Being atheist in the Bible Belt

[Minimalist]

That's not the way they tell it.

http://www.virtueonline.org/why-are-sout...-shrinking

The front page of the magazine SBCLife, of the Southern Baptist Convention, which goes to 54,000 pastors and church leaders, reported that America's largest Protestant denomination has shrunk every year from 2007-8 with 16,228,000 members to only 15,736,000 in 2012-3.

That's a loss of nearly a half million members (492,800) -- more than many entire denominations such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Presbyterian Church in America and the Russian Orthodox Church.

And,

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanin...t-sbc.html

Pew also found that Southern Baptists are aging, with the median age rising from 49 in 2007 to 54 in 2014. That makes them older than Nazarenes, "nones," and nondenominational Christians, but younger than Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Methodists.
Other news from the recent Annual Church Profile (ACP) report released by LifeWay Christian Resources, which compiles SBC stats:

• About a third of Southern Baptists show up in church each week, with attendance dropping to about 5.67 million Sunday worshipers.
  
• Total baptisms declined 305,301, or about 1 for every 51 members. The rate remained unchanged from last year, thanks to the membership decline. But the overall number of baptisms is the lowest since 1947.
  

This is a long term trend.  And since it is these evangelical fucks who cause most of the problem this is decidedly good news.