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The term “Bible Belt,” a familiar label associated with religion in the South, was coined by journalist H.L. Mencken following his coverage of the Scopes “monkey” trial in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. It has been used regularly since that time to refer to a religiously conservative or fundamentalist region in the American South and sometimes the Midwest, though its exact geographic extent remains debatable. Geographers have attempted to define the location of the Bible Belt in the past. Most notably Heatwole defined the geographic extent of the Bible Belt in a 1978 article using 1971 data from the Glenmary Research Center. We replicate his effort for 1971, but add cartographic and statistical analyses for 1980, 1990 and 2000. Changes in the Belt’s location have occurred as a result of new migrants to the South as well as shifts within the region itself. The Bible Belt region today stretches from northern Texas to western North Carolina, and from Mississippi north to Kentucky. Also the region’s core or “buckle” was located in eastern Tennessee in the 1970s, but by 2000 it had moved west to north-central Texas and southwestern Oklahoma. Dynamism and fluidity as well as tradition continue to be important forces shaping the region’s religious landscapes. Abstract: El termino “Bible Belt”, una etiqueta familiar asociada con la religion del Sur, fue acunado por el periodista H.L. Mencken luego de su cobertura sobre el juicio de los Scopes “monkey” en Dayton, Tennessee en 1925. El termino se ha utilizado con regularidad desde entonces para referirse a una region religiosamente conservadora o fundamentalista en el Sur de los Estados Unidos, y en ocasiones el Medio-Oeste, aunque su extension geografica exacta sigue siendo debatible. Los geografos han tratado de definir la ubicacion del cinturon de la Biblia (“Bible Belt”) en el pasado. Notablemente, Heatwole definio la extension geografica del Cinturon de la Biblia en un articulo en 1978 utilizando datos de 1971 del Glenmary Research Center. Nosotros replicamos su esfuerzo de 1971, ademas de anadir analisis cartografico y estadistico de 1980, 1990 y 2000.Cambios en la ubicacion del Cinturon se han producido como resultado de los nuevos inmigrantes en el Sur, asi como cambios dentro de la propia region. El Cinturon de la Biblia actualmente se extiende desde el norte de Texas hasta el oeste de Carolina del Norte, y desde Mississippi hacia el norte de Kentucky. Tambien, el nucleo de la region o “hebilla” se encontraba en el este de Tennessee en 1970, pero en 2000 se habia trasladado al oeste, al norte-centro de Texas y suroeste de Oklahoma. Dinamismo y fluidez, asi como tradicion, siguen siendo fuerzas importantes moldeando los paisajes de las religiones de la region.

The 2007 summer drought and heat wave that scorched Kentucky and Tennessee affected stakeholders in the agriculture, tourism, and water supply industries, among others. The drought and heat wave also generated large amounts of media coverage and was touted as being among the worst in history. But how does the 2007 summer drought and heat wave that affected the Mid-South rank compared to the notable droughts in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s? Using climate division data and state composite data for Kentucky and Tennessee we performed a statistical analysis that allowed us to place the 2007 summer drought and heat wave into proper historical perspective. While the 2007 drought was among the all-time worst in Tennessee history, there have been many more notable drought periods in Kentucky.

Changes in time zone boundaries are rare but are the result of initiatives at local levels where businesses and employees have stronger linkages to counties and cities in a time zone other than their own. I investigate the October 2000 change in Wayne County, a rural county in southcentral Kentucky that petitioned the U.S. Department ofTransportation to join the Eastern Time Zone. Public meetings, letters and petitions demonstrated the divided sentiment regarding the change. Almost 70% ofthe 2500 signatures supported the change. I investigate the content of660 individual letters to identify the major reasons supporting and opposing the change. Linkages to places ofemployment and shopping and visits to physicians were major reasons in support ofthe change. Objections were a dissatisfaction with no referendum, concerns about children's safety waiting for buses in the dark, "liking it the way it is," and inconveniences for farmers.

Seminaries and divinity schools are significant components of a region's religious heritage and cultural landscape. While training ministerial professionals, they often proselytize among local residents and take moral positions on regional and global issues that are consistent with their theological stances. These "inside" and "outside" missions are integral elements of a seminary's worldview. In order to analyze the worldviews of 46 accredited theological seminaries and divinity schools in the American South, we examine their promotional materials in three ways: we study their use of visual images, their mission statements, and the global/intercultural content of their curricula. While evangelical seminaries share much in terms of mission statements and types of courses offered, this research shows that a number of schools, especially those serving Catholic, Hispanic, African American, and "mainline" groups, hold a diverse collection of worldviews. Christian theological schools in the contemporary South reflect strong elements of both an evangelical tradition and postmodern perspectives.

— NealPeirce, 1975 Kentucky's history and present is marked by stark contrasts in alcohol production and sales. While the distillery industry has a long history in German-settled areas around Louisville and along the Ohio River, there have been religious and temperance groups since early in the nineteenth century opposed to sales. The strength of prohibition forces was evident in gubernatorial races and legislative proposals that led up to enactment ofstatewide prohibition in 1919. This proposed amendment to the Kentucky Constitution was narrowly approved by voters; in 1933 the "wet" or repeal voters again were in the majority, but not without much opposition from Southern Baptists and other fundamentalist denominations. During the past three decades, the "dry" forces have continued to influence proposed alcoholic beverage sales petitions in much of small-city and rural Kentucky. While the "dry" forces consider the question of sales a moral issue, supporters of sales tout potential convention and tourist dollars and attracting outside industries. Persistence ofprohibition forces is evident in the state's having 75 dry and 30 wet counties and 15 "moist" counties (dry counties that contain wet cities).

Marriage-mate selection distances are used to operationalize the concept of isolation for three eastern Kentucky counties. Isolation changes between 1900 and 1988 are compared for four periods of economic transformation. The assumption is that short marriage distances occur in isolated areas whereas longer marriage distances reflect a greater spatial range of physical and social contact. Isolation, as defined by marriage-mate selection distances, decreased substantially during the industrial transformation period of 1900-1930 but changed very little between 1930 and 1988. Our findings stand in stark contrast to those of Ford (1962) who argued that factors such as education, mass communication, and improved roads have helped to reduce isolation in the southern Appalachian region.