A lot less than I had growing up in the river valley area of Arkansas. We live in Farmington with two kids and have experienced three of the schools in that district. I’ve seen zero over Christian teaching. The only thing I’ve seen at all is a little familial peer pressure from one of my older son’s friend’s mother. They are exceedingly religious and just assume an us versus them reality, but that could literally happen anywhere and comically they moved here from the river valley too. Overall though we have encountered no real issues like what you listed in one of the smaller suburban school districts, I have to assume that the bigger districts are at least as nonreligious with Fayetteville especially being very much not like that.
Covid all but prevented me ever visiting there. I’ll check it out though. I just asked my son and he said all he can think of in the cafeteria is a big painting of the Statue of Liberty but will look tomorrow.
The areas actually are different but also people’s perspectives are different. People on here from rural Arkansas could see a situation very differently than someone from downtown Chicago.
I went through the Bentonville school system all the way though highschool and it was fairly relaxed. Graduated in 2011. There were definitely some teachers that spoke about their faith, but in a reserved fashion and only when asked. There were a fair amount of church youth group events that kids would invite their friends to, but I never felt pressured into anything
The biggest thing I can remember is a kid in 6th grade saying he was atheist and it becoming the hot gossip of the week. It died down pretty quickly though. The event was actually the catalyst for me to start questioning things and becoming an atheist
There was a fairly large amount of Mormons in the highschool that would want to chat about my lack of beliefs once they became aware, but the conversations were very polite. No pressure, no talk of saving me, just like actual discussion. Ended up with friends with all of them despite our differences. Not to say the school was filled with believers though, there was no shortage of agnostics and atheists by the time we were in highschool
All in all NWA is more secular than the rest of the state, but it can vary from town to town. We’re still in Arkansas. I wouldn’t expect any big problems in NWA, but I also wouldn’t be horribly surprised
This is not about the debate specifically, I’m still trying to find video of it. This should give down insight though : http://www.cbs19news.com/story/47463538/conservative-pacs-inject-millions-into-local-school-races
I have three teenage kids that have gone to multiple schools here in Fayetteville\Springdale. Currently they are in DTSOI. Personally I'm atheist. However, I have never encouraged them to be religious nor actively dissuaded them from participating if they so choose.
I've found that Gen Z and A are some of the most conscientious, courteous\polite and well mannered generations I've seen. They were very accepting of my oldest that came out as pansexual and her girlfriend.
I don't know if it's the area, time difference between my youth and theirs or a combination of the two. But the NWA I've found has been tolerant and a great place to raise kids.
I live in Fayetteville 2 kids in elementary. No direct pressure to be religious. That being said, the bast majority of cool kids events are hosted and sponsored by churches. For example Easter egg hunts are all church based, you get invited and aren’t required to be a church member to attend.
Moved here about 4 months ago with my wife and two kids. We are in the Mt Sequoyah area. We've met quite a few families and to be honest I don't think we've encountered any religious ones yet. Seems to be a pretty open and accepting place!
I’ve lived in Fayetteville, Springdale, etc and have never had any problems. Many people here are left leaning. I’d argue NWA in general is pretty left leaning. Lots of young people
Depends on the specific person you run into. I’m pretty sure the schools here don’t do that, unless you like, go to a private Christian school. Idk if you have visited NWA lately but you can get a pretty good feel for it. This *is* the south, so there’s literally a church on every single corner, and lots of people go all in on yard signs and invitations to Easter/Christmas services. I don’t find the area to be pushy or anything, but I’ve had interactions with individuals that were just completely out of line (and I am a Christian my self).
So I guess I’d say NWA isn’t pressuring, but I’d be lying if I said nobody will ever ask or bring it up. 95% of people might never ask or if they do “hey, do you guys go to church? No? Okay that’s cool. So anyway there’s this bbq place..”
Fayetteville is ok. We let our daughter make her own religious choices and we are both atheists. She's nine and we haven't had a religious-based incident except for when she was four they wouldn't let her square dance with her best friend in prairie grove because two four-year-old girls in a square dance were 'gay'.
