Religion in a Rural Community of the South

Abstract

T NHE ANLYSIS of religion presented here is only one aspect of a broad cultural study of Ruralville,1 an open-country community in southwestern Tennessee. A modified anthropological approach was followed in securing and analyzing the data. There were approximately 252 families in the community area. Cotton farming is the dominant type of agriculture. Small farms predominate. Though not excessive, tenants are more numerous than owners. With the exception of one Negro family, the population is entirely white. Throughout the study, emphasis was placed on comparison of owners and tenants to present the tenancy problem in its cultural setting. Although no claim is made for the universality of the religious pattern described, some years of residence in the South, combined with a personal interest in religion, leads the author to believe that the complex described is fairly common to many rural communities of the area. I. Magic: and Luck Signs. No person in Ruralville would ever dream of associating his belief in good and bad luck signs with religion, yet the belief in signs is closely akin to religious faith. A vague, amorphous conception of a Power which manipulates events for or against the individual is frequently embodied in both. Just how extensively belief in good and bad luck signs controls conduct in the community is not known, but in view of the rather long list of such signs which school children secured from their parents and neighbors, one would suspect that belief in them frequently controls conduct in a subtle and unconscious fashion. Put 'wish bone' over door, Set your shoes side by side when you go to bed, and Good luck for a hen to crow are illustrative of the good luck signs that are current. Characteristic bad luck signs are: Bad luck to put your left shoe on first; It is bad luck to let any child under the age of one year look in a mirror; and If you see a star shoot, it is the sign that some one is dead.2 II. Religious Beliefs: Meaning of Religion. The vague, generalized nature of the people's religious faith was brought out by the question: Will you make a statement of what religion means to you?' The answers given and the effort involved in giving them were revealing. To most of those who were asked the question, it came as a surprise. They had no ready answers. Some