As the Bible Belt begins to swell, Christianity has emerged as a lucrative business, and in some cases, a godsend.
Here are six ways Christianity has made it into a $100 billion-a-year business.
1.
Bible Belt Christians Are the Bible’s “Most Popular” Business It is not a secret that Bible Belt Christianity is growing.
In the 2016 survey by Pew Research Center, more than a quarter of Americans who identify as Christians and who attend religious services say they attend at least one church each week.
And according to the Christian Business Alliance, Christianity grew by about 5% between 2016 and 2017.
This may be a good thing, for a few reasons.
First, Christians are not just the most popular religion.
Pew Research reports that nearly three-quarters of all Americans attend church at least once a week.
Second, the Bible is one of the few religions that can be truly described as “God-centered.”
Christians are “Godly” or “God in Action,” and in the Bible, God is often depicted as a person with a beard and a turban.
Christians also tend to be more affluent than the general public, and the Bible has a strong economic narrative.
The Bible Belt is the only region in the United States that has been growing, as evidenced by the numbers in the table below.
The largest increases were in the Northeast, Midwest, and West, where evangelical Christians made up 30% of the population in 2015.
By 2020, however, the number of evangelical Christians had risen to 43%.
Christianity’s popularity has helped make the Bible the “most popular” religion in the country.
In addition to attracting people from around the world, Christianity is also one of America’s largest companies.
According to the Business Alliance study, the top 10 biggest U.S. employers in 2017 were Christian businesses, including: General Electric (GE), Dell, Starbucks, AT&T, Amazon, and PepsiCo.
While the Bible belt is certainly growing, its growing population and prosperity means that many Christians are no longer in the job market.
Some have left the Bible altogether, while others have found work in other sectors, such as real estate or hospitality.
In fact, some Bible Belt states are experiencing a decline in churchgoing.
According a study by the Southern Baptist Convention, just two of the 50 largest Bible belt states have a population of more than 30,000 people.
In some states, the population is down by 30%.
But it is also the case that in the past decade, Bible Belt evangelical Christians have become increasingly influential in politics, as the Southern Poverty Law Center has noted.
Christians are becoming the “first people to really be able to make real difference in the lives of people who don’t normally get to see their elected officials,” says Johnathan D. King, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who recently helped write a book about Bible Belt politics.
For example, one recent study found that in 2010, fewer than half of evangelical voters had voted for a candidate who was a member of the church.
Now, this number is more than double.
2.
Christianity has a Positive Impact on the Economy Christianity has grown from a religion that was once a fringe phenomenon to a household name in the American economy.
The U.K. has been home to Christianity since the early 1500s, when the first churches were built.
And by the 19th century, the church had grown to be one of its biggest supporters, with an estimated $4 trillion in annual revenues.
The number of churches in the U. K. is now more than 3 million, and today the number is growing at a rate of more then 10% per year.
Christianity is a global phenomenon.
According the Pew Research report, Christianity was responsible for a large share of the value added in the economies of countries such as India, China, and Turkey.
In a survey conducted in 2016, Gallup reported that about half of American adults say they know someone who is Christian.
In 2014, Pew Research reported that Christians are the “largest religious group in the world.”
In other words, their influence is significant in the daily lives of American Christians.
3.
Bible Culture Has Created a Culture of Trust Christianity has fostered a culture of trust among Christians.
According one survey by the Pew Forum, 80% of American Americans believe that a person’s religion should inform their moral decisions, and this trust has grown significantly over the last two decades.
While a majority of Christians do not feel that they should trust a non-Christian, the survey found that this trust is growing as a result of Christianity.
Pew reported that the number who say that they have confidence in a Christian’s moral judgment is now higher than ever before, and that it is now about 50 points higher than the pre-religious average.
This is due in part to the fact that the Bible can teach people how to behave morally, and Christianity has also helped foster a culture in which people feel valued.