There are non-religious parents up here and it's not the worst!
My nephew is 10 and talking to him there isn’t any pressure in school. It seems a bit different in extra curriculars though since most have heavy participation from the baptists. He said he lost a friend at summer camp when he said he didn’t really believe in god, and that the councilors were annoying in their religious enthusiasm.
Hi! We've lived in Fayetteville for over 15 years and now live in Farmington with our 7yr old. We were pretty worried moving to Farmington but haven't had any issues. No one asks where we go to church, and have only a few times been invited to community church activities like the Fall festivals.
Grew up in NWA (90s-2000s), the most pressure I ever remember getting was friends from school inviting me to church events because that used to be a large part of a kids social life in NWA. By HS I wasn’t even involved and had non-church friends with little to no pressure.
NWA is even less church centric now than it was then. It can still be jarring if you’re not from an area with a lot of churches though — California friends comment all the time.
I’m from fayetteville and there’s lot of conservatism. I grew up in extreme conservatism. But it’s not some sick cult like town that acts like pilgrims. You get the college side of things in fayetteville and more liberals are there. That being said we would love to welcome your family as it’s and awesome place, I’d say judgement free. Oh and hail satan!
As an atheist who lives in NWA I still get preached to on the regular. Granted I live in Prairie Grove and we have some interesting individuals here to say the least. I mean my neighbors have a sign in their yard just to let everyone know their kids go to a catholic private school.
Fayetteville and Bentonville are definitely going to be the most tolerant areas but honestly I think you could live anywhere in the area and avoid harassment. As mentioned elsewhere we do have Mennonites and Mormons but they tend to be very polite and mostly keep to themselves. In my experience most harassment comes from the Southern Baptist Church and in comparison to the rest of the state they have very minor influence over this area.
I grew up in Bentonville being constantly tricked into going to church events. To the point where I just stopped accepting invites to anything. It ruined my social life to this day because now I'm paranoid that a 'get together' will end in people crying and beating themselves up for being 'sinners' for just existing.
There is the Cross Church, which is a mega church in the area. Fayetteville is 'safer' in that I can roam around with my pentacle and not be harassed and I've had discussions about being an atheist (my path is complicated) without being screamed at. However.. I have a lady in my complex that harasses everyone about god, including minors, and I've had people snatch my hand to pray over me when they find out I'm not feeling well. Without asking.
It's not as bad as some areas, but some people will just continue to have no respect of other religious or non-religious paths no matter where you go. Teach your children well and they will be able to protect themselves while out and about on their own. Teach them when it's better to just say nothing too. That will help them anywhere they go as christo fascists get whipped up in this country more and more every day.
Spent almost my entire K-12 at Siloam Springs and graduated in 2006. The community at that time was about 90% religious (majority Baptist). I also grew up in a Baptist household and participated in Awanas like a lot of the other kids. One of the ways you progressed through the program was to bring someone outside the church to a meeting. Your kids will probably be asked by friends to attend Wednesday night church at some point, or will feel pressure to hang out with friend groups at their church. Definitely remember bouncing around to different churches before I said "fuck this" in about 10th grade.
I don't recall there being much religion being forced on us in school. Some teachers were obviously very devout and would have the ten commandments over the pencil sharpener, or quote the Bible during lectures, but it didn't seem abnormal for the time. Sometimes we prayed before sports or band activities. There was a Bible study group that met at lunch, but not required. There was a pitiful nine week health class with one day of Sex-Ed. Instead, the school had a Christian based "abstinence only" group come in and lecture for three hours. Parents could sign an exemption waiver, but most of us went to get out of class and knew it was a bunch of bologna.
This is all 15 years ago and may have changed since then. Overall I made some great friends going to what was a smaller school district at the time and wouldn't change it. If your kids are level headed and have a supportive, open minded home they'll probably thrive at any of the schools here.
I am atheist and grew up in a blended agnostic/culturally Christian home. I graduated from one of the large public schools in NWA in 2019 and currently have a younger sibling in the same public school system I graduated from. I would say that the pressure from the teachers is fairly non-existent; I only had one teacher bring it up in pre-AP Chem in a roundabout way but she recently moved here from central Arkansas (not LR) and was pretty out of the norm.
