BIBLE BELT

The 'Bible Belt' is an informal term for an area of the United States of America in which socially conservative Christian Evangelical Protestantism is a dominant part of the culture. The term "Bible Belt" was reputedly coined by the American journalist and social commentator H.L. Mencken in the early 1920s. ^[1]
In particular, in the United States it is an idiom^[2] for the region where the Southern Baptist Convention denomination is strongest (though many other denominations, such as the Church of Christ and Assemblies of God can be found there as well), usually meaning the South and nearby areas.
Much of the Bible Belt consists of the Southern United States. Ironically, this region was originally colonized not for purposes of establishing a religious haven (as was the case in the Puritan colonies of New England), but for economic reasons - specifically, for the growing of cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, rice, and indigo. During the colonial period (1607-1776), the South was a stronghold of the Anglican church. Its transition into a conservative Protestant Bible Belt occurred gradually over the next century, as a series of religious revival movements, many associated with the Baptist denomination, gained great popularity in the region.
Thus, the region is usually contrasted with mainstream Protestants and liberal Catholics of the northeast, the religiously diverse Midwest, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, and the relatively secular western United States, where the percentage of non-religious people is the highest in the nation, reaching its maximum in the northwestern state of Washington at 27%, compared to the Bible Belt state of Alabama, where it is only 6%.^[3]
"Bible Belts" can also be found in other countries, however, including Canada; the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and certain other parts of Europe; and Oceania (particularly the Pacific Islands).

Contents

Geography

"Buckle" of the Bible Belt

Outside the United States

Geographical extent

Political and cultural context

References

Further reading

See also

Arts

Geography

Although exact boundaries do not exist, it is generally considered to cover much of the area stretching from Texas in the southwest, northwest to Kansas, north to most of Missouri, northeast to Virginia, and southeast to northern Florida.
The following states are usually considered to be, wholly or partly, included in the "Bible Belt":

★ Alabama

★ Arkansas

★ Florida

★ Georgia

★ Southern Illinois

★ Southern Indiana

★ Kansas

★ Kentucky

★ Louisiana

★ Mississippi

★ Missouri

★ North Carolina

★ Oklahoma

★ South Carolina

★ Tennessee

★ Texas

★ Virginia

★ West Virginia

"Buckle" of the Bible Belt

Several locations are occasionally referred to as the "Buckle of the Bible Belt":

★ Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas home to three major evangelical seminaries, Dallas Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Criswell College; Southern Methodist University; the conservative Catholic University of Dallas; and several of America's largest megachurches including the Potter's House pastored by T.D Jakes.

★ Greenville, South Carolina, home of Bob Jones University

★ Nashville, Tennessee, home to the headquarters of many denominations, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Free Will Baptists and the United Methodist Church's Publishing House, is most frequently termed the "Buckle of the Bible Belt" (in addition, it is referred to as the "Protestant Vatican").

★ Memphis, Tennessee, home of Church of God in Christ.

★ Dayton, Tennessee, site of the Scopes Monkey Trial and home of Bryan College

★ Charlotte, North Carolina, home of Billy Graham

★ Cleveland, Tennessee, home of Lee University and the Church of God International Offices

★ Springfield, Missouri, home of the Assemblies of God and the Baptist Bible Fellowship.

★ Lynchburg, Virginia, home of Jerry Falwell's ministry and Liberty University

★ Virginia Beach, Virginia, home of Regent University and the 700 Club with Pat Robertson

★ Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of Oral Roberts University and the ministries of Kenneth Hagin and Billy James Hargis

★ Abilene, Texas, home of Abilene Christian University (Church of Christ), Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry (Methodist) University

★ Lubbock, Texas, which has more churches per capita than anywhere else in the nation.^[4]
There are also several locations outside the Bible Belt that are centers of evangelical Christian activity, many of them are often called "Exclaves of the Bible Belt".  They include Prescott, Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Wheaton, Illinois; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and parts of Southern California, particularly Orange County.

