Bible Belt
The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States and one Midwestern state, the state of Missouri, in all of which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society. Church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average. The region contrasts with the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes and the Mormon corridor in Utah, southern Idaho and northern Arizona.
For other uses, see Bible Belt (disambiguation).
Whereas the states with the highest percentage of residents identifying as non-religious are in the West and New England regions of the United States (with Vermont at 37%, ranking the highest), in the Bible Belt state of Alabama it is just 12%,[1] and Tennessee has the highest proportion of evangelical Protestants, at 52%.[2] The evangelical influence is strongest in northern Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, southern and western Virginia, West Virginia, the Upstate region of South Carolina, and east Texas.
The earliest known usage of the term "Bible Belt" was by American journalist and social commentator H. L. Mencken, who in 1924 wrote in the Chicago Daily Tribune: "The old game, I suspect, is beginning to play out in the Bible Belt."[3] In 1927, Mencken claimed the term as his invention.[4][5] The term is now also used in other countries for regions with higher religious doctrine adoption.
In the United States[edit]
Geography[edit]
The name "Bible Belt" has been applied historically to the South and parts of the Midwest, but is more commonly identified with the South.[6] In a 1961 study, Wilbur Zelinsky delineated the region as the area in which Protestant denominations, especially Southern Baptist, Methodist, and evangelical, are the predominant religious affiliations. The region thus defined included most of the Southern United States, including most of Texas and Oklahoma, and in the states south of the Ohio River such as Kentucky and Tennessee, and extending east to include central West Virginia and Virginia, from the Shenandoah Valley southward into Southside Virginia and North Carolina. In addition, the Bible Belt covers most of Missouri and southern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. On the other hand, areas in the South which are not considered part of the Bible Belt include heavily Catholic Southern Louisiana, central and southern Florida, which have been settled mainly by immigrants and Americans from elsewhere in the country, and overwhelmingly Hispanic South Texas. A 1978 study by Charles Heatwole identified the Bible Belt as the region dominated by 24 fundamentalist Protestant denominations, corresponding to essentially the same area mapped by Zelinsky.[7]
According to Stephen W. Tweedie, an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University, the Bible Belt was viewed in terms of numerical concentration of the audience for religious television when he first published his research in 1995.[8] He finds two belts: one more eastern that stretches from Florida, (excluding Miami, Tampa and South Florida), through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, the Carolinas, and into Southside Virginia; and another concentrated in Texas (excluding El Paso, and South Texas), Arkansas, Louisiana, (excluding New Orleans and Acadiana), Oklahoma, Missouri (excluding St. Louis), Kansas, and Mississippi.[9] "[H]is research also broke the Bible Belt into two core regions, a western region and an eastern region. Tweedie's western Bible Belt was focused on a core that extended from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. His eastern Bible Belt was focused on a core that included the major population centers of Virginia and North Carolina.[10]
Outside the United States[edit]
Canada[edit]
The province of Alberta has been referred to as Canada's Bible Belt with a significant Catholic, Anabaptist population and other Protestants.[35] Certain areas of Canada's east coast region, such as the province of New Brunswick, also contain significant populations of Catholic, Baptist, Anglican and United faith adherents, up to 85% overall. There is also a vast Bible belt across southern Manitoba.
Denmark[edit]
In Denmark, rural western Jutland in particular is considered to be the Bible Belt. This is due to the higher number of citizens who are associated (in this particular area) with conservative Lutheran Christian organisations such as the Church Association for the Inner Mission in Denmark, which traditionally have had a very strong resistance to abortion and LGBT rights.[36] Today, the movement is strongest around Hedensted, Løsning, Korning and Øster Snede. The Danish Oasis Movement, the YMCA and Jehovah's Witnesses are also active in the area. The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church is active in Løsning and the Adventists in Vejle.[37]
Estonia[edit]
Census results show religious belief in the country is more prevalent in the east running from north to south along the border with Russia, particularly in those areas with large populations of Russian Orthodox, Estonian Orthodox and Orthodox Old Believers.
