Bible Belt

The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States, the Midwestern state of Missouri, and the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia and West Virginia (which all have significant Southern influence), where evangelicalProtestantism exerts a strong social and cultural influence. The region has been described as 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 ranking the highest at 46%), in the Bible Belt state of South Carolina it is just 16%; Mississippi and Arkansas both report 18% of their people to be religiously unaffiliated. Arkansas has the highest proportion of evangelical Protestants, at 50%. 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, North Louisiana, northern and easternTexas, 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." In 1927, Mencken claimed the term as his invention. The term is now also used in other countries for regions with higher religious doctrine adoption.