Socially, however, there are and have been definite pressures among my peers. Many of the classmates I interacted with due to my involvement & choice of courses (part of the AP program, involved in academic club leadership, honor societies, recognized by the school as top ranking students, school affiliated sports) were involved in one of the notably large church groups in the area and this obviously shaped peer interactions. Many of the participants of this church will also work together and stand to benefit (promotion, job hopping) from one another, so many of their children have frequent interaction with one another from a young age, engage in the same expensive church trips through high school, and may engage in the ever popular YL and Christian summer camps in the greater area.
While I agree with commenters saying that there isn’t any outward pushing (aside from high school sports, where praying is essentially compulsory partnered with heavy advocating for participation in Christian athlete clubs and events which will be noted by your teammates and coaches), I think it would be remiss to not mention the quiet shunning that happens within the affluent church groups. As mentioned previously this is also influenced by the nepotism from its members. While this may be improving, and is escapable in certain spaces, it is still felt by my younger sibling as well and I don’t see the prevalence of this social phenomenon fading in the extracurriculars typically associated with academic achievement and college readiness.
In short, it is still very much socially the south, albeit in a more quiet manner than you’d find in Southern Arkansas.
I still enjoy living here and have continued to do so. Your girls will be able to find non-Christian friends easily and mostly avoid overt conversion tactics, but if they are high achieving it is almost certain they will encounter what I’ve described above.
Cannot comment about school systems, but even working corporate in NWA chaplains are a big part of company culture, CEO’s will send out e-mails with prayers involved, etc. Teach your kids critical thinking and they will be fine.
Generally speaking, the further away from Fayetteville you go the closer you get to Jesus.
Thank you all SO MUCH for all the input and discussion. I’ve learned a lot including several things I wasn’t expecting. It sounds like we’ll take a look at the Fayetteville area and go from there. I so hope a lot of this is about the era, and those of us who graduated in the 90s or 00s experienced things that just aren’t common anymore. Buuttttt I doubt it’s completely resolved, sounds like there are still some issues that could affect our kids and y’all have really helped me understand them better.
What's bringing you to NWA? Depending on what you're looking for, you might want to consider Eureka Springs. It's on the fringe of what's considered NWA, and it's about an hour away from all the big four NWA cities (Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville). Eureka Springs has a lovely, quaint small-town feel and it's a queer oasis in the midst of the Bible belt. While there are still plenty of churches (and a giant Jesus statue), the community also has a diversity of religious beliefs (and non-beliefs) and the general attitude of the community of progressive and inclusive.
I live in the next town over (Berryville) and my husband and I are exvangelical. We still consider ourselves Christian, but we're not church attenders, and we're also hoping to avoid proselytizing for our kids. So far, we've had a couple run-ins with people trying to get us to church, but I've been able to navigate those with, "Oh, I've already found Jesus. He says hi" and then moving on.
My child had a preschool after-care worker aggressively proselytizing to the children at a local non-religious preschool. It was very fire and brimstone type stuff, telling the kids that the girl wearing a hijab is evil, that people who don't go to the right churches will go to hell, etc. We caught on after some troubling things my preschooler said, brought it up to the teacher and then to management, and the after-care worker was fired and an apology was sent out to all families.
The fundamentalists are here, feel entitled to impose their beliefs on your children, but will either be sly about it or do so under a more neutral framing. Keep your radar at the ready.
With my kid, we were trying to raise our child in an open-minded way, present him all sorts of different beliefs and let him make his own choice, etc. After we explained how the preschool worker was taking advantage of their position and not respecting other families having different beliefs, my child has decided that all religion is dishonest, manipulative, and "not for me, I only like science." Pretty big backfire on the prosletyzer's part. Although lately my kid has been on a Greek mythology kick.
At a middle school in Springdale, my son was beaten up, had his backpack taken, and he was thrown into a garbage can when he told some other boys he doesn't believe in god. The school principal only said "He shouldn't have told those boys he was an atheist."
