Bible Belt - Buckle

Buckle

Several locations are occasionally referred to as "the Buckle of the Bible Belt":

• Fort Worth, Texas, home to the Texas Christian University and its Brite Divinity School, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (the largest Protestant seminary in the world).
• Lubbock, Texas, which is said to have more churches per capita than any other place in the nation
• Abilene, Texas a city of 117,000 home to three Christian universities: the Baptist affiliated Hardin-Simmons University, the Church of Christ's Abilene Christian University, and Methodist founded McMurry University.
• Lynchburg, Virginia, home to Liberty University, the largest evangelical Christian university in the world, founded by Jerry Falwell in 1971.
• Nashville, Tennessee, sometimes referred to as The Protestant Vatican, has over 700 churches, several seminaries, and a number of Christian schools, colleges and universities including Belmont University, Trevecca Nazarene University, Lipscomb University, Free Will Baptist Bible College and American Baptist College. Nashville is the seat of the National Baptist Convention, USA, the National Association of Free Will Baptists, the Gideons International, the Gospel Music Association, and Thomas Nelson, the world's largest producer of Bibles. It is also the headquarters for the publishing arms of both the Southern Baptist Convention (LifeWay Christian Resources) and the United Methodist Church (United Methodist Publishing House), as well as a number of Christian record companies such as EMI Christian Music Group, Provident Label Group and Word Records.
• Tulsa, Oklahoma, due to a large presence of Christian beliefs and establishments (such as Oral Roberts University) and its symbolic Prayer Tower. It is also one of the few urban areas in the United States where over 60% of the population attends church.
• Charlotte, North Carolina, hometown of Evangelist Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Library, as well as over 700 places of worship. Charlotte also served as the head seat of Southern Presbyterianism. Also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.
• Jacksonville, North Carolina & Camp Lejeune, largely Southern Baptist area also known for being very politically conservative due to the large military population.
• Springfield, Missouri, international headquarters of evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination Assemblies of God and home to their school, Evangel University.

Virginia Beach, Virginia, while not usually considered a buckle of the Bible Belt, is considered by many to be, along with Lynchburg, the eastern border. This is the headquarters of Pat Robertson and CBN as well as the location of Regent University.