Download Introducing American Religion Chapter 13

Reaction and Retreat
Chapter 13
Prohibition

Alcohol Prohibition, a movement echoing the earlier
temperance reform movements of the 19th century,
enabled women to increase the scope of their roles
and simultaneously address the white Protestant
fears of the growing immigrant population
– Drunkenness became a characteristic ascribed to
Catholics, Jews, Irish, etc…, reflecting both the
religious and ethnic overtones of Prohibition
 Banning alcohol was a means of assimilating “the
other” to America
 The Eighteenth Amendment was passed in 1919; in
this sense Prohibition was successful, however it
also spurred an underground crime network in
response to the dry nation
–
The 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933
Restricting Immigration

In 1924, Congress enacted a “quota system”
for immigration which “limited the number
from any individual country” based on the
percentage of immigrants currently
inhabiting America; this privileged northern
and western European countries and
restricted most others
–
This political move reflected the mounting fear
over the increasing pluralism being brought in by
foreign countrymen and women; in 1965 the
restrictions would be lifted
Problems for Jews and
Catholics
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Anti-semitism was experiencing a surge
– The trial of Leo Frank (accused of murdering a Christian
woman) “fueled a growing backlash against Jewish
Americans” when he was found guilty after a mockery of a
trial (191)
– Henry Ford sponsored the publication of Protocols of the
Elders of Zion, which described the Jewish economic
conspiracy to take over the world
Protestants were suspicious of Catholics, particularly following
WWI (many Germans were Catholics)
– The 1928 election of Catholic governor Al Smith (NY) was
vilified for his support of the eradication of Prohibition, seen
as an infiltration of Catholic values
However, what this anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic response
really shows is how firmly embedded Judaism and Catholicism
were in American society
Institutionalized Intolerance

The Ku Klux Klan experienced a resurgence
beginning in 1915; the trial of Leo Frank and
the film The Birth of a Nation reinvigorated
efforts to eradicate non-white, nonProtestant elements from America
 William Joseph Simmons was the primary
force behind the Klan’s rebirth, turning it into
a “religiously-based terrorist body” (195) that
believed that it was a force for moral good
and social reform, which simply employed
any-means-necessary to accomplish its
goals
–
They had a different understanding of a “unified
America” (195)
New Media and Religion

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Religion and media like radio and eventually television have
had a mutually-edifying relationship (in spite of critique by
those who saw communications media as dangerous to the
“religious and moral fabric of the nation” (196)
Beginning in the 1930’s America witnessed the marriage
between religion and media as religious figures took to the
radio airwaves and film
– Charles Fuller began the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour”,
which would become the most popular program on the
radio
– Inserting themselves into the morally ambiguous film
industry were religious films such as King of Kings
Media enabled religious figures to expand their ministry in a
way that was not possible before
– Yet they often served to homogenize or assimilate religious
difference into a “least common denominator” (198)
creating an overarching religious viewpoint