Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1926, reputedly coined by H.L. Mencken.
Wiktionary
n. 1 An area where socially conservative Protestant Christianity is a pervasive or dominant part of the culture. 2 # (lb en in particular) An area in the south-eastern United States where Evangelical Protestantism is a pervasive and dominant part of the culture.
Wikipedia
The Bible Belt is an informal region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism plays a strong role in society and politics, and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average. The Bible Belt consists of much of the Southern United States as well as parts of adjacent areas. During the colonial period (1607–1776), the South was a stronghold of the Anglican church. Its transition to a stronghold of non-Anglican Protestantism occurred gradually over the next century as a series of religious revival movements, many associated with the Baptist denomination, gained great popularity in the region.
The region is usually contrasted with the mainline Protestantism and Catholicism of the Northeastern United States, the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, and the relatively secular Western United States. Whereas the state with the highest percentage of residents identifying as non-religious is the New England state of Vermont at 34%, in the Bible Belt state of Alabama it is just 3%. Mississippi has the highest proportion of Baptists, at 75%. The earliest known usage of the term "Bible Belt" was by American journalist and social commentator H. L. Mencken, who in 1924 wrote in the Chicago Daily Tribune: "The old game, I suspect, is beginning to play out in the Bible Belt." Mencken claimed the term as his invention in 1927.
The Bible Belt (De Bijbelgordel in Dutch) is a strip of land in the Netherlands with the highest concentration of conservative Protestants in the country. It was named after the Bible Belt of the United States.
The Bible Belt stretches from Zeeland, through the West- Betuwe and Veluwe, to the northern parts of the province Overijssel. However, some communities with strong conservative Protestant leanings are situated outside the belt. For example, Urk, considered by many as one of the most traditional communities in the country, and some municipalities of Friesland have characteristics typical of the Bible Belt. Other places in this area are Yerseke, Tholen, Ouddorp, Opheusden, Kesteren, Barneveld, Nunspeet, Elspeet and Staphorst. The three biggest cities regarded to be part of the Bible Belt are Ede, Veenendaal and Kampen.
Bible Belt is the début release by soul singer-songwriter Diane Birch. The lead single is "Nothing But a Miracle". An acoustic version of the song "Rewind" appears on a season 3 episode of The Vampire Diaries.
Birch wrote all the tracks on the album. Her backing band consists of Jay Foote on bass, vocals and tambourine, Eric Bloom on trumpet, flugelhorn and backing vocals, and Alex Foote on guitars and backing vocals.
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture.
It is also used more generically for any region of a country that is more conservative and religious than the country as a whole, as in:
The Swedish Bible Belt is a region centered on Jönköping in northern Småland where demographics show that people are characteristically more religious. In the Bible Belt the free church are relatively popular in comparison with the Church of Sweden.
The Norwegian Bible Belt (Norwegian: bibelbeltet) is a loosely defined southwestern coastal area of Norway, which is more religious than most of Norway. Typically, the definition covers Western Norway (Vestlandet) and Southern Norway (Sørlandet), which includes the counties of Rogaland (typically called the "buckle" of the Bible Belt), Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal, Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder. The most urban areas such as Stavanger (once known as the 'religious capital of Norway'), however, have strongly secularised since the 1960s and are no longer considered part of the Bible Belt.
Usage examples of "bible belt".
His broadcasting network in the Bible Belt served as an inexhaustible source of funds, and in every city he had a hard core of supporters who could be relied on to sustain his campaign.
I don't suppose any but scholars read the Old Testament anymore, but the culture I was brought up in was soaked in its attitudes-'Bible Belt,' you've heard me call it that.
Like the Sun Belt or the Bible Belt, there exists, on this multifarious earth of ours, a Hair Belt.
Petway, tricked and trickster, were turkey-trotting through a loop of the Bible Belt.
The Bible Belt faith in which I was brought up encouraged me to think that I was better than the rest of the world.