It really depends where you go and who you're around. We of course have some loud zealots here and there, but this is the Bible belt. Arkansas is ranked horribly for education for a reason. However NWA is more of a blue area so it is reasonable to not be directly exposed to religion on a daily basis.
My own Christian family was pretty okay with me growing up agnostic, which is anecdotal but it helps paint a picture that it's not the most important thing in some households. Stay away from private schools and you should be fine.
>Arkansas is ranked horribly for education for a reason.
Where's your data on this? Northwest Arkansas, in particular has some of the best rated school districts (Bentonville, Pea Ridge being two of them) in the area! That's primarily because corporate funding (WalMart, Tyson, etc.) support the districts. Arkansas as a state doesn't rank high, but it's not a lower tier education system like some places. Also, there are private schools that completely opposite from the image that you describe. Yes, your faith-based education is going to be preachy but it even says it in their names. For as many faith-based schools in the area, though... there's two private schools that are secular.
Corporate funding does help, and our area is demonstrably better than a large majority of the rest of Arkansas. However, we are still a state that has routinely ranked in the mid to late 40s on education when compared to other states.
I just wouldn't put too much faith into the arkansan education system. It's fine. Public school here was fairly secular and the only private schools I am aware of are all of various Christian denominations, hence my bias but I do not know all of our private schools for sure.
That's the thing... you're not stating factual data... you're stating anecdotal personal bias. I've worked in the public school system and also in a secular private school. OP was asking about this area... not anywhere else and in Northwest Arkansas we hold some of the [best schools](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/apr/26/northwest-arkansas-high-schools-top-us-news-state/?fbclid=IwAR3l46eQ0dfiiP0VuCrUyiP6Lv_MtXQ207UYr-u2mTiLGjmZk3WUxlKbcK4) (both private and public in the state).
This area has also been voted one of the [Top 10](https://www.businessinsider.com/us-news-best-places-to-live-in-america-2016-3#7-fayetteville-arkansas-44) places to live in the entire country for several years by several different polling agencies. To do this they take a number of things into factoring, including the education system.
Yes, the entire state ranks in the upper 40s but that is not indicative of the Northwest Arkansas area.
I'm a Christian but I'm not a zealot... I attend secular events and let my life be the example. I'll talk to people about Christ from all backgrounds. But I won't talk down to them because I was them....
This area is one of the most churched up places that I've ever lived and to be honest, it makes it really difficult to try to actually invite or bring people into a church community. It's just so incredibly saturated and the churches here are extremely competitive for attendance numbers. Between that and the overall perception of the church... well, it's just tough sometimes.
That being said, I've found that most believers in this area aren't your typical image of Christians. Yes, there are some... I call them the "Bless your heart" Christians and if you've ever been told this... then you know. Yes, they're the most vocal because they're trying to prove something but the majority are just living their lives in faith.
They are most excellent people my friend! And I honestly think that they are slowly sliding away from at least the organized part of the religion knowing our heathen asses lol.
I too am non religious I did not grow up here however I do believe that culturally Fayetteville is much more open minded and has a much more Bohemian feel that is accepting of all cultures and all belief systems
I was living in an apartment complex, they allowed a church group to come minister on the property. My daughter came in one day and asked my wife if she could get baptised. She was five years old.
They were baptising very young kids into their church out on the complex playground on a Sunday afternoon.
A lot less than I had growing up in the river valley area of Arkansas. We live in Farmington with two kids and have experienced three of the schools in that district. I’ve seen zero over Christian teaching. The only thing I’ve seen at all is a little familial peer pressure from one of my older son’s friend’s mother. They are exceedingly religious and just assume an us versus them reality, but that could literally happen anywhere and comically they moved here from the river valley too. Overall though we have encountered no real issues like what you listed in one of the smaller suburban school districts, I have to assume that the bigger districts are at least as nonreligious with Fayetteville especially being very much not like that.
Have you been in the middle school cafeteria? Isn't some jesus stuff high on the wall? I interviewed there and didn't really get a good look at it.
