In the Religion by Region Project, the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas comprise the Southern Crossroads. These "showdown" states share a history of sharp religious and cultural clashes across intersecting geographical boundary lines, including those demarcating French and Spanish territories from the Anglo-American colonies, and Indian Territory from the rest of the nation. The Southern Crossroads is also famously the region of the United States in which the culture of the Southeast meets that of the West. The majority of pioneer settlers of the Southern Crossroads states were drawn from the slave states of the Old South. The Southern culture that they imported into the Crossroads states, however, underwent important adaptations as it interacted in the early 19th century with French, Hispanic, and native American cultures on the westernmost frontier of the cotton kingdom.

As in any region in which various cultures and national hegemonies meet, this geographic area has historically been vexed by "showdowns." The religious history of the region has been marked by heated battles. Though evangelical Protestantism is dominant in the religious culture of the region, the Crossroads states are distinct from the Southeast in having strong pockets of Catholicism with deep historic roots. Pentecostal and Restorationist religious movements are also numerically more significant in this region than in any other region of the country. Polls indicate that the region is demonstrably more conservative than other regions of the country on a wide range of social and religious issues.