East Tennessee is often referred to as part of “The Bible Belt”, because there is seemingly a Christian church on every corner. This regional nickname is often contextually used when talking about the religiously judgmental or condemning state of mind native people are perceived to have. I am interested in exploring what individuals truly think about the belief systems in the area. Do people that have moved to the region from other parts of the world feel accepted? Are people who are native all like-minded and non-accepting of people with different beliefs than thier own?
I have created a hand drawn map of the Tri-cities area in East Tennessee (Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol). This map includes all of the major interstates, highways, and roads. The points found on the map represent religious meeting places. To keep my viewers unbiased, I did not title any of the religious meeting places. Instead, the places are defined by their stance on important issues such as; inebriation, abortion, gay marriage, etc.. My intention is to remove the viewer’s assumptions about each of these belief systems. A person may view the map and realize that their stance on these issues is related to a religion with which they are not affiliated. The purpose for placing this information on a map is to show the proximity of the different, and similar religious institutions to one another. This will hopefully propose the questions; why are there so many in such close proximity? Why are there two places with the same beliefs located so close together? The places marked on the map were translated to the paper from Google maps. Though there are more religious meeting places in the Tri-cities area than the map shows; I chose only the places that appeared on Google Maps, meaning that they are an established and known meeting place. To coincide with my Belief Systems Map, I created a survey. The survey will make the concept more personal. Though there are different religious meeting places within the area, and they all stand upon certain doctrines, an individual person affiliated with that belief system may differ upon certain issues. I hope this will allow conversation to arise and create connection and understanding among individuals in the region. |