Bible Belt Culture...

This picture is indicative of the perception that comes with living in the “Bible Belt”. Growing up in this area, I believed that the external things the population was involved in was what made us “better” than a state like say, California or New York with their Powerball, prostitutes, porn, and lack of moral regard.
The thing is, who cares? What I appreciate about growing up in the Bible Belt is that there was an ethos that held family and “God” in high regard. I like that, but what I don’t like is to see Sundays with full churches and people who don’t follow the Way. I do not think for a second that all the churches in the Bible Belt, or Oklahoma, are apostate and there are only a few churches with real Christians. I do think, however, that Bible Belt residents think that people will act morally because our state doesn’t have gambling, or liquor by the drink (a huge issue in the early 80s when I was a child). Cultures do not change because of rules, cultures change because of the Gospel.
Culture can be regulated, but that is only a restraint.
Two examples:
In Oklahoma City and further south, it is not uncommon on a Friday to have co-workers talk about how they are going to drive to the OK-Texas border to buy 6.2 beer instead of the state regulated 3.2 beer. Nothing illegal is taking place because of this drive, but the “moral” reason that 6.2 beer cannot be sold because it’s somehow worse is simply circumvented.

Then comes the lottery. I despise lotteries because of the damage they cause to families and how they destroy the lives of poor people. I hate them, but having a lottery in a state does not make one state more holy than another. Until recently, Oklahomans had to drive to Missouri or Texas to buy Powerball tickets, etc. Now the lottery is in Oklahoma, and while I believe it is horrible, it does not mean somehow that God is less present there.

The problem with equating what is allowed in this area as indicative of the spiritual climate of society is faulty at best. Part of the problem is that it creates a sense that moralism is equal to right standing before God. A good historical analogy is to look at Puritan culture in the 1600s-1700s where residents thought they were right with God because of where they came from. There is a huge threat of nominalism in this. I know nominalism is a problem in Oklahoma, and the Bible Belt as a whole. You are raised in church, your contacts come from church, that’s just what you do. Once a church culture has been built (I’m not saying Christian) people begin to look more to the externals around them, rather than themselves.

Obviously, Christians should live a certain way, but it’s in the view that ‘faith without works is dead’. God has given us the gift of faith and our works bear out what we believe. Many times, this is seen the other way, maybe as “works without faith is life”, meaning that because we in the Bible Belt don’t have these vices, vote for these people and go to church, it means we’re alive.
So rules are then equated as how we are holy. Because we regulate beer and liquor, it means we’re good. Because we keep out gambling, we’re holy. Because we do this and that, etc, etc, but rarely if ever, do we say, “because we’re trusting in God”…

And to further this point, here is a quick glance at the rough number of churches in the OKC/Metro area (where I’m from, sorry Tulsa). You will see around 1345 churches for around a million people. (This is not exact). That works out to 750 or so per church. I doubt that will work out.

Churches in OKC and most of the Metro area:
Oklahoma City: 805
Moore: 42
Norman: 112
Mustang: 25
Yukon: 46
Edmond: 94
Bethany: 30
Newcastle: 19
Tuttle: 18
Warr Acres: 10
Guthrie: 49
Midwest City: 26
Spencer: 41
Jones: 15
Harrah: 13

Now does this justify Oklahoma City as a Bible Belt city?
Sure.

But it also shows that this number of churches are likely not influencing their culture, i.e. salt and light, the way they should, as a whole.
My guess is that it stems from what I’ve been talking about, looking to that status of Bible Belt and church culture as what will keep us from "societies ills", as opposed to authenticating the Gospel in an incarnational way, that not only fights against things like gambling, but promotes real change in lives in our communities of Faith.