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Just a quick question for you guys. First off, I spent roughly half my life in southern Alabama/ Baldwin County, and have spent a great deal of time down that way, as my family is still there. I have heard people on here and in person talk about the Escambia/ Santa Rosa area as being conservative and religious to the point where if you aren't one or both of those things, things might not be too good there. With that being said, I recently came across a map that shows only 53.2% in Escambia are church goers, while only 44.3% are in Santa Rosa county. So my question is simple, how is it really?
My wife and I are contemplating a move to the area, but we both lean liberal, and we are not religious people. We have no problems with those who are, but we don't want to end up in an area where it would be difficult to make friends/find work due to a lack of religion. I don't believe it would be this way there, but I have heard people saying things that make us a little nervous. So please, any input would be greatly appreciated, and thank you in advance.
I have lived in the greater Pensacola area my whole life (Cantonment, Milton, Pensacola, and now Molino), and honestly, overall I would have to say that the area is fairly religious (I mean, you have to think, 53% of households in regular church attendance; that's MASSIVE compared to most places of similar population and density) - but overall it hasn't had much of an impact on my life (with one or two small exceptions).
In the course of the average month I would say that I get approximately 1 door to door evangelist, pass 4 street corner screaming preachers, 2 or 3 random encounters ("here, read this little comic about the Democrat who triggered the apocalypse by voting in support of gay marriage" -- I really wish I could say that I was making that up), and maybe one person (every other month) who randomly approaches me in a public setting and spends the next few minutes trying to save me.
As far as difficulties finding friends or work due to religion goes, I'll be honest; that one can be a bit tricky. In a previous job I had for a Federal Construction Contractor, when I passed on invitations to attend church services with the family that owned and operated the company, the mood with which I was regarded changed almost overnight. I was never openly discriminated against, but I was hired into their small company to develop and maintain an IT Infrastructure. Prior to my religious apathy being discovered, I was granted reasonable operations budget, and allowed the proper authorities required to perform my job -- however once it came out that I was a good person for the sake of being a good person, rather than honoring a god or buying my way into heaven, all of that changed. I found it hard to get approval for something as minor as a $4 Ethernet patch cable. Soon after, they hired a guy they went to church with as the Corporate Safety Director, and put him on charge of my IT Department (which ego aside, proved counter productive because this guy had literally ZERO computer knowledge, and in order for me to get approval to do ANYTHING, I had to provide crash courses on a wide variety of relatively elementary subjects). In the long term, my job with them proved stable, but I always felt like I was held to a considerably higher standard than those who were willing to drink the koolaide. And it wasn't just me; there were four of us (myself, an Accountant, a Quality Control Adviser, and a superintendent) who weren't very religious, and we were all treated extremely critically and constantly made to feel as if we were disposable; where as our Safety Director, Contract Administrator, Project Manager, Office Manager, and Receptionist could all get away murder (near about). In hindsight, I didn't even have it as bad as one of our project managers who was Jewish and treated like he was the scum of the earth behind his back by all of the owning family except the man in charge (who was his childhood friend).
It's worth mentioning however that the above is a rather extreme example: I found out during the course of my employment that the owning family had previously been involved in a cult (where they literally GAVE their young daughter to Tony Alamo because he said that's what God wanted). So yeah... Probably NOT the best precedence to set a standard by, but just know that even if you're good at what you do, you really have no way of knowing what people's pasts and predispositions are until you're already invested in the job.
IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT YOUR EXPERIENCES MAY DIFFER: I'm young (I'll be 26 soon), so I'm automatically assumed to be a liberal. But I'm also clean cut, well groomed, respectful, and professional. I was born and raised in the area; I say "Mam" and "Sir" to my seniors, I open doors for women and the elderly, I have no tattoos, piercings, or jewelry -- so by perception alone I'm not as likely to get preached to as my friend with the ear gauges, or the other friend with the ponytail and arm tattoo.
On the whole, it's something you just sort of get used to when living in the south. You'll get really good at saying "Oh I attend [insert random church here], but I'd love to pop by the next time I'm in the area" to get out of being preached to, making sure to conclude with "God Bless!" -- I've found that on the whole this lowers my encounter times about 80%. I just sort of shrug it off. I mean, occasionally I'm confronted by something so extreme I can't help but speak up ("Science is a lie, the earth is only 4000 years old", "Fossils are all lies planted to make us believe in false gods like Darwin" (yes, that's a real and precise quote), "Obama IS Satan / Hitler / The AntiChrist", "Most people in the government don't even know that they're working for Satan"), but speaking up always proves to be more trouble than it's worth. You can't convince someone who's willing to ignore common sense and basic reasoning that they're spreading/encouraging ignorance. You can be the most well spoken and reasonable person on the face of the planet, but once someone has decided that the earth is only a few thousand years old, that gays are going to hell, that ALL Muslims are either out to directly kill us or support those who do, that Science is a lie (but they'll still go to the hospital when they're sick, lol)... They can no longer be reasoned with.