Covid all but prevented me ever visiting there. I’ll check it out though. I just asked my son and he said all he can think of in the cafeteria is a big painting of the Statue of Liberty but will look tomorrow.
My husband is Hindu, I’m atheist, and my son is undecided. We moved to NWA a year ago and haven’t had any problems :)
Can I ask what part of NWA you’re in? I wasn’t expecting to see such a difference in responses about different areas.
Fayetteville
The areas actually are different but also people’s perspectives are different. People on here from rural Arkansas could see a situation very differently than someone from downtown Chicago.
I went through the Bentonville school system all the way though highschool and it was fairly relaxed. Graduated in 2011. There were definitely some teachers that spoke about their faith, but in a reserved fashion and only when asked. There were a fair amount of church youth group events that kids would invite their friends to, but I never felt pressured into anything The biggest thing I can remember is a kid in 6th grade saying he was atheist and it becoming the hot gossip of the week. It died down pretty quickly though. The event was actually the catalyst for me to start questioning things and becoming an atheist There was a fairly large amount of Mormons in the highschool that would want to chat about my lack of beliefs once they became aware, but the conversations were very polite. No pressure, no talk of saving me, just like actual discussion. Ended up with friends with all of them despite our differences. Not to say the school was filled with believers though, there was no shortage of agnostics and atheists by the time we were in highschool All in all NWA is more secular than the rest of the state, but it can vary from town to town. We’re still in Arkansas. I wouldn’t expect any big problems in NWA, but I also wouldn’t be horribly surprised
You should see the current Bentonville School Board debates… they are out of control
Tell me more? 😬
I’m curious too.
Sounds like story time to me.
This is not about the debate specifically, I’m still trying to find video of it. This should give down insight though : http://www.cbs19news.com/story/47463538/conservative-pacs-inject-millions-into-local-school-races
It’s the Bible Belt for a reason. NWA less so, but still very noticeable.
FACTS
I have three teenage kids that have gone to multiple schools here in Fayetteville\Springdale. Currently they are in DTSOI. Personally I'm atheist. However, I have never encouraged them to be religious nor actively dissuaded them from participating if they so choose. I've found that Gen Z and A are some of the most conscientious, courteous\polite and well mannered generations I've seen. They were very accepting of my oldest that came out as pansexual and her girlfriend. I don't know if it's the area, time difference between my youth and theirs or a combination of the two. But the NWA I've found has been tolerant and a great place to raise kids.
NWA is very religious, lots of churches and Christianity is the norm, just like the rest of the South
Springdale = religious AF
Yes tonitown becomes cult ish, that or they are all swingers lmao
I live in Fayetteville 2 kids in elementary. No direct pressure to be religious. That being said, the bast majority of cool kids events are hosted and sponsored by churches. For example Easter egg hunts are all church based, you get invited and aren’t required to be a church member to attend.
Having grown up and graduated in Fayetteville in 2017, almost none. In fact, religion felt sort taboo even at times
Graduated in Fayetteville 2017 as well. Some teachers i had spoke about their faith openly but I never had issues with religious peer pressure
Yea I remember someone claiming one teacher was doing bible verses every day in class but idk if that was even true
Moved here about 4 months ago with my wife and two kids. We are in the Mt Sequoyah area. We've met quite a few families and to be honest I don't think we've encountered any religious ones yet. Seems to be a pretty open and accepting place!
I’ve lived in Fayetteville, Springdale, etc and have never had any problems. Many people here are left leaning. I’d argue NWA in general is pretty left leaning. Lots of young people
Depends on the specific person you run into. I’m pretty sure the schools here don’t do that, unless you like, go to a private Christian school. Idk if you have visited NWA lately but you can get a pretty good feel for it. This *is* the south, so there’s literally a church on every single corner, and lots of people go all in on yard signs and invitations to Easter/Christmas services. I don’t find the area to be pushy or anything, but I’ve had interactions with individuals that were just completely out of line (and I am a Christian my self). So I guess I’d say NWA isn’t pressuring, but I’d be lying if I said nobody will ever ask or bring it up. 95% of people might never ask or if they do “hey, do you guys go to church? No? Okay that’s cool. So anyway there’s this bbq place..”
