Why are there so many "highly religious" people in the South?

[Anonymous]

Why are there so many "highly religious" people in the South? Say as compared to New England? What's happening there that is so different?



This article talks about some changes to the religious scene in the US but doesn't address the reasons for the geographical differences.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-04-11/americans-are-becoming-less-religious

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

[Anonymous]

Wealth and level of religious observance are, generally speaking, inversely related. The southern states have a greater degree of poverty.

Even among Jews, known for their generally high level of success (due in large part to an emphasis on education), demonstrate this pattern. The richest congregations tend to be Reform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

yes, in general,because there are more southerners at those schools. but its not a monolith. and even in the south, there is a significant urban/rural divide on cultural issues.

[Anonymous]

Churches have A/C and old houses don't. People get hot in the summer and instead of spending all day at the mall, they go to church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

Absolutely.

I grew up in the South and was forced to pray in public school, in the 90s. By forced to pray, I mean the principal came on over the intercom, and said "bow your heads, let us pray, heavenly father...blah blah." I told my homeroom teacher this was illegal and she told me to shut up and stop being ridiculous. There was prayer at all school events such as athletic events and graduations. I remember our cheerleaders being very excited and crying when someone was saved.

Here the first question you are asked is "what do you do?" There it is "where do you go to church?" There's tremendous emphasis placed on church-going, especially in smaller towns.

[Anonymous]

https://www.quora.com/How-did-the-American-Deep-South-become-so-religious

https://southernspaces.org/2004/overview-religion-and-us-south

[Anonymous]

At Science and Religion Today, historian Randall Stephens attempts to explain the distinct and enduring religiosity of the American south:

In the early 19th century, the second great awakening of revivals and evangelical resurgence burned across the region. Baptist and Methodist churches won big rewards. They would claim the most adherents in the country and an unusually large share in the South. A century later, pentecostal and holiness churches also won scores of followers in Dixie. The movement’s chief denominations are still headquartered in the South.

But how did Southern evangelicalism, and all its offshoots, spread so far and wide? The American South never experienced the kind of massive immigration that the North did in the 1840s and later in the 1890s and the first years of the 20th century. (A glance at census records from the 19th century would reveal as much. While you’d find plenty of Tuckers, Smiths, Shaws, and Taylors in the South, you’d be hard pressed to locate De Lucas, Costas, Giordanos, Freiburgs, Kowalskis, Wi?niewskis, Wójciks and the like.) Andrew Jackson’s campaign of Indian removal cleared the way for white settlers and their black slaves. Owing to patterns of migration and settlement, the biracial South was profoundly homogeneous when compared with other sections. The slaveholding South was not fertile ground for political, social, or religious dissent. (Long ago, one historian thought the region had something like an intellectual blockade.) Though Judaism has long had a presence in the South, it never thrived as it did in the urban North. Catholicism, too, remained isolated to certain quarters. That homogeneity lent itself to the evangelical surge or the creation of the Bible Belt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Science and Religion Today, historian Randall Stephens attempts to explain the distinct and enduring religiosity of the American south:

In the early 19th century, the second great awakening of revivals and evangelical resurgence burned across the region. Baptist and Methodist churches won big rewards. They would claim the most adherents in the country and an unusually large share in the South. A century later, pentecostal and holiness churches also won scores of followers in Dixie. The movement’s chief denominations are still headquartered in the South.

But how did Southern evangelicalism, and all its offshoots, spread so far and wide? The American South never experienced the kind of massive immigration that the North did in the 1840s and later in the 1890s and the first years of the 20th century. (A glance at census records from the 19th century would reveal as much. While you’d find plenty of Tuckers, Smiths, Shaws, and Taylors in the South, you’d be hard pressed to locate De Lucas, Costas, Giordanos, Freiburgs, Kowalskis, Wi?niewskis, Wójciks and the like.) Andrew Jackson’s campaign of Indian removal cleared the way for white settlers and their black slaves. Owing to patterns of migration and settlement, the biracial South was profoundly homogeneous when compared with other sections. The slaveholding South was not fertile ground for political, social, or religious dissent. (Long ago, one historian thought the region had something like an intellectual blockade.) Though Judaism has long had a presence in the South, it never thrived as it did in the urban North. Catholicism, too, remained isolated to certain quarters. That homogeneity lent itself to the evangelical surge or the creation of the Bible Belt.

