1st+American+religious+movements+of+the+1930’s

Maine



Religion is "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and the purpose of the universe, especially concerned as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observance, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs (dictionary.com).-Jazmine Gruber

In the 1930's many people were placed in bad situations after losing their life savings within the stock market crash. During the great depression many turned to church as a security blanket. Up until this time the memberships in churches were not as high as they could be, but when the stock market crashed churches were over loaded with new membership and new religions that were small and for the most part unknown surfaced for many see (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/religion.html). -Jazmine Gruber

During the Great Depression there were many religious movements. With all these different ideas coming out you had some religions that fell to the bottom of the charts and some rose to the top. Two very popular and influential people were Father Coughlin and Aimee Semple McPherson.-Jazmine Gruber

Father Couglin was __raised__ as a strict Roman Catholic and was taught to worship god. He was born in Canada and went through a __priesthood__ in Toronto. During his study in school he decided that he wanted to move away from teaching only Catholic believers to moving on and teaching more people who have lost souls. When he got into radio preaching in 1926 people began to see how his lessons touched their hearts. His words started out mostly towards christian families and their homes. As he became more popular his radio talks leaned more into __politics__, especially when the election of Franklin Roosevelt came. People asked him what this did with God, he replied by saying that him supporting Roosevelt was under God, he used the will of God to justify his driving force. Eventually, his radio show was __canceled__ and the Jewish people ended up very upset with him. His priesthood was never under question and he was loved by many (http://www.fathercoughlin.org/father-coughlin-religion.html). -Jazmine Gruber

Aimee Semple McPherson also known as Sister Amiee was very talented and was loved by many. Her __mother__ was apart of the Salvation Army and her father a Methodist. In 1908 Amiee made her __commitment__ to faith in the Assembly of God. Before the great depression Amiee lived in places such as Hong Kong and New York. Aimee like Father Coughlin was very __popular__ on the radio, the reason for her popularity is that she could preach and touch the hearts of a broad group of people. She believed in bringing all __religions together__ and working together to love god, which was rare during this time. She __built her own__ church and composed her own music to use while preaching to her fellow followers (http://www.onbeing.org/program/reviving-sister-aimee/feature/biography-aimee-semple-mcpherson/782).-Jazmine Gruber

Religious Movement and The Radio! - Giuseppe Paucarpura Aimee Mcphersen http://www.otrcat.com/aimee-semple-mcpherson-radio-religion-reality.html
 * Born in Canada
 * Undecided until Robert Semple (Priest)
 * Evangelist & Media celebrity
 * Public healing
 * Founded FourSquare Church
 * Radio Rambler
 * Radio Debut on KHJ
 * February 6th 1924 KFSG
 * Secretary of commerce Hoover ordered the shut down of station because of over growth of power.
 * Aimee unlike Father Coughlin entertained her audience!

Father Coughlin
 * Born In Canada
 * Catholic Priest
 * Radical, Emotional, Democrat
 * Started radio sermons to combat The Ku Klux Klan that attacked His church
 * His church was The Shrine of the little flower
 * By the 1930's he had as many as 40 million listeners
 * He attacked The New Deal a lot
 * He also attacked President Roosevelt
 * Was against capitalism, Communism, and socialism, but later supported Hitler and Mussolini.
 * His fellow catholics were nervous because of his political scandals.

http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/coughlin/coughlin.html

Other Religious Movement: Rastafari - Giuseppe Paucarpura
 * Known as Rasta
 * Believe in Jah
 * Afro-American religion
 * Originated in Jamaica
 * Started 1927-1930
 * Hale Selassie as God Reincarnation
 * Believe that blacks are direct descendants from the Jews.
 * Greatest Ambassador was Bob Marley

Father Coughlin was a controversial Roman Catholic Priest who was one of the first political leaders to use the radio. Up to 30 million people listened to his program. In 1936 his program shifted views and turned to issuing anti-Semitic remarks, he later began to speak of some of the policies of Hitler and Mussolini and how he supported their ideals []
 * Religion in Of Mice and MenAmerican religious movements of the 1930's- Tucker Gunther **

