I thought I was pretty familiar with this country, and I'll be doggone I can identify even a single county where 90% of the population belong to one denomination,
Provo perhaps?
We need some names of places!
82% Protestant
10.8% Agnostic/No Religion
4.7% Catholic
2% Other Religions
0.5% LDS
Note that the two largest denominations of Christianity in the world, Catholic and Orthodox, although they number 1.5 billion Christians worldwide, make up less than 5% of the population in that state. Perhaps that explains why they seem so alien in portions of the bible belt. No one who has even the basic understanding of Catholicism would claim Catholics never read the bible in church or that the mass is in Latin so the laypeople won't understand it. The only way someone could possibly argue that honestly (and I've seen it argued repeatedly on FR) is that they've never been inside a Catholic church or had a close relationship with a practicing Catholic their entire lives.
Furthermore, Orthodox Christianity is seen as "unusual" to both Catholics and Protestants since our nation is overwhelmingly western-style Christianity (again around 90%). Orthodoxy is an eastern tradition, and the first encounter with eastern Christianity is very startling to other Christians, since eastern Christianity has a very different worldview and empathizes things very differently, including a heavy use of mysthesism, chanting, and artwork to communicate with Jesus personally. Many American Christians would be really shocked at the type of Christianity prevailent in nations like Romania (87% orthodox), because the services and worship style is completely different from what we expect to see in a Christian church.
For example, my new congregation is an eastern Catholic church (Byzantine Catholic) that many Roman Catholics are shocked to discover is a Catholic church, even though the Pope's picture is prominently on display there. The entire building and its congregation do things quite differently than you'd find in a stereotypical Roman Catholic congregation that's mostly irish or italian-Americans. Even when people drive by, they assume it's a mosque because of the design of the building.
Catholicism and Orthodoxy are older forms of Christianity than Protestantism, and if you look at the historical record you will notice that the bible in its present form wasn't complied until 393 A.D. at the earliest. Christianity for the first 400 years certainly couldn't rely on the same bible for what "Christianity" teaches. Took them a while to decide what books were canon and how to translate them.
Bigotry against forms of Christianity people aren't used to are nothing new. It's a culture shock. I honestly believe alot of bible-thumping "sola scripture" protestants think only their form of Christianity is valid, and is the major "mainstream" Christian ideal in the world, when it reality about 2/3rds of major Christian denominations in the world don't follow their beliefs.
BTW, the Byzantine Catholic congregation I believe in a very conservative, strict (right now they're abstaining form all meat 3 days a week in preparation for Christmas) bible-centered church with a terrific colorful pastor who speaks out against the Obama worshippers on a regular basis. They are extremely active in the pro-life community as well. I get really tired of hearing how those of us who believe in evolution are all God-hating atheists who support abortion and gay "marriage"
I thought I was pretty familiar with this country, and I’ll be doggone I can identify even a single county where 90% of the population belong to one denomination,
Provo perhaps?
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Even Provo/Orem is probably only about 65-70% LDS. Although there may be some smaller communities in Utah that could reach 90% LDS. And of course, towns like Colorado City (Polygamous Mormon Fundies) are 90%+.