Plenty of diversity in the Bible Belt
Sunday, June 25, 2006
By KAY CAMPBELL
Times Faith & Values Editor

From atheist to Zoroastrians, people in the Tennessee Valley explore faith and reason along the entire spectrum of traditional and nontraditional approaches to the divine.

The fundamentalist Christian denominations of Baptist and Church of Christ are the most numerous here, but the valley is also home to a Hindu temple, a Buddhist Zen center, three active Muslim congregations, both Conservative and Reform Jewish congregations and a thriving Catholic community with a large school.

Resources created by faith communities enrich the community with concerts, children's activities, a storytelling festival each spring, community worship services and multicultural events. The city's multinational heritage is reflected in German services at Christmas and Easter in several of the Lutheran congregations, and in the miniature United Nations represented by the members of the Greek Orthodox Church. the rest