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Just to give a little insight on myself since experiences vary by age, culture, race, etc; but I’m a 33 y/o black male. I grew up in the Northeast but had and still have many relatives in the South, primary South Carolina. Our family attended church sometimes, but religion wasn’t really a major part of our lives.
We visited the South often and I’ve spent numerous summers with relatives “down south” during my childhood. I remember church being a significant part of not only their social circles, but for many Southerners in general. Religion also seemed to be extremely important in their day-to-day lives. A lot of towns practically shut down on Sundays (in respect to the Lord) allotting time for attending church and large family dinners.
While I enjoyed my visits south with relatives, I often dreaded the amount of time I was “forced” to spend in church. There was Wednesday evening service IIRC, Bible Study on Thursdays, choir rehearsal on Saturdays and then Sunday service. Don’t even get me started on if there was a “program” on that Sunday. There also was ‘Vacation’ Bible School in June which usually was a week or two.
I realize what I’m describing is probably exclusive to the Black church experience. Most of my older Southern relatives are very religious and usually attend church AT LEAST once a week. Most of my cousins around my age however don’t appear to be very religious and don’t attend church regularly.
Statistics avow church attendance and religious importance is declining across the nation. I’m interested if this trend is noticeable in the South as well.
Just to give a little insight on myself since experiences vary by age, culture, race, etc; but I’m a 33 y/o black male. I grew up in the Northeast but had and still have many relatives in the South, primary South Carolina. Our family attended church sometimes, but religion wasn’t really a major part of our lives.
We visited the South often and I’ve spent numerous summers with relatives “down south” during my childhood. I remember church being a significant part of not only their social circles, but for many Southerners in general. Religion also seemed to be extremely important in their day-to-day lives. A lot of towns practically shut down on Sundays (in respect to the Lord) allotting time for attending church and large family dinners.
While I enjoyed my visits south with relatives, I often dreaded the amount of time I was “forced” to spend in church. There was Wednesday evening service IIRC, Bible Study on Thursdays, choir rehearsal on Saturdays and then Sunday service. Don’t even get me started on if there was a “program” on that Sunday. There also was ‘Vacation’ Bible School in June which usually was a week or two.
I realize what I’m describing is probably exclusive to the Black church experience. Most of my older Southern relatives are very religious and usually attend church AT LEAST once a week. Most of my cousins around my age however don’t appear to be very religious and don’t attend church regularly.
Statistics avow church attendance and religious importance is declining across the nation. I’m interested if this trend is noticeable in the South as well.
You are describing what life was like for me in a very white small town in New Jersey in the Sixties and probably in a lot of other places, too. That lifestyle has definitely declined.
In most of what is commonly referred to a "The Bible Belt," most of what you described still applies. Many people still attend Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday midweek services, plus whatever extra things are going on at their church. Once a year, many churches hold a revival with meetings every evening. Vacation Bible School every summer for a week. Many denominations have summer youth camps too.
Church attendance is on a decline pretty much everywhere, but that doesn't mean religious belief is on a decline in the Bible Belt. Tennesssee just passed a law allowing schools to post "In God We Trust" signs in schools. In West Virginia, you have to wait until 1:00 PM on Sundays to buy beer or wine at grocery stores, and liquor cannot be sold on Sundays at all. [Interestingly enough, the only other days when liquor cannot be sold are Christmas Day and Election Day.] In many places, a newcomer isn't asked IF he's religious. That's assumed. Instead, they are asked which church they attend. Again, the assumption is that the do attend one, and if the newcomer hasn't found one, a recruiting job will likely happen. (I think asking people which church they attend may be beginning to decline a little.)
I'm not making any judgment about this. I'm simply describing what I've seen happen.
Look and see where the Freedom From Religion Foundation is asked to step in and help government agencies understand that they cannot promote religion. You'll see Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, and the Carolinas represented much more than states in New England.
I've lived in the South most of my life, but I've also spent some time in New England. The difference in attitudes about religion is remarkable.
I think it really depends on where in the South you live.
The biggest difference is between rural and urban settings including college towns.
I lived in Winston-Salem and Raleigh for 10 years and never once had anyone ever asked me what church I go to ... or even mentioned religion at all. In fact, I met more atheists there than I have here in Pennsylvania.
In college towns like Boone, NC, where most people are politically liberal and secular, religion is primarily left to the locals -- and most who attend church are older, usually of retirement age.
