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.