Why did you come to this board?

[Jenny A]

I'm here because I got interested in the question of god again.  Why? Because my children are struggling with Christian friends at the same time we are visiting in-laws in the Bible Belt more often.  I stayed because I like the give and take.  And because of the people here.

I do feel so sorry for all you Americans who have to put up with this nonsense everyday. I only get my fix of religios insanity on the internet. It's nice because you can just leave when it frustrates you.

Christianity hardly ever gets mentioned here, and if it does it's most likely in a negative sense. If anyone said "amen" or "praise the lord" in a unironic way at work they'd get very funny looks.

I live in the Northwest and it's nothing like the Bible Belt.  I can go several weeks together here without hearing about god from anyone.  However, I'm just back from visiting in-laws in the South and I've had my belly full.  God is a sort of conversational and thinking patina that encrusts everything there. My sister and brother-in-law, don't seem to attribute anything they do or think to themselves.  Instead it's I used to think x, and then y happened and god turned me around and now I think this.  The fact that y is the sort of thing that would turn anyone around isn't relevant, or else god made y happen.  Similarly if you get into a good school, survive a auto accident, get well or even just get better, it's god working in your life.

My husband, who grew up there, thinks it's less belief in most cases and more a kind of herd signalling that they belong to the Southern tribe.