhoods in Louisville, as evidenced by the General Election results in 2004, where it voted for John Kerry by a 60% margin and against a proposal to amend the state constitution to define marriage as "between one man and one woman" by a 66% margin (the proposal passed 75% to 25% in Kentucky)."

The south suburbs, especially Bullitt County, have a few evangelicals, but nothing like the deep south. The south and sw side of the metro are more conservative Christians and Baptists. Louisville is still somewhat of a major city, has a decent immigrant population, and enough transplants that I can't think of anywhere that is chock full of evangelicals. There is even a decent Catholic prescence in the south side of the County, with several Catholic grade schools as well as two Catholic high schools.

Slugger is right, Louisville has less Catholics than New Orleans (a French Catholic city), but it still has more per capita than almost any other southern city.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Louisvilleslugger

Louisville is actually very Catholic for a Southern city, though it is no where near as Catholic as New Orleans or Houston. St. Matthews is the first to mind when I think leftist. The Southend is definantly the most conservative area of the state.

The south end of Louisville is no where NEAR as conservative as 90% of KY!

[Off Topic]

The Mayor (or what passes for a Mayor here) is Jewish and wins by a landslide every time he runs. No where else in Kentucky would that happen, imo. I even think Kerry carried Jefferson County or came very close in 2004. No question Louisville is more progessive than the rest of the state.

I can't think of any area that would qualify as conservative evangelical. And Stx is right about Anchorage - conservative, yes; evangelical, no.

[ic-epi]

What is the difference between 'conservative' and 'evangelical'? I thought evangelical was conservative?

I have to say, I am starting to get a little worried that the whole area (even Lexington) will be too conservative for us. We're not 'activists' in any sense, but we are very much 'live and let live'. We believe in evolution and are not religious, because in my experience so many religions teach things that to me are blatantly racist or otherwise discriminatory to some groups of people.

My kids were raised to think this way and they would not do well with hearing racial slurs at school, for instance (they would probably leap to defend whoever the target was). They have never been in that kind of environment. They believe in equality of all people, all races, colors, genders, sexual orientation etc. and they have been exposed to all these groups of people here.

Some of our beliefs (in terms of religion) border on agnostic, but still, I was hoping to find a liberal protestant church (definitely not Catholic or anything with "Baptist" in the name) in the Lexington area. Am I dreaming?

PS And we are definitely a democratic family, in terms of politics (no surprise there) although we are not activists politically either. Again, just live and let live, and be able to enjoy and learn from people's different backgrounds and cultures.

[cynthia007]

Originally Posted by ic-epi

What is the difference between 'conservative' and 'evangelical'? I thought evangelical was conservative?

I have to say, I am starting to get a little worried that the whole area (even Lexington) will be too conservative for us. We're not 'activists' in any sense, but we are very much 'live and let live'. We believe in evolution and are not religious, because in my experience so many religions teach things that to me are blatantly racist or otherwise discriminatory to some groups of people.

My kids were raised to think this way and they would not do well with hearing racial slurs at school, for instance (they would probably leap to defend whoever the target was). They have never been in that kind of environment. They believe in equality of all people, all races, colors, genders, sexual orientation etc. and they have been exposed to all these groups of people here.

Some of our beliefs (in terms of religion) border on agnostic, but still, I was hoping to find a liberal protestant church (definitely not Catholic or anything with "Baptist" in the name) in the Lexington area. Am I dreaming?

PS And we are definitely a democratic family, in terms of politics (no surprise there) although we are not activists politically either. Again, just live and let live, and be able to enjoy and learn from people's different backgrounds and cultures.

Hi Ic-Epi. I definitely understand where you are coming from. That is the way my husband and I have raised our children also. I too initially had concerns that anywhere in the "bible belt" might be too conservative for us. We currently live in an area that is very diverse, and only 30% of the population even attend church.

However, I have made peace with living in Kentucky, especially the more urban areas. There are others like us, I'm sure, and I also think it's important for my children to be able to understand/relate to those who are not like us. We don't want to change KY, only to embrace the culture, beauty and attitude, and let it become part of who we are.

One of the facinating things about the state is how much of contrast there is, and how completely obvious that contrast is. It's in the bible belt, and yet bourbon, tobacco, and gambling (horse racing) are huge. A state like that must be interesting to live in!

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by ic-epi

What is the difference between 'conservative' and 'evangelical'? I thought evangelical was conservative?

I have to say, I am starting to get a little worried that the whole area (even Lexington) will be too conservative for us. We're not 'activists' in any sense, but we are very much 'live and let live'. We believe in evolution and are not religious, because in my experience so many religions teach things that to me are blatantly racist or otherwise discriminatory to some groups of people.

My kids were raised to think this way and they would not do well with hearing racial slurs at school, for instance (they would probably leap to defend whoever the target was). They have never been in that kind of environment. They believe in equality of all people, all races, colors, genders, sexual orientation etc. and they have been exposed to all these groups of people here.

Some of our beliefs (in terms of religion) border on agnostic, but still, I was hoping to find a liberal protestant church (definitely not Catholic or anything with "Baptist" in the name) in the Lexington area. Am I dreaming?

PS And we are definitely a democratic family, in terms of politics (no surprise there) although we are not activists politically either. Again, just live and let live, and be able to enjoy and learn from people's different backgrounds and cultures.

I know of some liberal Protestant churches in Lexington. They are out there. Lexington is pretty conservative outside the University, though.

[Louisvilleslugger]

Originally Posted by stx12499

The south end of Louisville is no where NEAR as conservative as 90% of KY!

In relation to the rest of Louisville is what I was getting at. Louisville like every major urban area of over 500,000 is more Liberal/Democratic than their rural counter parts in the of their state's.

[tomocox]

As this discussion has tip-toed around the subject, I would invite anyone with an objection to evangelical faith to examine those denominations much closer. I don't want to, nor I believe this is the place for such a discussion, but I am deeply saddened when I see the condemnation some people have toward evangelicals as a generalization. Quite remarkably, the majority of evangelicals are very decent people who happen to also be very likeable.