Finland[edit]
In North Ostrobothnia, Lapland and Northern Savonia, the influence of the Laestadian movement, a Finnish Lutheran revival, is particularly strong.[38] In South Ostrobothnia and Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, the influence of awakenism and evangelicalism (evankelisuus) is strong, as is that of the Free Church. The Finnish Bible Belt has been described on the basis of various indicators, but there is no precise definition. Mika Gissler of the THL has identified the medical districts of the Ostrobothnian regions as the Bible zone, which have distinguished themselves in the long term by a lower number of abortions than the rest of the country.[39] Perho in Central Ostrobothnia is the most Lutheran municipality in Finland.[40] Church membership in Ostrobothnia is also more common than in the rest of the country.[41] Voting of Christian Democrats in 2019 parliamental elections was most common in Larsmo and Parkano.[42]
France[edit]
Brittany has a long Catholic tradition, and the church has historically played an important role in the region's cultural and social life. Today, the region is known for its many religious festivals and processions, as well as its numerous churches, chapels, and shrines. Another region with a strong Catholic tradition is the Vendée, which is located in western France. The Vendée has a long history of resistance to anti-clericalism and anti-Catholicism, dating back to the French Revolution.[43]
Germany[edit]
An area in the Ore Mountains in Saxony has been described as the "Saxon Bible Belt" with a notable evangelical Protestant/Christian fundamentalist/free church community, as well as some conservative Lutheran parishes that are opposed to same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony approved church resolutions regarding the issue regardless of opinions within those parishes.[44][45][46][47][48]
Lithuania[edit]
Among its Baltic neighbors, Lithuania is in general much more religious, but even in this context, Vilnius, with its many churches and adjacent region (Vilnius district and Šalčininkai district municipalities) of large numbers of Lithuanian Poles, is the most religious region of Lithuania. Both Šalčininkai and Vilnius district municipalities by the ruling Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance were declared as guarded and ruled by Jesus Christ.[49]
Mexico[edit]
In Mexico, there is what is known as the Rosary Belt (Spanish: Cinturón del Rosario). The term, created by journalist and writer Carlos Monsiváis in 1999, refers to a region comprising the states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Querétaro and, in more recent years, Zacatecas, where 90% of the population professes Roman Catholicism, which has a notable influence on local politics and society. Guanajuato, for example, is one of the most important electoral strongholds of the National Action Party, of Christian democrat tradition, mostly inspired by the Social Doctrine of the Church, and with strong conservative ideals. It was in this region where the first uprisings against the government took place during the Cristero War, demanding an end to the persecution of Catholics in the country as a result of the promulgation of the so-called Calles Law, which restricted Catholic worship in Mexico.
Netherlands[edit]
The Bible Belt of the Netherlands (Dutch: Bijbelgordel) stretches from Zeeland, through the West-Betuwe and Veluwe, to the northern parts of the province Overijssel. In this region, orthodox Calvinists prevail.
The ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao are all under 20% irreligious.
New Zealand[edit]
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.[50] The electorate was one of the last in the country to go "wet", in 1999, having formerly been a dry area where the selling of alcohol was prohibited.[51]
At the 2013 New Zealand census, the Māngere–Ōtāhuhu local board area of Auckland had the highest concentration of Christians in New Zealand, with 67.7 percent of the local board's 71,000 residents identifying as such. This is due to its high proportion of Pacifica immigrants. [52]
In contrast to other bible belts, both areas tend to vote for left-wing candidates and are both currently represented in parliament by the centre-left Labour Party as of 2023.[53]
Norway[edit]
The Bible Belt of Norway is located mainly in the western and southern parts of the country, especially rural areas of Agder and Rogaland counties, which contains numerous devout Lutherans.
Poland[edit]
South and East parts of Poland are much more religious than North and West.[54] See Poland A and B.
Soviet Union[edit]
Before its independence, Soviet Ukraine was known as the Bible Belt of the Soviet Union, with a significant proportion of Baptists.[55]
Sweden[edit]
The area normally called the Bible Belt of Sweden is centered on Jönköping in southern Sweden and contains numerous free churches. Of the Småland counties, Jönköping is characterised by the Free Church, Kalmar by the High Church and Kronoberg by the Old Church. In a broader sense, the Bible Belt refers to the area between Jönköping and Gothenburg.[56]
There are also numerous conservative Lutheran Laestadians in the Torne valley area in the far north of the country.
United Kingdom[edit]
In Northern Ireland, the area in County Antrim stretching from roughly Ballymoney to Larne and centred in the area of Ballymena is often referred to as a Bible Belt. This is because the area is heavily Protestant with a large evangelical community. From 1970 to 2010, the MP for North Antrim was Ian Paisley, a Free Presbyterian minister well known for his theological fundamentalism. The town of Ballymena, the largest town in the constituency, is often referred to as the "buckle" of the Bible Belt.[57]