In the cattle breeding areas of America, notably Texas and Tennessee, there is a phenomenon called 'Cowboy Church', which is a genuine Christian worship service, albeit aimed at cowboys.

Prominent among these are the ones held at Nashville, Tomball, Cottonwood, and Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Cowboy Church is held at the Fort Worth stockyards at noon on Sundays, which is convenient for those who stay up late Saturdays. It is reputedly the only church service that the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce knows the meeting time for.

The main differences between Cowboy Church and any other church are:

• Sermons are at most ten minutes long.

• There's a lot of guest music by people with cowboy hats and guitars.

• Men often wear hats throughout the service.

For centuries the rule in established Christian churches was that men were not to wear hats in church. Women, however, had to keep their heads covered, presumably as a sign of their subservience. Nowadays this complete two-part rule is enforced in very few churches, and Cowboy Church is not one of those few.