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by PJR “I want to be alone; I just want to be alone.”
Line delivered by Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel, 1932
Portrait of Greta Garbo in The Kiss, 1929 by the great Hollywood stills photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull.
Image: Beguiling Hollywood © Vickie Lester 2014
Orson Welles spins a tale about two incomparable beauties; Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo…truth or fiction? retold in the wittiest, most sophisticated blog in the west – Vickie Lester’s Beguiling Hollywood.
Garbo was sitting on a raised platform in the middle of the living room, so that everybody had to stand and look up at her. I introduced them. I said, “Greta, it’s unbelievable that you two have never met—Greta, Marlene. Marlene, Greta.” Marlene started to gush, which was not like her at all. Looking up at Garbo, she said, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, it’s such a pleasure to meet you, I’m humble in your presence,” and on and on. Garbo said, “Thank you very much. Next?” And turned away to somebody else. Marlene was crushed.
Read the full, illustrated story on Vickie Lester’s Beguiling Hollywood.
Orson Welles’ mischievous anecdote about a goddess so world-weary she is bored with being worshipped contains an allegory of acedia, the state of mind that drives people to retreat from responsibility to lonely indifference to their existence.
The shadows of facts and guesses about Welles, Marlene and Garbo loom over the tale, along with the suspicion that more than one of them was sending up the others.
Welles and Garbo both suffered from depression which has been diagnosed since as bipolar disorder; Marlene and Garbo are rumoured to have been lovers, many years before the party at which, according to Welles, he introduced them for the first time.
The affair might be a writer’s sexual fantasy turned into lucrative gossip, but it could also be an imagined consummation of an attraction between two powerful, androgynous rivals, an historical fiction with pyschological truth.
None of them corrected the received impressions of their private lives, or revealed their most desperate feelings, when they faced the world. The self needs protecting from exposure to other people if it is to stay true. You don’t know what they will do to it.
Orson Welles deflects all the latent sexual feelings, self-aggrandisement and fears of worthlessness into an amusing piece of apocrypha.
As Vickie Lester succinctly puts it, “truth or fiction?”, meaning, it doesn’t matter, art in the form of a funny story has been born.
Both are true; one reveals the outward parade of facts, the other what was going on inside people’s heads, their thoughts and passions, and secrets.
Myth and history interweave, informing each other, and it’s up to us to treat them as allies, not irreconciliable forces. We can’t understand one if we ignore the other.
It is a universal truth that could not have been illustrated without Vickie Lester, who has published her own beguiling Hollywood murder-mystery, It’s In His Kiss. Advertisements |
Monthly Archives: July 2012 Just what does a Rubenfeld Synergy session look like, anyway? – Part 2 30
Posted by Kamela Dolinova in Rubenfeld ≈ 2 Comments
Tagsbody, bodymind, emotion, mental-health, movement, rubenfeld synergy, sessions In part one of this description of a typical Rubenfeld Synergy session, I covered the welcome at the start of the session, the talking in chairs, and moving the client to the table. In this second half, I will discuss the portion of the session that takes place on the table.
Again, we are talking about a first session, and while every session and every client will differ, we are focusing on the physical moves and verbal interventions a Synergist will use most often, especially in a first session where not much is known about the style and needs of a particular client.
For this portion, I will progress through the Classic Sequence, which is a series of moves designed to make contact with the whole person over the course of the session.
Working on the table: The Classic Sequence
1. First contact at the head. In a typical first session, the first place the Synergist will make contact is at the client’s head. Using “butterfly touch,” the Synergist places the tips of her fingers at the base of the client’s skull, called the occipital ridge. This is a place on the body where many nerve endings come together; it is also where the top of the spine makes contact with the brainstem. For this reason, it is a sensitive place, and contact here tends to “wake up” the nervous system. This contact is intended as a “saying hello,” and the Synergist may or may not ask questions or make statements here, depending on the response of the client to the touch. A typical first question is something like, “As I’m making contact with you here at your head, what are you aware of?” The client’s answer to this will begin to give the Synergist an idea of how this client relates to his body: is she aware of how something physically feels? Or of a movement of energy? Does she notice an emotion rising? Or is she confused or disoriented by the question itself? All of these responses (and more) are information the Synergist can use to move forward with this client.
The Synergist may also attempt a head roll here before moving on; this gives her an idea of how much movement, flexibility, tightness, etc. there is in the client’s neck to start with. All of these things may also have other layers of meaning: tension may indicate apprehension, fear, anger, reluctance; softness may indicate relaxation or a feeling of safety, or any number of other things. But this first contact is really intended just as a hello, and moving on from here, once an initial impression has been made, is important.
2. First touch at the feet. The next place we make contact in the classic sequence is the feet. Again using that gentle, light touch, we place our hands on the tops of the client’s feet, in essence completing the circuit we began at the head and helping the client to make the connection between the two ends of his body. Here, again, the Synergist may ask what the client notices or is aware of, or may check in with something the client has already brought up – “tension in my throat,” “tightness in my chest,” “ache in the lower back,” “sadness in my belly,” or whatever may have already arisen. The idea is to follow a thread, but always with an eye to what the client is experiencing now, in this moment. This allows both for the client to observe how subtle, incremental changes happen in his own system, and for a theme to begin to develop for the session.
This is also a time for the Synergist to do the “windshield wiper” move, encouraging rotation of the legs at the hip using gentle pressure on the outsides of the client’s heels. How much movement there is, or is not, is a signal to the Synergist for which side to work on first.
3. The metatarsal move. Whichever side of the client’s body seemed more available to movement is the side where the Synergist begins the deeper moves. The first of these is at the metatarsal, the toe bones of the foot. The Synergist lightly presses near the ball of the client’s foot, spreading the toes and inviting movement in the ankle. This helps the Synergist get more information about the client’s available movement, the quality and character of her feet, and potentially begins to open metaphors for how the client makes contact with the ground and with safety: is this someone who stands firm in her truth? Someone who is always running away, racing ahead, or lagging behind? Can the client feel her feet at all, or is she always in her head? All of these ideas and more can be explored with this move, depending on how the client experiences it and what she is ready to reveal.
Often, the hips have a lot of information to convey. Their positioning is related to the position of the pelvis and lower back, so any physical tensions there can be highlighted or relieved. Sexual trauma often locates here as well, so memories may be triggered. Sometimes the hips have information about where the client feels stuck, or which way he wants to go: the hips are where we find our turning radius, telling us when we want to turn toward or away from something. To extend the linguistic metaphor, our hips can also help us turn up, turn someone down, get turned on or turned off. Some people become turned inward, and then they don’t know where to turn. The point is, there can be a lot going on in the hips. Whatever it is that comes up here, the Synergist hopes to effect a release and free up movement in the hip joint. This doesn’t always happen, but can be profound when it does: the Synergist places his top hand under the knee, then sweeps down the leg all the way through the foot, listening all the way down. Afterward, he’ll do the windshield wiper move again, and most of the time the client will experience a difference in the way the worked-on leg is now moving in contrast to the leg the Synergist has not yet addressed.
After this, the Synergist will move to the other foot and hip. Very different experiences may occur on each side, but the goal is for both legs to feel looser, longer, and more free to move.
5. The shoulder cradle. Once both hips have been released, the Synergist moves to the shoulder on the same side as the first leg. Moving the client’s hand to a convenient position, the Synergist puts his hands beneath the client’s back and supports his shoulder blade.
The shoulders are a place where many people hold tension, and the shoulders and rib cage also serve as protection for the heart. For this reason, emotional material often arises during shoulder work. In a first session, a Synergist will often welcome emotional release, but will probably not go too deeply into it with the client, as a relationship of trust is still being established. Going too deep too soon can cause embarrassment or even shame, and the client’s sense of safety is paramount. However, sometimes there may be tears or anger or any number of emotions moving through a client, and it is the Synergist’s job to welcome, allow, facilitate and contain the client’s emotional experience.
Even if there is not emotion here, the shoulders can be a complex and delicate place, and most people will at least feel some letting go and relief of tension from the contact. At the close of this move, the Synergist moves down the client’s arm with the intention of widening, then, taking the client’s hand and bending the arm, gently dangles and waves the arm to the extent the client’s body allows. This clues the client in to how loose or tight his shoulder still is, how much weight he is allowing the Synergist to take, and what the quality is of the tension remaining.
The Synergist will often ask here about the difference between the two shoulders/arms before moving over and doing the move on the other side.
6. The head, revisited. To close the classic sequence, the Synergist returns to the head. She may attempt a headroll again, to mark the difference in the movement of the neck before and after working on the rest of the body. I often will do a head cradle here, coming under the head and holding it in both hands, to give an extra sense of compassion, safety and relief to the client at the end of a session; I especially tend to do this if the session has been intense.
This is a good time for the Synergist to, well, synergize the session with the client: to give the client a sense of summation and what she most wants to take home with her from this particular session. She may also ask how the client’s sense of her body / herself is different now than it was when she first lay down on the table.
Getting off the table and closing the session
Just as a Synergy session begins as soon as the client arrives, it does not end until the client leaves. The Synergist should encourage and facilitate a slow and mindful transition off of the table. Some clients will get up and jump off the table as quickly as they can no matter what you tell them. But the ideal is to let the client roll to one side, observe the experience of being on their side, move to sitting and stay sitting for a minute or so, monitoring for light-headedness and also calibrating what it’s like to be vertical when they’ve been horizontal for forty minutes or so, and gradually move to standing, with a special emphasis on how the client’s feet are making contact with the ground now. Keeping the client’s attention on the process through a brief walk around the office before scrambling to get out the door again is key to internalizing the messages and lessons of the session.
Once the client has a good sense of it, a simple closing should happen. As with any other therapy or bodywork session, now is the time for gathering up items, arranging payment, and possibly scheduling a followup session.
I hope that this is useful to anyone who is wondering what an RSM session is like and whether it is for them; once again I cannot say exactly what your session will be like, but hopefully this writeup gives you a sense of what to expect at least from a mechanical perspective.
As far as the happenings of particular sessions, I hope to revisit this topic soon and provide some write-ups of sample sessions, to give a wider perspective on the kinds of things that can happen.
The article Melanie sent was straightforward, supported by research, and said a lot of things I don’t have the scientific expertise to say. Thus, I present her article here in full, and hope you enjoy learning more about the fantastic benefits touch can have for people suffering from cancer and other debilitating illnesses.
Massage therapy can be a very effective and pleasant immune system booster for cancer patients. The fight against cancer of all kinds, including mesothelioma, leukemia, breast or colon cancer, can be daunting, overwhelming and exhausting.
Many of the traditional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, can leave a cancer patient feeling weak, nauseous and generally unwell. Many of the other cancer medications may also have difficult and unwanted side effects. Cancer patients also may feel a general sense of lassitude as they realize the enormity of their fight against cancer.
Massage therapy offers cancer patients many positive mental and physical effects. Massage therapy has been clinically shown to lower blood pressure, speed the recovery time from surgical procedures, increase circulation, decrease anxiety levels and reduce insomnia. With an increased sense of well-being, massage therapy even offers a cancer patient more energy and optimism with which to fight the disease. The increase in circulation is particularly important for a cancer patient because the enhanced movement of blood and lymphatic fluid helps the body to excise toxins, including cancer cells.
Massage therapy has also been shown to boost the immune system by balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. When we are in a state of heightened alert and crisis, our bodies key up to fight the perceived threat. For a cancer patient, this may be the disease itself or even a battle with the insurance company over needed procedures. Regardless of the specific situation, the body prepares for “battle” by releasing extra stress hormones, cortisol and adrenalin.
These stress hormones are very helpful in the short run. In the long run, these same hormones can lower the functioning of the immune system. Massage therapy helps to reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure and reduce circulating levels of stress hormones in the blood while creating a sense of well-being and peace. When the nervous system is in balance and a cancer patient is able to truly relax, even for an hour or two at a time, the body is better able to fight cancer cells.
Many cancers, including mesothelioma, may require initial surgical intervention. Massage therapy has been shown to reduce the recovery time from surgery, boost the release of endorphins, which are the body’s own natural painkillers, and reduce post-surgical scarring and edema.
Of course, if you suspect that you may have cancer or have been diagnosed with cancer, it is critical that you receive medical care from a competent oncologist. Many types of cancer have a more favorable outcome if the disease is caught in the earlier stages. Waiting too long to seek medical treatment may make a substantial difference in the outcome of the disease.
In addition to professional medical and surgical interventions, receiving regular sessions of massage therapy will help to promote a sense of well-being, boost your immune system, lower anxiety and help you to cope better with the pain and discomfort of many of the traditional cancer treatments. Just relaxing in the serene and comfortable environment of a spa or massage therapy treatment room will allow you to replenish your energy, vitality and optimism.
Tags18 principles, emotion, giving a voice, humor, ilana rubenfeld, joy, mental-health, rubenfeld synergy Following on the last principle that pleasure needs to be supported in order to balance pain, this principle focuses directly on humor as an especially key type of pleasure. Besides being a talented musician and a gifted healer, Ilana Rubenfeld has always been something of a cutup, and throughout her life has used humor as a key component in healing. (Lightbulb jokes seem to be a particular favorite.)
Not all Synergists are comedians, of course, but one of the subtler parts of our training is in recognizing genuine moments where laughter can be made available to a client. Something I hear people in pain say sometimes is “you have to laugh or you’ll cry.” In RSM, I’d say the principle is more “you have to laugh so you can cry,” or “you have to laugh as well as cry.” Laughter, after all, isn’t that far off from crying: I know there have been many times when I’ve heard laughter from another room and not known for a moment whether it was an expression of mirth or sorrow. Often people talk of laughing until they cry, and certainly at times of difficulty, I’ve been able to be taken from tears to laughter very easily by a caring partner or friend. And of course, there are tears of joy:
This is not a distraction or a way of avoiding difficult emotions: it’s yet another way to express and relieve them. Emotions, after all, are a movement of energy through the body, and can be released in many ways. Suppressing them ultimately numbs all experience of emotion, not just the ones you are trying to avoid. Expressing them, we find that the line between great joy and great agony is fine indeed.
The important thing to clarify about humor in Rubenfeld Synergy is that we strive not to engage in sarcasm or bitter humor. Anything that could seem like mockery, that could belittle the client or the client’s feelings, is not the type of humor we’re looking for. Neither is participation in a client’s bitterness, which may come out as wry remarks or jokes at the client’s own expense. What we’re looking for is the kind of humor that offers the client release, lifts the seriousness of a situation for a time, and helps open the door to other emotions that may be blocked.
I’ll never forget a session I had with a young woman who was in the midst of breaking up with her boyfriend. She came into the session exhausted and blocked, feeling worn down and with very little energy. As I made contact with her head, which felt very rigid, she said she felt a sense of darkness and safety, like a sheet pulled over her face. Then suddenly, she let loose with a cry of “Bullshit!” As she did so, her neck loosened amazingly, and I could suddenly roll it back and forth easily. As I moved to various parts of her body, we found this feeling of anger everywhere – expressed sometimes as “Bullshit!” and sometimes as “Fuck it!” This became funny pretty quickly. “Yeah, bullshit!” I’d respond, as I felt some other part of her loosen and let go, and as she moved that frustration out she’d laugh. “There’s another one – fuck it!”
Finding those points of frustration and anger in her body and giving them a voice was vitally important, and the fact that her body relaxed when she did it was my signal that it was what was needed. But laughing at the swearing and the ferocity of the responses, not to mention with relief, helped make the expression safer for her. She needed to know that I could handle her anger, which apparently wasn’t heard or expressed in her relationship. And she needed to balance that anger with laughter.
In Ilana’s honor, here’s my favorite lightbulb joke:
Q: How many mice does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Only two, but I’m not sure how they got in there.
Chair work. The Synergist and client will generally sit across from each other in chairs to start with. In this moment, the Synergist’s job is to welcome and orient the client. She might ask whether the client had any trouble finding the office or arriving here: the current, present moment state of the client upon entering the session can have a tremendous effect on where the session goes, and a deeper story about the patterns in a client’s life may be reflected and contained in the immediate present of the client’s experience. This is an important thing to remember generally about this work: what the client initially presents with may in fact be the main issue he has come in to address, whether he knows it or not. Is the client frazzled and rushed, perhaps a little late, having gotten lost or had difficulty getting there? It’s possible that this is reflective of a disorganized life that causes the client constant frustration and difficulty. Is the client nervous and apprehensive about the session? It’s possible that anxiety pervades his experience of day-to-day life. Maybe the client seems really friendly and easy-going: “Oh, I just wanted to check this out!” – but the Synergist can detect an underlying tension or falseness. This client might be hiding his problems from himself, or might feel the need to keep up a sunny front in the face of painful experiences he has little support dealing with.
It’s important to note here that all of this is speculation at this point. All the Synergist is doing is noticing: keeping, to the extent possible, a mental, emotional, and kinesthetic sense of this client and maybe beginning to make a few connections. In all cases, the Synergist’s role is to help the client discover for himself what his issues are, what needs to shift, or what needs to be expanded and honored.
At this time, too, the Synergist may ask what brought the client to her – what issue is at the forefront, or what he hopes to work on. Often, the Synergist will also ask what the client notices right now – what he’s experiencing in his body, what his breathing feels like, what’s in the forefront of his mind, what his heart is telling him. As change occurs in the present moment, this is a means of helping the client to move into a present-tense state where healing can occur.
Moving to the table. After a few minutes, the Synergist will generally invite the client to move to the table. This may not happen right away if the client has particular issues around touch, or is not yet comfortable for any reason. In this case, the Synergist and client may continue working in chairs for the entire session. In some cases, the Synergist will touch the client while she sits in the chair; in others, the Synergist may guide the client to touch her own body and notice her experiences while they talk.
However, in most cases, the bulk of the session takes place on the table. Rubenfeld Synergists use a standard massage table, set at about the height of the Synergist’s hips. The client lies face-up on the table, fully clothed, and may have her eyes open or closed as she wishes. The most convenient position is something like shivasana in yoga: legs straight out and relaxed, arms down at the sides. For some people, though, adjustments are necessary: I, for example, often need to put my knees up for part of the session to take pressure off my lower back, or a bolster might be used under the knees for the same purpose. Many people like to rest their hands on their belly, chest or hips rather than on the table, as their shoulders will not allow them to rest their hands comfortably at their sides. The point is, the client should be allowed to find a position that is comfortable, and the Synergist can assist in this.
Once the client is lying comfortably enough (I say “enough” because often the client will have to put up with some discomfort, or will still be nervous, or in other ways be adjusting to the new experience of being on the table), the Synergist can begin the touch portion of the session.
The real beauty of it, though, was the intense experience of touching so many different people in so short a time. I heard stories of job discrimination, cancer, rape, and chronic illness. I touched people who were overweight, thin and tense, athletic but cerebral, and filled with pain. Young, old, male, female, from different parts of the world and varied spiritual beliefs. And my heart opened, I dropped into my receptive stance, and their experiences flowed through me.
It’s hard sometimes to explain what is so intense and personal and beautiful to me about this work. But when I do it in any kind of concentrated way, it always comes back to me, and makes me want to be doing it every day, and touching as many people as possible. People need to know about this, and events like yesterday make me want to shout from the rooftops about how much this work is needed in the world.
One man told me that what had felt like anger and numbness had begun to move toward a sense of challenge and hope. One woman felt her feet on the ground after feeling she’d spent years sitting on the fence. One woman who was in so much pain I thought she was angry or suspicious when she first came in felt physical relief profound enough that it awed her.
It’s times like this I’m so glad I was called to do this work. Now I just need for people to come and receive it.
Check it out here and let me know what you think!
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Tags18 principles, emotion, humor, medicine, mental-health, pain, psychology, rubenfeld synergy, wisdom of the body This week’s principle is probably one of the easiest to understand. Oftentimes, whether in therapy, medicine, or bodywork, we have the tendency to focus on the negative. The reasons are obvious: we’re at the doctor or the massage therapist or the psychologist to get relief from what’s troubling us. Sure, we get checkups at the doctor, just to make sure everything’s okay. But for the most part, when we’re seeking care, it’s because something is wrong. We’re in pain, and we want to release it.
