Evidence that the American South is, um, different

The subtleness of what sets the South apart is missed--mostly--by those who did not grow up there.

As a liaison between them folks down yonder and the rest of the country, I will occasionally hold forth:

• All Southern natives of the Protestant persuasion are religious, whether or not they spend one minute in church. The culture is steeped in religiousity; Christianity permeates every aspect of life. Being Protestant in the South is like being Jewish in New York City. The fact ethnically defines who you are, and not just in Godly affairs.

• The ruling white class in the South has never gotten over the War Between the States, much less the Civil Rights Movement. Case in point: The junior U.S. Senator from Alabama is named Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. Although I have not asked his mama and daddy, I presume "Jefferson" is for Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy; and "Beauregard" is for P.G.T. Beauregard, a general in the Confederate States Army. Sessions was born in 1946, more than 81 years after the South surrendered.