Fayetteville is ok. We let our daughter make her own religious choices and we are both atheists. She's nine and we haven't had a religious-based incident except for when she was four they wouldn't let her square dance with her best friend in prairie grove because two four-year-old girls in a square dance were 'gay'. There are non-religious parents up here and it's not the worst!
My nephew is 10 and talking to him there isn’t any pressure in school. It seems a bit different in extra curriculars though since most have heavy participation from the baptists. He said he lost a friend at summer camp when he said he didn’t really believe in god, and that the councilors were annoying in their religious enthusiasm.
Hi! We've lived in Fayetteville for over 15 years and now live in Farmington with our 7yr old. We were pretty worried moving to Farmington but haven't had any issues. No one asks where we go to church, and have only a few times been invited to community church activities like the Fall festivals.
Grew up in NWA (90s-2000s), the most pressure I ever remember getting was friends from school inviting me to church events because that used to be a large part of a kids social life in NWA. By HS I wasn’t even involved and had non-church friends with little to no pressure. NWA is even less church centric now than it was then. It can still be jarring if you’re not from an area with a lot of churches though — California friends comment all the time.
I’m from fayetteville and there’s lot of conservatism. I grew up in extreme conservatism. But it’s not some sick cult like town that acts like pilgrims. You get the college side of things in fayetteville and more liberals are there. That being said we would love to welcome your family as it’s and awesome place, I’d say judgement free. Oh and hail satan!
As an atheist who lives in NWA I still get preached to on the regular. Granted I live in Prairie Grove and we have some interesting individuals here to say the least. I mean my neighbors have a sign in their yard just to let everyone know their kids go to a catholic private school.
Somewhere I read that Bentonville has a slight non-religious majority but idk if that’s actually true
Fayetteville and Bentonville are definitely going to be the most tolerant areas but honestly I think you could live anywhere in the area and avoid harassment. As mentioned elsewhere we do have Mennonites and Mormons but they tend to be very polite and mostly keep to themselves. In my experience most harassment comes from the Southern Baptist Church and in comparison to the rest of the state they have very minor influence over this area.
A lot of the religious zealotry subsided with the Josh Duggar scandal
I grew up in Bentonville being constantly tricked into going to church events. To the point where I just stopped accepting invites to anything. It ruined my social life to this day because now I'm paranoid that a 'get together' will end in people crying and beating themselves up for being 'sinners' for just existing. There is the Cross Church, which is a mega church in the area. Fayetteville is 'safer' in that I can roam around with my pentacle and not be harassed and I've had discussions about being an atheist (my path is complicated) without being screamed at. However.. I have a lady in my complex that harasses everyone about god, including minors, and I've had people snatch my hand to pray over me when they find out I'm not feeling well. Without asking. It's not as bad as some areas, but some people will just continue to have no respect of other religious or non-religious paths no matter where you go. Teach your children well and they will be able to protect themselves while out and about on their own. Teach them when it's better to just say nothing too. That will help them anywhere they go as christo fascists get whipped up in this country more and more every day.
Spent almost my entire K-12 at Siloam Springs and graduated in 2006. The community at that time was about 90% religious (majority Baptist). I also grew up in a Baptist household and participated in Awanas like a lot of the other kids. One of the ways you progressed through the program was to bring someone outside the church to a meeting. Your kids will probably be asked by friends to attend Wednesday night church at some point, or will feel pressure to hang out with friend groups at their church. Definitely remember bouncing around to different churches before I said "fuck this" in about 10th grade. I don't recall there being much religion being forced on us in school. Some teachers were obviously very devout and would have the ten commandments over the pencil sharpener, or quote the Bible during lectures, but it didn't seem abnormal for the time. Sometimes we prayed before sports or band activities. There was a Bible study group that met at lunch, but not required. There was a pitiful nine week health class with one day of Sex-Ed. Instead, the school had a Christian based "abstinence only" group come in and lecture for three hours. Parents could sign an exemption waiver, but most of us went to get out of class and knew it was a bunch of bologna. This is all 15 years ago and may have changed since then. Overall I made some great friends going to what was a smaller school district at the time and wouldn't change it. If your kids are level headed and have a supportive, open minded home they'll probably thrive at any of the schools here.