While in treatment, it’s likely that we’ll experience more pain before we receive relief. That physical therapist will rub on our most tender places, push our muscles to go just past the point of pain, make us do exercises that will build up our strength but are anything from boring to excruciating. The doctor may perform painful tests, give us drugs that have nasty side effects, or perform surgeries we need to recover from. In psychotherapy, often we have to delve into our traumas, face core fears, process difficult emotions, and in some ways, get worse before we get better.
All of this requires some balancing, which too often isn’t as available to us in more traditional healing contexts. My husband, for example, who has a mild form of MS, wasn’t told that the drug he’s taking might cause headaches, which he has been suffering from nightly for weeks now. And even if information about how our treatment might cause us more pain is forthcoming, it’s seldom that we’re given recommendations for how to balance that pain with pleasure.
In Rubenfeld Synergy, there is a focus on finding and expanding the pleasurable experiences of the body. This is not to say that we don’t move through the difficult things as well; in fact, most of the most powerful and effective sessions I’ve seen or been a part of have involved the client experiencing painful emotions or physical sensations or both. But we put a special emphasis on calling upon the body’s resources to help make that pain bearable.
This principle applies in two major ways in sessions. First, before entering into deep and potentially painful work, we like to be sure that the person has gotten in touch with enough of his or her resources to feel safe moving through difficult territory. We work with clients to make sure they are in touch with their feet, that they trust their base of support to be strong beneath them, to know when to stand firm and when to run, and to carry them to the next place in their lives. We help them feel their hips, and the power contained in them: the base of their spines, the capacity to turn toward or away from something. We get them in touch with their hearts, and the messages their hearts have for them. We introduce people to themselves, and tap them into the pleasure and beauty of being able to trust yourself. It’s from this place that we can face the challenges and pain that come at us.
Joan Brooks, one of my mentors, has been blogging at the Rubenfeld Synergy site lately, and she wrote a lovely piece about finding the seemingly paradoxical messages your body sometimes has for you and locating the common ground between them. This is yet another way to balance pain with pleasure: it is not about throwing away the painful message and focusing only on the positive. Instead it is a way of honoring the authentic experiences of your body, and by doing so, bringing yourself into greater alignment with who you are.
Teaching your body to pay attention to pleasure also helps to actually lessen pain, both by distracting from the pain and by encouraging the release of pain-relieving hormones in the brain. And emotionally speaking, opening to pleasurable memories along with painful ones can open the channel for the release of difficult emotions, whereas when we hold back from experiencing pain, we repress positive emotions as well. Numbing, as Miriam Greenspan said, is unfortunately not selective, and when we try not to experience pain, we keep ourselves from feeling joy as well. Open to one, and you open to the other. Yes, this means that you become more susceptible to pain. But it also means that you learn how to move through it with greater speed, resilience, and grace.
And for a bonus, you get greater access to pleasure as well. |
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[2010-09-03] APPLYING POSTMODERN PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT IN A HIGH SCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTS CLASSROOM
Cramer, Cyrus
This paper was inspired by my own instruction in philosophy as an undergraduate at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA and by my encounter with Robert Scholes’ book Textual Power while a graduate student at the University of ...
[2010-09-09] Reflections of Navajo Culture and Educational Philosophy in Two Fourth-Grade Art Education Classrooms in the Gallup-McKinley School System
Pierce, Mara
This project takes a look at the content and the context that is presented to children in two fourth grade public school art classrooms (Gallup-McKinley County Schools district) that primarily serve Dine children. The ...
[2010-09-09] Nowhere Man: Autoethnographic Reflections on Identity, Family, and Leadership.
Skipp, Tracy John
The purpose of this self study was to discover the values and attitudes I model as a leader to support people in doing their best work. Specifically, do I practice leadership intimacy as defined in this study? Leadership ...
[2010-09-10] Brokering Mathematics Reform: How Principals in Predominantly Hispanic-Serving Schools Conceive of Their Leadership Roles in the Implementation of a District-Wide Mathematics Reform Initiative
Trujillo, Barbara
Mathematics reform efforts have been of interest to educational researchers for many years, particularly since the first Curriculum and Standards for School Mathematics over twenty years ago. Yet, despite efforts to improve ...
[2011-02-09] First-person singular pronouns in Japanese: How do they work in conversation?
McCraw, Mami
Subjectivity-- expression of our thoughts and emotions-- is the essence of everyday conversation (e.g., Benveniste, 1971; Scheibman, 2002). Previous studies have found that subjectivity is expressed in a variety of ... |
What’s the Difference
Have you wondered about the difference between a memorial and a monument?
During the winter of 1995, we toured Washington, D.C. My son and I stood in freezing drizzle as we waited for the Metro subway, then we joined a line of shivering tourists outside the White House. In spite of the weather, excitement traveled with us as we experienced the aura of our nation’s capitol.
We strolled through each floor of the Smithsonian and marveled at the artifacts of ancient history. We ate the famous bean soup in the Senate cafeteria and munched on bagels in the delis. We walked somberly through the white crosses at Arlington Cemetery and read every word of the original Constitution.
While touring the Washington Monument, we learned the difference between a monument and a memorial. Monuments are structures which honor someone or some noble cause. The Washington Monument honors our first president, George Washington.
A memorial, such as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, contains the image of the person for which it is named. Jefferson stands at attention in his memorial. Lincoln sits in a sculptured chair, his immortal words forming an arc around him.
As I think about that vacation, I realize my own memorial lies within the soul cavern where God resides. I bear the image of the Almighty One, Emanuel, God with us.
Even when I miss my mother and hate the Alzheimer’s that destroys her mind, a morsel of hope hides within me. God plays spiritual peek-a-boo with my soul.
Even when I feel alone, I do not live in oblivion. God creates a heavenly purpose and sculpts his perfection in me.
Lessons learned. Scars healed.
I place my very self in the safest possible hands—in the omniscient palm of my loving Father. He alone creates in me an eternal memorial.
Hopefully, the memorial of my life reflects the origin of its Light. |
History / Meridel LeSueur Recalls Swede Hollow Before Prohibition Meridel LeSueur Recalls Swede Hollow Before Prohibition
By Patrick Coleman, March 21, 2012 Keg delivery wagon, Hamm’s Brewery (Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society)
Patrick Coleman writes:
LeSueur was perhaps Minnesota’s most famous proletarian writer, so it is not surprising that she wrote about the humble people of Saint Paul’s Swede Hollow. The following selection was written during Prohibition, ushered in by passage of the Volstead Act in 1919.
Meridel LeSueur, “Beer Town,” Life in the United States: A Collection of Narratives of Contemporary American Life from First-Hand Experience or Observation (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933); pages 31–33, 40.
I should have had a bad life. Any reformer would say so. I was bred, born and raised in the shadow of the old-time, pre-Volstead brewery. Below it, in the shadow, lived the Germans, the Irish, the Swedes, and it rose upon the hill like a castle and from it night and day came the yeasty odor of beer…
The resemblance to a feudal castle was increased when later Mr. Hamm’s sons took unto themselves wives, and his daughters were wedded and he built beside his own Rhine mansion other preposterous edifices looking down over the town and the Mississippi.
Below across the tracks on the other side lay what was called the Hollow. Here lived the man-power that manned the brewery. They lived in homemade houses that looked as if they were built from scraps like a family quilt, but they had an intimate aspect, for each man had put his house together like a piece of embroidery, with the color of an old sign and a flash of tin, but they were tight and neat with smoke curling cosily [sic] from the slanting chimneys in winter. A stream ran through the Hollow, and over this lovely thread of water sat the outhouses, each delicate and crazy shamble propped over the stream on planks. They tipped over easily in a wind or when pushed. In the back of each house there was a small patch of garden set out crookedly, and usually a rickety fence marked the boundaries of a tiny square of “lawn” in front. The streets were unpaved and in spring full of water…
In the morning we were awakened by the rumbling of the beer-wagons going out loaded to the town. The streets leading to the brewery were of cobblestones because the huge beer wagons were death on ordinary pavement. The clatter of horses and the rumble of the heavily burdened wagons made a fierce rumble and clanging, and half in our dreams we started up seeing the splendid horses treading sparks and hearing that strange sound of hoofs beating out and away in the morning. We ran to the windows and looked up the hill and saw the brewery rising all safe and stable with the cattle in the barns, the men climbing up to work, the animals waking and lowing, the drivers driving out their wagons of beer, cracking their whips, crying out to each other, swearing full-mouthed oaths, the horses snorting and backing and galloping off, rumbling the great wagons into town. We saw the complete, the substantial, feudal city flashing up in the morning air…
The Hollow and its wreckage still lie below the track, the outhouses still over the stream. Hamm’s Brewery is still there, its Rabelaisian power greatly reduced by what is called the Eighteenth Amendment. |
Defeating evil is a nice dish to have. First of all, what you need is patience, a nice ear, a lot of oxygen, a creative mind, a reading eye, and a serious looking face. Keep the dish away from grins, puffs, irritation, and a short sighted mind. The personal ability to get out of arguments comes in very handy.
Today, the world is facing a phenomenon never before seen. People living amongst us thinking that they’re giving a lot back to society when in fact they are evil spreaders. They don’t believe they are evil, they don’t want to be evil, they despise evil, but in fact, they are evil. How is this and why is it happening? Let me explain.
There is a formula, a very dangerous one, noticed today in and around the Middle East and the world as well to some extent. This formula has only two factors, education and democracy. When you mix bad education with democracy, the result is bad, very bad. Many activists in and around the Middle East are strong believers in democracy, or more so believe that if they rule, they can do a much better job than what is currently being done by the existing regime. They look at political parties and see that every single citizen is represented in them. Hence, when they run for office, they would do so on behalf of the people.
You see, the difference between someone who knows and someone who doesn’t know is not in the size of knowledge each person has relative to the other. Let me give you an example. Two people, one that knows the alphabet up to the letter G, and another up to the letter L. The second person knows more letters, so does that mean he is better? Maybe, but what I am trying to explain is that it is not about how many letters a person knows, but more about knowing that there remains much more letters he doesn’t know, and that he knows and acknowledges the limitations of his knowledge. In short, it’s not what you know, it’s more about do you believe that there is always more to know, and that there is always a large chance you may be wrong?
Political parties today act as if they know it all, and most refuse to listen or to open a door of knowledge for better ways to rule and govern. They look at the amoral political freedom in the West and believe that public constructive criticism is a form of modernization to the Middle Eastern society. Well, this may be true, but the time is not right, and all what comes out of it is nothing but evil.
Some western ideologies if implemented today in the Middle East is not considered part of modernization, but Westernization. There are a series of steps that needs to take place before implementing those specific democratic institutions that brings nothing but harm to our societies when not done right. First, we have to acknowledge that culture changes, but changes much slower than globalization and the speed of social media spread. Second, we have to establish the correct institutions that prevents social segregations, constrain leaders from corruption and towards active performance, emphasize accountability and enforceability, and most of all, a complete overhaul to the education system. After this, we have to engage with the changes, adopt them so that they can be part of our lives, so that we develop a much better culture than the stalled one we have right now.
Defeating evil is not easy, it takes time, will, patience, and a lot of oxygen. There is a process, and the is no other way than this. The majority in the Middle East aren’t able yet to suppress their emotions for the collective good. Instead, when given the chance, we notice that many are casting their votes with stones. Advertisements
Touch: humans need touch to survive and thrive. Do not forget to hug your loved ones. Pat your friends on the back literally and figuratively.
Forgive: forgiveness is life given because it puts you in charge you become empowered.
Pray: prayer is asking god to transform a situation an become the heart of your life, take time each day to nurture this connections
Hope: “Hope is the knowledge that even in worst of times we can triumph over hardship and sorrow and grow the spirit” hope is what sustains humanity.
Choose: “we cannot always choose our circumstances but we can choose our attitude towards them”.
Appreciate: admire the good in yourself and in those around you
Happiness: it involves given freely to others and not necessarily wanting something in return.
Read: reading removes boundaries.
Write: words are freedom, words are power.
Release: avoid doing something just because everyone thinks you should give your self permission t relax. Those words will teach us to be observer, positive, constructive, patient and fast-learner. This is the kind of citizen needed in the Middle East to move forward.
If we do not do mistakes means also that we are not doing anything but the strength is to acknowledge our mistakes and try to correct them.
I think this is what we need to have and this is needs to be teach from the family, the school…
I do apologize if my comment is a long one. |
Posts Tagged ‘fiddle tune’
It’s high time we got right with gospel here at Second Cousin Curly. Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to feature very different flavors of gospel-tinged bluegrass (or vice-versa). To get us started on the righteous foot, here’s a tune from— what else?— The Bluegrass Gospel Project that I recorded a couple of years back at the Lake Champlain Bluegrass Festival:
How Much Gospel Do You Take With Yer Bluegrass?
In my wanderings, I’ve found a wide spectrum of attitudes in bluegrass circles toward gospel. On one end, I’ve encountered folks who truly only play bluegrass as a vehicle for exploring and enjoying gospel music. On the other end, I’ve met a few pickers whose view of gospel might best be summarized as “Thanks, but no thanks.” I hasten to add that people’s tastes in this regard don’t necessarily align with religious beliefs, though of course a lot of fervent Christians like to celebrate their faith through song.
I am now going to creep out onto a limb and make a glaring generalization: gospel music is more deeply integrated into bluegrass below the Mason-Dixon line. Look into the biographies of Southern bluegrass musicians young and old, and you’ll find that the great majority of them got their first introduction to music singing in the church. With the recent passing of Earl Scruggs, many fans took another look at episodes from Flatt & Scruggs television series and were surprised by how much gospel those shows featured (with Earl picking a mean guitar!). In his autobiography, Ralph Stanley writes extensively about the role that singing in church played in shaping his music. This tradition lives on. In an interview we recently posted here, Sierra Hull spoke in much the same terms about her upbringing. You could say that gospel is in southern pickers DNA.
This fact doesn’t just account for why those folks are more at home with gospel than their northern counterparts; it also helps explain why harmony singing is emphasized more in southern bands than groups from elsewhere. As I say, I’m going out on a limb, but if you’ve ventured this far out onto this rickety branch, let’s see if you’ll follow me one step further: just as harmony singing and gospel music form the backbone of bluegrass down south, fiddle tunes play a more fundamental role in northern bluegrass.
To be sure, these are broad brush characterizations and certainly don’t apply to all performers, northern or southern. Witness the fact that The Bluegrass Gospel Project is a Yankee outfit, drawing its members from Vermont, New York and Massachusetts. Of course, it’s also notable that this group leavens its staple of gospel numbers with tunes like the one featured in this next video postcard from Lake Champlain:
Festival Season Is Upon Us
Incidentally, I hope the glimpses of the Lake Champlain Bluegrass Festival in the two videos featured here motivate you to dig the lawn chairs out of the garden shed. It’s festival time!
Seemingly perched at the top of the world— the Canadian border is just about walking distance from its gate— the Lake Champlain Bluegrass Festival is representative of the myriad rustic and family friendly festivals that pop up every weekend from now until Labor Day. As it happens, the LCBF didn’t take place in 2011 and isn’t scheduled to run this year either. Like so many bluegrass events, LCBF depends on dedication and hard work of a very small core team. Here’s hoping they will return (as advertised) in 2013.
Saint Hazel
Anyone could be excused for assuming that “The River of Jordan”— the tune featured in the first video clip— was written by Mr. Anonymous way back when. Turns out the song was penned by Hazel Houser in the middle of the twentieth century. Houser is one of the great unsung songwriters of country and bluegrass. While others were drinking martinis and playing mahjong, this housewife from Modesto, California was turning out timeless compositions, including the country and bluegrass classic “My Baby’s Gone.”
My research has dug up precious little on Houser, beyond the fact that she passed away already many years ago. The music she has left behind offers tantalizing hints of a profound and sophisticated sensibility. Who wouldn’t want to meet the author of the lyric, “Hold back the rushing minutes, make the wind lie still”? That’s a verse that’s closer to Romantic poetry than it is to honky tonk. If anyone has more information on Houser’s life and music, please get in touch.
I’ve already held forth here on the weird and wonderful mix of performances and jams that define the Joe Val Fest. As, uh, exhaustive as my previous portrait was, I don’t think I gave enough emphasis to the Joe Val Fest’s major asset, which are its workshops.
Of course, many bluegrass festivals host workshops. Often there’s a tent devoted to such sessions where you can mingle with your heroes. What makes Joe Val’s workshops special? Simple: they’re indoors. It will probably always feel a bit odd to play “Foggy Mountain Top” while standing in a carpeted corridor, and the words, “the banjo licks workshop is about to begin in Conference Room C” may never sound quite right, but staging the festival in a large hotel has its consolations. Chief among these is the fact that, when you go to a workshop you can hear and be heard with a clarity that’s just not possible outdoors.
Check out this performance by Skip Gorman and Richard Starkey (a duo that sometimes performs under the name Rabbit in a Log) from a workshop at last year’s Joe Val Fest. The tune is Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Mandolin.”
Nice, no? You can hear every note of those brushed chords that Gorman plays towards the end. That’s how it is a Joe Val: you can sit inches away from legends like Bobby Osborne or Frank Wakefield as they tell tales from their early years, or you can discuss the arcana of microphone and plectrums with hotshots like Mike Guggino or Jesse Brock (can you tell I play mandolin?). In these sessions, more than just about anywhere on the circuit, you feel the intimate bond between performer and audience that’s such a key part of bluegrass culture.
“Kentucky Mandolin” has become a standard (at least among mando players) even though in human terms it’s still only middle-aged. According to the discography compiled by Neil Rosenberg, inveterate chronicler of Monrovia, this instrumental was written by Bill Monroe for a recording date on November 9th, 1967. To my ears, the minor key makes it of a piece with a number of plaintive tunes from the latter part of Monroe’s career, such as “Crossing the Cumberlands” and “My Last Days on Earth.”
I’m less concerned about looking like a lunatic* here than I am about failing to make my point. You see, having committed to treading the boards once more, I was determined at least to get through the whole exercise as quickly as possible. As a result, I raced through the various musical excerpts, making it very hard for even the attentive listener to grasp my point.
Be that as it may, I still believe there is a case to be made here. Watch Sandy Cherryholmes hitting those chords in the first video clip, or turn the dial to the Bluegrass Channel on satellite radio or some other outlet for contemporary bluegrass, and you’ll hear what I’m talking about. Whereas bluegrass up until around 1970 was marked by a steady backbeat punctuated by the occasional lick or fill from the rhythm guitar, today’s music features surging rhythms that are often quite tightly arranged. That caesura that you hear in Ricky Skagg’s version of “Walls of Time”— the little hiccup where the whole band seems to take a collective breath— is a common stylistic device for contemporary groups like The Steeldrivers and Blue Highway.
As the carol goes, “Do you hear what I hear?” If so, when exactly did bluegrass get that extra rhythmic punch? Where did it come from? Send me your thoughts, and should you try to make one, let me know how that “bluegrass turntable” works out. A word of caution, however: try it out first on your old Bay City Rollers LPs and keep those bluegrass heirlooms on the shelf.
Share this:EmailPrintMoreFacebookTwitterTumblrRedditGoogleLike this:Like Loading... Posted in Festivals, Performances | Tagged Americana, banjo, BJ Cherryholmes, bluegrass, bluegrass festival, Cherryholmes, Cia Cherryholmes, fiddle tune, Jere Cherryholmes, Lake Champlain Bluegrass, mandolin, Molly Cherryholmes, New Grass Revival, old time music, power chords, Ricky Skaggs, Sandy Cherryholmes, Second Cousin Curly, Seldom Scene, Skip Cherryholmes, Steeldrivers, Tattoo of a Smudge, The Who | 4 Comments »
Fear not: Cousin Curly’s got lots more sights and sounds to share from his recent southern trip, but right now, we’re going to take a brief detour— a slight step back in time, in fact. Check out this tasty jam from a workshop with the inimitable Joe Walsh (mandolinist with the Gibson Brothers) at this year’s Joe Val Bluegrass Festival…
Walsh is accompanied first by Courtney Hartman on guitar and later by Kimber Ludiker on fiddle. Ludiker and her fiddle literally arrive half-way through the song (you can hear her unpacking her instrument in the background). This tune represents the first time these three musicians had played together.
