I think maybe I've just lucked out, but that hasn't been my experience at all.

I moved to the South from Maine. All of my friends and neighbors down here are super religious - like, "my dad is a preacher" and "my family owns a church" kind of religious. I'm not religious at all.

We've been down here for a couple of years now and nobody has tried converting us to be Southern Baptists haha. We get invited to and usually attend the post-church Sunday barbecue events. We invite them over for dinner, attend their kids' birthday parties, have beers/bourbon together, etc.

Honestly, living here is the first time I've ever experienced anything close to a sense of community. I know and like almost all of my neighbors, and I've become good friends with many of their family members. We help each other out with lawn stuff, dog/house/short babysitting requests, checking to see if someone left their garage door open for them, etc.