I avoid 95% of it through self-employment, nodding as if I'm actively paying attention and agreeing to whatever BS is being hurled my way, and keeping a relatively small social circle (and thankfully my generation is LARGELY nonreligious). On the whole I'd say the bible belt is beginning to break down. We may still have a Creation store/museum on W Street where they'll try to tell you that before Jesus we all parked Dinosaurs outside our tents, but whatever... Each new generation seems progressively more willing to think for itself and say "That just doesn't make any sense", while the older generations fade to memories of narrow-minded bigotry and discrimination in the name of god. Give it 70 years and I think you'll see a LOT of churchs for sale.
On the whole I'd say the bible belt is beginning to break down. We may still have a Creation store/museum on W Street where they'll try to tell you that before Jesus we all parked Dinosaurs outside our tents, but whatever... Each new generation seems progressively more willing to think for itself and say "That just doesn't make any sense", while the older generations fade to memories of narrow-minded bigotry and discrimination in the name of god. Give it 70 years and I think you'll see a LOT of churchs for sale.
I live up in Atmore, and even here I would have to agree. Ride by any church parking lot on a Sunday morning, and you'll notice the majority of the congregation is over 60. I'm 34 and most of the people I know my age don't go to church.
On the other hand, there are a lot of non religious folks in these parts who still act like rednecks (close minded and bigoted), they don't need the Bible to spew their hatred, it comes naturally.
I have lived in the greater Pensacola area my whole life (Cantonment, Milton, Pensacola, and now Molino), and honestly, overall I would have to say that the area is fairly religious (I mean, you have to think, 53% of households in regular church attendance; that's MASSIVE compared to most places of similar population and density) - but overall it hasn't had much of an impact on my life (with one or two small exceptions).
In the course of the average month I would say that I get approximately 1 door to door evangelist, pass 4 street corner screaming preachers, 2 or 3 random encounters ("here, read this little comic about the Democrat who triggered the apocalypse by voting in support of gay marriage" -- I really wish I could say that I was making that up), and maybe one person (every other month) who randomly approaches me in a public setting and spends the next few minutes trying to save me.
As far as difficulties finding friends or work due to religion goes, I'll be honest; that one can be a bit tricky. In a previous job I had for a Federal Construction Contractor, when I passed on invitations to attend church services with the family that owned and operated the company, the mood with which I was regarded changed almost overnight. I was never openly discriminated against, but I was hired into their small company to develop and maintain an IT Infrastructure. Prior to my religious apathy being discovered, I was granted reasonable operations budget, and allowed the proper authorities required to perform my job -- however once it came out that I was a good person for the sake of being a good person, rather than honoring a god or buying my way into heaven, all of that changed. I found it hard to get approval for something as minor as a $4 Ethernet patch cable. Soon after, they hired a guy they went to church with as the Corporate Safety Director, and put him on charge of my IT Department (which ego aside, proved counter productive because this guy had literally ZERO computer knowledge, and in order for me to get approval to do ANYTHING, I had to provide crash courses on a wide variety of relatively elementary subjects). In the long term, my job with them proved stable, but I always felt like I was held to a considerably higher standard than those who were willing to drink the koolaide. And it wasn't just me; there were four of us (myself, an Accountant, a Quality Control Adviser, and a superintendent) who weren't very religious, and we were all treated extremely critically and constantly made to feel as if we were disposable; where as our Safety Director, Contract Administrator, Project Manager, Office Manager, and Receptionist could all get away murder (near about). In hindsight, I didn't even have it as bad as one of our project managers who was Jewish and treated like he was the scum of the earth behind his back by all of the owning family except the man in charge (who was his childhood friend).
It's worth mentioning however that the above is a rather extreme example: I found out during the course of my employment that the owning family had previously been involved in a cult (where they literally GAVE their young daughter to Tony Alamo because he said that's what God wanted). So yeah... Probably NOT the best precedence to set a standard by, but just know that even if you're good at what you do, you really have no way of knowing what people's pasts and predispositions are until you're already invested in the job.
IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT YOUR EXPERIENCES MAY DIFFER: I'm young (I'll be 26 soon), so I'm automatically assumed to be a liberal. But I'm also clean cut, well groomed, respectful, and professional. I was born and raised in the area; I say "Mam" and "Sir" to my seniors, I open doors for women and the elderly, I have no tattoos, piercings, or jewelry -- so by perception alone I'm not as likely to get preached to as my friend with the ear gauges, or the other friend with the ponytail and arm tattoo.