The composition featured here, “Saint Anne’s Reel,” started out as a French Canadian fiddle tune and has since spread far and wide. I used to think people knew it in New England because it’s a staple of contra dancing, but I’ve since run into it all over the place.
At Merlefest, I heard a band play a version of the tune with electric guitar and drums. Not to beat a dead horse (see my previous post on drums and string bands), but that amped up version, while a lot of fun, was as good an illustration as any of how drumming can “straighten out” a tune. Lay a “boom-chuck-a” rhythm behind “Saint Anne’s Reel” and it suddenly sounds an awful lot like a polka. In contrast, in the version I’ve posted here, you can see how Walsh & Co. minutely push and pull the rhythms to give the tune a real bounce.
While I’m sucking all the life out of a fine performance, let me take the opportunity to note a good example of how expert musicians can trade licks to form a kind of musical conversation. Just about half way into this jam (the 2:15 mark), Hartman plays a little C#-D-E-C#-A phrase:
This phrase isn’t in the original melody, and in playing it, perhaps Hartman was simply transitioning from one chord pattern to another. Whatever the case, you can hear how Walsh almost immediately seizes upon the phrase, as if to say, “Hey, that’s interesting…” Hartman in turn plays just a fragment of the phrase— now dropped down an octave— just before Ludiker joins in and takes the conversation in new directions.
Last point: check out how fluently Walsh throws in fistfuls of “passing chords” as he backs Hartman’s solo. The role these transitional chords have in defining Walsh’s sound can’t be overstated. They lend his playing a sweet and melancholy flavor or color that’s absolutely his own. Hartman also employs passing chords to nice effect, particularly in the last run-throughs of the tune. |
Bohr model
In quantum mechanics, a branch of physics, the Bohr model is the model of the atom proposed by Niels Bohr. Bohr's model is useful only when discussing the behavior of a hydrogen atom. Bohr's model is extremely useful in describing the hydrogen emission spectrum.
1.1 Energy Levels
1.2 Light
Electrons[change | change source]
Energy Levels[change | change source]
The Bohr model says that the angular momentum of an electron within a hydrogen atom can only be integer multiples of a certain number.
{\displaystyle L=n{\frac {h}{2\pi }}}
Where h is Planck's constant, π is pi, and n is the multiples (1,2,3,...). This formula says that an electron will only be found on the energy levels predicted by the formula, and not anywhere in between. This means that if an electron jumps from one energy level to the next, it will never be in between energy levels, but will instantaneously be transported from one level to the other.
Light[change | change source]
Bohr's model is also useful because it explains the cause of light. Bohr agreed with classical theory that light has a wave-particle duality (meaning that it is made of both electromagnetic waves and particles called photons), but he said that light was given off when an electron in a hydrogen atom jumps from a higher energy level to a lower one. Basically, if an electron with x amount of energy goes to a lower state of energy and loses y energy, then a photon with energy y is emitted by the atom and either becomes light or some other form of radiation.
Emission spectrum |
Bukit Brown – Where the Fallen Lie
Posted on April 29, 2012 by bukitbrown Reply Bukit Brown is a site where many of the fallen from World War II lie. It is a burial for war heroes, just like it is a resting place for members of the Tongmenghui (同盟會). These add significance to a green space that is also an environment where Singaporeans can connect with what our forefathers represent. Projections do not capture these. “Stop at Two” and the “Graduate Mothers Scheme” also relied on projections. These were well-meaning, but later needed significant corrections. Singaporeans bear the cost of such adjustments. Save Bukit Brown. Save OUR Singapore. Petition at sosbukitbrown.wordpress.com and write your MP.
Thank this Bukit Brownie for making this video!
If you enjoyed watching the latest video contribution from this concerned citizen. Inspired by it, do like it and even better make a response to it. If you want to join the campaign send the images, messages, articles and videos coming!
Send to [email protected]
Posted in Articles | Leave a reply
Encouragement for Saving Bukit Brown
Posted on April 28, 2012 by bukitbrown Reply Thank you Bukit Brownies!
Watch the latest video contribution from another concerned citizen. Keep the images, messages, articles and videos coming!
Here is his message for the video:
Some people ask where we get the motivation to keep pushing for Bukit Brown’s protection. Let’s just say we get it from the very top. We are in agreement with what is being said recently! So don’t wait liao. Stand up and be counted. Sign the open letter to support the protection of Bukit Brown at sosbukitbrown.wordpress.com or go to our Facebook page. These places got more information on Bukit Brown also.
In contrast, the government’s ready engagement of the public regarding the fate of the KTM railway land should be applauded. The various design schemes and ideas proffered in the consultative process provide a clear directive towards any potential development, that is, to keep the 26km tract as a public green to be defended from acquisition for commercial use. The Rail Corridor is an unprecedented historical opportunity to provide wonderful experiences to all income and age groups, whether as a leisure and recreation site or a venue for art and cultural activities. A vibrant people-oriented corridor will generate a strong and unique image of our physical identity. It can become an iconic place with a long and complex history that all Singaporeans can be proud of.
The Myths of Land Scarcity and Urban Transport
‘Land scarcity’ and ‘transport needs’ are often used as the rationale for development. We require more imaginative solutions to these needs, for the day will arrive when we will have finally run out of land. We need to stabilise our population between 5 and 5.5 million, minimise our carbon footprint and work towards achieving environmentally sustainable lifestyles. It is critical that we change this singular mindset of “destroy-and-rebuild” that the nation has perfected into a treacherous art form.
How many roads do we need to achieve maximum flow of vehicular traffic? Infinite! New and/or bigger roads would only induce demand for more roads, a common illusion with automobile-oriented cities. In an age concerned with the carbon footprint, this car obsession is a great obstacle to achieving a sustainable city. Public transport remains the most effective, affordable and reliable way to move people for long distances. Cycling and walking are important complementary alternatives that are seriously under-explored here. There must be a “reset” in urban design towards a people-oriented integrated transportation network capable of meeting the needs of the majority of citizens.
The Save Old School (SOS) campaign began as an effort to save an alma mater but really concerns the land use and development of the Mount Sophia site, an area that is in the process of being transformed into a high-end residential district. This is yet another contestation that foreshadows the insidious losing of our Commons. It is not about deciding which buildings are more deserving of conservation but whether any building should be torn down for redevelopment at all, versus say refurbishment and retrofitting. For BBC, it is not how the graves should be researched or archived, but whether the site should be preserved and improved as a memorable public space. These urban contestations form part of the fight to protect the Commons. One should not mistake these efforts as reserved only for sentimental conservation buffs and idealistic dreamers; they are matters that concern us all.
– A post from the Voice of the People
New Immigrants visits Bukit Brown
Posted on April 23, 2012 by woontienwei Reply A video of New Immigrants visiting Bukit Brown. They wondered what is the logic to destroy an important site like Bukit Brown? Yes, the illogical destruction of Bukit Brown is really what is so spooky about the whole thing.
Posted in Reflections | Leave a reply
Official statement from the Society of Paranormal Investigators (Singapore) on Bukit Brown
Posted on April 23, 2012 by woontienwei 3 This was forward to local print media on 4 Nov 2011 (fri), and published on the society’s official website:
Preserve Bukit Brown graves: Fellow Singaporeans
The decision to clear Bukit Brown Cemetery and make way for roads and housing development has triggered many discussions and debates.
The Society of Paranormal Investigators (Singapore), a registered society in Singapore and one of our objectives is to promote and foster knowledge exchange in our own research and investigations. This includes not only scientific but also cultural and traditions.
The Bukit Brown Cemetery is one of our usual locations that we often share and introduce to our members on its rich historical values as well as a great learning journey venue to understand Chinese graves.
The Reverend Master Lee Zhiwang, President of Taoist Mission (Singapore), pointed out that “… Preserving it (Bukit Brown Graves) also exercises filial piety to our pioneers.” (Taoist Mission, 1 Nov).
We agree on this and the Ministry of Education has pointed out that education has to be holistic and values driven. In his speech during this year’s MOE Workplan Seminar, Minister for Education Mr Heng Swee Kiat had put forward that values and character development at the core of our education system and we need moral values, such as respect, responsibility, care and appreciation towards others, to guide each of us to be a socially responsible person. Filial piety, sense of gratitude and together with appreciating our own rich heritage should be part of our values. While we educate our young, let’s not forget that we as adults and the nation at large should also set a good example. Preserving the graves is also an act of what the Chinese would say “Yin Shui Si Yuan” 饮水思源. – While we enjoy the fruit of success, be thankful and do not forget the source.
As many other readers have pointed out, many distinguish Singapore pioneers are buried in Bukit Brown. Our roads are named after them and their individual grave each tells a different story and collectively they all form our very own Singapore Story. Thus Bukit Brown has great educational value to our future generation.
In response to Taoist Mission’s letter, another reader, Mr Daniel Chia, wrote in his letter to ST Forum “Cemetery should make way for the living” (3 Nov), that that filial piety should be exercised when the parents are still alive and not only when they passed away. We believed he could have misunderstood the concept of filial piety.
In Chinese traditions, filial piety is to be carried out all the time, when our parents are still alive and even when they passed on, they are remembered and revered through many Chinese traditions, e.g Ancestor worship, Qing Ming Festival and the 7th Month Festival.
We understand land is precious in Singapore; chances of preserving whole of Bukit Brown are slimed, but we still will like to urge the authorities besides documenting Bukit Brown, to consider preserving part of Bukit Brown or identifying distinguished pioneers’ graves and relocate them.
While having a virtual Bukit Brown Cemetery may be a good idea, it will still be a great pity if the actual monuments and historical artefacts are gone. Many people think that Singapore has little history but what we are removing now physically is history. It is certainly not a small part of Singapore’s history but a major part. The pioneers have done a lot in building our nation and Bukit Brown is their final resting place. Let show our respect and gratitude to them by continuing to allow them to rest undisturbed and future generations can still visit them, to understand our Singapore Story.
Heritage Trails – Bukit Brown Cemetery
My Piece of Bukit Brown
Nature Society (Singapore)’s Position on Bukit Brown
Online Petition to Save Bukit Brown Cemetery
Raymond Goh's Blog
Remember Singapore
Save Bukit Brown Cemetery – The Roots of Our Nation (Facebook Page)
Singapore Heritage Society (Facebook Page)
SOS Bukit Brown's YouTube Channel
Wild Singapore |
Can I meet you before I decide if I want a midwife or if my partner or family has questions?
We offer a complimentary 15 minute meet and greet visit with one of our midwives. Please call our office at 303.738.1100 to arrange this meeting.
Can I have an epidural?
While many women who desire natural birth seek midwifery care, many of our patients use epidural anesthesia during their labor. We are supportive of all ways women chose to have a baby, and have many options available at the hospital.
What is your episiotomy rate?
Our episiotomy rate is about 1%. It is safer to tear then it is to have an episiotomy, so we never routinely do episiotomies. We do many techniques to help avoiding a tear during birth.
What is your Cesarean Section rate?
Around 10-15%. National average is 33% and we are very proud of our low rate. When we recommend a cesarean section, it is always for a legitimate medical reason.
What positions can I be in during labor and birth?
We encourage you to move into positions you are comfortable in, both in and out of the bed during labor and birth. Our women try a variety of positions, including on a birthing ball, in water, walking, squatting, or in bed. If you have an epidural, then you are restricted to the bed, but we will work with finding comfortable potions in the bed which will aid in labor progression and pushing.
What if I become high risk during my pregnancy or labor?
We collaborate with fabulous physicians at South Denver OB/GYN, who are available 24/7 if need be. Some scenarios require a one time consultation, some require co-management between the doctor and midwife, and in certain situations, a transfer during your pregnancy to the care of physician. Because we work together, you do not need to transfer clinics if a complication arises. Certain situations include, but are not limited to: Diabetes requiring insulin, Pre-Eclampsia, Vaginal birth after a cesarean, Twin pregnancy, and the need for a cesarean section.
Can I wear my own clothing during labor?
Yes, absolutely. We want you to be comfortable.
What is the difference between a CNM and a doctor during labor and birth?
Generally speaking, CNMs not only attend the birth, but provide support through out the labor and spend more time with you during the whole process.
What is a Colposcopy?
A Colposcopy is a diagnostic tool to determine the cause of abnormalities found in Pap smears. A colposcopy is a visual examination of the cervix, a relatively simple and painless procedure, usually performed in our office. The actual procedure lasts approximately ten to fifteen minutes.
If I have a midwife, does that mean I deliver at home?
We do not attend home births. All of our families have their baby at Castle Rock or Littleton Adventist Hospitals. Our Certified Nurse-Midwives graduated from a Masters or Doctorate program accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), are board certified, and have hospital privileges.
Why do we have our families deliver at Littleton Adventist Hospital or Castle Rock Adventist Hospital?
Our families rave about their experience at both Littleton and Castle Rock Hospitals. Not only do the nurses have an average of 15 years of experience, the birthing center is well-equipped with Jacuzzi tubs, portable and waterproof fetal monitoring (if needed), complimentary therapy options (including aromatherapy) and a massage therapist postpartum (Littleton). Both birth center staffs enough lactation nurses to provide support to all women postpartum.
To help you feel confident about your upcoming delivery, the hospitals offer a program called Birthday Wishes (Littleton) or Birth Concierge (Castle Rock) which allows families an opportunity to meet with a nurse at the hospital during their pregnancy, discuss and fill out their birth preferences for their file and receive a tour.
Most importantly, these hospitals provide top notch care with excellent outcomes. The hospitals have an on-call obstetrician in-house every night, a neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) and 24 hour anesthesia coverage. With Level II (Castle Rock) and Level III (Littleton) Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) you can have peace of mind that if a complication would arise with your baby, the likelihood of your baby needing to transfer to another hospital with a higher level of care is very rare. And, finally, we like that both hospitals have a reputation for avoiding overmedicalized birth and avoiding unnecessary cesarean sections.
Can I have an induction OR When do you require an induction?
Inductions have contributed to our countries skyrocketing 33% cesarean section rate. Due dates are guesses as to when your baby will be born, give or take 2 weeks. While inductions can be a safe option, they do come with risks, and can double the chance of a cesarean section for a first time mom. While we discourage inductions for non medical reasons, we believe our families are capable of making informed decisions based on the known risks and benefits. In most cases we offer induction between 41-42 weeks for healthy pregnancies. We also have a variety of natural ways to go into labor.
Can I do delayed cord clamping?
There are many newborn benefits to not immediately cutting the cord after birth (typically waiting 3-10min). We routinely practice delayed cord clamping for healthy babies.
Do I have to be on the fetal monitor continuously when I am in labor?
If you are low risk and not using medication, you qualify for intermittent fetal monitoring of the heart rate and contraction patterns. We follow recommended guidelines by ACOG and ACNM for how often your baby needs to be monitored. If any condition required continuous monitoring, both the Littleton and Castle Rock Hospitals have portable monitors available giving you the freedom to labor outside of the bed or in water. Everyone will have a 20-40 minute monitor strip on admission. As long as the baby looks healthy on the monitor, we generally listen to the heartbeat for a few minutes every 30 minutes. Research shows that outcomes for babies did not improve after the invention of continuous electronic fetal monitoring for low risk women (not on medication, including induction medication or epidurals).
What is a doula?
A doula is a professional birth coach. They are not trained in offering medical advice, but are certified to give support and education during pregnancy and labor. Women who use doulas have higher rates of natural labor and lower rates of cesarean section. We are welcoming of doulas, and work closely with Jacie Gonzalez of South Denver Doulas. Doulas are independently hired by our families, and can be hired during labor and/or the postpartum period after discharge from the hospital.
Should I make a birth plan?
Birth plans are not required, but a great way to communicate your wishes, preferences, and fears. Most of our families will at least to a birth wishes tour at the hospital, and fill out a preference sheet for their file.
Should I take classes before giving birth?
Most women have less fear and feel more prepared if they take labor, newborn, and breastfeeding preparation classes. Our clinic offers hypnobirthing, labor and breastfeeding classes on location (please inquire or visit for more info). We have a complimentary healthy pregnancy class that we encourage every pregnant woman to attend as soon as they can in their pregnancy. We also have a variety of recommendations for classes at various locations including Littleton Hospital, Sweet Beginnings (downtown Littleton) and Natal to Nest.
Do I need to reschedule my pap smear if I have my period?
We use the ThinPrep liquid-based pap. You can have a pap smear if you have your period as long as the flow is not very heavy.
When do I need to start getting mammograms?
Women age 40 and older should have mammograms every 1 to 2 years. Women an increased risk of breast cancer should talk with their doctor about whether to have mammograms before age 40.
How do I know if I have a yeast infection?
It is normal to have vaginal discharge and it is normal for it vary throughout the month. Your discharge may be abnormal if it heavier than normal and is associated with persistent itching, burning or a foul odor. If you have these symptoms, please call for an appointment.
My second child. She was there for the whole thing, which was totally different from my first birth where the Dr was there only for the last 5 minutes of the hour and a half pushing i did. Even though I had some complications after the birth, Cassie made me feel comfortable and safe. She's approachable and really cares about her patients.
Carmel B,Second Child
Dr. Payne is awesome! After three doctors in Denver I finally found her and she was the only one who actually listened. Within two months of my first appointment I had outpatient surgery to remove a fibroid, and was started on thyroid medicine and hormone therapy. Feeling like a new woman!
Cesarina D.,Finally found a physician I trust |
27Apr2016 A Glossary of Writerly Jargon
Posted in Writings about Writing by storytellergirlgrace If you’re new (or even not so new) to the world of writing, you may have discovered that us writerly folks have our own jargon. Even if you’re not a writer, if you’re an avid reader you’ve probably associated with enough writers (and/or literary critics) to have heard some odd terms being tossed about. So I thought I’d help you out with this small starter list of writerly words and abbreviations. This is by no means a comprehensive glossary – I’ve just tried to pick some of the most common or weird-sounding terms.
WIP – stands for Work in Progress. A short story in its first draft or a novel in its third draft is a WIP if it’s unpublished and the author is still working on it.
MC – stands for Main Character. There are a lot of other terms to define character types (like protagonist, anti-hero) and one of these may or may not be the main character. But if you’re reading about a writer or a book and you see “MC,” it just means Main Character.
Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) – a character that is “too perfect.” A Mary Sue character is often super-model beautiful, multi-talented and excels at everything without trying hard, is loved by everyone, and makes few or no mistakes. A Mary Sue (or Gary Stu for a male character) frequently is an idealized version of the author, and the story can read like a contrived excuse to showcase the author’s perfect fantasies.
Trope – a story concept, plot device, or character type that is common and perhaps clichéd. A trope in storytelling is not a bad thing, however, because there are endless ways to creatively build upon the base idea. The Cinderella or Rags-to-Riches concept is a trope. Other genre-specific tropes are concepts like a character returning from the dead in fantasy or sci-fi, or a masquerade ball where someone winds up dead in a mystery story.
Archetype – this word can sometimes mean something similar to trope, in that it covers a basic, classic type of character or idea that everyone is already familiar with. Archetype usually refers to characters rather than plots or concepts. For example, archetypal characters found in the vast majority of stories are characters that fulfill the roles of the Hero, the Villain, the Sidekick, the Mentor, etc.
