# Do your beliefs match the area you live in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519 "2015-10-13T04:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/21 "2015-10-13T14:21:55Z")
Pretty much, I’m a very liberal atheist, living in Washington, DC. DC is essentially Nerd City, USA and I fit in that niche. Although, as is often the case in city politics, the churches have more influence in municipal politics than I’d like. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/22 "2015-10-13T15:02:21Z")
Yes. I live in Wisconsin and I believe in drinking heavily whenever possible. I’m near enough to Madison that my politics and non-religion aren’t an issue either. ---
**Author:** ![CatastrophicFailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@CatastrophicFailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatastrophicFailure)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/23 "2015-10-13T15:06:19Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > No, you’re just getting old. > > As people get old & senile, they get more conservative. Happens to us all. > (And get those kids off my lawn!) Conservatives are senile, you say? 😉 Actually, I do sometimes feel curmudgeonly. not sure if that’s a factor, though. The main thing I differ with people on here is that I’m not an organic loving, anti-GMO hippie that goes to naturopaths and homeopaths and acupuncturists. ---
**Author:** ![CatastrophicFailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@CatastrophicFailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatastrophicFailure)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/24 "2015-10-13T15:19:19Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Question is, then who do you argue politics and social issues with? Like years ago when everyone on the left hated Bush the argument wasnt IF they hated Bush, but who hated hated him more. > > But that also brings up a point of what if your in say a solid democrat area, then what good is a voter registration drive if a republican doesnt even have a chance? > > And on other issues, what good would it do to have a march or rally around an issue if that issue is already part of law in your community? Right. Not only are debates boring, but it’s easy to be apathetic when you are surrounded by like-minded people. You can post your Facebook memes about issues to a crowd of people who already agree with you and pretend that’s doing something. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/25 "2015-10-13T15:45:56Z")
I’m mostly liberal, and I live in a blue-ish city (Orlando). However, my house is in Oviedo, which is an affluent and strongly conservative-leaning suburb. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/26 "2015-10-13T15:48:08Z")
Columbus, Ohio here which is a fairly progressive city. Within most of the city, I feel fairly comfortable that my political beliefs are well represented around here. Religious beliefs I don’t really talk about much with others. Most the people I know are not particularly religious and if they attend weekly or holiday church services it isn’t something that is brought up. Step outside of Columbus, or even into some of the suburbs, and it does change to a much more rural conservative and religious belief system. I have in-laws in rural Ohio and although there is no animosity about it, we definitely do not agree politically and we don’t discuss religion. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/27 "2015-10-13T17:00:09Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > No, you’re just getting old. > > As people get old & senile, they get more conservative. Happens to us all. > (And get those kids off my lawn!) I’m not sure that’s true. I’ve seen at least one study that people get more liberal as they age. > **[Busting Myth, People Turn More Liberal With Age](https://www.livescience.com/2360-busting-myth-people-turn-liberal-age.html)** > > New research has debunked the myth that people become more conservative as they age. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/28 "2015-10-13T17:16:22Z")
I live near a college town so it’s pretty progressive, as am I. But I could live in the squalor of North Texas and choose to live in a liberal cocoon if I just get my news from leftie sources, so I’m not sure that geography is nearly as important as it once was. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/29 "2015-10-13T17:32:23Z")
Except if you want to go outside and interact with people. When we go to rural Virginia, my wife and I like to play a game, how long between the time someone comments on our DC license plates and until they makes a racist remark. The current record is like ten seconds. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/30 "2015-10-13T17:51:39Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Except if you want to go outside and interact with people. When we go to rural Virginia, my wife and I like to play a game, how long between the time someone comments on our DC license plates and until they makes a racist remark. The current record is like ten seconds. Good heavens! I hope that’s the minimum time and not the maximum! What do they say? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/31 "2015-10-13T17:55:31Z")
Yep. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/32 "2015-10-13T17:57:24Z")
The standard, and one that I heard many times growing up in Virginia is that the 14th Street bridge is the longest in the world, it stretches all the way from Virginia to Africa. The shortest, (the 10 seconder) was, “DC, isn’t the city full of n\*\*\*\*\*\*?” My friend from DC who is white was in Winchester VA with her black husband and a woman in a Burger King asked him, “what should we call you people?” but she was more clueless than hostile. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/33 "2015-10-13T18:07:03Z")
Since I’m an atheist-leaning agnostic, I don’t think there’s anywhere I live in the US that match my (non)beliefs. But New York City is the best fit, though. ---
**Author:** ![CatastrophicFailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@CatastrophicFailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatastrophicFailure)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/34 "2015-10-13T18:28:43Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Since I’m an atheist-leaning agnostic, I don’t think there’s anywhere I live in the US that match my (non)beliefs. But New York City is the best fit, though. IME, the west coast is more godless. (Looks like the numbers back it up, too. [http://msahlin.typepad.com/faith\_in\_context/2015/04/americas-most-secular-cities.html](http://msahlin.typepad.com/faith_in_context/2015/04/americas-most-secular-cities.html)) You don’t have the diversity of NYC in most places, though. I miss that out here. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/35 "2015-10-13T18:48:24Z")
I am a socially liberal, economically moderate, agnostic Democrat just outside of an urban area in the south. Nashville is a university town as well as quite ethnically mixed, so my circle includes people from all over the spectrum and most of the time, I don’t feel like a fish out of water. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/36 "2015-10-13T19:14:00Z")
I’m not sure. I do know that Northeast Ohio is a blue corner in a mostly red state and I match the blueness of my county. Our area has a lot of churches and while there’s plenty of crazy right-wing outspoken evangelical churches and churchgoers, there seems to be just as many quiet, respectful, loving Christians like me. Also I believe that the Steelers and the Wolverines and their fans are awful, awful creatures so I’ve got that in common with everyone else here 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PLBR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PLBR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PLBR)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/37 "2015-10-13T19:27:34Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Hard-right, affluent, Reagan Republican here. I prefer few-to-nonexistent gun laws, severely limited welfare/safety net, locally controlled schools, zero income tax, and draconian punishment of criminals including the frequent use of the death penalty. > Looking over to the right at my location… I think I’m in the right spot. 😉 I hope I never live near you, somewhere you lost your heart and conscience. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/38 "2015-10-13T19:32:41Z")
Mix of middle of the road Democrats and Republicans here. We have mostly registered Democrats but Republican politicians have done well here in RI. I guess that suits me as an independent who is mainly left of center but has a conservative streak in some areas. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/39 "2015-10-13T19:43:58Z")
> [@missred](#): > > I am a socially liberal, economically moderate, agnostic Democrat \ Same here, but I live in Portland, OR. It’s fine most of the time, but government by consensus opinion can be exasperating. Everyone “hears your concerns”, but nothing is usually done beyond that. I really dislike being harangued about bond issues that “will only raise taxes by $x.xx per hundred thousand”. Problem is, these things build up over time and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. On the plus side, the place attracts good chefs and it’s ridiculously easy to find an excellent meal. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519/40 "2015-10-13T20:22:51Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Since I’m an atheist-leaning agnostic, I don’t think there’s anywhere I live in the US that match my (non)beliefs. Any big city. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-beliefs-match-the-area-you-live-in/734519.md?page=3)