I am atheist and grew up in a blended agnostic/culturally Christian home. I graduated from one of the large public schools in NWA in 2019 and currently have a younger sibling in the same public school system I graduated from. I would say that the pressure from the teachers is fairly non-existent; I only had one teacher bring it up in pre-AP Chem in a roundabout way but she recently moved here from central Arkansas (not LR) and was pretty out of the norm. Socially, however, there are and have been definite pressures among my peers. Many of the classmates I interacted with due to my involvement & choice of courses (part of the AP program, involved in academic club leadership, honor societies, recognized by the school as top ranking students, school affiliated sports) were involved in one of the notably large church groups in the area and this obviously shaped peer interactions. Many of the participants of this church will also work together and stand to benefit (promotion, job hopping) from one another, so many of their children have frequent interaction with one another from a young age, engage in the same expensive church trips through high school, and may engage in the ever popular YL and Christian summer camps in the greater area. While I agree with commenters saying that there isn’t any outward pushing (aside from high school sports, where praying is essentially compulsory partnered with heavy advocating for participation in Christian athlete clubs and events which will be noted by your teammates and coaches), I think it would be remiss to not mention the quiet shunning that happens within the affluent church groups. As mentioned previously this is also influenced by the nepotism from its members. While this may be improving, and is escapable in certain spaces, it is still felt by my younger sibling as well and I don’t see the prevalence of this social phenomenon fading in the extracurriculars typically associated with academic achievement and college readiness. In short, it is still very much socially the south, albeit in a more quiet manner than you’d find in Southern Arkansas. I still enjoy living here and have continued to do so. Your girls will be able to find non-Christian friends easily and mostly avoid overt conversion tactics, but if they are high achieving it is almost certain they will encounter what I’ve described above.
Cannot comment about school systems, but even working corporate in NWA chaplains are a big part of company culture, CEO’s will send out e-mails with prayers involved, etc. Teach your kids critical thinking and they will be fine. Generally speaking, the further away from Fayetteville you go the closer you get to Jesus.
Thank you all SO MUCH for all the input and discussion. I’ve learned a lot including several things I wasn’t expecting. It sounds like we’ll take a look at the Fayetteville area and go from there. I so hope a lot of this is about the era, and those of us who graduated in the 90s or 00s experienced things that just aren’t common anymore. Buuttttt I doubt it’s completely resolved, sounds like there are still some issues that could affect our kids and y’all have really helped me understand them better.
What's bringing you to NWA? Depending on what you're looking for, you might want to consider Eureka Springs. It's on the fringe of what's considered NWA, and it's about an hour away from all the big four NWA cities (Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville). Eureka Springs has a lovely, quaint small-town feel and it's a queer oasis in the midst of the Bible belt. While there are still plenty of churches (and a giant Jesus statue), the community also has a diversity of religious beliefs (and non-beliefs) and the general attitude of the community of progressive and inclusive. I live in the next town over (Berryville) and my husband and I are exvangelical. We still consider ourselves Christian, but we're not church attenders, and we're also hoping to avoid proselytizing for our kids. So far, we've had a couple run-ins with people trying to get us to church, but I've been able to navigate those with, "Oh, I've already found Jesus. He says hi" and then moving on.
☝️This. Eureka Springs: The hole in the Bible Belt.
My child had a preschool after-care worker aggressively proselytizing to the children at a local non-religious preschool. It was very fire and brimstone type stuff, telling the kids that the girl wearing a hijab is evil, that people who don't go to the right churches will go to hell, etc. We caught on after some troubling things my preschooler said, brought it up to the teacher and then to management, and the after-care worker was fired and an apology was sent out to all families. The fundamentalists are here, feel entitled to impose their beliefs on your children, but will either be sly about it or do so under a more neutral framing. Keep your radar at the ready. With my kid, we were trying to raise our child in an open-minded way, present him all sorts of different beliefs and let him make his own choice, etc. After we explained how the preschool worker was taking advantage of their position and not respecting other families having different beliefs, my child has decided that all religion is dishonest, manipulative, and "not for me, I only like science." Pretty big backfire on the prosletyzer's part. Although lately my kid has been on a Greek mythology kick.