Head-Hopping – this happens when the story is being told in one point of view (say, third person through the eyes of James), but then suddenly the narration switches to Sara’s point of view. It’s fine to have multiple Points of View (POV) in a story, but head-hopping occurs when multiple POVs are within one scene, or worse, within the same paragraph. Writers, stick to one POV per scene to avoid confusing the reader.
Deus Ex Machina – this literally means “god from the machine,” and it refers to the theaters of ancient Greece, where at the end of the play a god was let down onto the stage (via a mechanized pulley system) to conveniently save the day after the characters had spent the entire play screwing things up. In modern storytelling, a deus ex machina is an improbable and “too convenient” fix as a way of quickly solving all the problems and ending the story.
Chekhov’s Gun – Anton Chekhov said: “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.” In other words, if an author draws attention to a certain detail, the reader expects it to be important later on. Writers, don’t leave your readers hanging, waiting for that gun to go off.
MS – this stands for Manuscript. A WIP is always an MS, but a completed MS that is ready to be sent to an agent is no longer a WIP. Got it?
Plotter versus Pantser – a Plotter is a writer who loves outlining and planning out their story before they sit down to write. A Pantser is a write-by-the-seat-of-their-pants person, who gets an idea and starts to write, figuring out the plot as they go along.
Do you have any other writerly jargon terms to add to this list?
Reply Jessica Cangiano May 4, 2016 at 8:42 pm Thoroughly fascinating list. I’m familiar with several of these, but not all, and really enjoyed learning some more terms from the fiction side of the writing spectrum. You post the coolest things, dear Grace.
Reply storytellergirlgrace May 4, 2016 at 9:46 pm Why thank you! 🙂 I’m glad that my posts can be helpful – to fiction writers and to others! |
1. Tell us abut your experience using Zappar. Detail creating the Zapcode and Zap!-tache.
Last week’s Wednesday was my first time to use Zappar. It was really interesting. After I finished editing the Zapword, just used Zappar to scan the Zapcode, the content of my Zapword was appeared. It was an amazing experience, which sounds like magic. The most interesting thing was Zap-tache. I sticked a small piece of paper with the shape of mustache on my face, between my nose and my mouth. After I scanned my face, a mustache appeared on the screen which looks like a real one. It was a fantastic experience to learn new things and have fun.
2. Browse some of the Zapsvia the menu and get at least two (2) to work by finding the picture on the web so you can zap it. Which ones worked out for you and what does it do when interact with it successfully? In cases where you can record a photo or video, do so and include with your post.
These two pieces of work worked out for me:
Browse Zaps ==> A-Z ==> Harry Potter ==>Undesirable No.1
Browse Zaps ==> Advertising ==> HeyBigFish
1) A video of Harry Potter showed up with music which made me feel mysterious when interacted with the APP successfully. After that, I could take a photo of the T-shirt with Harry Potter and white words and black background.
2) A video of a big fish appeared with music. After the video finished, I could click the button and took a photo with a fish. I can choose different kinds of fish and change the position of the fish. What’s more, I can type my name on it.
3. If UB was to use a Zapcode for its print marketing brochures to prospective students, what would you suggest? On what kinds of pictures or pages would the Zapcode appear and what would it unleash when interacted with?
Some pictures and photo albums show the beautiful scenes of our school. Videos shot at different places in UB can also express the diversity of students’ lives. The school song, Happy, is a great choice. The most significant one is the contact information of ISS. It can help new students to familiar with our school. The web link and events of every week would let students know a lot about our school. Therefore, these items are important. All the contents of the Zapcode would be appeared. The content would be as same as the time people edit it. It’s convenient and all the students would like it.
My Zapcode:
My selfie with a mustache ^_^
1) Under Quiver Education Topic ==> Murphy and Friends Games
2) Under the Quiver Topic ==> Leo’s Colorful World
The 50th Anniversary of the Publication of Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein’s After Auschwitz
Leaflets show the time, the date and the place of this anniversary. The receptionist is serving for guests. The food provided in the meeting is exquisite. The photographer is taking photos. Dr. Ward is introducing Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein. Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, the author of After Auschwitz and Dr. Stephen Healey, the respondent of this anniversary. “I thought no one would even read the book,”
“I’m deeply moved my book still has an audience and the university that is most important to me is going to commemorate its 50th anniversary.”
–Richard L. Rubenstein
“The notion that theologians lead uninteresting lives couldn’t be further from the truth.” –Richard L. Rubenstein
Lots of people attended this event. After Auschwitz is an extraordinary famous book. One of my friends, Jing, participated to this anniversary with me when she heard that it was an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein’s After Auschwitz.
I love the voice of Kimberly. It’s clear and fair-sounding.
Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein graduated from Harvard University, which surprised me a lot. I consider that I have no chance and ability to go to Harvard University, but I still need to improve myself continually. Never give up.
Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein is an old but intelligent gentleman. Although sometimes he cannot remember what he wanted to say, he is still respectable for his contribution to Holocaust and genocide studies.
My Home City
With the development of economy, Songyuan City ranked third in Jilin Province. Furthmore, it was granted the honor as one of the ten most charming cities in the northeast part of China. Mentioning Songyuan City, the culture and the places of interest should never be forgotten.
The Songhua River
A famous river divides Songyuan into the north and the south part, along its bank forming two amazing riverside parks. That is the Mother River of Jilin Province-Songhua River.
Songhua River, ranks the fifth longest river in China, runs about 1897 kilometers long and covers a drainage area of 545,600 square kilometers. The source of the river is a crater lake called Heavenly Lake with an elevation of 2189 meters at the top of the Changbai Mountain. This river confers resources and wonderful scenes to located people. Fish, drinking water, water for irrigation, and different scenes in different seasons.
The Songhua River in winter is much more alive than a summer bathing beach. It’s frozen hard with ice which thickness nearly one meter, turning it into a huge playground for a myriad of ice sports.
You can go skating and ice sailing, ride in ice vehicles and play ice skates. But if you want to do something really different, you can get into a swimming costume and join those enthusiastic people, young and old, diving and swimming in a pool of icy water dug out of the frozen river.
Songhua River is located in Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province. The fabulous sceneries are the most attractive thing. The beautiful banks of the Songhua river have abundant natural resources. This statue is on the bank of the Songhua River. The shape of this statue is a tortoise. In Chinese culture, it represents longevity, which is the best wish. At the same time. It also means that the tortoise guards the river. In winter, the water of Songhua River is frozen. The color of the whole world is white. This picture shows that two children are planning to make a snowman on the river. In winter, because the water of Songhua River is frozen and solid. Therefore, there are lots kinds of sports on the ice river. This sports named Pali, and all the people who come from northeast part of China enjoy it. Songhua River [MDPI Publishing]Water, Vol. 8, Pages 176: Suitability Evaluation of River Bank Filtration along the Second Songhu…
— 大江くん (@ooekun) April 30, 2016
One of the most beautiful scene in Jilin Province is the trees covers in rime.
“The trees covers in rime is one of the most fabulous scenes in the world.”
– Mayor of Jilin Province, Zhang, Huanqiu.
There are eight famous cities to see this grand scene:
Jilin City
Songyuan City
Siping City
Haerbin City
Mudanjiang City
Jiamusi City
Changchun City
Changshan City
@cctvnews With trees covers in rime,bank of Songhua River in Jilin city,NE China’s Jilin Province,looks like a fairyland
— 郭經緯 (@guojingwei1985) November 22, 2015
Baerda Park
Baerda Park (also named Narenhan Park), is one of the ten theme parks of Songyuan City. Planted are plenty of rare trees with decades of years, or even hundreds of years.
It is divided into four districts, they are exercise and fitness, historical and cultural, rest and leisure and entertainment for children. The function of this park is to protect the environment, and let people learn our own history and culture. This park creates a harmonious public place with culture, entertainment, exercise, travel and leisure.
“Our theme parks remind us that we should remember our own history and culture.”
– Director of Education Department, Dong, Xianqiang.
Baerda Park, one of the biggest ten theme parks in Songyuan City. It’s a fabulous place to learn the culture of Songyuan City. It is divided into four districts, they are exericise and fitness, historical and cultural, rest and leisure and entertainment for children. You can see this statue after you enter the gate of Baerda Park. The aim of building this statue is to memory the leader of Songyuan, named Narenhan in one hundred years ago. It’s not difficult to see lots kinds of trees in Baerda Park. There is no doubt that the park is the best place in Songyuan City with so many trees. The park contributes to protect the environment. These two statues show the situation that soldiers are taking exercises to improve their abilities to protect the city in one hundred years ago. The weapons are spears and shields. Badaer Park (Narenhan Park)
Longhua Temple, located in Forest Park, Ningjiang District, Songyuan City, Jilin Province, near to Songhua River, is the biggest temple in Asia. It started to be built in 1992, and extended increasingly these years. It has one kind of unique human landscape and tourist attraction.
There are thousands of people who go to the temple to worship each Buddha and appreciate extremely grand scenes everyday. Therefore, it turns into one of the most significant places to communicate the culture of Buddhism. What’s more, people come to here to pursue peace and quiet.
It’s about the first day of Longhua Temple opened to the public. The scenes are magnificent and splendid. Tens of thousands of people went there. You can’t imagine that it’s the biggest temple in Asia. The night scenes of Longhua Temple have an air of mystery. It’s bright and grand with lights. You may fall in love with the night scenes and even you are reluctant to leave. All of the statues are in one of the rooms of Longhua Temple. They are different Buddha. People worship all of these Buddha. Some of them donate money, others go down on their knees, the others bow to these Buddha. “Longhua Temple is a kind of symbol of culture. We should protect it and improve it.”
Timeline: The Construction of Songyuan City
Songyuan City is an energetic city with profound culture and fabulous scenes. The places of interest elaborate its culture deeply and also demonstrate its own beauty. As the economy developed, it’s infrastructure has improved.
“All of the citizens love their own city.”
-Previous Mayor, Li, Xiangguo
I hope that the future of my home city will be more prosperous.
Places I LOVE in China
As a Chinese, I’m proud of the natural scenes in my country. I collect 6 pictures to show the places where I love the most in China. Each picture represents one place. They are Great Wall of China, West Lake, Jiuzhaigou, Penglai Paviolin, Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park and Taishan Mountain respectively. I went these places at different times, but I have the same feeling that the scenes are extremely wonderful. When I travelled to these places, I even didn’t want to leave. It makes me feel happy when traveling. I hope that I have opportunities to travel the world. That will be one of the most significant and meaningful thing in my life.
Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park is a beautiful landscape, I went there in 2004. The modern marine theme park is attractive. Sightseeing, entertainment, science, shopping and culture are included. I hope that I can go there again. Taishan Mountain is magnificent and grand. You will be surprised for it’s solemnity. There are myriads of people go there every day. It’s a wonderful place for people to visit. I went there in 2011. My family members climbed on the top of it. West Lake is a very beautiful place. It’s my dream to stay and live there. I consider that nobody can describe its beautiful scene by language. I went there in 2012. Penglai Pavilion near to my university, Ludong University. Therefore, I went there several times. I love the legend about it. The first time when I went there I was only 8 years olds. What’s more, I was reluctant to leave. Jiuzhaigou, a wonderful place for visit. Plenty of teleplays are shot at there for it’s fabulous scenes. It’s famous for its waterfalls, green-colored waters, colorful scenes. I went there in 2014 with my mom. Great Wall of China is the oldest protection of Qin dynasty. There are thousands of people go there everyday. It’s the symbol of China. Every person knows that only if you know China. I went there in 1999. Posted on April 18, 2016 by study127 Standard Reply |
International Monetary Essay
28 October 2016 International Monetary Performance budgeting involves processes or techniques meant to establish connections between the finances delivered to public sector groups and their results and turnouts by using conventional performance data in resource allocation decision-making. Conventional performance data in the definition relates to performance measures, appraises of the costs to specific target groups of outputs and results, and evaluations of the effectuality and efficiency of spends gained by using one of the numerous analytic tools.
The main purposes of performance budgeting are to improve allocation and productive efficiency in spends on public sectors (Robinson & Brumby, 2005). 2. HOW PERFORMANCE BUDGETS ARE USED? There is a vital association between the structure for performance budgeting and the system of utilizing performance data. In tabular forms, plan managers bring the inputs and outputs for the performance budget program. Also, they should perform analysis the data and the processes that provide those data so that they can obtain data for program enhancement, reduction, or readjustment.
In governmental accounting, data analysis is directly associated to organizational capability. It demands people with the essential procedure know-how, time, and knowledge to use analytical tools so that they can develop systematic plans for modification through the use of the inputs and outputs of service delivery. Program managers normally observe performance measures not just within the scope of the statistics but they accumulate and report for the annual budget procedure. There are numerous management methods that enhance the possible outcomes of data use.
Data analysis is basic requirement for all techniques (Rivenbark, 2004). 3. KEY FINDINGS OF PERFORMANCE BUDGET OF POLICE SERVICES, CITY OF SUNNYVALE Police services, City of Sunnyvale, prepared program performance budget to achieve several goals. They planned to establish a safe residential area and a feel of security among the citizens. Their plan was to protect the lives, property, and rights of each person. They controlled the crime rate 54% below the national weighted FBI crime rate. Their goal was to attain deterrence and prevention of criminal acts.
A seven year approximation of weighted clearance rate for the criminal activities like killing, rape, theft, assault, and felony 59% more than the national weighted clearance rate for such acts is attained. Their goal was to attain goals regarding arrest and criminal prosecution of offenders. They achieved the objectives of ensuring the implication of order and settlement of conflicts. They intended to deliver the quick response to incidents that need immediate action from police department.
Performance budgeting helped them in developing and maintaining secure and organized flow of road traffic in a pleasing, quick, responsive and nice way that is also delightful for citizens. A road accident ratio for one million mile travelling at the earlier three year approximation is attained. 4. IMPACTS OF BUDGET REDUCTION ON PERFORMANCE GOALS Budget reductions severely hurt institutions and institutions seek to use indirect and other sources of finances to achieve their institutional goals defined in performance budgeting.
Government usually seeks to attain reductions in aggregate governmental expenses; these can be intended for allocative efficiency or fiscal consolidation. Enhanced expenditure prioritization is normally potentially of the high significance. Budget reduction is the major action that government can take to reduce costs and increase revenues to deal a deficit. About 76% of general finance expenses are comprised of the cost of hiring employees. These employees provide various services enjoyed by citizens.
Let’s say if any government, after analyzing the size of budget deficit projects and potential sluggish economy recovery, decides to reduce police workforce and consider it necessary to balance the city’s budget. The loss of police staff will impact negatively in achieving performance budgeting goals in all areas. It will reduce traffic enforcement across the city limits. It will be impossible to achieve prompt response time to accidents due to mentally ill drivers. The ration of road accidents will increase and in all areas of police activities, government will find it difficult to achieve its goals in set time.
An overall satisfaction of citizens can never be achieved. 5. CONCLUSION Performance budgeting is a great technique to achieve performance and budget transparency in different governmental ministries that are working relevantly and having central policy measures like the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.. Moreover, without any incentive measures for improved performance or result-oriented accountability, the implementation of performance budgeting cannot help in improving performance.
Managerial accountability should be part of outputs and not of results, as results are affected by certain external elements. Continuous monitoring of outcomes is essential task. Performance budgeting should not be regarded as a mechanistic, rational mechanism that usually substitute the political procedure of having resource preferences in complicated environment of various needs. Rather, it allows making informed political selections. By embodying budget transparency and public’s analysis of outputs in performance, performance budget can help in enhancing budgetary outcomes. |
I’m often drawn to the narrative potential of tapestry – figures and objects interconnected in ways that can be linear or associative, sequential or simultaneous, in one panel or a series of scenes. Another story-telling format evoking the same kind of historical respect is the tryptich, an older and more high-minded version of the three-panel comic strip – or “cartoon”, which brings us back to the name for the tapestryweaver’s full-scale design drawing.
The Latin inscription is another badge of historical authenticity, a subject I was cornered into studying for three years in high school, almost 50 years ago. The words “Neglegentia confidite” are almost recognizeable from their English derivatives “negligence” and “confide”, and are intended to mean “Put your faith in carelessness”, or not so literally, “Know that sooner or later you’re going to screw up.” |
Meet Seggourney, Reggie, Megg and Greggory! They are The Good Eggs! These four friends live and go to school in the small town of Albumen. They display virtues within their community. What are virtues? Virtues are positive traits that help you and others become Good Eggs. As you read The Good Eggs, you will learn more about understanding, forgiveness, gratitude, generosity, cooperation, love, acceptance, respect, responsibility, honesty, confidence, and manners. Challenges are introduced by two additional eggs, Benedict and Peggy. The virtues of The Good Eggs are put into practice as they try to help and guide Benedict and Peggy through their difficulties. Remember – a cracked Egg should be handled with care. With some kindness and concern, a difference can be made in someone’s life!
The Good Eggs Travel the World – Book 2 – Diversity
What can you learn from a trip around the world? Plenty! Come and travel with Seggourney, Reggie, Megg and Greggory as they leave their small town of Albumen to embark on a magnificent and educational journey! Visit the countries of Chile, Zambia, Australia, Japan, India, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Norway and Scotland. Learn about customs, cultures, landmarks, history and more! Their two friends, Benedict and Peggy, join in for part of the trip, too! This second book in The Good Eggs series will prove to be an exciting adventure for sure – fasten your seat belt!
The Good Eggs In the Community – Book 3 – Service
What does it mean to serve the community? As Reggie, Megg, Seggourney, Greggory, Peggy, and Benedict return from their study abroad program, they continue to be Ambassadors, as appointed by the United Nations, for their own hometown of Albumen. This means they are going to provide service in various areas of their community, such as collecting school supplies for children, assisting in a senior living home, caring for animals at a shelter, feeding the hungry at a food bank, raising awareness as to the importance of good health and eating right, and respecting nature. This final book in The Good Eggs series focuses on the significance of Service. The Eggs come to understand just how important helping others can be, and they also learn more about themselves in the process! |
Posted by The H.O.P.E. Scholarship in Uncategorized ≈ 2 Comments
Tagscollege, education, financial aid, higher education, money, myfootpath, scholarship, scholarships Scholarships aren’t exactly free money –they require effort to find and actually apply — however, outside of your parent’s checkbook they’re as close as you’ll get.
Scholarship aid can cover anything from tuition, room and board fees, meal plans to study abroad opportunities. It’s important to note that NOT all scholarships are created equally. Some give you full autonomy of your disbursement while other scholarships are distributed with stipulations. Here are some helpful tips to help you better navigate the scholarship terrain.Generally speaking, there are two ways scholarship aid can be disbursed: they’re either paid directly to the student, or directly to the school.
When Scholarship Funds Come Directly to You
Few scholarships are paid in a check directly to the student. You’ll find that scholarships that are paid directly to the student are smaller awards from local groups (ie. student boosters, church groups, or other community organizations). Like receiving a check from your parents, this money can be used for anything school-related. Many trust that the funds will go towards your education while others require receipts ensuring the money was spent towards education although you have the choice of what specifically you purchase. Once that money’s in your account, it’s pretty much up to you how to spend it.
When Scholarship Funds Come Directly to the School
Larger scholarship awards and more established scholarships are generally sent directly to your school’s bursar or financial aid office, where they’ll be applied directly to bills that are owed directly to the school. And with good reason, would you trust an 18 year old with $10, 000?
Assuming the amount of the scholarship is less than whatever it is you owe to the school, you won’t physically see any money—you’ll only see it reflected on your account. If, however, the scholarship money exceeds what you owe to your school you’ll receive some sort of refund, either in the form of a check or a direct deposit to your bank account. Once that happens, it works just like scholarships that are paid directly to the student: the money is yours to do with as you wish.
National Merit Scholarships and National Honors Society Scholarship Programs are two large, well-known scholarship opportunities that would provide payment directly to the school on your behalf.
