Bible Belt?

[BostonWu]

We often hear Wichita referred to as part of the Bible Belt, which is totally different from my viewpoint. My reference point comes as a Catholic born and raised in Wichita and also from being stationed with the USAF in Abilene, TX for one looooooooong year. People who think there’s a lot of bible thumping around these parts need to head down to Abilene where it’s all fundamentalists and born-agains running the town. It was pretty tough to find a Catholic church off base. I once spoke with a sports shop memorabilia owner who said he had a signed Wilt Chamberlain poster advertising some form of alcohol in the back of the shop that he couldn’t display due to death threats. There were even some dry counties within the immediate area. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have a problem with this (although I did find the West TX area entirely boring and hot), just that it’s an entirely different culture down there in comparison to Wichita. And to me Abilene, TX is the Bible Belt – not Wichita. I’d be interested to hear what others think, both Wichita and non-Wichita residents.

[rrshock]

Maybe the city of Wichita isn't your best example. But all around the city is full of "Bible Thumpers". Especially into Reno, Harvey, and Northern Butler counties. Wichita might not fit into the mold, but the surrounding area definitely does.

[Shocker85]

Wichita may sort-of border the bible belt, but I agree there are plenty of areas, particularly in the deep South where fundamentalist and evangalical Christian beliefs are far more pervasive. Parts of Oklahoma are oriented very strongly that way.

We have our share of fundamentailsts here, but the relatively high Catholic percentage tempers it a bit, IMO. Wichita also has a very high percentage of persons of asian and and middle eastern decent non-Christians for a city of its rather small size. Wichita-proper does not show bible belt tendencies, although there are communities surrounding Wichita that do.

--'85.

[jazztrane]

I think people percieve Wichita as heavy with "Bible thumpers" because we do tend to voice our opinions on certain key issues that we are passionate about-like abortion and gambling. I think Wichita still falls into the category of more people around here believe in God, are familiar with the Bible and have strong "midwest" values (for lack of a better term) than "outside" the Bible belt. I think that's generally true for the midwest as a whole over, say, the coasts.