One example of religion in of mice and men is Lennie and George's dream of a farm is in itself almost a religion. they talk about their dream often and when they do so they discuss it revlentley. they both know the story but they repeat it over and over, just as Christians repeat the stories about heaven. this is Lennie's and George's church, and they are both the preachers and the congregation. when Lennie and George tell others of their dreams, they are acting as missionaries and gathering a larger congregation of people who also wish to go to heaven. at first when they do this they do it in a logical style when Curly overhears them talking. he says that this could never happen, but allows George and Lennie to win him over with their explanation of how they will get to heaven. when they convert crooks however, their styles is more like a revival. Lennie acts as a preacher while Curl acts as a supporting role in convincing and converting crooks. they do not sit down and explain exactly how they will get the farm, instead they talk about how great its going to be there. "And when it rains in the winter we'll just say to hell with goin to work" (stineback, 14). . this form of gathering a congregation is similar to what was happening in 1930's america.-V.S. media type="youtube" key="24-zvMyxNAo" width="560" height="315" align="center"
 * Religion in Of Mice and Men by Victoria Snow **

The 1992 movie adaptation dose a good job of showing the way that Lennie reveres the story of the farm. note how reverently George and Lennie discuss this

it should also be noted that everyone who joined the congregation was crippled in one way or another, yearning acceptance and love, just as people who join a church are yearning for acceptance and love from a higher being in this life as well as in the life after. Lennie is crippled in his mind, crooks in his back, curly is missing a hand, and George is crippled because he cares for Lennie. none of these men arr perfect just as no one on earth is perfect. however people gather together in churches to work on becoming perfect. everyone who attends church is crippled in some way and together they work to overcome their issues and become perfect to live with god. V.S.

They also form a group for social reasons. believing in the same things gives this group common interests and people to hang out and socialize with. this is also a reason why people attend church. in fact in a gallop poll 13 percent of poll respondents said that they go to church because of the people there. in comparison, only 15 percent said that they went to church to specifically worship a God. religion is important, especially in the 1930's because of this. people were able to go out and see their friends at least once a week at church as well as at church functions, enabling them to feel as if they were a part of something as well as enabling them to have friends church. Crooks knows the sting of loneliness more than the others in the novel. when the others start to invade his personal room he says "'come on in. if ever'body's comin' in you might just as well.' it was hard for him to conceal his pleasure with anger." (stineback, 71). this is important because every person has at some point or another felt alone and many of these people have felt a deep loneliness and a yearning to fit in, making it easy for people to relate to Crooks and his reason for wanting to go to church. V.S.

Lennie is the most devoted in the group of believers. he puts all of his faith into the farm and the rabbits and bases all of his decisions off of what he thinks is the best decision to bring him closer to his goal. when George needs him to behave, he tells him that he won't get the rabbits. when George needs to comfort Lennie, he tells him about how great it will be to tend to the Rabitts. and when George takes Candy's wife's life, it is not the moral implications that he is worried about. Lennie knows that he has done something morally wrong. "i done a bad thing. i done another bad thing" (Stineback, 87). when he is hiding down by the pond however, his thoughts are all focused on how he will not get to tend the rabbits now because he has done something wrong. when his thoughts are personified as a rabbit because of his guilt and self loathing, it states, "You aint fit to lick the boots of no rabbits. you'd forget 'em and let 'em go hungry.....An' then what would George think" (Stineback, 97). Lennies perdicerment is similar to that of a religious man in many ways. he yearns to go to heaven and he obeys his preacher, in lennies case George, so that he will be allowed to go. However, just like Lennie a man will oftentimes stumble along the way. this will lead to self loathing and a conviction that he is not worthy to go to heaven after all.-V.S.

During the 1930s a lot of people were Roman Catholic. In Of Mice and Men Stienbeck shows this through the characters in the novel. One of the main characters this shown through is Crooks. Crooks closely resembles a Christ like figure. One big thing the author used to show this is Crooks has a manger in a barn that he sleeps in just like Jesus did. “Crooks bunk was a long box filled with straw” (63). Not only does Crooks resemble Christ through his bed but also one night three people visit him just like the three kings visited Jesus when he was born. When the three kings came they also brought gifts. In the book the three characters that come to crooks house have gifts as well but they are not physical. The gifts are represented through their personalities and values they offer. Another way Stienbeck references religion is through Slim. “George looked over at Slim and saw the calm, godlike eyes fastened on him” (36). -Cole Melchior

the churchgoing statistics can be found here: __http://www.gallup.com/poll/27124/just-why-americans-attend-church.aspx__ vs.