Spending Your Scholarship Money Wisely
One word of warning: there’s usually nothing stopping you from using any scholarship money that ends up in your bank account for what we’ll call “tangential expenses.” You’re just as free to spend it on pitchers of alcohol down at the local pub as you are on notebooks at the campus store. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with this: stress relief is a crucial part of anyone’s college education.However, you should try to limit it as much as possible—as long as you still have bills to pay, try to resist the urge to blow your scholarship money on beer and video games. While you’re still in school, it’s easy to think that all of your financial aid is the same: student loans, stipends, and scholarships all feel similar when you’re not paying bills for them. But in the long run, a little financial responsibility will go a long way. |
Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good Brains?
Allergies and the Brain
A foal, just 9 hours old, at the Cal Poly Equine Center and another “newborn”
Spring time on the Central Coast starts…. NOW!
Thankfully, we’ve had some rain and the hills are green from San Luis Obispo to Sonoma. I traveled north this past weekend to assistant with wedding photography in Sonoma. During the car trip, I had fun taking in the ambiance of some northern sites, like the Golden Gate Bridge. Also, I navigated with a map! (Imagine that!) An easy way to exercise your brain is to leave your GPS at home when traveling to new places.
Since I took a Cal Poly orienteering class I rarely struggle with getting lost, but the toughest part about going new places for me used to be my allergies. There is nothing more embarrassing than wiping your nose constantly or sneezing your head off when trying to venture out. It gets trickier when you run out of Kleenex and there is none near. My friends who have known me since childhood will tell you that I’ve always had a tissue on hand. In fourth grade, my teacher once jumped and threw his books in the air after I let out a LOUD sneeze due to the aroma of freshly cut grass sneaking in the open window.
I’ve had allergic symptoms to all the main culprits: dust, mold, pollen, grass, trees, pet dander, etc.
I never wanted my allergies to “win” so I hated taking allergy medicine. When my husband finally forced me to go see an allergist, the doctor informed me I was a prime candidate for allergy shots because I was basically allergic to almost everything. After the allergist’s assistant performed the arm and back prick test, I was just one red irritated mess.
Luckily, I had good insurance because that trip to the allergist would have been pretty expensive otherwise (don’t let that deter you from seeking help though!). At that visit, the doctor informed me of a helpful online site where I could purchase special bedding and pillow case covers to deal with my dust mite allergy (gross!).
There were no dust mites out on the trails but that did not stop my runny nose and itchy eyes. I continued to walk outside during the spring among the wild mustard in the open spaces in SLO County around Highwy 1. I refused allergy shots, never went back to the allergist, and continued to sneeze A LOT (which really annoyed my husband).
Now, I don’t know why or how, but I seem to have kicked my extreme allergic symptoms. Maybe it is because I quite walking in the open spaces during spring? Or maybe my sneezing fits stopped because I got rid of any carpet in my house or I am keeping my environment cleaner? Or that I moved closer to the ocean where there is a breeze that keeps the offenders away? Perhaps it is because I changed what I ate? I consume a lot more healthy fruits and vegetables than I did in the past. Sadly, the only thing orange in my lunch used to be cheese puffs!
I don’t know exactly what to attribute it to, but I made positive changes and I am loving life without the daily attack of sneezes! I am not totally free of my allergy symptoms but I have noticed a big improvement.
Perhaps you can relate to having allergies? In a quick search for allergy statistics, I found that the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology website states that, “Allergies are among the most common chronic conditions worldwide.” According to WebMD, allergies rank 5th among other leading chronic diseases in the U.S and one in 5 people in the U.S. have either allergy or asthma symptoms. WebMD listed one estimate of the annual cost of allergies to the health care system and businesses in the U.S. at $7.9 billion.
There are many environmental factors that are causing today’s allergies. I just read, “The biodiversity hypothesis and allergic disease: world allergy organization position statement.” (See end of post for the full citation and article link.) Here’s how it starts off:
Biodiversity loss and climate change secondary to human activities are now being associated with various adverse health effects. However, less attention is being paid to the effects of biodiversity loss on environmental and commensal (indigenous) microbiotas. Metagenomic and other studies of healthy and diseased individuals reveal that reduced biodiversity and alterations in the composition of the gut and skin microbiota are associated with various inflammatory conditions, including asthma, allergic and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), type1 diabetes, and obesity. Altered indigenous microbiota and the general microbial deprivation characterizing the lifestyle of urban people in affluent countries appear to be risk factors for immune dysregulation and impaired tolerance. The risk is further enhanced by physical inactivity and a western diet poor in fresh fruit and vegetables, which may act in synergy with dysbiosis of the gut flora. Studies of immigrants moving from non-affluent to affluent regions indicate that tolerance mechanisms can rapidly become impaired in microbe-poor environments.
I think if you take the tech talk out, the authors are trying to say there is less diversity in our good bacteria on our skin and stomachs, folks aren’t eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables, and aren’t exercising enough. When people move from a non-affluent area to a crowded city their immune systems suffer. Hence, more allergies. I was surprised at the mention of type 1 diabetes above. It is usually type 2 that would be mentioned along with obesity.
What also stood out to me from the article was the connection with nature and the natural environment and how it helps improves allergies.
An urban environment appears to lack elements that apparently are important for the proper development of immune tolerance. The recognition of the (absolute) dependence of humans on both the commensal and environmental microbiota is crucial to unravel the mechanisms involved. In recent years, concepts such as ‘ecotherapy’ [152], ‘green exercise’ [24] and ‘forest therapy’ [27] have been launched. Urbanization and densification policy continues globally, and within the next 30 years, it is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population and 85% of the population in the developed countries will live in urban areas with little green space [153]. Prevalence of inflammatory diseases is likely to increase even more. The health effects of nature and green spaces (see ‘Biodiversity and human health’) should be recognized, and measures to limit excessive land use and fragmentation urgently undertaken.
As a biology enthusiast and graduate from California Polytechnic State University with a degree in Recreation Administration and a concentration in Natural Resource Management, the subject of forest therapy highly interests me. It involves protecting natural resources, environmental medicine, and then you add in the brain component and you have all my favorite subjects tying together! (Nerd alert!)
A few years ago, I read the book, “Last Child in the Woods. Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,” by Richard Louv. It seems that, “More time in nature– combined with less television and more stimulating play and educational settings– may go a long way toward reducing attention deficits in children, and, just as important, increasing their joy in life” (pg. 107). Enjoying time outdoors may diversify a child’s microbes, help them focus better, and limit their need for Ritalin. Sounds like an inexpensive way to improve your child’s brain function, right? Time in nature might even boost their immune system and limit their need for allergy medication.
One of my favorite books to help with allergies, “Is This Your Child? Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies in Children and Adults,” was written by Dr. Doris Rapp. She states that: “Specialists in environmental medicine believe it is possible that any area of the body can be affected by an allergy or a food or chemical sensitivity” (Rapp, pg. 35). This means your brain, even an infant’s brain, can be affected by allergies (Rapp, pg. 114).
Here’s some signs to look for in your child if you think their brain might be affected by an allergy: expressionless look associated with red earlobes, wiggly legs, and dark eye circles (Rapp, pg. 67). Some adults may feel tired, depressed, and unable to think or remember things because of allergic brain fatigue. On the flip side, there are also hyperactive adults who are workaholic with brain allergies. (Rapp, pg. 153).
It has been noted that the brain can be affected by a wide range of common allergic stubstances. Observation dating back to the mid-1930s indicated that odors, foods, pollen, molds, and dust could cause a wide range or problems in the nervous system. Entire chapters in texts for physicians written between the thirties and fifties were devoted to the role of allergy in relation to headaches, fatigue, epilepsy, behavior problems, minimal brain dysfunction, psychological problems, and a wide range of other neurological or learning problems in children. (Rapp, pg. 394).
It seems this valuable information mentioned above was not included in past or present medical training for physicians specializing in allergy or neurology (Rapp, pg. 394). I truly hope things have changed and brain allergies are more widely studied. If this subject interests you, you can read more about it in Dr. Rapp’s book listed in the sources below.
Take some time to let your brain find joy outdoors and do your part to protect the environment! Future generations seeking allergy relief may depend on it!
Congratulations to Cal Poly Men’s Basketball Team for making it to March Madness |
Regulator Details
South Dakota Division of Environmental Services, Ground Quality Water Program, Storage Tank Division
523 East Capitol Pierre , SD 57501
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UST Operator Certification Procedures
Class A/B Operator TrainingPASS' Class A/B Operator Training in South Dakota is approved thru the DENRClass C Operator TrainingPASS' Class C Operator Training in South Dakota is approved thru the DENRAll of PASS’ UST operator training courses meet and exceed the federal requirements for UST operator training and are offered through our in-house designed and built Learning Management System (LMS). PASS’ state-specific A/B training courses are custom tailored to meet state requirements, and are accepted by more states than any other training provider. Our courses are available on demand, 24/7 and are accessible from any internet-connected computer, tablet, or phone. The student can complete an entire course in a single session or take the course in segments. The training may be stopped and restarted, allowing for maximum schedule flexibility. PASS also does not impose time restrictions on course access, so students may take as much time as they need to complete their training. Once training is completed a certificate is available to save and print.
Owners/operators of all USTs must register their USTs with the DENR by submitting a Notification for Underground Storage Tanks form.
Release Reporting
Owners/operators must report any suspected or confirmed releases to the DENR at (605) 773-3296 within 24 hours. Spills or overfills of 25 gallons or more or that cause a sheen on surface water must be reported to the DENR immediately. Owners/operators may use the Incident Follow-Up Report to report a release online.
Release Detection
UST owners/operators in South Dakota may use any of the following methods of release detection:Manual tank gauging and tank tightness testing;Automatic tank gauging (ATG);Groundwater monitoring;Vapor monitoring;Secondary containment with interstitial monitoring;Statistical Inventory Reconciliation (SIR); orInventory control and tank tightness testing.
Release Prevention
South Dakota USTs must have catchment basins — also called spill buckets — installed at the fill pipe to contain spills that may occur as a result of fuel deliveries. Spill buckets need to be large enough to contain any fuel that may spill when the delivery hose is uncoupled from the fill pipe. Spill buckets typically range in size from 5 gallons to 25 gallons.South Dakota USTs must also have overfill protection installed to help prevent the overfilling of tanks. Three types of overfill protection devices are commonly used: Automatic shutoff devices Overfill alarms Ball float valves
South Dakota follows the federal financial responsibility coverage amounts found in 40 CFR §280.93 (scroll to page 77 of 119 in the pdf document). Owners/operators may use any of the following mechanisms to demonstrate financial responsibility.Financial test of self-insuranceGuaranteeInsurance and risk retention group coverageSurety bondLetter of creditTrust fundStand-by trust fundOwners/operators may also use the Petroleum Release Compensation Fund as a financial assurance mechanism.
Delivery Prohibition/Non-Compliance Enforcement
If a South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) inspector determines that a UST or UST system is out of compliance with UST regulations, he or she may initiate non-compliance enforcement procedures. The DENR will notify the owner/operator in writing of all violations discovered at the facility. The DENR may also affix a red tag to the fill pipe of the ineligible UST, indicating that the UST is ineligible for delivery, deposit, or acceptance of product until the DENR is satisfied that the violations have been corrected.
Temporary ClosureYou may temporarily close your UST for up to 12 months by following these requirements:Continue to monitor for leaks by maintaining the UST's leak detection. (If your UST is empty, you do not need to maintain leak detection.) Also, continue to monitor and maintain any corrosion protection systems. If a release is discovered, quickly stop the release, notify DENR, and take appropriate action to clean up the site.If the UST remains temporarily closed for more than 3 months, leave vent lines open, but cap and secure all other lines, pumps, manways, and ancillary equipment.After 12 months of temporary closure, you have two options:1. UST systems that meet the 1998 compliance requirements and have had all product removed from them, may be left in temporary closure provided an assessment has been done to show no leakage has occurred from the tank system and the results from the leak detection system show no loss of product. 2. USTs may be left in place longer than 12 months provided certain specific site conditions are met. Please contact DENR's UST section to discuss the conditions.Permanent ClosureIf you decide to close your UST permanently, follow these requirements:Notify the Department of Environment and Natural Resources at least 30 days before you close your UST.Perform a site assessment to determine if the tank has leaked. The simplest form of a site assessment is to collect soil samples under each tank (in the case of removal) or as close to the tank basin (in the case of in-place closure), and also from beneath the dispenser. A soil sample must also be taken from under the distribution line, if it is more than 25 feet long. A third person, for example local sheriff or fire marshall, must be present to certify that the samples were collected from beneath the required locations. If the tanks are more than 1100-gallons in capacity, the person who takes the sample must be certified by the state. These samples must be sent to a laboratory to be analyzed for the presence of contamination.The test results must be sent to the DENR. If the test results show samples are free from contamination, you will receive a tank closure letter from DENR. If there is contamination, you may have to take corrective action.A program was developed by the South Dakota Legislature to provide funds for clean up of contamination caused by the release from petroleum underground storage tanks. The program is administered by the Petroleum Release Compensation Fund (PRCF). For specific information on fund deductibles and certification requirements, please contact the PRCF at Phone (605) 773-3769.
Keep results of your release detection systems, and manual tank gauging tests for at least 1 year. Your monitoring equipment may provide printouts that can be used as records. Unless you are recording actual release detection results at least every 30 days and maintaining records for at least 1 year, you are not doing leak detection right. Keep all records of calibration, maintenance, and repair of your release detection equipment for at least 1 year.Keep all performance and certification claims supplied by the installer, vendor, or manufacturer for at least 5 years. These records include the certification of your leak detection equipment, tank tightness test .Keep the records of investigations conducted as a result of any monthly monitoring conclusion of inconclusive or fail for at least 1 year. This may include the results of a tightness test performed during the investigation or a re- evaluation based on corrected delivery or dispenser data.Impressed Current Cathodic Protection Systems, you need to keep records of at least the last 3 rectifier readings.Sacrificial Anode Cathodic Protection Systems, you need to keep the results of at least the last two tests on file. |
Embracing Ambiguity
When I get right down to it I am a mixture, a blend of both the masculine and the feminine. I have long hair but a deep voice, smooth skin but an adam’s apple, breasts but facial hair. I wear makeup while my face is androgynous. I wear women’s clothing while being tall and muscular. I am a contradiction. An anomaly. I challenge people’s expectations everyday. Who is this person before you who looks like a woman but sounds like a man? Why does that woman have a prominent adam’s apple? Why are her arms so muscular and her hands so big? Why is her hairline so high?
Like most trans woman, I often feel like passing is everything. We all strive for more of it. More blendability. More stealth. Less ambiguity. More fitting in. Not violating expectations. Safety. Avoiding being misgendered. Fighting social dysphoria. We all strive for it but few trans women ever get to 100% passability. There’s usually something about us that makes us clockable upon closer inspection. For trans women this is often our voices. In my experience few trans women ever achieve 100% passable voices.
So what do we do? We have to cope somehow. Regardless of whether we pass will still have to go out into the world and buy groceries and run errands. We have to strengthen ourselves to accept reality. To accept that we will like never live up perfectly to the cis-normative standard. Maybe one day I will afford to shave my trachea down. Or maybe I will be able to get professional voice therapy one day. But for now I need to come up with practical coping strategies to deal with the fact that I don’t pass 100% and yet I still have to live my life.
One such coping strategy is to embrace ambiguity as a positive ideal, to embrace the idea of confusing people, of challenging people’s expectations of what it means to be a woman. Or going even further, challenging the notion of what it means to be a person in today’s modern society where gender transition is a real phenomenon. Though I would prefer to be gendered correctly and seen as a normal female person I know this is not going to happen all the time. So how do I cope? I have been trying to develop the attitude of (1) not giving a fuck and (2) embracing my androgyny as a positive trait. Some people are actually attracted to androgyny so I tell myself even if I don’t pass 100% it doesn’t make me less attractive or valid. Some people like mixtures, blends. They enjoy the fact that my body is a contradiction. A field upon which competing elements battle. This knowledge of my body being ideal to some people is a great comfort because when I get into relationship it helps dispel my fear that they’re just going to abandon me for a more attractive cis partner.
Many men are attracted to trans women specifically because of their trans status. In the community these men are called “chasers”. But I have never liked that term because it erases the possibility of a category of people who are specifically attracted to trans people without that attraction being fetishistic, objectifying, or problematic. I call these people “trans amorous”. And it’s not just men. Cis women can be trans attracted as well. But I think women are socialized to be more polite about it whereas men are overly blunt.
My other coping strategy is actually indirect. It’s through relationships and friendships. If I am in a relationship or friendship and that person has only known me as Rachel it really helps battle the dysphoria because I see them unconsciously using “she/her” pronouns because people who know me know those are obviously the most correct pronouns – it’s what is the most natural if you spend time with me. And that’s a good feeling. It says: I see you. I know you. You are valid. Don’t worry about your ambiguity. It’s ok. I like you and see your womanhood as valid. Building up a social circle of people who automatically gender me female has been an important part of my transition. This is why I enjoy hanging out with trans people. They usually have an above-average ability to correctly gender people regardless of what they look like or how they present themselves.
So in a nutshell, my strategy is to embrace ambiguity. To relish in it. Will this strategy completely dispel my dysphoria and social anxiety? No, not really. That’s too much to ask. But it’s a weapon in my arsenal. It’s a useful perspective to keep in mind.
Let Trans Women Grow
Early Days of Transition: A Phenomenology of Change
The Paradoxical Duality of Cat-calling as a Trans Woman |
We’ve been fostering a generation of watershed stewards through the Urban Waters project, a joint effort among TTF, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), and GreenTreks Network, made possible through a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In addition to maintenance training, Urban Waters teaches people who live, learn, and work near GSI sites about these features. The Wissahickon Charter School is home to one of these sites — an impressive stormwater basin in its front yard. Named “Harmony Garden”, this basin was created by converting an asphalt playground into infiltration beds with native plants and rain barrels.
The system collects rainwater from a 645,000 square foot roof, a school parking lot and playground. The rainwater is directed towards Harmony Garden where the plants and soils go to work making use of the nutrients from the rainwater runoff. Without the basin, the water would drain directly into the sewer system and cause untreated wastewater to enter the Wissahickon Creek.
TTF and PHS worked with an eager group of Wissahickon Charter School 4th graders to learn about their Harmony Garden. Each school grade has a theme for the year, and this year the 4th grade theme is “watersheds”. The students learned about the water cycle, how pollutants enter our waterways, how different types of soil are important to the flow of water, and the different types of plants that live in their garden. Then, the students then went on a scavenger hunt for the different types of invasive plants that may have intruded on their Harmony Garden.
The following week, the students took their knowledge one step further with a visit to Saylor Grove— the first constructed wetland in Philadelphia that captures, stores and treats runoff before it drains into the Monoshone Creek. Students learned about combined and separate sewers through a first-hand demonstration. They imagined themselves as raindrops, flowing down into the wetland where the water is naturally filtered.
Last spring, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) Tree Keepers and PHS Roots to Re-Entry participants learned job skills focused on maintenance of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) or Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI). Read more about this training here. |
The Revolution is Within
The courage to BE resides in the God who arrives when God disappears; the 'I' that arrives when 'I' disappears.
What is Advaita or Nonduality?
A wonderful exposition on Advaita by Dennis Waite.
“So, Swami-ji, what would you say that Advaita is?” The eager young woman crossed her legs and sat expectantly, pencil poised above a pristine pad of paper.
“It simply means ‘not two’ – the ultimate truth is nondual,” replied the Sage, reclining in a large and comfortable-looking armchair and not sitting in an upright lotus position, as he ought to have been, for the sake of the photograph that she had just taken, if nothing else.
She continued to wait for further elucidation before beginning to write but it soon became apparent that the answer had been given. “But is it a religion? Do you believe in God, for example?”
