# social behavior of southern baptists **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018 "2010-08-12T03:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beltane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@Beltane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beltane)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018/41 "2010-08-13T15:26:55Z")
My Mother and Stepfather (he is the son of a Southern Baptist preacher) do not pray in public. My Dad is Southern Baptist and never prayed (he died last month) before meals, but someone always did at family reunions. My partner and I basically Unitarian leaning towards pagan, and we don’t pray ourselves in the manner you mean. His parents however are Baptist, and from south Georgia (but are not Southern Baptists, just Baptists who are Southern) and they do pray before all meals, even at restaurants, so me and my partner pray with them when we are. Off topic generally but relating to my partner’s partents’ church, my partner’s mom outed him to the whole small southern town he is from when her church was discussing its opinion on homosexuality. They came down on the accepting side after some debate. ---
**Author:** ![Beltane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@Beltane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beltane)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018/42 "2010-08-13T15:33:14Z")
Since some discussion has been made of the prevalence of public prayer among African-Americans, I will mention that we are Caucasian. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018/43 "2010-08-13T15:52:21Z")
We personally usually don’t say grace at home or in restaurants unless we’re with fellow church folk or it’s a holiday. However, I’m amazed by how many people here see it as some rare odd thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018/44 "2010-08-13T17:05:41Z")
Various portions of my family are Catholic, Dutch reform, Lutheran, and Disciples of Christ. All of them will do a family prayer before eating a meal. Ditto for my husband’s family, which is half Presbyterian and half charismatic evangelicals (wishy-washy Southern Baptist or Church of Christ, depending on how they feel about the pastor). My husband works for a company owned by Mennonites, and they do group prayers in restaurants. Including at the company parties. Which are dry. We’re in Illinois. My family is in Indiana. ETA: we’re all white. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018/45 "2010-08-13T17:11:12Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > > [@An\_Arky](#): > > > > [Discovery Channel Narrator] The Spotted Southern Baptist, often observed feeding at Cracker Barrel, tend to observe some sort of group ritual before eating. While random sightings and anecdotes say otherwise, the Spotted Southern Baptist is never seen dancing. [/DCN] > > \*\* > Raised a _liberal_ Southern Baptist. My family(not me) prays before eating, whether at home or out. I work with a non-practising Catholic, who prays before eating his lunch at work. > > \*\*Q. Why don’t Southern Baptists believe in pre-marital sex? > A. Because it might lead to dancing. 🙂 I always heard that one as “Why don’t Southern Baptists have sex standing up?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-behavior-of-southern-baptists/550018.md?page=2)