How did the American South become fanatically religious?

Question

It wasn't like that before the Civil War, so did something happen during Reconstruction?

Answer 1

Inbreeding.

It's an evolution thing - they wouldn't understand.
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My apologies to Paj. It's obviously a stereotype, and I played on it. I have a good friend in Arkansas who calls me on this all the time. You've got plenty of good people down there, not just religious nuts.

Answer 2

we in the south could say the same for any other religion race creed culture dont judge us all as fanatically religious because we are born and raised in the south no i dont drive a general lee my cousins do not resemble bo and luke duke if u check online under my state u will see that in our first port city charleston there are more faiths in more churches in a small area religious freedom to worship try going to any other country on earth some places u can b hanged for simply wearing a cross necklace then talk about religous fanatacism

Answer 3

I ask a similar question about the country that I live in - Canada|

How did it become so fanatically secular humanist and having policies that explicitly exclude Christians from the public sphere in the name of "freedom," while allowing every other religion public domain in the name of "inclusiveness?"


Them "Catholic" prime ministers we have had for the past approximately forty years were sure good Catholics|

Our country up here is so wonderful now because of them, that we have achieved the holy grail of "social peace" (a term coined by past prime minister Jean Chretien)|


We are an example and an exemplar for the whole world.

Heck, even the U.N. for several years, voted us the best place to live in the world (and if it weren't for Star Trek, we would have been voted the best place to live in the whole cosmos)|




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Answer 4

The Great Awakenings - a Christian revival just a few decades before the civil war went through the American South. Many people became Christians in the South- both whites and blacks (missionaries and ministers would baptize both masters and slaves). It was also the beginning of the Black Church in the south - slaves would have their own private worship meetings.

Two things happened then -

- people in the North began to worship, and in the midst of that, question slavery. They started the abolishionist movement.

- Slaves began to cry out to God, and pray to him.

I think it's a major reason slavery ended so abruptly.

Answer 5

Actually, a deep religious tradition was the norm throughout the United States until the late 19th century. It would be more accurate to say that the industrialized north became less religious since then, rather than the other way around.

Answer 6

I think the north has become less religious. If you remember - much of the land in the north and the west was stolen from the Indians because of Manifest destiny. So Northerners used God to murder and steal peoples land just like they did in the south.

Answer 7

This was, of course, caused by the defeat of the south in the Civil War. An order to lay claim to some victory, many of the Rebels laid claim to the high ground as to religion. And so, the southern Bapist, Christian, holy roller, holier then thou, movement was born. If you can't rebel and win one way, then rebel and win another way.

Answer 8

i've got faith that the answer to that question could be chanced on via investigating the KKK. The KKK became no longer basically a racist business enterprise desperate to roll lower back any gains that Blacks had made at present after the Civil conflict; they have been additionally a non secular business enterprise. At one time, this racist, non secular business enterprise had a substantial following and provided a decisive impact upon southern American subculture because it fed on the fears and insecurities of the plenty interior the era following the Civil conflict. it is going to extra be spoke of that the Civil conflict became no longer fought for the point of freeing slaves. The ruling elite of the north had no authentic subject with slave-hard artwork as they themselves have been abusing hard artwork only as badly interior the northern factories. the subject that led to the Civil conflict became the contradiction between the agrarian plantation proprietors of the South verses the rising marketplace-based economic equipment of the North. the two have been completely incompatible. it is many times seen interior the law placed forth via the competing pastimes top as much as the Civil conflict. This conflict of words between elites chanced on its thank you to the customary public interior the form of "loose-state" and "slave-state" law. The South properly felt that have been a marketplace-based economic equipment to be inflicted upon them, the plantations could be broken up and the slaves left to bypass loose. whilst this, in actuality, happened, the North's ruling elites had no authentic interest in embracing the empowerment of Blacks and yielded interior the pursuit of reconstruction to the extra undesirable components of Southern society. As is many times the case, those components used faith to extra their reason. "In each and every us of a and in each and all ages, the priest has been against liberty. he's often in alliance with the despot; abetting his abuses in return for risk-free practices to his very own." -- Thomas Jefferson

Answer 9

The oil rich south appear to be fanatically religious because they need these establishments to keep their proffit, not prophet, margin down, and to white-wash their money. They have a form of Godly devotion, but prove false to its power. A religionist is one who uses God, for his own proffit. Kind of like a self serving politician.

Answer 10

Yes, we are all inbred and stupid.

That is exactly what happened.

*sigh*

I think that it is a HUGE misconception that the south is "fanatically religious". I believe that is just another stereotype.

Of course, I'm from Texas, and here we all wear cowboy boots & hats, and ride horses. Riiiiiight. *roll*

Answer 11

I can only speak for some Southerners here. But, from what I see I believe that the Southerners are still pissed by being subjected by a president who killed his own people whom was Abraham Lincoln who would not give us the Constitutional right to secede