I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted.
–Flannery O’Connor
First of all, if you aren’t familiar with Flannery O’Connor, by all means stop reading this immediately and go find yourself a copy of A Good Man is Hard to Find. Make sure you’re sitting somewhere hot and humid when you read it, preferably accompanied by a tall glass of sweet tea or an ice-cold Coca-Cola. And extra points if either of those beverages has a nip of spirits in it!
Southern religion has changed little over the years. No wait…. let me start again…
Southern religion has changed a lot over the years. Well, actually…
It’s like this: religion, like sweet tea and family gossip and anything deep fried, is still one of the cultural glues in the South. It still serves as a manner of defining and distinguishing people. It still gives structure to community and time, both of this world and the next. But, over the years, churches have become much more corporate, much more politically savvy, and much, much wealthier. My father used to advise that one should steer clear of any church with a gymnasium… because that indicated that the congregation’s money was going to the wrong place. Now you can hardly find a church without a gym. Here in Memphis, we have Bellvue Baptist Church, which is bigger than a mall and has three lighted crosses which sit just off the interstate exit that (allegedly) can be seen from space at night. Bellvue has a congregation of over 9,000 people. (No, that’s not a typo!) But, somehow, even with all of those people, Bellvue congregants report the same relationship with their church and its members as any other small, backroads worship hall. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I’m not sure that I can really add much to Flannery O’Connor’s insight. I think she’s right that Southerners of all religious persuasions–by which I mean, of course, all Christian denominations–are somewhat “haunted” by Jesus, much in the same way that you would be with a ghost that took up residence in your home. Whether you attend to that presence or not, it’s still there, it’s still powerful, it still shapes and misshapes your life and activity, and there is no exorcising it. You might as well heed the advice that every grocery store clerk, gas station attendant, and bank teller in town will give you: “Have a blessed day.”