Bible Belt Pressure ? (Memphis, Johnson City, Cookeville: fit in, 2015, house)

[Balkins]

Hi all,

I had a friend of mine from Florida move to Spring-hill outside of Nashville about 8 yrs ago. ANYWAY, he's Hebrew (or Jewish) and moved there for work. He's got Dark hair and Dark eyes, but looks Anglo-saxon and not what appears to be any ethnic race (like arab, etc).

Anyway, He claims he tried to fit in with the Christians there, but they would constantly try to "recruit him" to accept Jesus, repent of your sins, etc., and join our church. My buddy is not terribly religious with his own faith, but he didn't feel comfortable with the fact that nearly everyone he met, always was pushing religion. Apparently, everyone was big into Jesus, and prayed about every little thing from buying a Car to taking a job, to deciding whether to buy or sell a house.

I listened to this story and found it hard to believe but i have no other sources to verify this except his word. After 8 yrs, he finally got fed-up and sold his house and moved back to Florida. SO the conclusion was, as a Jew, he didn't fit into the Christian sec., and was basically ostracized because he was a non-christian, unbeliever. I found it hard to believe but what do i know....i'm a Floridian.

• Is it true that non-Christians are not welcomed in the state of Tennessee?
• What do non-Christians in Tennessee do so socialize?
• Do bible belt Christians pray about everything they do, before they do it?

HE ALSO said that every church is crowded on Wednesdays and Sunday and that he and his wife (a gentile) were basically left out because they didn't accept Jesus.

• Could any of this be true....are non-Christians frowned upon in Tennessee?
• (and other bible belt cities).
• How long has this been going on?

PS. No- offense to anyone as i am a God Fearing Christian too, but i'm not heavily into preaching to people. Just trying to understand the culture of the Bible Belt.

Thanks for your comments!
.

[funtraveler1]

And OP, of course non Christians are welcomed here!! I mean nashville has the highest number of kurds in the country! And about the small towns, people aren't moving there, they're moving to the metropolitan area (chat, knox, nash, mem, tri cities, etc.) And those areas are diverse and acceptable.

Don't know what kind of question the second is. You really believe we go to church 24/7? come on dude. There's tons of stuff to do here.

Not really, you got Christians that pray before they're eat (they suppose to do that) but that's really it.

No non-christians aren't frowned upon in Tennessee. Unless you go to those backwards small towns in TN, you'll be good. But you wont have any reason to go there anyway lol.

Other bible belt states/cities (miss, alabama, texas, lousisiana, arkansas, oklahoma,nc/sc, florida, virginia, georgia, etc...all the southern states), they're the same way kind of. just use common sense and know your surroundings.

I dont know, I (and my friends) haven't experienced nothing like this before

[funtraveler1]

And OP, im not trying to derail the thread, but people say the bible belt (the south) sucks but its the fastest growing region in the country. Wonder why that is.

[N.Cal]

Depends where you live.


There is a very large employer in Nashville who allows bible study meetings onsite during work hours. It made my non-religious friend very uncomfortable trying to use the lunch room at the same time.

[jabogitlu]

That ^ seems so weird. I've never really been around anything like that. And, I grew up in Greene county (one of those 'backwards small towns' referenced above) and lived in Johnson City for 6 years and Memphis for 2.5 years. I think one time, some crazy lady at Home Depot asked me if I knew Jesus. I still am not sure if she was out of her mind, or inviting me to church.

I really never encountered much religiosity living in Tennessee, with the exception of state legislators. Also, a lot of Tennesseans' viewpoints about gay people are messed up, but I think that has less to do with religion, and more to do with culture.

[Balkins]

Originally Posted by funtraveler1

And OP, of course non Christians are welcomed here!! I mean nashville has the highest number of kurds in the country! And about the small towns, people aren't moving there, they're moving to the metropolitan area (chat, knox, nash, mem, tri cities, etc.) And those areas are diverse and acceptable.

Don't know what kind of question the second is. You really believe we go to church 24/7? come on dude. There's tons of stuff to do here.

Not really, you got Christians that pray before they're eat (they suppose to do that) but that's really it.

No non-christians aren't frowned upon in Tennessee. Unless you go to those backwards small towns in TN, you'll be good. But you wont have any reason to go there anyway lol.

Other bible belt states/cities (miss, alabama, texas, lousisiana, arkansas, oklahoma,nc/sc, florida, virginia, georgia, etc...all the southern states), they're the same way kind of. just use common sense and know your surroundings.

I dont know, I (and my friends) haven't experienced nothing like this before

Ehh....you seem a little defensive. I never mentioned 24/7 BUT, read it the way you want.


Unless things have drastically changed since i last went to church, Kurds (are basically Muslim) are not accepted by "Christendom" and neither is their God "Allah!" I seem to remember a recent war against the Kurds by Christians. LINK.

If tennessee is in the Bible belt, i seriously doubt they are happy with Kurds being in Nashville. BUT, I wouldn't call a population of about 2k people HUGH. Where i live, 2k ppl can be seen at any local beach on Sunday. However, I can guarantee you this, there are WAY MORE Muslims in Florida than there are in Tennessee.

Strange you should mention the Kurds,...Christians don't like them, and now they number 2000 in Nashville?

For your perusal. LINK 2

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[JRR]

I guess my wife and I will find out when we move to Cookeville in the spring. She is a Latter Day Saint and I am basically an agnostic. I could be wrong, but I don't think that we will have any problems in that area. Never have had any before and that includes living in a South Carolina mill town in the late 70s. In all our trips to Cookeville church was mentioned only once. And when my wife said that she was a Latter Day Saint the response was "Oh, I have some friends who go there. I understand that they are looking to maybe build a new larger building". And that was the extent of that.

[the_commuter]

You're benefiting quite a bit from 'Southern hospitality' on this board. Whereas you are currently getting some 'bless your heart' type comments, I'm going to be a bit more blunt: Either you or your friend is lying.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by the_commuter

You're benefiting quite a bit from 'Southern hospitality' on this board. Whereas you are currently getting some 'bless your heart' type comments, I'm going to be a bit more blunt: Either you or your friend is lying.

This.

Thread closed.