Wow, this sounds totally amazing. It reminds me of that PBS movie American Hollow. Did you see it? Really tells an amazing story about that part of the world.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0821226312/qid=1136924986/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3187124-4904848?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

I saw the series last night, it was very well made, and treated the hicks with respect and tenderness. I highly recomend it. Frontline continues to produce great telivision. I was not surprised how much religion is a part of that world, in the absence of anything else, it seems like the only refuge. The kid throwing out metal christian riffs with his pastor while his girlfriend sang the goofy hyms was classic.

The religion aspect shouldn't surprise anyone. That is the bible belt and it is a reflection of the culture that they allow it in school and no one says boo about it. Someone who lives there would have to raise a fuss for religion to get the boot and if they're all fundamentalist who would?

The Supreme Court has no clout here

It's a culture thing. There was a time where the only entertainment and civic gathering you'd get would bet at a church social - there simply wasn't anywhere else to go.

Modern media has made some inroads there but 'religion stuff' is woven into the folkways. And to most rural places still hearken to a time when 'local option' meant just that - local communities decide for themselves what is best for them.

I mean I wasn't at all surprised that religion was a huge part of the kids' lives, or that the biggest entertainment event in the episode was that Christian concert... But you know, when the Supreme Court bans prayer from public high schools, I'd have expected that even small town principals in Appalachia would have heard the news. But I guess I'm naive.

It took the South more than ten years to honor Brown. They had to send federal troops into Mississippi in 1962 (Brown was decided in 1954) so that James Meredith could attend Ol Miss.

And the SNCC Kids (and a Federal Agent) got their heads split open in 1961 trying to get served in bus terminals despite the 1960 Boynton V. Virginia decision, which supposedly desegregated those public facilities.

Annie, if you saw the news about those Appalachian miners that died due to poor health and safety regulations, you would have noticed the whole town praying and little kids praying and even the dogs praying. The Appalachia takes this crap seriously, these are Ulster Scots descendants and religion is like breathing to them. I mean, they have snake handlers! Fucking Snake handlers!
I dont think the Supreme court and seperation of church and state even enters into the debate in this part of the country.

I still think the series is important and I like the way they treat them with respect. Im looking forward to seeing more of it.

Anne, it's not so much they are ignoring the 'church / state' seperation thing as deciding that local values mean more than those imposed from a place far away that knows little about how they live.

Less than that - there is little debate about it. I'd be tempted to say 'none' except that doesn't convey the utter lack of public contention on the issue.

Which isn't, I think, a bad way to live. America is a big place with a lot of room for diversity.

Funny story - I served with a guy from a county in southern Virginia. One paved road in the entire county, he claimed. Someone got uppity about the church/state seperation and sicked the lawyers on the local school board. They moved the bible class into a portable building one foot over the boundry line of the school property; a nod to church state seperation. The letter of the law honored, life went on.

Another way to think about it; in a place with grinding poverty and etc there are bigger things to worry about than kids praying before school. Fretting over church/state seperation is something you can afford to do when you are rich in spare time and energy.

Hicks will be hicks.