True, though there's a particular sort of Catholic quasi-conservatism that still holds sway to some extent in the Italian and Irish-descended populations.
My own grandfather was the son of a Norwegian immigrant, but he was adopted as a child in South Dakota by a Danish Baptist preacher--not a fanatic by early 20th century rural standards, but certainly very religiously conservative.
But the anti-atheist sentiment is strongest in places with rural Anglo Protestant populations. I have heard it claimed that the culture involved has roots in the Scottish Border people, who were hardcore Presbyterian Calvinists. ("McIrvin" is probably a Scottish Border name, though my direct male line is too murky to say much about how it got here.)
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Date: 2006-09-30 10:48 am (UTC)My own grandfather was the son of a Norwegian immigrant, but he was adopted as a child in South Dakota by a Danish Baptist preacher--not a fanatic by early 20th century rural standards, but certainly very religiously conservative.
But the anti-atheist sentiment is strongest in places with rural Anglo Protestant populations. I have heard it claimed that the culture involved has roots in the Scottish Border people, who were hardcore Presbyterian Calvinists. ("McIrvin" is probably a Scottish Border name, though my direct male line is too murky to say much about how it got here.)