History/Religion 345 – RELIGION IN AMERICA – November 16, 2005  

American Religious Ferment during the Depression Era  

QUESTIONS:   

Be sure to review our five primary-source readings:  

1. Pope Pius XI, “Promotion of True Religious Unity” (1928)
2. Paul Kurtz, “Humanist Manifesto” (1933)
3. E. Bengis, “I am a Rabbi’s Wife” (1934)
4. “Coughlin Attacks Roosevelt as Red” (1936)
5. K. Page, “Must we go to war?” (1937)

And: then study our “secondary sources”  

6. N. Fain Pratt, “Transitions in Judaism”
7. J. Carpenter, “A Thriving Popular Movement.”

From this evidence, what can we say about Religion in America in the era of the Great Depression?  

1. Are there any similarities among the seven selections?
2. What are the major differences among the seven selections?
3. We’ve already said that “increasing diversity” has been a mark of American religion since, say, the 1890s – any signs of such diversity here?
4. Are Americans getting more religious – or less?  Any indications?
5. What sorts of forces are shaping American religion?
6. The “fundamentalist” vs. “modernist” battle raged during the 1920s – is it over by the 1930s?
7. If religion is about where and how to “draw borders” (or “separators”), who wants to draw what sorts of borders where?

 

Queens University of Charlotte  1900 Selwyn Avenue  Charlotte, NC  28274
Modified by:  H.  Kamerling