I wonder why the immigrants didn't work their way down into the South. No job opportunities maybe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

Absolutely.

I grew up in the South and was forced to pray in public school, in the 90s. By forced to pray, I mean the principal came on over the intercom, and said "bow your heads, let us pray, heavenly father...blah blah." I told my homeroom teacher this was illegal and she told me to shut up and stop being ridiculous. There was prayer at all school events such as athletic events and graduations. I remember our cheerleaders being very excited and crying when someone was saved.

Here the first question you are asked is "what do you do?" There it is "where do you go to church?" There's tremendous emphasis placed on church-going, especially in smaller towns.

What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

Absolutely.

I grew up in the South and was forced to pray in public school, in the 90s. By forced to pray, I mean the principal came on over the intercom, and said "bow your heads, let us pray, heavenly father...blah blah." I told my homeroom teacher this was illegal and she told me to shut up and stop being ridiculous. There was prayer at all school events such as athletic events and graduations. I remember our cheerleaders being very excited and crying when someone was saved.

Here the first question you are asked is "what do you do?" There it is "where do you go to church?" There's tremendous emphasis placed on church-going, especially in smaller towns.

What does this mean?

Cheerleaders were happy when they learned that a friend of theirs had asked Jesus to enter their heart and he did. This means that person will go to heaven when they die, so it is cause for great celebration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A culture that encourages being outspoken about faith, attending church, believing in God. (Generally.)

Versus a culture that encourages skepticism, intellectual curiosity over faith, and being more attached to the notion that science is incompatible with faith. (Generally.)

I say none of those things in a positive or pejorative way.

So cultural differences. Do you think that culture is prevalent in the schools in the South too?

Absolutely.

I grew up in the South and was forced to pray in public school, in the 90s. By forced to pray, I mean the principal came on over the intercom, and said "bow your heads, let us pray, heavenly father...blah blah." I told my homeroom teacher this was illegal and she told me to shut up and stop being ridiculous. There was prayer at all school events such as athletic events and graduations. I remember our cheerleaders being very excited and crying when someone was saved.

Here the first question you are asked is "what do you do?" There it is "where do you go to church?" There's tremendous emphasis placed on church-going, especially in smaller towns.

What does this mean?

Cheerleaders were happy when they learned that a friend of theirs had asked Jesus to enter their heart and he did. This means that person will go to heaven when they die, so it is cause for great celebration

Thank you for explaining. At first I thought it might be football related but I guess not.

Were most kids "saved"? Was there pressure if you were not already? Teenage years can be tough - think this made it harder - or easier - at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Science and Religion Today, historian Randall Stephens attempts to explain the distinct and enduring religiosity of the American south:

In the early 19th century, the second great awakening of revivals and evangelical resurgence burned across the region. Baptist and Methodist churches won big rewards. They would claim the most adherents in the country and an unusually large share in the South. A century later, pentecostal and holiness churches also won scores of followers in Dixie. The movement’s chief denominations are still headquartered in the South.

But how did Southern evangelicalism, and all its offshoots, spread so far and wide? The American South never experienced the kind of massive immigration that the North did in the 1840s and later in the 1890s and the first years of the 20th century. (A glance at census records from the 19th century would reveal as much. While you’d find plenty of Tuckers, Smiths, Shaws, and Taylors in the South, you’d be hard pressed to locate De Lucas, Costas, Giordanos, Freiburgs, Kowalskis, Wi?niewskis, Wójciks and the like.) Andrew Jackson’s campaign of Indian removal cleared the way for white settlers and their black slaves. Owing to patterns of migration and settlement, the biracial South was profoundly homogeneous when compared with other sections. The slaveholding South was not fertile ground for political, social, or religious dissent. (Long ago, one historian thought the region had something like an intellectual blockade.) Though Judaism has long had a presence in the South, it never thrived as it did in the urban North. Catholicism, too, remained isolated to certain quarters. That homogeneity lent itself to the evangelical surge or the creation of the Bible Belt.

It should be noted that in early colonial times, the Northern colonies were much more religious--and quite strict--than the southern ones. Over time that changed, as PP notes, in large part due to immigration.