Outside the United States

In 'Australia', the term usually refers to tracts within individual cities, for example the north-western suburbs of Sydney focusing on Baulkham Hills and the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide focusing on Paradise, Modbury and Golden Grove, though there is also a section of south-eastern Queensland comprising of the towns of Laidley, Gatton and Toowoomba which is referred to as the Bible Belt.^[5]
In 'Canada', the term is also sometimes used to describe several disparate regions which have a higher than average level of church attendance. These include the majority of rural southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, parts of southern Manitoba, the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia and the Saint John River Valley of New Brunswick.^[6]
In 'China', Nanjing City is regarded as the area with the country's highest number of Christians since 1949. Amity Publishing House, a Christian publisher is based in this city.^[7]
In 'Denmark', the area of northwestern Jutland is often mentioned as a Bible Belt. The region has a large number of members of the Lutheran movement called "Indre Mission".
In 'England', the rural areas of East Anglia and the core of the City of London near St.Helen's Bishopsgate are sometimes considered a Bible Belt.^[8]
In 'Finland', the rural areas of Ostrobothnia are sometimes considered a Bible Belt.^[9]
In 'France', Brittany and Burgundy are strongholds of the Roman Catholic faith, while the Cévennes region contains a substantial population of Protestants.
In 'India', the north eastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram , Meghalaya and the hill districts of Manipur form a continuous Bible Belt. Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are India's only Christian dominated states. In fact in Nagaland, Christians constitute 90.02%(2001 census) of the population, with 80% professing the Baptist faith and thereby earning the sobriquet of The most Baptist state in the world. The Bible belt has emerged as one of the major areas of the world that sends out missionaries, particularly to South Asia and South East Asia.^[10]
In 'Ireland', the area extending from County Mayo to County Cavan, and including County Sligo, County Leitrim, County Roscommon, County Longford, County Westmeath and Connemara, is a stronghold of Irish catholicism and high church attendance.
The 'Netherlands' has a Bible Belt (''Bijbelgordel'') as well, stretching from Zeeland to Overijssel. Immigrants from this area to the U.S. formed the Christian Reformed Church in North America. See Bible Belt (Netherlands)
In 'New Zealand', Mount Roskill, Auckland, contains the highest number of churches per capita in the country, and is the home of several Christian political candidates.^[11]
In 'Northern Ireland', the region centered upon North Antrim is often referred to as Northern Ireland's Bible Belt. This is because the area is heavily Protestant with a large evangelical community.  The MP for this constituency is Ian Paisley, a Free Presbyterian Reverend well known for his theological fundamentalism.  The town of Ballymena, is the largest town in the constituency, is often referred to as the 'buckle' of the Bible Belt.^[12]
In 'Norway', the Bible Belt covers the coast on the southwestern parts of the country, where there is a high concentration of Pentecostals, Free Churches and conservative members of the Church of Norway. See Fjellstrand, Norway^[13]
In 'Scotland', the rural areas of Rosshire, Hebrides and Western Isles are considered a Bible Belt. The Inverness area of northern Scotland is fast becoming a Bible Belt as churches in the region buck the national trend of decline with reports of swelling numbers^[14]
In 'Sweden', there is a Bible Belt covering the area around the city of Jönköping and Gothenburg, with a particular high concentration of non-conformists (Protestant congregations not affiliated with the Church of Sweden), especially Pentecostals and Congregationalists - and strong support for the Christian Democrats.^[15]

