American Idol: God and the South

Each of the 24 final singers in the American Idol show were asked whom they would thank upon winning. Most said “God”, but not everyone. What is interesting is who said what. My wife seems to think that most blacks believe in God while most whites do not. But among the singers, most said “God”, black or white, although it is true that blacks were more likely to say God than were the whites. But it was not race that seemed to be the strongest influence on how one answered, but where one was from: Of the 12 singers from the South, all but two said “God”. But of the 12 singers from the North and the West, only five said “God” – less than half. And it did not seem to matter if they were black or white. Just as most of the whites did not think to thank God, the same was true of most of the blacks.

Is it that more people in the South believe in God than in other parts of the country? Probably. But something else is going on here: people in the South seem to be a lot more public about God and religion than in the North where I live. In the North people regard it more as a private matter, a subject best avoided when talking to someone you do not know well.

There is a common-sense reason for this: in the South nearly everyone is Baptist and so the subject of religion is not going to make anyone uncomfortable. In the North, however, there is a great variety of religion and many do not believe in God at all, so religion becomes a delicate point, and therefore a private affair.