The states that make up the "Bible belt" do not look like a belt to me. They are the states in the southeast, beginning with Texas to the coast. Some have questioned why Utah is not one of them. I may do some research on that. Note the states not in the list: the West Coast, New England, Illinois. The list can tell us much about the United States.
(Gallup Poll percentage who said religion is “important part” of their lives)
1. Mississippi: 85%
2. Alabama: 82%
3. South Carolina: 80%
4. Tennessee: 79%
5. Louisiana: 78%
6. Arkansas: 78%
7. Georgia: 76%
8. North Carolina: 76%
9. Oklahoma: 75%
10. (tie) Kentucky, Texas: 74%
My conjecture is this: People in these states are the least educated in the country. People in these states have the lowest incomes in the country. Many have difficult lives. Thus, they need religion to sustain them through life; they need a great father to help them with their lives. I do see religion as the opiate of the masses.
What might be conjectured about the fact that the South is a Republican stronghold?
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Comments: 31
I consider such a question rude. I do not care to know much about LDS.
I taught English full time at two universities (Southeast Missouri State University and The University of Memphis). Is that enough education?
Education or not, you seem to be mis-informed.
For the record; I'm only ever rude if someone else is rude first.
Remember, the states mentioned aren't the borders of the belt area. I grew up in southwestern Ohio which is fundieland in many ways. Moving away from there, to an area where a good number of colleges and universities are located, and the atmosphere is much different.
The Bible is the only book they read, unless Sarah Palin gets a ghostwriter. A whole segment of the population have been left in the dark ages!
An Insect Interpretation of History and American Society :
The Deep South, somehow akin to the Bible Belt, is mosquito land .... This is the part of the United States with the highest population of mosquitoes and other plagues.
The Cockroach is native from Mexico and more tropical lands, and it had a barrier in the deserts of the South, so it couldn't cross to the USA. However cockroaches traveled easily and freely to the North inside vehicles and ships.
Cockroaches feel more comfortable in the Bible Belt or Deep South than in the North. However thanks to Artificial Heating systems, cockroaches can live comfortably in Boston, Chicago and even in Maine.
Haven't you thought that after the Civil War, the population of the Confederacy felt devastated, despised and ignored by the citizens of the North. ???
The Confederacy was "Third World" for the Yanquis and that produced a horrible inferiority complex .....
That is why people have to reenact the Civil War constantly and put the Confederacy flag everywhere outside and inside homes and even kitchenware.
I guess that insects that plague human beings like fleas, ticks and flies that are vectors for disease are more popular in the Deep South than in Canada, due to the cold of Canada. And there is a cline correlated with an environmental or geographic transition to less abundance of the insects.
So the Northern States have less nasty bugs, and that makes people from the North more tolerant and naice ( well not always, just kidding ! )
Vicente Duque
Their clinging to the Bible is knowing that no one of this world, the real world, will accept them without derision for their backward ways and so cling to 'a better life' to come. Yes, they all picture a heaven where all the angels are white and all others serve them.
The Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ranked each state by income. Arizona and Texas came in one and two respectively. Kentucky ranked five. Tennesee six. Florida seven. North Carolina nine. Vermont and Delaware 40 and 41. Connecticut 24. New Hamshire 35.
Not all, but most of the Southern states ranked higher that most of the Northern states. The mid-west ranks best on unemployment.
I said this to make a point. According to the Census Bureau these are facts. Here's an opinion: None of you should say what someone else thinks. No one knows what someone else thinks of thier own personal beliefs or how they picture Heaven Georgiana. When you make comments like that you're not compelling anyone to cross over to your way of thinking nor do come off as being any smarter than the ones you're making fun of.
No one has to like religion or anything else for that matter, but why classify or stereo-typr a whole region by that without taking the time to look at any other aspect?
I suggest the book : The United States of Appalachia for anyone wanting a truer view of this area and it's contribution to democracy and culture. I promise you'll be amazed. Kentucky is the best-kept secret in America.
Duelity is a split-screen animation that tells both sides of the story of Earth’ s origins in a dizzying and provocative journey through the history and language that marks human thought.
http://duelity.net/