But what makes you think they form the “bulk”? Of the total U.S. population of 288 million, more than 116 million live in our 25 largest metropolitan areas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Statistical_Area) – the largest of these being New York-Northern New Jersy-Long Island (pop. 18.3 million) and the smallest being Kansas City-Overland Park (1.8 million). Add in the populations of medium-to-small cities, and I’m sure we’d find more Americans live in cities and suburbs than in small towns or the countryside.
Sorry, probably not bulk, but if you look at how people voted in the 2000/2004 elections, it’s startled me to see how segregated the US was in terms of political belief. The fact that theres very little mixing between the religious core of the southern US heartlands and the secular cities dotting the coast might be a rather significant reason.
I have read that Christianity and other religions that promote obedience to a set of rules and an authority tend to do well in unstable social environments: they help to bring stability and order to lives that need (self-) discipline.
Could the greater amounts of crime and poverty, and the resultant instability, in some US demographics have provided greater oppurtunity for this type of religion?
Hmmm…Prison Ministries are credited with a great deall of success.
I think this may be part of the misperception of the religiosity (?) of the US. Many people will self-identify as part of a religious group, yet be pretty much non-practicing.
For example, I’ll say I’m Methodist, but I haven’t been to church in years, and when I did, it wasn’t a Methodist church. Methodists just happen to be the ones that line up the most with my personal beliefs, and where I’ve felt most comfortable.
I think there are more people showing up as belonging to a denomination, but who are not active than people think.
There’s also a certain stigma against atheism/agnosticism here that tends to have people who are probably best identified as atheist/agnostic identifying themselves as whatever denomination their parents were, just for the sake of not causing a ruckus.
While many people identify as Christian, significantly fewer actually attend church regularly or look to it for guidance on political or social issues, at least in my experience.
Short answer: God hates America. Religion is His way of punishing us. Every country comes in for some, but God really hates America.
Gives new meaning to “God bless America,” then.
“God, bless America. Please!” 
I dunno. It’s clear to me that calls for “traditional values” harken back to an imaginary past, and it’s a mistake to ignore the fact that one major difference between now and then is black civil rights. Remember, the Black Power movement happened during the second half of the sixties, right during that period that social conservatives blame for everything from gun violence to dry, itchy skin. I’m not saying everyone who believes in “traditional values” is a covert racist, but I definitely believe that it’s part of the dialogue of covert racism, and expresses a particular message to people who want to hear it.
That “Futurama” quote reminds me of a “Mad TV” skit from a few years ago. This white couple goes to one of those Fifties-themed diners with another, black, couple. They sit down and start talking about how much they love these kinds of places, but when the waitress comes over to take their orders, she points to the “No Coloreds” sign and tells the black couple they have to leave.
My personal belief is that the fundamentalist Christian segment of our country has a voice all out of proportion to its size. The size of this voice instills fear in many of the rest of us. My home state is one of the hot spots of fundamentalism in the US and intolerance here is remarkable. Even within my own family, I keep my own beliefs (a sharp lack thereof, actually) private as not to disturb the vocal minority in the family. My own brother has gone from being a nearly faithless savage in his younger days to being a zealot today (I think he harbors much guilt and embarassment about his younger days). My mother and I quietly discuss our own beliefs without involving anyone else - she is pretty much agnostic and I am leaning more and more toward atheism. Many in her extended family probably feel the same way but my matriarchal grandmother is an evangelical Southern Baptist. Dad’s family is even worse; his parents are devout Church of Christ cultists.
Do I believe that a majority of Oklahomans are bible-thumping evangelical militaristic christians? No, it seems that the silent majority is more agnostic than evangelical. But this doesn’t stop them from heaving stones when the tribal shamans demand it.
I hope this doesn’t seem off subject, but why do we assume that religious means good, or better, than someone who is not? I know a lot of people who would not be considered religious, who are very moral, kind,and considerate of others and their beliefs.
Monavis
You show contempt like this for us, and then you wonder why we don’t vote for your candidates. :rolleyes:
No I never wondered why “You” don’t vote for the same candidates I do (I don’t really have candidates per se). However, I personally think it has more to do with gross inner prejudices, a civilly negligent ignorance on Constitutional issues and political history (the fault in part of the education system), and the psychological need for scapegoating and return-to-an-Eden-that-never-was moreso than the fact that “I” hold you in contempt (which I really don’t).
Here’s something I haven’t seen addressed yet: What is the generational component of religiosity in America? Is, say, the 20-35 age cohort any less religious than the 36-50 or 51-65? If so, we could expect religious influence to gradually decline in the culture as a whole as the older, more religious generations pass from the scene – unless impiety is simply a typical characteristic of youth and people generally grow more traditionally religious as they age. I’ve never seen any studies or statistics on any of these questions. Have any of you?
Some ideas are contemptible, like Lott’s holding up Strom Thurmond’s stubborn support for racial segregation by law as a example of much better things used to be.
I don’t know, really. One would think, given our history and the progress we’ve made since 1776, that we would have left it behind in the dust long before now.
Clearly, for many people, religion has not declined in its usefulness in the modern world. If you feel that it has, I’m not sure why you haven’t put forth an argument to support that.
America has had a few religious revivals, known as Great Awakenings. This, for many, was like being converted to Christianity for the first time, so here we have the established religion filled with the passion of new converts every other generation or so. Each time it happens, it is just long enough away so that those involved can act like this time it is the first time, the real time.
Also, historically Americans who get fed up with local politics or family can simply move away, especially while there was west left unsettled. Even now there are many places for malcontents to move to. It is much easier to act like you believe in the one true religion straight from olden times and sustain the passion of the newly converted if you don’t have parents and grand parents who pretty much share your religion but not the zeal, or neighbors that aren’t riled up about religion and aren’t doing much evil either.
Oh bullshit.
Unless you consider Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas to be part of the Bible Belt, that is:
And when the US house votes 333-27 to support Ohio’s state motto (“With God all things are possible”), I don’t think you can pin that on “the Bible Belt.”
That’s certainly my impression on the ground. If anything, the South in particular is much less religious than it was during my childhood 30 years ago. I can think of a number of churches that have just closed their doors as membership drifted downward. I think the political activism of religious groups is the result of this. They feel their grip on things slipping and they’re trying desperately (and very noisily) to do something about it.
(Unfortunately, politicians can’t tell the difference between noise and numerosity. They hear all the screaming from the religious right and they feel compelled to respond to it.)
I think religiosity is a product of isolation. The South and much of the Midwest were for many years physically and culturally isolated. As they have become less so over the past few decades, with the advent of TV, and then cable TV, and then the internet, religion has declined in importance. I think most folks would still tell you they believe in God, but how many regularly attend church these days? I sense that number shrinking fast.