Where Did Alabama’s Bible Belt Conservatism Go?

Guest Opinion by Lisa Ward

I raised my kids believing Alabama didn’t have to explain itself.

When people called us the Bible Belt, it wasn’t because we were perfect. It was because faith was supposed to shape behavior, restrain power, and demand accountability.

The people around us who called themselves conservatives believed that too, at least in principle. In the Alabama Bible Belt, conservatism once meant conserving something worth protecting. It meant moral discipline, humility, and the belief that character mattered more than control.

Over time, that meaning shifted.

Conservatism stopped being about restraint and became about resistance. Politics stepped in and rewrote the definition. Faith became a banner instead of a guide, and loyalty replaced self examination.

The question stopped being whether something was right and became whether it helped us win. “We’re winning” became the justification for behavior that once would have disqualified leaders. Corruption was reframed as strategy. Cruelty was called toughness. Silence was called unity.

That’s where something broke.

A place doesn’t lose its moral compass because it fails.

It loses it when success is used to excuse wrongdoing. When repentance is treated as weakness and accountability as betrayal, values stop guiding behavior and start functioning like a brand. They signal who belongs rather than how anyone should live.

The version of conservatism many Alabama Bible Belt leaders and voters claim today no longer resembles what it once stood for.

Conservatism was supposed to distrust unchecked power, even on its own side. It was meant to slow us down, not inflame us. When winning becomes the highest good and power is celebrated rather than restrained, that isn’t conservatism. It’s politics wrapped in religious language.

The world sees this.

Alabama was once viewed as morally serious, even by those who disagreed with it. Now it’s often seen as defensive, punitive, and unwilling to admit fault. That shift didn’t come from misunderstanding. It came from patterns we allowed to harden.

The Bible Belt was never about moral superiority.

It was about moral responsibility. If that still matters, the path forward isn’t louder defenses or tighter control. It’s honesty, accountability, and the courage to admit what we’ve traded away.

That’s not an attack on Alabama.

It’s a call to remember what was supposed to be conserved in the first place.

Lisa Ward is a former Democratic nominee for the Alabama State Senate, a political leader and advocate with more than three decades of experience advancing justice, equity, and community empowerment. She is known for grassroots organizing and coalition-building across the State, and is committed to policy solutions that uplift marginalized communities and strengthen democracy. She currently serves as a senior advisor to the Will Boyd for Alabama campaign.

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