The Bible Belt

First of all, Cincinnati Reds, thank you for participating in this year's playoffs. As I recall, it started just after 8:00 on Tuesday and was done by 11:00. I DVR'd it so it really only lasted about an hour. I barely got comfortable on the couch and the my team's playoff run was over. I do kind of like the Braves, so I'll go with them. I was in their stadium a couple of years ago and I have a Braves cap, so that cements my relationship with them.

Its Sunday now. I figured we were in the Bible Belt so I Googled it to make sure and, yep, we're right in the middle of it. You can kind of tell. I didn't take the picture of the below billboard, but I've seen plenty of billboards here like it. One Sunday, I was in my car and decided to do an experiment. I scanned through radio stations. Fifteen out of the twenty-two had a religious broadcast. I heard a station today broadcasting a message being given by a preacher (There don't seem to be ministers, reverends, or pastors here. It seems like they're all called "preachers".)  He was giving the kind of sermon you might see on TV and figure its an exaggeration with an over the top fire and brimstone message. Turns out its not.

 

We're at a nice little church of about 40 people. Its a United Methodist Church. I'm still not sure what "Methodist" even means, let alone how that might differ from a "Southern Methodist". There are snake handling churches in the area. That alone makes me content where I am and not want to visit any other churches. In Oregon, you might think, "I don't want to visit another church because I might not like their music or they might not have a good enough youth program". That's nothing compared to going to a church and they bring out the "blue boxes". I've never seen the blue boxes, but I've heard stories.