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Did you know mostly Catholics up there? There are far more Protestants and Evangelicals in the South. The percentages are basically flipped. It may be that the Protestants and Evangelicals talk more about it than Catholics do.
This is probably part of it. But the town we moved here from was traditionally WASP (it was 95% Christian overall). You just don't hear people mention church up there. Not even "We are going to visit the grandparents after church on Sunday". It would just be "we're going to visit the grandparents on Sunday". Honestly, after we moved here I realized the lengths that people go to up there NOT to mention it. You would never hear someone say they are going to Bible Study, things like that. And no one would ever in a MILLION years ask what church you belong to. It's just more thread of overall life here than up north, even for people who are pretty religious up there.
This is probably part of it. But the town we moved here from was traditionally WASP (it was 95% Christian overall). You just don't hear people mention church up there. Not even "We are going to visit the grandparents after church on Sunday". It would just be "we're going to visit the grandparents on Sunday". Honestly, after we moved here I realized the lengths that people go to up there NOT to mention it. You would never hear someone say they are going to Bible Study, things like that. And no one would ever in a MILLION years ask what church you belong to. It's just more thread of overall life here than up north, even for people who are pretty religious up there.
There is even a noticeable cultural difference in this between the DC area and the Triangle. I worked at a place in Raleigh area wherein people prayed openly during luncheons and events. That will get you sued and in a public firestorm in DC.
js4, I am aware of the reasons why two allies voted against it, but gay rights activists have largely denounced it as an indictment on the political and cultural environment in Charlotte, including Charlotte gay rights activist publication QNotes. The fact remains that anti gay forces were victorious in Charlotte, whereas they have not been in almost every other major U.S. City today. The prominence and number of anti gay activists at Charlotte gay events has been noted by guests who went to the event and gay media alike. Most cities have a couple or few lonely protestors at such events. Charlotte has many.
I would say it is much more noticeable in the fact that the vocal religious right was able to defeat a gay rights ordinance largely using overtly religious arguments, despite there being a Democratic majority. This would be unheard of in most major cities today. Moreover, some have noted that there are more anti gay protestors at Charlotte Pride events than you will find today at any other similar event in the country. The stats above reflect that Durham and Chapel Hill have a significantly smaller evangelical population, and my experience corroborates it.
Are you aware that 90%+ of blacks vote democrat, yet the overwhelming majority of blacks are against gay marriage. In NC, blacks voted 2-1 IN FAVOR of a constitutional ban on gay marriage. You can easily look up the stats. It leads into a very informative and interesting lesson.
I think people need to stop using the term "religious right" and start using the term "religious".
Last edited by The Villages Guy; 08-30-2015 at 01:27 PM..
Reason: Added the stats
As another poster mentioned, people from other areas are more likely to believe that religion is a personal matter - best kept to oneself and family. These same people tend to get tired of religion being crammed down their throats at every opportunity.
That would be me, however I do not see one being dumb and one being smart, based on their religion or lack of it.
Are you aware that 90%+ of blacks vote democrat, yet the overwhelming majority of blacks are against gay marriage. In NC, blacks voted 2-1 IN FAVOR of a constitutional ban on gay marriage. You can easily look up the stats. It leads into a very informative and interesting lesson.
I think people need to stop using the term "religious right" and start using the term "religious".
According to the latest Pew poll from this summer, 51% of African Americans nationwide oppose same-sex marriage. "Overwhelming" opposition it is not.
That would be me, however I do not see one being dumb and one being smart, based on their religion or lack of it.
The reason religious beliefs are typically associated with lower IQs is because religion is often used as an explanation for things that directly contradict facts that have been conclusively proven via science.
Even when every bit of tangible evidence points to a certain assertion being true, religious folks often use "The Book says _______" (fill in blank with whatever) as their basic fall back argument for overriding any logic that is presented on a given subject. Therefore this belief in a magical book that is written based on stories passed down from days of old of people who claim to have "been there and seen the magic with their own eyes" tends to prevent them from seeing that which is easily provable. Thus the term "blind faith".
What's worse, they will use passages from whatever religious document they want to justify whatever they want. This behavior is not an indication of a healthy and well-functioning mind. So even if they have intellectual strengths in some areas, their intellectual credibility is immediately shattered by all the belief in hocus pocus.
I personally support anyone's right to believe in whatever god they want. I only have a problem with it when public policy begins to get affected by the beliefs of one religious group who believes their way is best, and laws get created or enforced based on what one religion says should be done versus the other. That's the kind of thing that incites wars -- nasty, violent wars. Wars that are often justifiable by religious zealots who believe they are fighting in the name of their god or whatever.
Here are how blacks in NC voted last time around, when they actually had the chance to effect change. 2-1 in favor of a constituional ban on gay marriage. It is what it is there. The point is that blacks are not the "religious right", yet they voted against gay marriage. It goes to show that religion trumps politics, no matter what some would have us believe.
I hear your point, and find it relevant, but I would assert that on gay marriage, public opinion in early 2012 is a whole different animal than public opinion today. The NC vote happened just before Obama publicly evolved on marriage equality. Polling has shown Americans in generally and blacks in particular have accelerated toward support of ssm since 2012.
You just don't hear people mention church up there. Not even "We are going to visit the grandparents after church on Sunday". It would just be "we're going to visit the grandparents on Sunday". Honestly, after we moved here I realized the lengths that people go to up there NOT to mention it. You would never hear someone say they are going to Bible Study, things like that. And no one would ever in a MILLION years ask what church you belong to. It's just more thread of overall life here than up north, even for people who are pretty religious up there.
Having lived in both the North (Boston) and the South (Triangle and Charleston), I would agree with this assessment. I've often said that religion is much more social in the South.
To answer the original question, I think that the Triangle is a sort of gap in the Bible Belt, but it definitely continues north of here, especially in small towns and rural areas.
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