Carterland Impressions

By all visible signs, religion— evangelical religion, specifically—is flourishing in the Southeastern states. We covered a good deal of the Carolinas, the eastern half of Georgia, and southern Virginia. In cities, towns, villages, and the thinly settled back- woods (which are very back indeed) there are new and newly furbished churches. These are mostly Baptist or Methodist, but many belong to the infinite variety of lesser but resoundingly named evangelical sects, and here and there, looking self-consciously out of place, they are Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Roman.

Hundreds of the Baptist and Methodist churches look brand new. Although a few of these are in a radically contemporary style, most are plain rectangular brick boxes, like their predecessors. Frequently, however, the new church proper is only one side or wing of a more complex structure with space for Sunday school, church auxiliaries, in some cases church-affiliated primary schools. Many older as well as new churches have been fitted with distinctive and visually interesting wooden steeples painted a bright white, with four concave sides converging in a sharp peak.

JB

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James Burnham

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By all visible signs, religion— evangelical religion, specifically—is flourishing in the Southeastern states. We covered a good deal of the Carolinas, the eastern half of Georgia, and southern Virginia. In cities, towns, villages, and the thinly settled back- woods (which are very back indeed) there are new and newly furbished churches. These are mostly Baptist or Methodist, but many belong to the infinite variety of lesser but resoundingly named evangelical sects, and here and there, looking self-consciously out of place, they are Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Roman.

Hundreds of the Baptist and Methodist churches look brand new. Although a few of these are in a radically contemporary style, most are plain rectangular brick boxes, like their predecessors. Frequently, however, the new church proper is only one side or wing of a more complex structure with space for Sunday school, church auxiliaries, in some cases church-affiliated primary schools. Many older as well as new churches have been fitted with distinctive and visually interesting wooden steeples painted a bright white, with four concave sides converging in a sharp peak.