“What would Lee do?” Religion and the Moral Landscapes of Southern Nationalism in the United States

The idea of ‘the South’ in U.S. discourse is inextricably linked with religion. ‘Southern religion’ is understood as different from an often unstated national norm, and religion is often seen as central to the lives of both white and black Southerners. Non-Southerners see white Southerners in particular as more religious than other U.S. residents, as well as more conservative in their religious beliefs (Mathews 2006). Many of those inside the South would agree with these views; as John Shelton Reed (1993, 141) famously quipped, “Even those Southerners who don’t go to church at least know which one they’re not going to.”