Geographical extent

Tweedie (1978) defines the Bible Belt in terms of the audience for religious television. He finds two belts, one more eastern that stretches from central Florida through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and into Virginia, and another that is more western, moving from central Texas to the Dakotas, but concentrated in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Mississippi. Notably absent from this belt, however, is the area of New Orleans and southern Louisiana, where Catholicism is predominant.^[16]
In terms of demographics, the belt may in fact be most accurately described as extending westward to include most of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, and perhaps even farther into areas of southern New Mexico settled by Texans.
The accuracy of this expanded schema, however, rests on the question of whether demographic proportion of evangelical Christians (or "fundamentalist Christians") is sufficient to include an area as being part of the Belt, or whether other cultural characteristics are necessary.
Even with the presently accepted boundaries (as indicated on the map in this article), it is possible to theorize that the Bible Belt could be divided into two or more sub-regions, at least one of which could include the westernmost section -- including Texas -- as being distinctive from the Deep South and most of the Southeastern United States.

Political and cultural context

The term ''Bible Belt'' is used either informally by journalists, or by its detractors, who suggest the region allows religion to influence politics, science and education.
The term was reportedly coined by H.L. Mencken. Reporting on the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee to the Baltimore Evening Sun on July 15, 1925, Mencken wrote of the region as "this bright, shining, buckle of the Bible belt".
In 1950, President Harry Truman told Catholic leaders he wanted to send an ambassador to the Vatican. Truman said the leading Democrats in Congress approved, but they warned him, "it would defeat Democratic Senators and Congressmen in the Bible Belt." [quoted in Amanda Smith, ''Hostage of Fortune'' (2001) p. 604].
In presidential elections, the Bible Belt states of Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia have voted for the Republican candidate in all elections since 1980.^[17]

References

1. "20th Century Words" (1999) John Ayto, Oxford University Press, page 127
2. Where is the Bible Belt
3. American Religious Identification Survey
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A19148-2003Jan20?language=printer
5. See [1]
6. See [2]
7. see [3]
8. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,416545,00.html
9. see [4]
10. see [5]
11. see [6]
12. see [7]
13. see [8]
14. see [9]
15. see Eva M. Hamberg and Thorleif Pettersson, "The Religious Market: Denominational Competition and Religious Participation in Contemporary Sweden," ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,'' Vol. 33, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), pp. 205+ in JSTOR
16. Archdiocese of New Orleans Demographics
17. http://www.arikah.com/encyclopedia/United_States_presidential_election,_1980

Further reading

★ Randall Balmer; ''Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism'' Baylor University Press, 2004  

★ Denman, Stan. "Political Playing for the Soul of the American South: Theater and the Maintenance of Cultural Hegemony in the American Bible Belt" ''Southern Quarterly'' (2004) v. 42, Spring, 64-72.

★ Heatwole, C.A.  "The Bible Belt; a problem of regional definition" ''Journal of Geography'' (1978) 77; 50-5

★ Christine Leigh Heyrman, ''Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt'' (Knopf, 1997)

★  Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, and Charles Reagan Wilson, eds. ''Encyclopedia Of Religion In The South'' (2005)

★ Charles H. Lippy, ed. "Religion in South Carolina" (1993)

★ George M. Marsden, ''Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925'' (1980).

★ Jeffrey P. Moran; "The Scopes Trial and Southern Fundamentalism in Black and White: Race, Region, and Religion" ''Journal of Southern History''. Volume: 70. Issue: 1. 2004. pp 95+.

★ Chris C. Park; ''Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and Religion'' Routledge, 1994

★ Randy J. Sparks. ''Religion in Mississippi'' University Press of Mississippi for the Mississippi Historical Society, . 2001. ISBN 1-57806-361-2.

★ William A. Stacey and Anson Shupe; "Religious Values and Religiosity in the Textbook Adoption Controversy in Texas, 1981" ''Review of Religious Research'', Vol. 25, 1984

★ Tweedie, S.W. (1978) Viewing the Bible Belt. ''Journal of Popular Culture'' 11; 865-76

See also

★ Belt regions of the United States

★ Born Again Christian

★ Confederate States of America

★ Southern United States

★ Jesusland

★ Unchurched Belt

Arts

★ Southern Arts Federation