In God We Trust
By: Kiera Troy I first encountered the phrase “God haunts the South” on a Tumblr post many years ago. The context was a European-born professor remarking on the religiosity of the American South, which must’ve been worth some scholarly exploration, given that an entire class was taught on the subject. It struck me as humorous that people went to school to learn about the cultural importance the church has in the South, when I and anyone else raised below the Mason-Dixon line could’ve told them for free. Flannery O’Connor, one of the most prevalent Southern Gothic genre writers, coined the term “Christ-haunted” when describing the almost manic fervor that comes from the American South’s relationship with faith. It conjures up a feverish hallucination of Jesus Christ, bloody and freshly tortured from the Cross, joining the untold numbers of tormented souls that still linger in the soil. A wronged population seeking vengeance on those w...
