Religion is a very big and very visible thing in this part of USA. It's in the heart of the Bible Belt.
I suppose it's because most churches in the UK are quite/very old and so built without much comfort or heating/aircon etc. that it's very noticeable that many of the US churches seem opulent by comparison.
Many are vast buildings with landscaped and immaculately maintained gardens around them.
And there are so many of them, even in the smallest town.
This is one of many in Rosedale - population less than 2,000
It's not uncommon to see huge billboards showing religious messages and it's quite normal for entertainers, musicians etc. to be very keen to express their christianity.
Roadside noticeboards outside churches often show eye-catching messages. We wished we had started collecting them, but one I remember amusing us was "If the wages of sin is death, shouldn't you quit before payday ?"
There are also loads of billboards with slogans advocating the holding of guns or objecting to any form of gun control , and lots of adverts for "Gun Shows".
At the Country Music Hall of Fame there was a 1962 Pontiac Bonneville belonging to a famous country singer called Webb Pierce (no, me neither) which had door handles in the shape of pistols and and rifle was mounted on the bonnet and another on the boot.
I already mentioned in an earlier post about how the Reverend Al Green had been very vehement in expressing his desire to take guns and personally "shoot up" all of the members of the Islamic State group.
While we were stopped at one viewpoint we got talking to a couple, probably late 30s or early 40s, who were travelling on a Harley. A nice chat about our respective trips and then somehow the conversation turned to guns. We explained the philosophy in the UK and most of Europe which was pretty much beyond his comprehension. He said he had 8 guns, one of which was an assault rifle, and that he wouldn't dream of travelling without one. He then proceeded to open up his saddlebag to get it out - fortunately in a case inside a fabric bag. We stopped him getting it right out, but it occurred to us that it wouldn't be much use anyway in an emergency if it took a while to access it.
We explained that although mass shootings had occurred in UK they were very rare because people generally don't have guns, but that there are frequent instances in USA.
He offered his opinion which was that the best way for people of our view to create an environment where the law could be tightened was to send someone into a school and shoot a load of kids.
Terrifying........and he was a normal friendly guy out on a trip with his wife.
By contrast, it can be quite difficult to buy a bottle of wine. Many counties in this part of the country do not permit the sale of alcohol and this is not unconnected to the prevalence of churches described above.
In one supermarket we asked where the wine was and she replied "Dry county, honey". It surprised us that people seem to put up with it in "the land of the free". They'll put a bullet in you if you try to take their guns away but they are OK with being prevented from buying a bottle of wine. You'd have thought it would be quite easy to prove that it's unconstitutional that you can't buy a bottle.
By a lovely irony, the Jack Daniel's distillery is in Moore County which is dry - so their products are not available for sale locally, although they have a dispensation to sell "souvenir bottles" actually at the distillery.
I suppose it's because most churches in the UK are quite/very old and so built without much comfort or heating/aircon etc. that it's very noticeable that many of the US churches seem opulent by comparison.
Many are vast buildings with landscaped and immaculately maintained gardens around them.
And there are so many of them, even in the smallest town.
This is one of many in Rosedale - population less than 2,000
It's not uncommon to see huge billboards showing religious messages and it's quite normal for entertainers, musicians etc. to be very keen to express their christianity.
Roadside noticeboards outside churches often show eye-catching messages. We wished we had started collecting them, but one I remember amusing us was "If the wages of sin is death, shouldn't you quit before payday ?"
There are also loads of billboards with slogans advocating the holding of guns or objecting to any form of gun control , and lots of adverts for "Gun Shows".
At the Country Music Hall of Fame there was a 1962 Pontiac Bonneville belonging to a famous country singer called Webb Pierce (no, me neither) which had door handles in the shape of pistols and and rifle was mounted on the bonnet and another on the boot.
I already mentioned in an earlier post about how the Reverend Al Green had been very vehement in expressing his desire to take guns and personally "shoot up" all of the members of the Islamic State group.
While we were stopped at one viewpoint we got talking to a couple, probably late 30s or early 40s, who were travelling on a Harley. A nice chat about our respective trips and then somehow the conversation turned to guns. We explained the philosophy in the UK and most of Europe which was pretty much beyond his comprehension. He said he had 8 guns, one of which was an assault rifle, and that he wouldn't dream of travelling without one. He then proceeded to open up his saddlebag to get it out - fortunately in a case inside a fabric bag. We stopped him getting it right out, but it occurred to us that it wouldn't be much use anyway in an emergency if it took a while to access it.
We explained that although mass shootings had occurred in UK they were very rare because people generally don't have guns, but that there are frequent instances in USA.
He offered his opinion which was that the best way for people of our view to create an environment where the law could be tightened was to send someone into a school and shoot a load of kids.
Terrifying........and he was a normal friendly guy out on a trip with his wife.
By contrast, it can be quite difficult to buy a bottle of wine. Many counties in this part of the country do not permit the sale of alcohol and this is not unconnected to the prevalence of churches described above.
In one supermarket we asked where the wine was and she replied "Dry county, honey". It surprised us that people seem to put up with it in "the land of the free". They'll put a bullet in you if you try to take their guns away but they are OK with being prevented from buying a bottle of wine. You'd have thought it would be quite easy to prove that it's unconstitutional that you can't buy a bottle.
By a lovely irony, the Jack Daniel's distillery is in Moore County which is dry - so their products are not available for sale locally, although they have a dispensation to sell "souvenir bottles" actually at the distillery.
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