Years ago I rode the subway in Philadelphia one evening. A visitor to the City of Brotherly Love asked me a question, and we struck up a conversation. He was the Superintendent of Education in Florida. Since I had my clerical collar on, we talked about religion.
He told me he had been a Methodist, but when he prospered professionally and financially, he was invited to join the local Episcopalian congregation. "That's where the prestige is in the South," he told me.
At that time I had spent three years in Virginia and knew what he meant. I filed that knowledge away. Also in Virginia, I learned about the "jackleg" preachers. They had no formal training but were accepted by a local congregation.
With the rise of non-denominational congregations ( and even that is a denomination in my view), the money and power have shifted on the religious scene in the US. But when I started the Botley novel, there was no question what religion the family would be.
I have been licensed as a supply priest in several Episcopal dioceses, and the experience has been very good. Lutherans and Episcopalians essentially have the same beliefs and theology, which is why we have official relationships (not the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and others, but that is another story).
As the Botleys cling on to authority and prestige in Marion and Beaumont County, so does St. Clement's. Relations with the downtown Main Line churches- United Methodist, Presbyterian, and Southern Baptist are good. St. Philip's is a rural Episcopalian church for those in the countryside with less money; it is served by a part-time priest. Jessica Cavendish's Presbyterian congregation in Rivertown is not as prestigious, since it is where it is. Joe Ed Crudup serves a rural independent congregation for a bit, then establishes his own storefront in town. Nominally Baptist, he creates his own brand of right-wing American Christianity.
Of course, there are people who have no official religion. Given that Marion is what it is, many of these have loose ties to congregations. Many of them are nominal members since the family would be horrified if they were not on the rolls.
Slerd and Jessica take religion seriously, and that adds to their guilt. How do they resolve it?
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
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