On the whole, it's something you just sort of get used to when living in the south. You'll get really good at saying "Oh I attend [insert random church here], but I'd love to pop by the next time I'm in the area" to get out of being preached to, making sure to conclude with "God Bless!" -- I've found that on the whole this lowers my encounter times about 80%. I just sort of shrug it off. I mean, occasionally I'm confronted by something so extreme I can't help but speak up ("Science is a lie, the earth is only 4000 years old", "Fossils are all lies planted to make us believe in false gods like Darwin" (yes, that's a real and precise quote), "Obama IS Satan / Hitler / The AntiChrist", "Most people in the government don't even know that they're working for Satan"), but speaking up always proves to be more trouble than it's worth. You can't convince someone who's willing to ignore common sense and basic reasoning that they're spreading/encouraging ignorance. You can be the most well spoken and reasonable person on the face of the planet, but once someone has decided that the earth is only a few thousand years old, that gays are going to hell, that ALL Muslims are either out to directly kill us or support those who do, that Science is a lie (but they'll still go to the hospital when they're sick, lol)... They can no longer be reasoned with.
I avoid 95% of it through self-employment, nodding as if I'm actively paying attention and agreeing to whatever BS is being hurled my way, and keeping a relatively small social circle (and thankfully my generation is LARGELY nonreligious). On the whole I'd say the bible belt is beginning to break down. We may still have a Creation store/museum on W Street where they'll try to tell you that before Jesus we all parked Dinosaurs outside our tents, but whatever... Each new generation seems progressively more willing to think for itself and say "That just doesn't make any sense", while the older generations fade to memories of narrow-minded bigotry and discrimination in the name of god. Give it 70 years and I think you'll see a LOT of churchs for sale.
Well, it seems from the map I saw that 53% is fairly low in the south. It would be high in the northeast or the pacific coast, but fairly low for the deep south. My current area, Shelby County TN, actually sits at 63.4%, which seems rather high from what I have seen. So comparing the two, it would seem that the P-cola area would be less religious, but some people make it seem like a overly religious place. Your experience may be extreme, I just hope there aren't too many people around who do their hiring based on what church you attend, as that is not a very good way to success. I am also fairly young (27), and would like to think our generation is moving in the right direction, but who knows. In my job I regularly get approached by people asking me where I go to church or if I'm going to heaven, and other similar things. To be fair, I go to a lot of churches and religious based organizations for my job, so it isn't a representative sample for the Memphis area. Like you, I tend to just say ,"Oh yea I go to (insert church name)." or something similar.
I just look at the P-cola area as somewhere that we can be close to family, close to the beach, and live a slower paced life. Unfortunately, being of the non religious persuasion, we feel as if we need to look and research things like this because, let's be honest, I don't much want to live somewhere that the people around base the perception of me off of what church, or lack thereof, I attend. I realize not all religious people are like that, but it was on my mind, so figured it couldn't hurt to ask the nice people of City-Data.
southernnaturelover- I have some family in Atmore and surrounding areas, and they act pretty much as you described. They'll say things like, " I'm not racist but...." or " I don't hate the gays but...". They are very religious however, and there is no reasoning with them, and no intelligent conversations to be had about that sort of thing. I do agree with you guys though, the churches do seem to be majority older folks. This should bode well for someone like my family, since we are in that younger demographic.
...they don't need the Bible to spew their hatred, it comes naturally.
Yeah, but somehow direct hatred doesn't seem to bother me as much as when people try to justify their hatred, ignorance, or bigotry through divine means.
There's a whole lot of hatred being spewed here on this thread too, or haven't you noticed?
Tolerance goes both ways. Just sayin'...
The theory seems to be that Christians can't prove that the Bible is right, but who has ever proved that it is wrong? As the old saying goes, "wishing don't make it so".
There's a whole lot of hatred being spewed here on this thread too, or haven't you noticed?
Tolerance goes both ways. Just sayin'...
The theory seems to be that Christians can't prove that the Bible is right, but who has ever proved that it is wrong? As the old saying goes, "wishing don't make it so".
Again, just sayin'...
Where's the hatred? People talking about their experiences with religious discrimination they have faced is not hatred. I tend to agree with most in this thread...when one have to frame their argument by stating "I am not racist or I am don't mind the gays, but...", that makes them a bigot.
There's a whole lot of hatred being spewed here on this thread too, or haven't you noticed?
Tolerance goes both ways. Just sayin'...
The theory seems to be that Christians can't prove that the Bible is right, but who has ever proved that it is wrong? As the old saying goes, "wishing don't make it so".
Again, just sayin'...
Christians need to stop assuming everyone goes to church. When someone tells you they don't attend church just drop it. If they wanted to go to church they'd be going already.
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