“Ah, well, that would depend upon what you mean by those words, wouldn’t it?” he responded, irritatingly. “If, by ‘religion’, you mean does it have priests and churches and a band of followers who are prepared to kill non-believers, then the answer is no. If, on the other hand, you refer to the original, literal meaning of the word, namely to ‘bind again’, to reunite the mistaken person that we think we are with the Self that we truly are, then yes, it is a religion. Similarly, if by ‘God’ you mean a separate, supernatural being who created the universe and will reward us by sending us to heaven if we do what He wants, then the answer is no. If you use the term in the sense of the unmanifest, non-dual reality, then yes, I most certainly do believe in God.”
The pencil raced across the paper, recording the answer for the benefit of the magazine’s readers but, as the words clashed with previous ideas in her memory, the lack of a clear resolution of her questions was reflected by an increasing puzzlement in her expression.
He registered this with compassion and held out his hand towards her. “Give me a piece of paper from your pad.” She looked up, mouth slightly open as she wondered why he could possibly want that. But she turned the pad over, carefully tore off the bottom sheet and placed it in his outstretched hand. He turned to the table at his right and deftly began to fold and refold the paper. After a few moments, he turned back and, before she had had time to see what he had done, he held the paper aloft and launched it into the air. It rose quickly and circled gracefully around the room before losing momentum and diving to meet a sudden end when its pointed nose hit a sauce bottle on the dining table. “Could you bring it back over here do you think?” he asked.
“So, what would you say that we have here?” he asked, as she handed it back to him.
“It’s a paper aeroplane,” she replied, with just a hint of questioning in her voice, since the answer was so obvious that she felt he must have some other purpose in mind.
“Really?” he responded and, in an instant, he screwed up the object and, with a practised, over-arm movement, threw it effortlessly in a wide arc, from which it landed just short of the waste paper basket in the corner of the room. “And now?” he asked.
“It’s a screwed-up ball of paper”, she said, without any doubt in her voice this time.
“Could you bring it back again, please”, he continued. She did so, wondering if this was typical of such an interview, spending the session chasing about after bits of paper like a dog running after a stick. He took the ball and carefully unfolded it, spread it out on the table and smoothed his hand over it a few times before handing it back to her. “And now it is just a sheet of paper again,” he said, “although I’m afraid it’s a bit crumpled now!”
He looked at her, apparently anticipating some sign of understanding if not actual revelation but none was forthcoming. He looked around the room and, after a moment, he stood up, walked over to the window and removed a rose from a vase standing in the alcove. Returning to his seat, he held the rose out to her and asked, “What is this?”
She was feeling increasingly embarrassed as it was clear he was trying to explain something fundamental, which she was not understanding. Either that or he was mad or deliberately provoking her, neither of which seemed likely, since he remained calm and open and somehow intensely present. “It’s a flower,” she replied eventually.
He then deliberately took one of the petals between his right-hand thumb and fore-finger and plucked it. He looked at her and said, “And now?” She didn’t reply, though it seemed that this time he didn’t really expect an answer. He continued to remove the petals one by one until none remained, looking up at her after each action. Finally, he pulled the remaining parts of the flower head off the stem and dropped them onto the floor, leaving the bare stalk, which he held out to her. “Where is the flower now?” he asked. Receiving no reply, he bent down and picked up all of the petals, eventually displaying them in his open hand. “Is this a flower?” he asked.
She shook her head slowly. “It was a flower only when all of the petals and the other bits were all attached to the stem.”
“Good!” he said, appreciatively. “Flower is the name that we give to that particular arrangement of all of the parts. Once we have separated it into its component parts, the flower ceases to exist. But was there ever an actual, separate thing called ‘flower’? All of the material that constituted the original form is still here in these parts in my hand.
“The paper aeroplane is an even simpler example. There never was an aeroplane was there? And I don’t just mean that it was only a toy. There was only ever paper. To begin with, the paper was in the form of a flat sheet for writing on. Then, I folded it in various ways so that it took on an aerodynamic shape which could fly through the air slowly. The name that we give to that form is ‘aeroplane’. When I screwed it up, the ball-shape could be thrown more accurately. ‘Aeroplane’ and ‘ball’ were names relating to particular forms of the paper but at all times, all that ever actually existed was paper.
“Now, this sort of analysis applies to every ‘thing’ that you care to think of. Look at that table over there and this chair on which you are sitting. What are they made of? You will probably say that they are wooden chairs?”
He looked at her questioningly and she nodded, knowing at the same time that he was going to contradict her. “Well, they are made of wood certainly, but that does not mean that they are wooden chairs! On the contrary, I would say that this, that you are sitting on, is actually chairy wood, and that object over there is tably wood. What do you say to that?”
“You mean that the thing that we call ‘chair’ is just a name that we give to the wood when it is that particular shape and being used for that particular function?” she asked, with understanding beginning to dawn.
“Exactly! I couldn’t have put it better myself. It is quite possible that I could have a bag full of pieces of wood that can be slotted together in different ways so that at one time I might assemble them into something to sit upon, another time into something to put food upon and so on. We give the various forms distinct names and we forget that they are ONLY names and forms and not distinct and separate things.
“Look – here’s an apple,” he said, picking one out of the bowl on the table and casually tossing it from one hand to the other before holding it up for her to examine. “It’s round or to be more accurate, spherical; its reddish in colour and it has”, he sniffed it, “a fruity smell. No doubt if I were to bite into it, I would find it juicy and sweet.
“Now all of these – round, red, fruity, juicy, sweet – are adjectives describing the noun ‘apple.’ Or, to use more Advaitic terms, let me say that the ‘apple’ is the ‘substantive’ – the apparently real, separately existing thing – and all of the other words are ‘attributes’ of the apple – merely incidental qualities of the thing itself. Are you with me so far?”
She nodded hesitantly but, after a little reflection, more positively.
“But suppose I had carried out this analysis with the rose that we looked at a moment ago. I could have said that it was red, delicate, fragrant, thorny and so on. And we would have noted that all of those were simply attributes and that the actual existent thing, the substantive, was the rose. But then we went on to see that the rose wasn’t real at all. It was just an assemblage of petals and sepals and so on – I’m afraid I am not a botanist! In the same way, we could say that the apple consists of seeds and flesh and skin. We may not be able to put these things together into any form different from an apple but Nature can.
“If you ask a scientist what makes an apple an apple, he will probably tell you that is the particular configuration of nucleotides in the DNA or RNA of the cells. There are many different species of apple and each one will have a slight variation in the chromosomes and it is that which differentiates the species. If you want to explain to someone what the difference is between a Bramley and a Granny Smith, you will probably say something like ‘the Bramley is large and green, used mainly for cooking and is quite sharp tasting, while the Granny Smith is still green but normally much smaller and sweeter’. But these are all adjectives or attributes. What is actually different is the physical makeup of the cell nuclei.
“But, if we look at a chromosome or a strand of DNA, are we actually looking at a self-existent, separate thing? If you look very closely through an electron microscope, you find that DNA is made up of four basic units arranged in pairs in a long, spiral chain. And any one of these units is itself made up of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, again arranged in a very specific way. So even those are not separate ‘things-in-themselves’; they are names given to particular forms of other, more fundamental things.
“And so we arrive at atoms – even the ancient Greeks used to think that everything was made up of atoms. Are these the final ‘substantives’ with all of the apparent things in the world being merely attributes? Well, unfortunately not. Science has known for a long time that atoms mainly consist of empty space with electrons spinning around a central nucleus of protons and neutrons. And science has known for somewhat less time that these particles, which were once thought to be fundamental, are themselves not solid, self-existent things but are either made up of still smaller particles or are in the form of waves, merely having probabilities of existence at many different points in space.
“Still more recently, science claimed that all of the different particles are themselves made out of different combinations of just a few particles called quarks and that those are the ultimately existing things. But they have not yet progressed far enough. The simple fact of the matter is that every ‘thing’ is ultimately only an attribute, a name and form superimposed upon a more fundamental substantive. We make the mistake of thinking that there really is a table, when actually there is only wood. We make the mistake of thinking that there is really wood, when actually there is only cellulose and sugars and proteins. We make the mistake of thinking there is protein when this is only a particular combination of atoms. “Ultimately, everything in the universe is seen to be only name and form of a single substantive.
The journalist was transfixed; not exactly open-mouthed but her pencil had not moved for some time. Eventually, she asked in a small voice: “But then where do I fit into all of this?”
“Ah”, he replied. “That again depends upon what you mean by the word ‘I’. Who you think you are – ‘Sarah’ – is essentially no different from the table and chair. You are simply name and form, imposed upon the non-dual reality. Who you really are, however… well, that is quite different – you are that nondual reality. You see, in the final analysis, there are not two things; there is only nonduality. That is the truth; that is Advaita.” (by Dennis Waite)
The Meaning or Definition of Advaita, Oneness or Nonduality
Advaita is the teaching of nonduality, which has become best known in the West through the nondual spiritual teachings of the revered Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi. He taught that self-realization, or the realization of the oneness of who we are, is not some distant goal that only a few can attain. The Self is that which is always and already present, that which doesn’t come and go. The love, peace, and happiness we have all been seeking is already here and is, in fact, who we are. Through simple self inquiry, we can awaken from the dream of a separate self to the reality of Oneness, to the spiritual truth of who we are as nondual consciousness. |
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Post-Surgical Pain Jump-Start Your Health With Lemon Eucalyptus Oil Lemon eucalyptus oil, the common name for one of the natural oils obtained from the lemon-scented gum eucalyptus plant, has gained popularity as an insect repellant. This use is important when you consider the dangers of DEET and other toxic solutions and want to steer clear of them. Learn more about the benefits, composition and proper therapeutic and practical applications of this plant oil. What Is Lemon Eucalyptus Oil? Lemon eucalyptus oil is extracted from the leaves and twigs of the lemon-scented gum eucalyptus plant, also known as Eucalyptus citriodora or Corymbia citriodora. The lemon eucalyptus is a tall tree that grows up to 50 meters (164 feet) tall and comes from the temperate and tropical northeastern Australia.1 Its name is derived from the Latin term citriodorus meaning “lemon-scented,” and is in demand for structural timber and for honey production. It is also popular in horticulture both in and outside of Australia. The oil — particularly p-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD), http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/06/22/lemon-eucalyptus-oil.aspx
Share this:TwitterFacebookGoogleMoreLinkedInRedditTumblrPinterestPocketLike this:Like Loading... Author vancouverspineanddisccentreblogPosted on June 22, 2017Tags children, hormone, important, melatonin, mercolaLeave a comment on Too Many Children Taking Melatonin Probiotics Help Reduce Symptoms of Depression By Dr. Mercola When it comes to mental health, most assume the brain is in charge. In reality, your gut may be calling the shots. Interestingly enough, in the 1800s and early 1900s, it was thought that waste in your colon could produce infections that lead to depression. As it turns out, they weren’t too far off the mark. Scientific advances now suggest your state of mind is influenced, if not largely directed, by the microflora in your gut, and probiotics (beneficial bacteria) are being thought of as “the new antidepressants.” However, while it may be tempting to trade one pill for another, I urge you to consider taking a more comprehensive approach. Taking a probiotic supplement may be helpful, but if you’re still eating the same junk as before, it’s not likely to make a significant difference. The key, really, is to eat a healthy diet. Limiting or eliminating sugar is absolutely essential, as adding healthy fats will provide your brain with much-needed fuel, while fermented foods w
Share this:TwitterFacebookGoogleMoreLinkedInRedditTumblrPinterestPocketLike this:Like Loading... Author vancouverspineanddisccentreblogPosted on June 21, 2017Tags ended, killing, misuse, paragraph, singleLeave a comment on How Misuse of a Single Paragraph Ended Up Killing 60,000 Americans Per Year The Heroes Who Sunk Lead By Dr. Mercola Lead has a cumulative effect on multiple organ systems in your body and is particularly harmful to young children. After it enters the body, it is distributed through the brain, kidney, liver and bones, and is often stored in the bones and teeth.1 There is no known safe exposure to lead, which often affects young children and lower socioeconomic groups the hardest. However, humans have a long and intimate relationship with lead, dating back to 3000 B.C. when the Roman Empire used it to create pipes for their plumbing and to sweeten wine that they then shipped all over Europe.2 Documents from that period report symptoms of colic, anemia and gout attributed to overexposure to lead. Some historians even believe lead poisoning hastened the fall of the Roman Empire. The oldest known piece made of lead is a figurine from 4000 B.C., found in Egypt.3 In more recent years, the durability of the heavy metal made it an excellent additive to paint, and the chemical properties made |
Understanding the implications of passing parameters by value or by reference is important in ensuring proper use of methods.
A function is declared using code like this:
Public myFunction(ByVal Index As Integer, ByVal BM As Bitmap) as Boolean
This declaration defines the ‘signature’ of the method. The meaning of this is:
Public The function will be visible within this application and (if required) to other applications that have access to this application’s methods and properties. Alternatives are Friend or Private.
Function The method is a function – it will return a result. The alternative is Sub, meaning no result will be returned.
myFunction The function name. This name will be used in code to access the function
ByVal Index as Integer. The first argument in the function parameter list is an integer. It will be referred to within the function using the label ‘Index’. It will be passed to the function by value (see below).
ByVal BM As Bitmap The second argument in the function parameter list is a bitmap object. It will be referred to within the function using the label ‘BM’. It will be passed to the function by value (see below).
as Boolean The function will return a result that is type Boolean. This means that the function result can be used as True or False.
The above function might be used in code like this:
If myFunction(TestVal, myImageObject) Then ...
myFunction will be evaluated using arguments TestVal and myImageObject, and the result will be either True or False.
But what exactly is the meaning of ByVal and ByRef?
If a method argument is specified in the method signature as ByVal, it means that the value of the argument is passed to the method. If the current value of the integer Index is 12, then the first argument is passed as the number 12. The second argument is a reference variable: a reference variable does not have a ‘value’ as such – the variable refers to the object, so its ‘value’ is the reference. When a reference variable is passed ByVal, a copy of the reference is made and that copy is passed to the function. Because the function knows that the argument is a reference type, it expects to see a reference, not an actual value. The function will use this copy of the variable value to reference the object. This means that the function will refer to the same object – a copy of a reference still refers to the original object. Therefore, changes to the object that are made from code inside the function (changes made using the variable ‘BM’) will produce changes to the object in the calling code (changes made using the variable ‘myImageObject’). The two references (the original and the copy) have the same ‘value’, so they refer to the same object.
Both copies of the arguments (the value ’12’ and the copy of the reference to myImageObject) are discarded when the function terminates. In summary:
Value variable passed ByVal – any changes to the local variable are discarded when the method terminates. The variable in the calling routine is unchanged.
Reference variable passed ByVal – there is only one object. Changes made to the object within the method will therefore change the object in the calling routine.
This behaviour is different than what applied in Visual Basic 6 and earlier versions.
If, instead, the arguments were passed ByRef, then references to the original variables are passed. To distinguish these references (the ones created within a function for any variable passed ByRef) let’s call them pointers. If the variable is a value variable, the pointer points to the variable value. If the variable is a reference variable, then the pointer points to the reference to the object. In the case of the first argument – an integer – the pointer points to the location where ’12’ is stored. In the case of the second argument – a reference variable – the pointer points to the location where a reference to the myImageObject object is stored.
Because of the way that these ‘pointers’ are managed within the method, the local variables (the variables used within the function or sub) are the same variable that was passed as an argument (technically, they are always fully de-referenced). Therefore:
Value variable passed ByRef – any changes to the local variable are also made to the variable in the calling routine. Reference variable passed ByRef – any changes to the object referenced by the local variable are also made to the object referenced by the variable in the calling routine.
This behaviour is the same as in Visual Basic 6 and earlier versions.
What this means is that :
1.ByVal should be used unless there is a specific reason not to do so. This reduces the risk of accidentally making changes to the variable that was passed from the calling function. But it doesn’t eliminate that risk, because:
2. Changes to an object referred to by a reference variable passed ByVal will be reflected as changes to the object referenced by the corresponding variable in the calling code.
3. A change to any variable passed ByRef will cause the same change to the corresponding variable in the calling code.
Of course, there are times when you want to write a function so that it can change the value of the variable that was passed to it as an argument. Some procedures require a function (or sub) that needs to make changes to several objects simultaneously – for instance to ensure that consistency is maintained across a number of variables. In this case the method may be deliberately written to pass the arguments ByRef so that the function can make changes to the original object. If you use this technique, use ByRef for any variable where you want changes propagated back to the equivalent variable in the calling routine, as a warning to anyone reading the code that the coding was deliberate.
Note that making changes to a reference variable in the method is not regarded as particularly robust programming, and should be avoided if possible. For instance, putting the associated objects into a structure to pass to the function, and having the function return a structure that contains the updated objects, may be a better way to solve the problem.
Strings are reference variables. They don’t always look like it, but they are. If a string is passed ByVal or ByRef to a function or sub then the variable as used in the function refers to the original string object, and the function or sub can (in theory) make changes to it, and those changes will apply to the string variable that was passed as an argument.
But, some some string operations cause a new string to be created. In fact, almost any operation carried out on a string will create a new string object, discarding the old one. ‘Discarding’ is, of course, relative. If the function changes a string, for instance by adding a new character on the end, then what is actually discarded is the reference to the original string, because strings are reference variables. Whether or not the string object itself gets removed from memory depends on whether or not there are any other references to that object – and of course there is such a reference: the original variable that was used as the argument in the function call is still a valid variable in the code that called the function, and so the original string object is not removed. But the variable used in the sub or function now points to a new string.
So what hapens if a function changes a string that has been passed ByVal? Nothing. Passing a variable (the reference) ByVal creates a copy that is used within the method. When the string is changed a new string is created. The copy of the reference to the old string that the function was using is updated to point to the new string. But this reference is only a copy, so when the function ends, the reference to the new string is discarded (as are all the copies of variables passed ByVal). The new string object loses its only reference, and is garbage collected. The string object in the calling routine is unchanged.
Note that this behaviour is not unique to strings. Whenever a new object is assigned to a reference variable, it is the reference that gets updated, not the object. Updating the reference means that the reference no longer points to the original object, so any changes made are not reflected in that original object. The difference with strings is that it’s not always apparent when a new string is created, but a good rule is that a new string is created whenever the string is changed. Setting an object to Null is also changing the reference of a reference variable, so trying to do that in a method will also result in no change to the object in the calling code. Any change that means that the reference is changed, not the object itself, means that the change will not propogate back to the variable that was passed in ByVal.
And what happens if a function changes a string that has been passed in ByRef? As for any reference type, a change made in the method will be a change to the object that the variable refers to – changes made in the method will appear as changes in the calling routine. But, this is also the case if the change creates a new object. The reference variable ‘pointed to’ by the variable used in the method gets updated to refer to the new object, so the object referenced from the variable in the calling routine is also the new object, and the change appears. So for reference items passed ByRef, the result is the same whether the ‘change’ means an alteration to the state of the object, or the creation of a new object.
The answer is (1) avoid the need for passing method parameters ByRef if possible and (2) never pass strings ByVal and expect the original string object to be correctly updated. |
Helpful advise for a distracted age.
by Sheree Crawford
Mindfulness is the hot thing right now; it’s being talked about, summed up, and debated in all corners of society, and so it’s reasonable to ask whether or not mindfulness can be applied to writing. Well, the obvious answer is of course it can! How is another matter.
If you’re one of those still in the dark there are plenty of resources which will help you to get a grip on it. At it’s heart, however, mindfulness is about self-awareness; being aware of our thoughts, feelings, and our bodies, and recognising how these things affect our behaviour, moods, and even mental well-being (you can use mindfulness to control anxiety, for example.
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May 16, 2017 Guest post (linguistics, George Orwell)
I was reminded of George Orwell’s rules for writing this weekend while reading an article about the German architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–1983). In her article, “New guides to Bath: Society and scene in Northanger Abbey”, Judy Stove-Wilson wrote that Pevsner noted the strong tendency of English towards monosyllables. He regarded this as symptomatic of ‘understatement, the […]
via George Orwell’s Politics and the English language — Whispering Gums
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May 16, 2017 How To Write The Engine Of Your TV Series
Screenwriting support.
