Why are the states of the dead Confederacy, the states of the American South, so awash in fundamentalism?

Dixie Bible Belt, with a plastic Jesus on the dash board and a "I Love Jesus" sign on the road to nowhere in particular. Snake-handling, foot-washing, the home of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, Billy Graham, Jim Bakker, and dozens of con-men televangelists. The Ten Commandments in the courthouse square, the Mecca of wacko rightwing Republicans, the home of the Ku Klux Klan, the headquarters of Christian fundamentalism. There's more but I got to go feed my cat.