The same was true when I lived in Houston -- no one even mentioned religion there; I was more apt to encounter someone who couldn't speak English than someone who wanted to talk religion or ask about my church.
In rural areas, though, church is still a big part of their lives though it's a dying lifestyle. The older traditionalists are beginning to die off or they're too feeble to get themselves to church anymore whilst the up-and-coming generations just aren't as interested in church and religion. They may still be believers, but in a vague, fuzzy sort of way, not the pulpit-pounding, Bible-waving, sweaty-brow, pacing-around-the-front-of-the-church way of their forefathers.
I really don't think it's that much in decline. But there are more "non-denominational" churches, which are kind of like Southern Baptist churches. And there are more services with modern/electric worship style. Sometimes a mixtures of rock and hymns in the same service. It's kind of a blend of evangelical/Baptist with the more charismatic/Pentecostal styles.
From an outsiders point of view the majority of the US is extremity religious, the south more so, driving through Tennessee and Alabama there are just farms and churches and that's it.
In Florida the churches are full to bursting on Sundays and Wednesdays and many other times I pass them, the police actually stop 4 lanes of traffic every Sunday morning on the 441 just south of Ocala to let churchgoers leave church because there are so many of them, and they have 2 services, pretty incredible to me.
I live in Spain a very traditionally catholic country but don't know anyone here that goes to church, even their parents, they tend to still have holy communion and weddings in church but that's pretty much it other than the religious festivals when people suddenly become religious for the day, there will be a handful of older folk in church on a Sunday but not many.
The UK where I'm from have churches hundreds of years old in every village and town, many have been sold off and converted into trendy homes or even nightclubs,others have fallen into disrepair, The church of England have admitted that less than 2% of the population go to church on a Sunday, the largest religious group is reportedly Christians but by this they are not regularly church goers, they just say they are Christian when asked for a survey,
The most active religious community by far now in the UK are Muslims with Mosques being built in most large towns and their life is centred around the Mosques and the religion.
Christianity is definitely dying out in Europe but seems to be going strong in the USA particularly the south.
Christianity is definitely dying out in Europe but seems to be going strong in the USA particularly the south.
As I've said in previous posts: America has the same amount of religiosity as an impoverished, uneducated Third World nation.
That's nothing to be proud of since it means we're the only nation in the world that produces Christian fundamentalism -- the kind of religion that behaves in much the same way as Al Qaeda, ISIS, or the Taliban. Just without the horrific violence.
What I find to be truly sad about the religious state America is in right now is that, instead of having an America that is overflowing with peace, love, harmony, tolerance, understanding, and compassion due to our high degree of religiosity, we instead have precisely the opposite.
The more religious an area in America happens to be, the more intolerance, racism, superstition, xenophobia, homophobia, hatred, ignorance, and war-mongering there is. Even our domestic policies are absolutely horrendous in religious areas as compared to more secular places. For instance, NONE of the Bible Belt states expanded Medicaid coverage to include the extremely poor whereas the more secular northern states did.
Plus, the Bible Belt states keep passing unconstitutional laws regarding religion in the hopes that no one will even notice.
...Houston -- no one even mentioned religion there;
I was more apt to encounter someone who couldn't speak English than someone who
wanted to talk religion or ask about my church.
I burst out laughing! Lived in TX myself.
However, ya got big churches in TX...Hagee, Osteen and Ken and Gloria...and their conventions.
I've lived in the South most of my life, but I've also spent some time in New England. The difference in attitudes about religion is remarkable.
Indeed. I grew up in northern New England, and religion just isn’t a topic of conversation. Partly because New Englanders tend to not be all that religious, but also because we are very conscious about not being nosy or forward about such private things. My theory is that the dark, oppressive days of Puritanism really left it’s mark, and there’s an instinctive awareness of what religion is capable of.
When I moved to NY, the vibe is similar... with the exception of the evangelical crowd. The... aggressive friendliness... was rather jarring to my Vermont sensibilities. But what was different from what I experienced during a visit to Tennessee was: in NY they ask if you go to church, while in TN they ask where you go to church.
Since church is more popular in that part of the country I think it may be just a conversation starter for many. I'm sure it may be a recruiting tool for some and they probably need that since so many younger people do not attend.
I have never been asked but I never lived in the South.
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Lived in TX myself.