Gideon's Screenwriting Tips: Now You're a Screenwriter
There is a term bandied around TV writers rooms called the ENGINE. What exactly is the engine of a TV show?
As its name suggests, the simplest way to describe your story engine, is to define what drives every episode in the series. The engine is the nerve center of your TV series. It defines the starting point of your TV series as well as the trajectory of each season.
What are the key elements of an engine? Most importantly, the engine defines what your story isn’t and what it isn’t. Your engine keeps your story on track.
The premise is really the concept of your TV show. For example, 2 Broke Girls is a workplace sitcom about two financially-challenged waitresses in a Brooklyn diner.
The Bing Bang Theory is an urban tribe sitcom about nerdy scientists.
Girl Boss is a semi-biopic about Sophia Amoruso, the founder of the online Nasty…
May 5, 2016 Source:
July 25, 2015 Courtesy of our friends at The Write Life
July 25, 2015 “The basis of art…”
“The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.”
-Flannery O’Connor-
June 3, 2015 Step-by-step creating a project in Scrivener – nailing that outline
So how is my Scrivener project going?
Going to be honest here, I’ve switched my project. I was going to use Scrivener to write a memoir manuscript on clearing my heart of clutter in order to clear my house of clutter. I’m still going to do that one, but the writing part is going to take longer.
And I want to get a project done.
So I decided to use Scrivener to write a series of lessons learned, tips, and advice on dealing with Lyme disease. This is tick season and, because I have written so much on Lyme disease in the past, people are constantly asking me for advice. As you may know five of my kids and I have Lyme disease, trust me I have a lot of lessons and tips to share on taking care of others, as well as yourself when Lyme is in the house. |
June 11, 2017 | Categories: Canaletto, National Gallery (London) | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto – The Paul G. Allen Family Collection. The Grand Canal, Venice, Looking South-East from San Stae to the Fabbriche Nuove di Rialto (c. 1738) Canaletto – The Paul G. Allen Family Collection. Title: The Grand Canal, Venice, Looking South-East from San Stae to the Fabbriche Nuove di Rialto. Date: c. 1738. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 47 x 77.8 cm. Source: . I have changed the light and contrast of the original photo.
June 2, 2017 | Categories: Canaletto, Paul G. Allen Family Collection | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto and workshop – Musée du Louvre RF 1961-33. L’Entrée du Grand Canal et l’Église de la Salute (c. 1735-1740) Canaletto and workshop – Musée du Louvre RF 1961-33. Title: L’Entrée du Grand Canal et l’Église de la Salute. Date: c. 1735-1740. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 119 x 153 cm. Nr.: RF 1961-33. Source: https://gallerix.ru/fullpic/8aa456c7050ffda75a9d65bbeee4b6bc.
May 24, 2017 | Categories: Canaletto, Musée du Louvre | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto – Galleria Nazionale di Parma N. 284 . Title: Capriccio con edifici palladiani. Date: 1756-1759. Canaletto – Galleria Nazionale di Parma N. 284 . Title: Capriccio con edifici palladiani. Date: 1756-1759. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 58 x 82 cm. Nr.: N. 284. Source: http://www.parmabeniartistici.beniculturali.it/galleria-nazionale-di-parma/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/08/inv-0284-canaletto-capriccio-con-edifici-palladianiok._ridjpg.jpg. I have changed the light, contrast and colors of the original photo.
February 25, 2017 | Categories: Canaletto, Galleria Nazionale di Parma | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto – Gemäldegalerie Berlin Streit 3. Der Canal Grande mit Blick in südöstlicher Richtung auf die Rialtobrücke (1758-1763) Canaletto – Gemäldegalerie Berlin Streit 3. Title: Der Canal Grande mit Blick in südöstlicher Richtung auf die Rialtobrücke. Date: 1758-1763. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 118 x 188 cm. Nr.: Streit 3. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mazanto/14893865585/in/album-72157629968563682/. I have changed the light, contrast and colors of the original photo.
December 16, 2016 | Categories: Canaletto, private collection | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto – The National Gallery (London) NG937. Venice: The Feast Day of Saint Roch (c. 1735) Canaletto – The National Gallery (London) NG937. Title: Venice: The Feast Day of Saint Roch. Date: c. 1735. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 147.7 x 199.4 cm. Nr. NG937: Source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Antonio_Canal,_il_Canaletto_-_The_Feast_Day_of_St_Roch_-_WGA03905.jpg. I have changed the light and contrast of the original photo.
November 9, 2016 | Categories: Canaletto, National Gallery (London) | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto – Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud. View of the Grand Canal (c. 1735) Canaletto – Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud. Title: View of the Grand Canal. Date: c. 1735. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 73 x 129 cm. Nr.: ? Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mazanto/27481984663/in/dateposted/. I have changed the light, contrast and colors of the original photo.
September 22, 2016 | Categories: Canaletto, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud | Tags: Canaletto | Leave a comment Canaletto – private collection. View of the Entrance to the Arsenal (c. 1732) Canaletto – private collection. Title: View of the Entrance to the Arsenal. Date: c. 1732. Materials: oil on canvas. Dimensions: 47 x 78.8cm. Source: . I have changed the light, contrast and colors of the original photo. |
Books about Libraries and Librarians for National Libraries Day
Posted on February 6, 2016February 4, 2016 by wokinghamboroughlibraries Celebrate National Libraries Day with books about libraries and librarians! All titles are available to borrow or reserve from Wokingham Borough Libraries
People of the Book-Geraldine Brooks
When Hannah Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript which has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of wartorn Sarajevo, she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime.
The Library Book
From Alan Bennett’s ‘Baffled at a Bookcase’, to Lucy Mangan’s ‘Ten Library Rules’, here famous writers tell us all about how libraries are used and why they’re important.
The Historian-Elizabeth Kostova
Based on the legend of Vlad the Impaler, this is the story of a young girl who discovers an ancient and disturbing book in her father’s library, one which will lead to terrible loss and tragedy, as well as uncovering Dracula’s resting place.
Fahrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury
This hauntingly prophetic novel centres around a not-too-distant future where happiness is allocated on a TV screen, individuals and scholars are outcasts and books are burned by a special task force of firemen.
Mobile Library-David Whitehouse
Twelve-year-old Bobby Nusku is an archivist of his mother. He catalogues traces of her life and waits for her to return home. Bobby thinks that he’s been left to face the world alone until he meets lonely single mother Val and her daughter Rosa. They spend a magical summer together, discovering the books in the mobile library where Val works as a cleaner. But as the summer draws to a close, Bobby finds himself in trouble and Val is in danger of losing her job. There’s only one thing to do – and so they take to the road in the mobile library.
The Uncommon Reader-Alan Bennett
The uncommon reader is none other that HM The Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace.
Public Library and other stories-Ali Smith
Why are books so very powerful? What do the books we’ve read over our lives – our own personal libraries – make of us? What does the unravelling of our tradition of public libraries, so hard-won but now in jeopardy, say about us? The stories in Ali Smith’s new collection are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make.
The Name of the Rose-Umberto Eco
One after the other, half a dozen monks are found murdered in the most bizarre of ways. A learned Franciscan who is sent to solve the mysteries finds himself involved in the frightening events.
The Time Traveler’s Wife– Audrey Niffenegger
This is the story of Henry and Clare, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36, and were married when Clare was 20 and Henry was 28. This is possible only because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with chrono-displacement-disorder.
Shadow of the Wind- Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is a labyrinthine library of obscure & forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. A man brings his 10-year-old son to the library & allows him to choose one book to keep. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. |
by Luanne | July 2, 2015 · 5:20 am Mourning, Memories, Story, and Reflection Between extra work, mourning, and a new project, I am wiped out. My cats have sad faces and obviously miss Mac. Felix, my big tabby, hid under the bed during a thunderstorm–something he’s never done before. He’s frightened not to have Mac around to protect him.
Grief has an insidious way about it. There is the past and then there are the stories we create about the past and our reflection upon them.
I’m still trying to rise out of the swamp around me.
To that end, along with Marie from 1WriteWay (yay!), I’m taking a four week course from Apiary Lit in “Flash Essay on the Edge.” You’re right: the title is perfect for me right now. I’ll keep you posted. When we’re done, Marie and I will review the course.
Have a wonderful fourth of July. When I was a kid, I used to spend it on the lake with my father.
Filed under Blogging, Cats and Other Animals, Essay, Memoir, Nonfiction, Research and prep for writing, Writing, Writing goals, Writing prompt, Writing Tips and Habits
Tagged as #amwriting, Blog, Creative Nonfiction, Creative writing, Essay, Family memories, Memoir, memoir writing contest, Memory, Nonfiction, Story, Writing, Writing memoir, Writing prompt, Writing tips
by Luanne | June 2, 2014 · 6:10 am A Teeny Sample of My Memoir River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative has published a piece I wrote in their weekly “Beautiful Things” column. One of the beauties is that each essay has to be 250 words or less. As you can imagine, it’s quite a task for me to keep anything I write that short.
I hope you enjoy reading “Patterns.” You can think of it as a little introduction to the memoir I am writing. Find it here. Please feel free to comment over there, too, if you have time.
Sorry about the shadows and lighting !
Filed under Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Memoir, Nonfiction, Research and prep for writing, Writing
Tagged as Book Writing, Creative Nonfiction, Creative writing, Essay, Memoir, memoir writing contest, Nonfiction, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative, Writing, Writing memoir, writing sample
by Luanne | May 26, 2014 · 5:20 am Paper Hanging My Book When we moved into our last house, I had a vision for my kitchen and family room. Those “two” rooms were a large open space, divided by a bar-height counter and a set of upholstered bar stools. Now keep in mind that this was the nineties.To coordinate with my rose and green plaid drapes and couches, I wanted an old-fashioned small print floral wallpaper inside two glass doored cabinets and on the bulkhead above. While I like to design, I am not very good at implementing projects like painting and wallpapering. So I asked around and called the paper hanger that was most highly recommended.
I can no longer remember his name, though “Jim” pops into my head. He was of retirement age with white hair and a nasty case of diabetes, but he was still working full-time. When he arrived in his rusted and dented panel truck, he spent some time examining the wallpaper rolls I had purchased. Then he began hauling out all manner of sawhorses and drop cloths and tools. By noon he had converted my garage into an elaborate workroom.
By 5PM he had finished measuring and preparing the walls. I figured he would start pasting up the wallpaper the next morning. I was wrong. He did arrive by 8AM, but he still had more prepping to do. I asked him why it was taking him so long to prep. He said, “I’ve been doing this a long time. More’n forty years. If I spend my time prepping, the job will go quickly and there won’t be any mistakes.”
I probably rolled my eyes when I left the room. But once he started putting up the pretty wallpaper, I was able to watch him complete the room, even with a trim border, in an hour. One hour to wallpaper my kitchen. And it looked perfect, with invisible seams and absolutely no bubbles. Clean edges.
Later, I had him wallpaper my kids’ bedrooms, too, and he did the same excellent job by putting the focus on the prep, not on the final step.
Whenever I have a job to do, I tend to think back to Jim and what he taught me with his work technique. His method can be applied to many projects.
In fact, I was thinking today about how writing a book is turning out to be like paper hanging Jim’s way. By writing 200,000 words in scenes ahead of time, and by taking the time to really plan out how to structure it all, I suspect that when I put it all together, that will be the fastest part of the writing.
by Luanne | March 17, 2014 · 5:20 am The Neighborhood of My Puberty You might know that I’m writing a memoir. It probably won’t be done for a long time yet. I’m not complaining about the time it takes; I just don’t want you to pass out holding your breath ;).
To give you an idea of one of the book’s settings, I’ve written a description.
I’ve lived in a different neighborhood for every stage of my life. The one I think of as quintessential suburban America was the scene of my puberty, from fifth through ninth grades. At the head of the street, intersecting the busy main drag, sat the First United Methodist Church with its big parking lot. Next to the cars, the church had installed one swing set and one seesaw and called it a playground. Crabapple trees tempted bored children with their small, hard, bitter fruit.
Church at the head of the street
My parents and brother and I lived a lazy walk down the street from the church, in a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath ranch. We had a large front yard with lots of grass to mow with the old egg beater Dad made me use.
Vintage “egg beater” lawn mower
At the boundary of my backyard my parents kept a garden of tomatoes, string beans, and zucchini. Next door, the old man’s garden soil was darker and richer. His tasselled corn could be eaten crisp off the cob. Next to our garden was my tether ball court and on the other side of the concrete slab, the playhouse my father built me smiled its crescent moon grin. Dad’s joke was that crescent moons used to mark outhouses when he was a kid.
Some of the houses on my street were new like mine, but the ones on both sides of us were at least ten years old, and a few were close to twenty. The houses were in good repair, with aluminum siding and front lawns—some green, others brown and patchy. Around the corner, the houses were both single family and duplexes. My grandmother’s duplex was at the end of that street, and I bicycled down there for dried apricots and butterscotch Dumdum lollipops and to babysit the baby boy of the young lawyer who lived on the other side of the duplex.
Along the back of the houses on the other side of my street was a forest of Balsam firs and white pines known as “The Pines.” Under the trees, the earth was two inches thick with fallen needles. When we slept out there in our sleeping bags, the boys visited. Warm nights increased the pungent fragrance of the pine needles, which blended with the spicy scent of the teen boys.
At one end of the pines was the church and at the other end the minister lived in his parsonage with his wife, my piano teacher. Below my scales and arpeggios, I could hear the boys playing softball outside and the timbre of their voices was a call to me to come play with them.
The little kids rode their Schwinn Stingrays and Huffy bicycles on the street, warm breezes blowing in their faces. Between five and six-thirty every day, mothers called their children in to dinner. A dinner gong at my house called me home just in time for the Mercury Vapor lamp to light up the yard.
Behind our house was an open field where we dug out forts in the dirt and weeds, which we covered with scrap lumber from the new houses being built in the next neighborhood. Down at one end of the field, where there were a few oak trees, somebody had built a simple tree house, and even the protruding rusty nails couldn’t keep us from climbing to it.
Beyond the field was the City Dump which attracted us like maggots to a dead squirrel. A large pharmaceutical company dumped its wastes at the landfill. The foam from their trucks hardened into large sculptures we climbed all over. On hot and humid days, the toxic stink cloud hung over the dump and the field, and I held my breath. The refuse from all the homes and businesses in the city ended up out back of our houses. The best trash was the stacks and stacks of dirty magazines, molding and solidifying into blocks.
That gives you an idea of where my childhood turned into my adolescence. When I was fully a teen, we moved to a new house in a new neighborhood, and my world changed.
My best memories are of the summers. But the photos I have are of the winter. In the parking lot of the church above, we ice skated on the frozen pavement. I wonder why so many of my memories are of the short summers?
My playhouse post can be found here.
My fort post can be found here.
Because my book takes place in a variety of settings (I have moved quite a bit), I probably will end up combining a couple of settings or using one setting over a period that is longer than I actually lived there. It’s a bit like combining two or more characters into one. It will be necessary to keep the book focused on what’s important, rather than forcing the reader to spend too much energy processing all the moves.
by Luanne | January 23, 2014 · 5:20 am See, Mom, I AM Normal! I’m taking a break from the regularly scheduled program–One Thing I Learned From Each Memoir I Have Read–to say thank you to a fellow writer and blogger, Ellen Morris Prewitt. She kindly wrote a post yesterday about Writer Site (yup, this blog) on her cain’t do nothing with love blog.
The title of the post is “The Allure of Normal.” In the midst of my gratitude toward Ellen, I did chuckle quite a bit about being presented as the poster child of normal.
After all, I did just write this passage the day before yesterday in a (first draft) scene for my memoir:
The therapist I’d seen years before had pointed out that normal was a setting on a washing machine, not a word associated with people. Maybe my teen hormones had blown things out of proportion.
When I was a kid I lived in the mindset that I was just outside the bounds of normal. Not distressingly weird, for sure. But definitely if-they-only-knew-that-I-am-weird weird. My best friend and I used to call each other “weirdo,” just to reinforce our placement in the universe.
But now I’m all grown up and so normal. 😉 Unless you ask my husband. But that is a subject for a future invisible post.
Let me tell you something about Ellen. She’s got a super impressive bio, including Pushcart Prize nominations and a Special Mention. Her website is found here. One of the many intriguing facts about Ellen is that she has an essay published in Sue William Silverman’s memoir how-to book Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir (which I own!). How cool is that?!
Ellen has another blog, too, found here.
Thanks, Ellen, for your kindness to a fellow blogger!
I hope you stop back Monday to hear about the next memoir on my shelf.
Obviously the start of a longer piece, this writing can stand alone. Precious freedom is its focus. The narrator is haunted by the ghosts of slaves who tunneled beneath the Ohio River to flee north. They ask, “What will you do for your freedom?”
This writing is vivid, from the dripping tunnel, to the cracked and peeling Naval Training Center, to the sweltering jungles of Indochina, where “every day spent outside a body bag” is a good one. And always, there’s the heartbeat of What will you do for your freedom?
Wonderful opening line. It hooked me right away.
The use of detail to place the reader in scene is employed well. Many of the descriptions evoke not only a clear image of a place, but also a sense of what it felt like.
The universal theme of seeking freedom is woven throughout the story relative to history and geographic elements that leads the reader on a journey alongside the narrator.
I wanted to make one other comment about the submissions in general. With the exception of only a couple, the submissions could all have used an outside eye reading for typos and grammar errors. I bring up this point because before you submit to journals, magazines, and agents, find a friend you trust to read over your work and search for missing words, misspellings, and grammar errors. My judges ignored these issues (within reason), but some professional readers will not do so.
by Luanne | September 11, 2013 · 5:20 am FIVE MORE DAYS TO SEND US YOUR STORY! and TAKE MY POLL ABOUT WP ADS I just noticed a little box at the bottom of my post; it said that some of my readers might see an ad in that box. My options are to either run my own ads there or I can pay $30 per year for an upgrade to keep out the ads.
I am wondering what others have decided to do about this and why. Please take my poll and let me know! |
Aircraft Requests
Horton Brothers Flying Wings
What is the story on the WW2 Horten Brothers flying wings that
were first built as gliders in 1930? And were almost made with
jet engines toward the end of the war. Never finished as the
war ended too soon for Germany....what happened to make the
futuristic swept back wing designs so long in development? Did
the Germans distrust the Hortens?
Did the aircraft need jet engines that were more powerful? Lucky
for the Allies that Germany ran out of gasoline,pilots and
everything else as this design may have proved to be a great
"Wonder Weapon". Anyone have any comments?
DerAdlerIstGelandet
Actually the Ho-229 flew in January of 1945 and was preparing to enter production.
First flown in January 1945, the Ho 229 was the innovative design of Walter and Reimar Horten, both former Luftwaffe officers. The test programme showed the 229 to have outstanding speed and handling characteristics but developement was halted when US troops overran the research facility.
ho229-1.jpg
ho229.jpg
DerAdlerIstGelandet: Thanks for the info and for posting the
Ho229 pictures.
Distribution of Magazines and driver
George - South Africa
I have pictures for you and info but my PC is full of shit tonight and I can not get what I want. I will try to remmember next time.
loomaluftwaffe
loomaluftwaffe,
Click here, i hope this helps
Here is a link that will be great info for you on the Horton brothers.
http://http://ufologie.net/aircraft/horten.htm
My pictures does not want to work but I am trying my best to get them posted and will get them to you as soon as I can.
Horten 229 prototypes Part 1
Ok here they are. I have been promising these pics and now I will provide I can finally post them.
First is the Horten 229 V1 glider prototype, they first tested the design on this glider and it proved successfull. Sadly it were destroyed by the Russians after the war.
The cockpit of the Horten 229 V1.
