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mapsontheweb · 8 years ago

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Bible Belts of Europe.

by u/bezzleford

This map shows some of the "Bible Belts" across Europe. These are usually the slightly more religious areas of a country. Many of you have probably heard of the Bible Belt in the US or the Bijbelgordel (Bibe belt) of the Netherlands but after doing some reading I found a few more.

Sidenote: this map just shows some of the bible belts I could find some sort of reference to. It's important to take the map with a pinch of salt as some of the boundaries aren't concrete. Northern Ireland in general is considered the "bible belt" of the UK but I decided to focus on the individual nations of the UK. Before the USSR split, Ukraine was known as the "bible belt" the Soviet Union. Turkey's "Quran belt" is considered the centre and east of the country (traditionally non CHP voting areas)

The list:

Netherlands: Bijbelgordel. Calvinist. Very clear to see when you look at the voting pattern for the SGP

Sweden: Bibelbältet. Conservative Lutheran Revival.

Norway: Bibelbeltet. Lutheran. There's also a "Little Bible Belt" (lille bibelbeltet) southeast of Oslo

Northern Ireland: North Antrim. Evangelical Protestant. Stretching from Portrush to Larne. Between 1970-2010 North Antrim MP was Ian Paisley, a Free Presbyterian minister well known for his theological fundamentalism. The town of Ballymena is considered the "buckle".

Denmark: (North) West Jutland. Source2. Lutheran. Centred around Ringkøbing.

Poland: South Poland. Catholic. Mentioned in Ask Reddit about various bible belts and a user pointed out southern Poland having much higher church attendance. Others claimed the entirety of Eastern Poland being the bible belt and many argued Poland itself was Europe's bible belt.

England: Lancashire Source2. Anglican/Catholic. Liverpool and Lancashire are the most religious places in England with some districts still being over 75% Christian. Some have suggested calling Birmingham England's "Quran belt" although the city is still twice as Christian as it is Muslim and there are more Muslim cities in England.

Scotland: Western Isles. Calvinist (North), Catholic (South). The Outer Hebrides are the most religious part of Scotland and the area still holds traditional Christian values. The majority of residents want shops to remain closed on Sunday and church attendance remains high. The islands are particularly religious when you compare it to the rapid secularisation of Scotland.

France: Vendée. Catholic. I found a number of redditors claim that if France had a bible belt it would be the department of Vendée. Many stated that the department was still heavily Catholic and had deep roots in the French monarchy. Other uses also claimed that Alsace was France's "bible belt".

Czech Republic: South Moravia. As a number of redditors and census data has pointed out, South Moravia is the "more Christian" part of the overwhelmingly irreligious Czech Republic. And this imbalance in religiosity has persisted as the country secularises.

Germany: Bavaria. Bavaria is the most religious state in Germany and the parts bordering the Czech Republic are the "least irreligious" in the whole of Germany. Historically there was also a "Saxon Bible Belt". The Saxon Bible belt ran in the Ore Mountains of Saxony, along the Czech border.

Slovakia: Eastern and Northern Slovakia. Catholic and various Christian.

(Republic of) Ireland: County Mayo. Catholic and various Christian. According to redditors country Mayo has a large number of religious Catholics and other Christian groups such as Mormons and some Evangelical Protestants

#maps #bible belts #europe #religiosity

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