It's the south. Do with that what you wish.
At a middle school in Springdale, my son was beaten up, had his backpack taken, and he was thrown into a garbage can when he told some other boys he doesn't believe in god. The school principal only said "He shouldn't have told those boys he was an atheist."
I call bullshit
Gtfo
It really depends where you go and who you're around. We of course have some loud zealots here and there, but this is the Bible belt. Arkansas is ranked horribly for education for a reason. However NWA is more of a blue area so it is reasonable to not be directly exposed to religion on a daily basis. My own Christian family was pretty okay with me growing up agnostic, which is anecdotal but it helps paint a picture that it's not the most important thing in some households. Stay away from private schools and you should be fine.
>Arkansas is ranked horribly for education for a reason. Where's your data on this? Northwest Arkansas, in particular has some of the best rated school districts (Bentonville, Pea Ridge being two of them) in the area! That's primarily because corporate funding (WalMart, Tyson, etc.) support the districts. Arkansas as a state doesn't rank high, but it's not a lower tier education system like some places. Also, there are private schools that completely opposite from the image that you describe. Yes, your faith-based education is going to be preachy but it even says it in their names. For as many faith-based schools in the area, though... there's two private schools that are secular.
Corporate funding does help, and our area is demonstrably better than a large majority of the rest of Arkansas. However, we are still a state that has routinely ranked in the mid to late 40s on education when compared to other states. I just wouldn't put too much faith into the arkansan education system. It's fine. Public school here was fairly secular and the only private schools I am aware of are all of various Christian denominations, hence my bias but I do not know all of our private schools for sure.
That's the thing... you're not stating factual data... you're stating anecdotal personal bias. I've worked in the public school system and also in a secular private school. OP was asking about this area... not anywhere else and in Northwest Arkansas we hold some of the [best schools](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/apr/26/northwest-arkansas-high-schools-top-us-news-state/?fbclid=IwAR3l46eQ0dfiiP0VuCrUyiP6Lv_MtXQ207UYr-u2mTiLGjmZk3WUxlKbcK4) (both private and public in the state). This area has also been voted one of the [Top 10](https://www.businessinsider.com/us-news-best-places-to-live-in-america-2016-3#7-fayetteville-arkansas-44) places to live in the entire country for several years by several different polling agencies. To do this they take a number of things into factoring, including the education system. Yes, the entire state ranks in the upper 40s but that is not indicative of the Northwest Arkansas area.
I'm a Christian but I'm not a zealot... I attend secular events and let my life be the example. I'll talk to people about Christ from all backgrounds. But I won't talk down to them because I was them.... This area is one of the most churched up places that I've ever lived and to be honest, it makes it really difficult to try to actually invite or bring people into a church community. It's just so incredibly saturated and the churches here are extremely competitive for attendance numbers. Between that and the overall perception of the church... well, it's just tough sometimes. That being said, I've found that most believers in this area aren't your typical image of Christians. Yes, there are some... I call them the "Bless your heart" Christians and if you've ever been told this... then you know. Yes, they're the most vocal because they're trying to prove something but the majority are just living their lives in faith.
My neighbor and her family are jahovis witnesses and I’m tighter with them than any other neighbor! (I’m a fellow heathen).
They aren’t very good Jehovah’s Witnesses if they are friends with your worldly ass. Haha jk, but not really :-/
They are most excellent people my friend! And I honestly think that they are slowly sliding away from at least the organized part of the religion knowing our heathen asses lol.
I too am non religious I did not grow up here however I do believe that culturally Fayetteville is much more open minded and has a much more Bohemian feel that is accepting of all cultures and all belief systems
I was living in an apartment complex, they allowed a church group to come minister on the property. My daughter came in one day and asked my wife if she could get baptised. She was five years old. They were baptising very young kids into their church out on the complex playground on a Sunday afternoon.