Photographic PROOF of the "Bible Belt"!

[Brotherjohn]

There is a swath of real estate in the Deep South which has often been referred to as the "Bible Belt", but has only existed based upon anecdotal evidence... in theory. This terminlogy was based upon the predominance of fundamenalist churches and the everpresent use of the words like "rapture" in seemingly unrelated conversations: Hey, Bob! You come to Lowe's, too, huh? Buying that generator for hurricane season, or the Rapture?"

This place has been much discussed, but little physical evidence has been presented. Astronauts cannot see it from space. On the ground, it looks pretty much like the rest of the southern United States (save for a perhaps more pronounced level of dilapidation).

But now, photographic evidence, PROOF of this place's existence, has been obtained.

Scientists used a special indicator to aid in visualization of the Bible Belt, distributed across the country in the form of "Obama is a radical Muslim" e-mails. The image results from a the level to which this indicator took hold: more red where it did, and more blue where it did not.

Use the following link to view the picture (scroll down to the map and click "Voting shifts" on the left):
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html

[tosh]

1. True, but there are belts within the belt Please view

this one: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#mapPGA

It is still a "Bible Belt" no doubt but a different interpretation of the same bible.

edited to relocate the word "but".

[yellowcanine]

2. If McCain had not been on the ballot we would have gotten Arizona also.

Obama has managed to completely scramble the electoral map. It is a new ball game.

In 2012 and possible beyond Democrats will have a virtual lock on all of the Northeast and the East Coast with the exception of SC and GA, most of the Midwest, the Southwest and the entire West Coast. In short Dems will have all the large EV states except Texas. And who knows, Texas may be in play for the Dems in 2012 as well.

[Lumpsum]

3. .

[Liberal Gramma]

4. Looks to me like an ignorance belt

Maybe we should give incentives to states with low-education populations to improve their schools. In the same way that building schools in the mid-east lowers the terrorism rate, maybe building schools in the rural areas might lower ignorance and racism.

[I_Will]

7. is there a difference?

[Liberal Gramma]

13. Not a substantial one...

but there are Christians who are also intelligent and tolerant. It's not the faith that is at fault, but the ignorance.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. And there sits my home state, right where the buckle would be.

It ain't easy bein' blue.

[mwooldri]

6. But NC is considered "bible belt" too. We're erm... blue now. nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. dupe delete

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. How to drive through Alabama

[noel711]

10. How much of that red swathe corresponds to Appalachia?

[FLAprogressive]

11. The red areas are just more "pro-America" :P

[budkin]

12. Awesome map!