On Stereotyping

By Discordia ~

Every now and then it pops up in postings here about how stupid and religious everyone in the South is. While everyone is entitled to their opinions, that entitlement doesn’t mean I have to like what they say, nor does it mean I have to remain silent. Quite frankly, such sweeping assumptions irritate me (especially on those occasions I find myself making them).

There are more than just a few of us regulars who are from the South. While that may come as a shock to some people who like thinking that the South is nothing but border to border churches, they should be realizing that deconversions are happening everywhere, and if churches are losing members on a regular basis, exactly WHERE do you think the majority of losses would be? Perhaps in areas where there are more religious people?

I cannot speak for others here, but I can promise you that I no more like hearing that EVERYONE in the South is a religious moron no more than anyone here likes hearing how they were never a True Christian to start with. However, if someone were to say there seems to be a lot of religious morons in the South, I could agree wholeheartedly because it is true. There ARE a lot of religious morons here. The fact that there is a lot of religion in the South does not mean that everyone in the South is religious. Not every person of Asian descent is a master at a martial art. Not every Hispanic is here illegally. Not every woman likes cooking and wearing 6” stiletto heels. Not every man likes sports.

The next time you want to say that all Southerners are religious, just ask yourself where you were before you deconverted? Worshiping God? Going to church? Reading your bible? Giving tithes to your church? Trying to gain converts to the cause? Praying to Jesus for blessings? And that makes you different from religious Southerns…. how?

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