Virginia - The Old Dominion
Motto: Thus Always to Tyrants
Capital City: Richmond
Largest City: Virginia Beach
Leaders
Governor Tim Kaine (D)
Senator John Warner (R)
Senator Jim Webb (D)
1. Robert J. Wittman (R)
2. Thelma D. Drake (R)
3. Bobby Scott (D)
4. Randy Forbes (R)
5. Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (R)
6. Bob Goodlatte (R)
7. Eric I. Cantor (R)
8. James P. Moran (D)
9. Rick Boucher (D)
10. Frank R. Wolf (R)
11. Thomas M. Davis (R)
Prayer Points
*Declare that revival comes to Virginia.
*Declare Christian media expands in Virginia.
*Declare signs and wonders follow the preaching of the Word in Virginia.
*Declare a preparing of the hearts of the people of Virginia to open to the Gospel.
*Declare the leaders of Virginia walk in wisdom and the fear of the Lord.
*Declare the economy of Virginia propsers.
*Declare protection over the people of Virginia.
*Declare protection over the National Guard and military personnel of Virginia.
*Declare protection over the Atlantic fleet, military bases in Hampton Roads, and the Pentagon and federal agencies based in Virginia.
*Declare legislation passed in Virginia is in accordance with the Word of God.
*Declare Christians in Virginia get out and vote.
*Declare an accurate accounting of the vote in Virginia.
*Declare that truth is spoken through the many media outlets in Virginia.
The history of America is closely tied to that of Virginia, particularly during the Colonial period. Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the first permanent English settlement in North America and slavery was introduced there in 1619. The surrenders ending both the American Revolution (Yorktown) and the Civil War (Appomattox) occurred in Virginia. The state is called the “Mother of Presidents” because eight U.S. presidents were born there.
Today, the service sector provides one-third of all jobs in Virginia, generating as much income as the manufacturing and retail industries combined in 1999 and accounting for 23% of gross state product. (The largest component of the service sector is business services, which includes computer and data processing services.)
Virginia has a large number of manufacturing industries, including transportation equipment, food processing, electronic and other electrical equipment, chemicals, textiles and apparel, lumber and wood products, and furniture.
Agriculture remains an important sector, and the state ranks among the top ten in a variety of agricultural products, including tomatoes, tobacco, peanuts, apples, summer potatoes, sweet potatoes, snap beans, and turkeys and broilers. Virginia also has a large dairy industry.
Virginia is one of the top ten coal producers in the U.S. Coal accounts for roughly 70% of Virginia's mineral value; crushed stone, sand and gravel, lime, and kyanite are also mined.
Points of interest include Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington; Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson; Stratford, home of the Lees; Richmond, capital of the Confederacy and of Virginia; and Williamsburg, the restored Colonial capital.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel spans the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, connecting Cape Charles with Norfolk. Consisting of a series of low trestles, two bridges and two mile-long tunnels, the complex is 18 miles (29 km) long. It was opened in 1964. (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108283.html)
Religion
Christian:76%
Baptist:30%
Protestant:49%
Methodist:7%
Roman Catholic:14%
Lutheran:2%
Other Christian:13%
Presbyterian:3%
Judaism:1%
Episcopal:3%
Islam:1%
Pentecostal:2%
Other religions:4%
Congregational:1%
Non-religious:12%
Other/general:2%
Virginia is predominantly Protestant; Baptists are the largest single group with thirty percent of the population. Roman Catholics are the second-largest group. Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with over 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention.
While a small population in terms of the state overall, Jewish people have been long part of its history. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest. The Virginia Synod is responsible for the churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches. In November 2006, fifteen conservative Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Virginia voted to split from the diocese and the larger Anglican Communion church over the issue of sexuality and the ordination of openly gay clergy and bishops. Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation. The resulting property law case is a test for Episcopal churches nationwide, as the diocese claims the church properties of those congregations that want to secede.
About fifty percent of those practicing non-Christian faiths come from India. Others may include Vietnamese Americans and others of Asian descent. Together, those who practice Buddhism and Hinduism form the fastest growing group, and largest of the "Other Religions" group, accounting for one percent of the population. Islam, the second fastest growing religious group, accounts for 0.99% of the population. Megachurches in the state include Thomas Road Baptist Church, McLean Bible Church and Immanuel Bible Church. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia)
Media
The Hampton Roads area is the forty-second largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research, and the Richmond-Petersburg area is sixtieth and Roanoke-Lynchburg is sixty-eighth. There are twenty-one television stations in Virginia, representing each major U.S. network, part of forty-two stations which serve Virginia viewers. Over eight-hundred FCC-licensed FM radio stations broadcast in Virginia, with over three-hundred such AM stations. The nationally available Public Broadcasting Service, abbreviated as PBS, is headquartered in Arlington. The locally focused Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation, a non-profit corporation which owns public TV and radio stations, has offices around the state.
Major newspapers in the commonwealth include the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Virginian-Pilot, based in Norfolk, The Roanoke Times and the Daily Press based in Newport News. The Times-Dispatch has a daily subscription of 186,441, slightly more than the Pilot at 183,024, fiftieth and fifty-second in the nation respectively, while the Roanoke Times has about 97,000 daily subscribers. Several Washington, D.C. papers are based in Northern Virginia, such as The Washington Examiner and The Politico. The nation's widest circulated paper, USA Today, is headquartered in McLean. The Arlington based Freedom Forum is an organization dedicated to free press and journalistic free speech. Besides traditional forms of media, Virginia is home to telecommunication companies such as Sprint Nextel and XO Communications. The Dulles Technology Corridor contains the "pathways that carry more than half of all traffic on the Internet." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia)
Politics
In the last century Virginia has shifted from the largely rural, politically Southern and conservative state to a more urbanized, pluralistic political environment. The rural southern and eastern portions of the state remain largely Republican, while urban centers and the Washington suburbs have become increasingly Democratic. Regional differences play a large part in Virginia politics. Politically moderate urban and growing suburban areas, including Northern Virginia, are the Democratic base. Rural Virginia moved to support the Republican Party in response to their "southern strategy." Portions of Southwest Virginia influenced by unionized coal mines, college towns such as Charlottesville and Blacksburg, and southeastern counties in the Black Belt Region have remained more likely to vote Democratic. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia)
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