2nd+American+religious+movements+of+the+1930’s

Religion in the 1930's Connection to the Novel

**"Religion** is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems , and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence. Many religions have narratives , symbols , and sacred histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or the Universe . From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature , people derive morality , ethics , religious laws or a preferred lifestyle ."

Just as this quote has said we have specific things that stand out and that everyone knows about religion, these certain things being, the story of Christ, and the three wisemen following the star and seeking to find the baby Jesus, and the animals lying around the stable. We know of the sepherds carrying their sheperherds hooks, and many other aspects that most religions focus on.


 * **__Word document__**
 * 1) **__George__** is God, he is the leader, he someone that Lennie and many of the others looked too, he had created a dream and retold the dream over and over
 * 2) **__Lennie__** represents us in our lives or part of the congregation of the religion, he follows the leader or George in this case. He follows the dream, which in our religions would be the commandments that we are told to follow
 * 3) **__Slim__** represents like the pope or the bishop, he is listened too, he was always the smart one and people listened too him, just like with and candy and his dog.
 * 4) **__Crooks__** represents the shepherds hook, first he has a crooked back, just like the curve of the hook, he also watches out for the horses and is a hard worker
 * 5) **__Aunt Clara__** represents the angels, we have those watching over us, just as Lennie had Aunt Clara
 * 6) **__Candy__** represents the animals, he is quiet and reserved but yet a hard worker and there for a certain purpose
 * 7) **__Candy's dog__** represents the choices we have to make in life, just as Candy had to make a choice on whether to kill his old dog or not
 * 8) **__Curley__** represents the world we live in, we come in contact with people who are hard to be around and we treat them as we have been taught to treat them
 * 9) **__Curley's wife__** represents the 3 wise men seeking out Jesus, she was always trying to find Curley and always had certain places to look
 * 10) **__The Boss__** represents the cross, something that people worship and it has specific meaning just has he did being the boss
 * 11) **__The Ranch__** represents the star of David, or the north star, just as the wise men were in search and followed the star, Lennie and George followed the road to the ranch and are following their dream
 * 12) __**The Dream**__ it represents religion, we all have things that we do because of our religion and Lennie, and George did the things they did to make it to their dream, they also shared this dream and had Crooks and Candy wanting to have a part of the dream, just like with our religions we share what we believe and have people follow us


 * So with these connections, if the book related to one specific religion, or a new religion what would it be? **

**Marlee** What is Religion? A common definition of religion is people coming together and sharing beliefs. George and Lennie both regard the dream in a religious way. It brings and holds them together and they share this idea of what could be. It becomes the same way for Candy once they tell him about it. He joins them in sharing this belief of what they'll achieve one day. Also, for a little while Crooks thinks about joining them, too. George and Lennie sort of act as missionaries when they share their dream. People, upon hearing about it, really want to join them and become a part of it. Michaela The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, a personal God or gods. Everyone in the book looked up to Slim for guidance. Zac
 * "Religion** is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence. Many religions have narratives, symbols , and scared histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle ."

Marlee The Great Depression: People were looking for change, be it a way of thinking or believing. Father Coughlin realized this and saw the opportunity to gain popularity. Father Coughlin Charles Coughlin 1891-1979 Controversial Roman Catholic Priest His church -the Shrine of the Little Flower, was attacked by the Klu Klux Klan. Father Coughlin began doing radio sermons after the attack about religious freedom and democracy. He was one of the 1st Political Leaders to use radio. 30 million listeners tuned in weekly. In the beginning he was a supporter of FDR & the News Deal. Later he became a harsh critic. media type="custom" key="25231860" Although at first he had stated he was against communism and antisemitism, by the 1930's he was using the radio for antisemitic commentary and he supported both Hitler & Mussolini's policies. Eventually, his radio program was cancelled. He was also forbidden from posting in the newspaper. He went back to taking care of his church, The Shrine of the Little Flower and sharing his beliefs about antisemitism and communism. Michaela http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/hist409/coughlin/coughlin.html http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005516 http://www.ssa.gov/history/cough.html Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee McPherson October 1890- May 1944 Female evangelists Sister Aimee Semple McPherson was born on October 9, 1890 in Canada. Her birth name was Beth Kennedy. The Salvation Army played a major role in Aimee's life. Sister Aimee established an Christian ministry, built a large Christian center and started a paper, //The Bridal Call//. media type="custom" key="25232432" align="center"

Aimee preached the gospel not only across the United States but also around the world. Sister Aimee Angelus created a Temple in Los Angeles in 1923. In this temple she composed 13 operas and 175 songs for her services. As she grew more and more popular people started to come to her church and rival priests stared to get irritated.

More than 1.5 million people during the Great Depression tuned in using their automobiles and in 1924 she started radio broadcasts.

She summarized her message into four major points, which she called “the Foursquare Gospel” Sister Aimee established many Hispanic ministries in Los Angeles and established ministries to German, Japanese, Czech, deaf, and other communities Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared in May 1926. At first Aimee was presumed drowned but when she reappeared she claimed to have been kidnapped. This made her more famous and well known. In 1944, Aimee Semple McPherson died of an overdose of sedatives. The overdose was pronounced accidental, complicated by kidney problems. The movement that Aimee Semple McPherson founded continues today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftqumRF9Sh4 http://womenshistory.about.com/od/protestant/a/aimee_mcpherson.htm http://www.foursquare.org/about/aimee_semple_mcpherson/p2 http://s3.amazonaws.com/foursquare-org/page_art/About_Aimee_Semple_McPherson.jpg http://www.aimeemcpherson.com/

Zac

Father Divine (George Baker)  1880-Sept, 10, 1965   African-American religious leader of the 1930s During the Depression-era movement he founded the Peace Mission His movements build on the principles of Americanism, brotherhood, Christianity, democracy, and Judaism, with the understanding that all “true” religions teach the same basic truths. Members are taught not to discriminate by race, religion, or color. The movement spread all across North American and even to parts of Europe. Most of its members were African American but nearly one-fourth were white. Membership numbered in the tens of thousands. In the 1930s he was a champion of racial equality and an advocate of  the economic self-sufficiency for African Americans that found broad acceptance only with the Civil Rights Movement. The Peace Mission was originally dismissed as a cult, but it still exists and is now generally hailed as an important precursor of the Civil Rights Movement.

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