I am an Irish-Croat Catholic who grew up in the South -- semi-rural NC is not Deep South, but still. I had close friends who live in big houses and were just from the nicest families tell me I was going to hell unless I became a Christian. I mean, we practically invented the thing (okay, Eastern Orthodox, Coptics, and Armenians are a little older, but still). Now an adult with kids, I still hear comments. I find it funny, but sad.
I do think Nick is beloved in Alabama even as a non-Christian papist semi-Yankee (see above). They view him as "one of the good ones."