Bible Belt

For other uses, see Bible Belt (disambiguation).

Bible Belt
Cultural region of the United States
Approximate boundaries of the Bible Belt
Approximate boundaries of the Bible Belt
Country United States
States Alabama
 Arkansas
 Georgia
 Kentucky
 Louisiana
 Mississippi
 Missouri
 North Carolina
 Oklahoma
 South Carolina
 Tennessee
 West Virginia

and parts of:

 Florida
 Illinois
 Indiana
 New Mexico
 Ohio
 Texas
 Virginia

The term Bible Belt refers to a region of the Southern United States and the Midwestern state of Missouri (which also has significant Southern influence), where evangelical Protestantism exerts a strong social and cultural influence. The region has been described as one of the most socially conservative across the United States due to a significant impact of Protestant Christianity on politics and culture. The region is known to have a higher church attendance, more evangelical Protestant denominations, and greater emphasis on traditional religious values compared to other parts of the country. The region contrasts with the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes and the Mormon corridor in Utah, southern Idaho, and northern Arizona.

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] while Tennessee has the highest proportion of evangelical Protestants, at 52%.[2] The evangelical influence is strongest in Alabama, Georgia, North Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Missouri, Western North Carolina, the Upstate region of South Carolina, Oklahoma, northern and eastern Texas, southern and western Virginia, and West Virginia.

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.

  1. ^ "The Unaffiliated". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. May 11, 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  2. ^ "Adults in Tennessee". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. May 11, 2015. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  3. ^ Fred R. Shapiro (ed.). Yale Book of Quotations. Yale University Press (2006). ISBN 978-0-300-10798-2.
  4. ^ "H. L. Mencken letter to Charles Green Shaw, 1927 Dec. 2". Charles Green Shaw papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015.
  5. ^ H. L. Mencken (June 3, 2011). "The human race is incurably idiotic". Archived from the original on December 23, 2019 – via lettersofnote.com.