Tennessee and Southern States: Patriotic, Christian, and Serving in the Military

 

Driving to a breakfast buffet featuring grits and biscuits and gravy, I passed countless churches, most with an American flag planted in the yard. The car ahead of me had a Proud Veteran license plate and a POW/MIA sticker in the window, while the truck behind me displayed a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.

Returning to Tennessee, where I spent about half of my childhood and also graduated high school and earned my bachelor’s degree, I was pleased to find that despite the secular liberal direction much of the country has taken, or even sliding toward socialism like New York, Tennessee remains a sanctuary of normalcy.

Everywhere you go, there are overt signs of patriotism and Christianity, closely linked, alongside other attributes largely lost in much of the rest of the nation, including a high rate of military service.

Tennessee earned the nickname “Volunteer State” during the War of 1812, when Governor Willie Blount called for 3,500 volunteers and nearly 28,000 Tennesseans ultimately served under General Andrew Jackson, playing key roles in the Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans. The name was cemented during the Mexican-American War, when President James K. Polk requested 2,800 volunteers and more than 30,000 answered the call, forcing the state to select soldiers by lottery.

That tradition has not disappeared. While precise modern state-by-state data is limited, Southern states, including Tennessee, continue to provide a disproportionate share of military recruits. In 2018, Tennessee contributed more first-time military enlistees than expected based on its share of civilians aged 18–24, reflecting a higher-than-average enlistment rate among young adults.

This pattern is reinforced by deep-rooted military culture. Pentagon data show that most recruits come from families with prior service, creating strong regional concentrations of enlistment in the South.

The South also strongly supports the Second Amendment. Pew Research Center data show that the Southern United States has the highest concentration of gun owners in the country, with about 36 percent of residents owning firearms, more than double the rate in the Northeast. Tennessee stands out even within the region, with roughly half of adults owning guns, well above the national average. Tennessee allows permitless carry for handguns and maintains a strong hunting culture.

Other Southern states show similarly high ownership rates, while the lowest are concentrated in the Northeast and West Coast.

Measures of Christianity show similar regional patterns. Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study finds that 72 percent of Tennessee residents identify as Christian, with only 14 percent identifying as non-religious. Other estimates place Tennessee’s Christian population closer to 81 percent, with Protestants making up 73 percent.

Growing up, we always joked that Tennessee was the buckle of the Bible Belt.

A September 2025 Pew analysis ranked Tennessee fifth nationally for religiosity, with 44 percent of residents classified as “highly religious.” A SmileHub study ranked Tennessee second-most religious based on the share of adults who consider religion very important, congregations per capita, and participation in prayer and weekly services.

Tennessee has one of the highest concentrations of churches per capita in the nation. Nashville has more churches per capita than any other major U.S. city and is often called the “Protestant Vatican,” hosting denominational headquarters including the Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, Church of God, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and the Free Will Baptist denomination.

The Southern Baptist Convention alone counts 1.4 million members in Tennessee. The state also leads the nation in megachurch density, with one megachurch per 99,272 residents, the only state below a 100,000-to-1 ratio, compared to a national average of 196,789. Multiple Christian denominational publishing houses are also based in Nashville.

In Tennessee and much of the South, children are far less likely to be told they are the wrong gender or encouraged to believe they can change their gender. Correspondingly, Tennessee has one of the lower LGBT-identifying populations in the country. According to the Williams Institute’s analysis of Gallup polling data, LGBT adults make up about 3.5 percent of Tennessee’s population, placing the state in the bottom third nationally.

States with the highest LGBT populations include the District of Columbia at 9.8 percent, Vermont at 6.4 percent, Oregon at 5.8 percent, Massachusetts at 5.4 percent, and California at 5.3 percent.

These cultural differences are reflected in public policy. Since 2023, at least 28 anti-DEI bills have become law nationwide, with Tennessee among ten states that have enacted restrictions. These laws prohibit state-funded institutions from maintaining DEI offices, requiring DEI statements for hiring or admissions, mandating DEI training, or granting preferences based on race, gender, or other identity categories.

Between 2023 and 2024, lawmakers in at least 42 states introduced more than 440 anti-DEI bills, with 23 states enacting at least one, overwhelmingly concentrated in Southern and Republican-controlled states.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order GA-55 banning race-based considerations in state hiring and curricula. Florida barred public colleges from using state or federal funds for DEI initiatives and extended restrictions to private workplace diversity programs. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and South Carolina passed similar measures.

In contrast, 16 Democratic state attorneys general, including those from California, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts, issued joint guidance in February 2025 affirming the legality of DEI initiatives. California and New York strengthened DEI reporting requirements.

In view of these facts, it is hardly surprising that a state ranking high in patriotism, military service and volunteerism, gun culture, Christianity, and conservatism also votes Republican. Gallup data show that 98 percent of Republicans express pride in the U.S. military, compared with 84 percent of Democrats, and high church attendance further blends religious and patriotic themes into civic life.

In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris by 29.7 points, 64.19 percent to 34.49 percent, the strongest Republican performance in Tennessee since Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide. Trump received more than 1.96 million votes, the most ever cast for a candidate in the state.

Tennessee has now voted Republican by double-digit margins in six consecutive presidential elections and has voted Republican in every presidential race since 2000, last backing a Democrat in 1996 when Bill Clinton ran with Al Gore.

Republican dominance extends down the ballot. Senator Marsha Blackburn won re-election in 2024 with 63.80 percent of the vote, Republicans hold an 8–1 majority in Tennessee’s congressional delegation, and the party controls both chambers of the state legislature with supermajorities.

Tennessee’s alignment reflects a broader Southern pattern, with states such as Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Louisiana consistently ranking among the most Republican-leaning states while also leading the nation in patriotism, military service, gun ownership, Christian identity, and social conservatism.

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