Now the only Horten 229 to ever fly were the Horten 229 V2 prototype that were powered by two Jumo 004 jet engines. It was a successfull aircraft, but after a rough landing it were grounded until repairs have been made, but after the repairs were made the test pilot Erwin Ziller ignored the orders of the Horten brothers not to fly until they were there he did it anyway and that proved to be his last flight. The aircraft stalled and crashed killing him and destroying the only powered Horten 229 prototype. This meant that the Horten brothers had to wait even longer to be able to get things properly up and running. Here is the pics I have.
Take off of the Horten 229 V2 powerd prototype.
Drawings of the Horten 229.
In Part two the Horten 229 V3 story and pictures of it then and now.
Ok, now on the first part I did the Horten 229 V1 and V2 prototypes. Now the V1 and V2 were destroyed, but the V3 did survived the war and it is now in the NASM waiting to be restored, but sadly never flew. The story of the Horten 229 V3 is also sad in a certain way. It were captured and studied, but left to be forgotton in a hanger to rot for 61 years and not even to get the attention like other aircraft got.
Some pics of the Horten 229 V3 when it were captured and how it looks today.
The Horten 229 V3 today.
The wings:
The inside of the aft landing gear bay.
The back of the aircraft.
The drag vlaps.
The front landing gear port you can see cockpit in the background.
The intake of the Jumo 004 engine.
The underside of the aircraft.
The V4.
Next the full story of the Horten 229.
Here is the story of the whole project. This is from the NASM website that also had interviews with the Horten brothers about their work, It is also on tape, their explanation for not restoring the Horten 229 V3 is that they are waiting for their new facility to be completed, this will all in all take 7 years.
In 1943 the all-wing Horten 229 promised spectacular performance and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) chief, Hermann Göring, allocated half-a-million Reich Marks to the brothers Reimar and Walter Horten to build and fly several prototypes. Numerous technical problems beset this unique design and the only powered example crashed after several test flights but the airplane remains one of the most unusual combat aircraft tested during World War II. (Note to the reader: Horten used roman numerals to identify his designs and he followed the German aircraft industry practice of using 'Versuch,' literally test or experiment, numbers to describe pre-production prototypes built to test and develop a new design into a production airplane. The Horten IX design became the Horten Ho 229 aircraft program after Göring granted the project official status in 1943 and the technical office of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium assigned to it the design number 229. This is also the nomenclature used in official German documents).
The idea for the Horten IX grew first in the mind of Walter Horten when he was serving in the Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot engaged in combat in 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Horten was the technical officer for Jadgeschwader (fighter squadron) 26 stationed in France. The nature of the battle and the tactics employed by the Germans spotlighted the design deficiencies of the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Germany 's most advanced fighter airplane at that time. The Luftwaffe pilots had to fly across the English Channel or the North Sea to fulfill their missions – escorting German bombers and attacking British fighters – and Horten watched his unit lose many men over hostile territory at the very limit of the airplane's combat radius. Often after just a few minutes flying in combat, the Germans frequently had to turn back to their bases or run out of fuel and this lack of endurance severely limited their effectiveness. The Messerschmitt was also vulnerable because it had just a single engine. One bullet could puncture almost any part of the cooling system and when this happened, the engine could continue to function for only a few minutes before it overheated and seized up. Walter Horten came to believe that the Luftwaffe needed a new fighter designed with performance superior to the Spitfire, Britain's most advanced fighter. The new airplane required sufficient range to fly to England, loiter for a useful length of time and engage in combat, and then return safely to occupied Europe. He understood that only a twin-engine aircraft could give pilots a reasonable chance of returning with substantial battle damage or even the loss of one engine. Since 1933, and interrupted only by military service, Walter and Reimar had experimented with all-wing aircraft. With Walter's help, Reimar had used his skills as a mathematician and designer to overcome many of the limitations of this exotic configuration. Walter believed that Reimar could design an all-wing fighter with significantly better combat performance than the Spitfire. The new fighter needed a powerful, robust propulsion system to give the airplane great speed but also one that could absorb damage and continue to function. The Nazis had begun developing rocket, pulse-jet, and jet turbine configurations by 1940 and Walter's role as squadron technical officer gave him access to information about these advanced programs. He soon concluded that if his brother could design a fighter propelled by two small and powerful engines and unencumbered by a fuselage or tail, very high performance was possible. At the end of 1940, Walter shared his thoughts on the all-wing fighter with Reimar who fully agreed with his brother's assessment and immediately set to work on the new fighter. Fiercely independent and lacking the proper intellectual credentials, Reimar worked at some distance from the mainstream German aeronautical community. At the start of his career, he was denied access to wind tunnels due to the cost but also because of his young age and lack of education, so he tested his ideas using models and piloted aircraft. By the time the war began, Reimar actually preferred to develop his ideas by building and testing full-size aircraft. The brothers had already successfully flown more than 20 aircraft by 1941 but the new jet wing would be heavier and faster than any previous Horten design. To minimize the risk of experimenting with such an advanced aircraft, Reimar built and tested several interim designs, each one moderately faster, heavier, or more advanced in some significant way than the one before it. Reimar built the Horten V b and V c to evaluate the all-wing layout when powered by twin engines driving pusher propellers. He began in 1941 to consider fitting the Dietrich-Argus pulse jet motor to the Horten V but this engine had drawbacks and in the first month of 1942, Walter gave his brother dimensioned drawings and graphs that charted the performance curves of the new Junkers 004 jet turbine engine (this engine is also fitted to these NASM aircraft: Messerschmitt Me 262, Arado Ar 234, and the Heinkel He 162). Later that year, Reimar flew a new design called the Horten VII that was similar to the Horten V but larger and equipped with more powerful reciprocating engines. The Horten VI ultra-high performance sailplane also figured into the preliminary aerodynamic design of the jet flying wing after Reimar tested this aircraft with a special center section. Walter used his personal connections with important officials to keep the idea of the jet wing alive in the early stages of its development. General Ernst Udet, Chief of Luftwaffe Procurement and Supply and head of the Technical Office “was the man who protected this idea and followed this idea” for the all-wing fighter for almost a year until Udet took his own life in November 1941. At the beginning of 1943, Walter heard Göring complain that Germany was fielding 17 different types of twin-engine military airplanes with similar, and rather mediocre, performance but parts were not interchangeable between any two designs. He decreed that henceforth he would not approve for production another new twin-engine airplane unless it could carry 1,000 kg (2,210 lb) of bombs to a ‘penetration depth' of 1,000 km (620 miles, penetration depth defined as 1/3 the range ) at a speed of 1,000 km/h (620 mph). Asked to comment, Reimar announced that only a warplane equipped with jet engines had a chance to meet those requirements. In August Reimar submitted a short summary of an all-wing design that came close to achieving Göring's specifications. He issued the brothers a contract, and then demanded the new aircraft fly in 3 months! Reimar responded that the first Horten IX prototype could fly in six months and Göring accepted this schedule after revealing his desperation to get the new fighter in the air with all possible speed. Reimar believed that he had boosted the Reichsmarschall's confidence in his work after he told him that his all-wing jet bomber was based on data obtained from bona fide flight tests with piloted aircraft. Official support had now been granted to the first all-wing Horten airplane designed specifically for military applications but the jet bomber that the Horten brothers began to design was much different from the all-wing pure fighter that Walter had envisioned nearly four years earlier as the answer to the Luftwaffe's needs for a long-range interceptor. Hencefourth, the official designation for airplanes based on the Horten IX design changed to Horten Ho 229 suffixed with ‘Versuch' numbers to designate the various prototypes.Click to expand...
Thanks les.
All versions of the Ho 229 resembled each other in overall layout. Reimar swept each half of the wing 32 degrees in an unbroken line from the nose to the start of each wingtip where he turned the leading edge to meet the wing trailing edge in a graceful and gradually tightening curve. There was no fuselage, no vertical or horizontal tail, and with landing gear stowed (the main landing gear was fixed but the nose wheel retracted on the first prototype Ho 229 V1), the upper and lower surface of the wing stretched smooth from wingtip to wingtip, unbroken by any control surface or other protuberance. Horten mounted elevons (control surfaces that combined the actions of elevators and ailerons ) to the trailing edge and spoilers at the wingtips for controlling pitch and roll, and he installed drag rudders next to the spoilers to help control the wing about the yaw axis. He also mounted flaps and a speed brake to help slow the wing and control its rate and angle of descent. When not in use, all control surfaces either lay concealed inside the wing or trailed from its aft edge. Parasite or form drag was virtually nonexistent. The only drag this aircraft produced was the inevitable by-product of the wing's lift. Few aircraft before the Horten 229 or after it have matched the purity and simplicity of its aerodynamic form but whether this achievement would have led to a successful and practical combat aircraft remains an open question. Building on knowledge gained by flying the Horten V and ‘VII, Reimar designed and built a manned glider called the Horten 229 V1 which test pilot Heinz Schiedhauer first flew 28 February 1944. This aircraft suffered several minor accidents but a number of pilots flew the wing during the following months of testing at Oranienburg and most commented favorably on its performance and handling qualities. Reimar used the experience gained with this glider to design and build the jet-propelled Ho 229 V2. Wood is an unorthodox material from which to construct a jet aircraft and the Horten brothers preferred aluminum but in addition to the lack of metalworking skills among their team of craftspersons, several factors worked against using the metal to build their first jet-propelled wing. Reimar's calculations showed that he would need to convert much of the wing's interior volume into space for fuel if he hoped to come close to meeting Göring's requirement for a penetration depth of 1,000 km. Reimar must have lacked either the expertise or the special sealants to manufacture such a ‘wet' wing from metal – whatever the reason, he believed that an aluminum wing was unsuitable for this task. Another factor in Reimar's choice of wood is rather startling: he believed that he needed to keep the wing's radar cross-section as low as possible. “We wished,” he said many years later, “to have the [Ho 229] plane … that would not reflect [radar signals]” and Horten believed he could meet this requirement more easily with wood than metal. Many questions about this aspect of the Ho 229 design remain unanswered and no test data is available to document Horten's work in this area. The fragmentary information that is currently available comes entirely from anecdotal accounts that have surfaced well after World War II ended. As they developed the ‘229, the Horten brothers measured the wing's performance against the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. According to Reimar and Walter, the Me 262 had a much higher wing loading than the Ho 229 and the Messerschmitt required such a long runway for take off that only a few airfields in Germany could accommodate it. The Ho 229 wing loading was considerably lower and this would have allowed it to operate from airfields with shorter runways. Reimar also believed, perhaps naively, that his wing could take off and land from a runway surfaced with grass but the Me 262 could not. If these had been true, a Ho 229 pilot would have had many more airfields from which to fly than his counterpart in the Messerschmitt jet. Successful test flights in the Ho 229 V1 led to construction of the first powered wing, the Ho 229 V2, but poor communication with the engine manufacturers caused lengthy delays in finishing this aircraft. Horten first selected the 003 jet engine manufactured by BMW but then switched to the Junkers 004 power plants. Reimar built much of the wing center section based on the engine specifications sent by Junkers but when two motors finally arrived and Reimar's team tried to install them, they found the power plants were too large in diameter to fit the space built for them. Months passed while Horten redesigned the wing and the jet finally flew in mid-December 1944. Full of fuel and ready to fly, the Horten Ho 229 V2 weighed about nine tons and thus it resembled a medium-sized, multi-engine bomber such as the Heinkel He 111. The Horten brothers believed that a military pilot with experience flying heavy multi-engine aircraft was required to safely fly the jet wing and Scheidhauer lacked these skills so Walter brought in veteran Luftwaffe pilot Lt. Erwin Ziller. Sources differ between two and four on the number of flights that Ziller logged but during his final test flight an engine failed and the jet wing crashed, killing Ziller. According to an eyewitness, Ziller made three passes at an altitude of about 2,000 m (6,560 ft) so that a team from the Rechlin test center could measure his speed using a theodolite measuring instrument. Ziller then approached the airfield to land, lowered his landing grear at about 1,500 m (4,920 ft), and began to fly a wide descending spiral before crashing just beyond the airfield boundary. It was clear to those who examined the wreckage that one engine had failed but the eyewitness saw no control movements or attempt to line up with the runway and he suspected that something had incapacitated Ziller, perhaps fumes from the operating engine. Walter was convinced that the engine failure did not result in uncontrollable yaw and argued that Ziller could have shut down the functioning engine and glided to a survivable crash landing, perhaps even reached the runway and landed without damage. Walter also believed that someone might have sabotaged the airplane but whatever the cause, he remembered “it was an awful event. All our work was over at this moment.” The crash must have disappointed Reimar as well. Ziller's test flights seemed to indicate the potential for great speed, perhaps a maximum of 977 km/h (606 mph). Although never confirmed, such performance would have helped to answer the Luftwaffe technical experts who criticized the all-wing configuration. At the time of Ziller's crash, the Reich Air Ministry had scheduled series production of 15-20 machines at the firm Gotha Waggonfabrik Flugzeugbau and the Klemm company had begun preparing to manufacture wing ribs and other parts when the war ended. Horten had planned to arm the third prototype with cannons but the war ended before this airplane was finished. Unbeknownst to the Horten brothers, Gotha designers substantially altered Horten's original design when they built the V3 airframe. For example, they used a much larger nose wheel compared to the unit fitted to the V2 and Reimar speculated that the planned 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bomb load may have influenced them but he believed that all of the alterations that they made were unnecessary. The U.S. VIII Corps of General Patton's Third Army found the Horten 229 prototypes V3 through V6 at Friedrichsroda in April 1945. Horten had designed airframes V4 and V5 as single-seat night fighters and V6 would have become a two-seat night fighter trainer. V3 was 75 percent finished and nearest to completion of the four airframes. Army personnel removed it later and shipped it to the U.S., via the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, England. Reports indicate the British displayed the jet during fall 1945 and eventually the incomplete center section arrived at Silver Hill (now the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland ) about 1950. There is no evidence that the outer wing sections were recovered at Friedrichsroda but members of the 9th Air Force Air Disarmament Division found a pair of wings 121 km (75 miles) from this village and these might be the same pair now included with the Ho 229 V3. Reimar and Walter Horten demonstrated that a fighter-class all-wing aircraft could successfully fly propelled by jet turbine engines but Ziller's crash and the end of the war prevented them from demonstrating the full potential of the configuration. The wing was clearly a bold and unusual design of considerable merit, particularly if Reimar actually aimed to design a stealthy bomber but as a tailless fighter-bomber armed with massive 30mm cannon placed wide apart in the center section, the wing would probably have been a poor gun platform and found little favor among fighter pilots. Walter argued rather strenuously with his brother to place a vertical stabilizer on this airplane. Like most of the so-called ‘Nazi wonder weapons,' the Horten IX was an interesting concept that was poorly executed. Although the Garber Facility was closed to public tours in 2003, requests to view the extraordinary Horten Ho 229 V3 have continued to pour in to the Museum staff. Curators and restoration specialists hope to begin working on this artifact when the restoration shop complex is finished at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center during the next several years.Click to expand...
Next the Horten 18 story.
I wrote to a magazine here in South Africa (WORLD AIRNEWS ) about the Horten 229 V3, but they made misstakes and just pissed me off so I told them, but ag ja they claimed that their info were correct. The response on that article were enormous and some even said that it should be brought to SA and restored here.
Here is a link to the magazine's website.
Horten 18 America Bomber Part 5
This comes from Luft 46.
In 1944 the RLM issued a requirement for an aircraft with a range of 11000 km (6835 miles) and a bomb load of 4000 kg (8818 lbs). This bomber was to be able to fly from Germany to New York City and back without refueling. Five of Germany's top aircraft companies had submitted designs, but none of them met the range requirements for this Amerika Bomber. Their proposals were redesigned and resubmitted at the second competition, but nothing had changed. The Hortens were not invited to submit a proposal because it was thought that they were only interested in fighter aircraft. After the Hortens learned of these design failures, they the went about designing the XVIII A Amerika Bomber. During the Christmas 1944 holidays, Reimar and Walter Horten worked on the design specifications for their all-wing bomber. They drew up a rough draft and worked on weight calculations, allowing for fuel, crew, armaments, landing gear and bomb load. Ten variations were eventually worked out, each using a different number of existing turbojets. Several of the designs were to be powered by four or six Heinkel-Hirth He S 011jet engines, and several of the others were designed around eight BMW 003A or eight Junker Jumo 004B turbojets. The version that the Hortens thought would work best would utilize six Jumo 004B turbojets, which were buried in the fuselage and exausted over the rear of the aircraft. They were fed by air intakes located in the wing's leading edge. To save weight they thought of using a landing gear that could be jettisoned immediately after takeoff (with the additional help of rocket boosters) and landing on some kind of skid. The Ho XVIII A was to be built mainly of wood and held together with a special carbon based glue. As a result, the huge flying wing should go largely undetected by radar. The Hortens were told to make a presentation for their Amerika Bomber design on Febuary 25, 1945 in Berlin. The meeting was attended by representatives of the five aircraft companies who originally submitted ideas for the competition. No one challenged their assertion that their flying wing bomber could get the job done. A few days later the Hortens were told to report to Reichsmarshall Göring, who wanted to talk to the brothers personally about their proposed Amerika Bomber. There they were told that they were to work with the Junkers company in building the aircraft. Several days later Reimar and Walter Horten met with the Junkers engineers, who had also invited some Messerschmitt engineers. Suddenly it seemed that the Horten's design was to be worked on by committee. The Junkers and Messerschmitt engineers were unwilling to go with the design that the Hortens presented several days earlier. Instead, the committee wanted to place a huge vertical fin and rudder to the rear of the Ho XVIII A. Reimar Horten was angry, as this would add many more man-hours, plus it would create drag and thus reduce the range. The committee also wanted to place the engines beneath the wing, which would create additional drag and reduce the range even further. After two days of discussion, they chose a design that had huge vertical fins, with the cockpit built into the fin's leading edge. Six Jumo 004A jet engines were slung under the wing, three to a nacelle on each side. The bomb bay would be located between the two nacelles, and the tricycle landing gear would also be stored in the same area. The committee would present the final design to the RML and recommended that it be built in the former mining tunnels in the Harz Mountains. Reimar was unhappy with the final design, so he went about redesigning the aircraft, to be known as the Ho XVIII B.Click to expand... |
The New Rules of Engagement It’s time for boards of trustees to look at the way they govern themselves.By Brian C. Mitchell The many levels of hierarchy in higher education are a kaleidoscope of power struggles and egos. The responsibilities of each level can be unclear, leading to administrative chaos. Above all, trustees who overstep their authority and neglect to direct policy can weaken an institution’s mission and diminish its educational product.
In 2008, as the recession began to deepen, many American colleges and universities went into crisis mode. Those with large endowments faced tough choices; smaller and less well-situated institutions focused on the potential impact of the recession on incoming classes. Higher education leaders delayed capital projects, pegged average tuition increases to about two percentage points above inflation, postponed hiring, and renegotiated terms on institutional debt. Each institution is unique, of course, and responses reflected this.
What is perhaps most surprising is that so few institutions used the serious economic downturn to innovate. Many employed a “duck and cover” strategy, wasting an opportunity to bring their institutions more in line with the needs of American higher education in the twenty-first century. At most colleges and universities, the incrementalists won the day.
During a recession, the institutional engines power down to a whisper. Older projects may go forward, accreditation reviews proceed, and institutional milestones continue to be met. But at the same time, the recent retrenchment has resulted in fewer faculty appointments, depressed salary increases, and “efficiency” measures that sometimes seem like death by a thousand cuts.
A Quiet Crisis
Predictably, the recession uncovered fundamental operational and structural weaknesses in American higher education. Few institutions managed to be as nimble as they should have been in responding to the depressed economy. Even fewer presidents had the courage to call on their boards of trustees to think strategically, make bold plans, innovate, and invest. The harsh truth is that the culture into which “change” presidents are placed commonly accepts limited programmatic innovation, except when it emerges from the faculty, and is intolerant of structural innovation. The culprits are not usually the faculty. Trustees who fail to comprehend or who are unreceptive to cultural change on campus are more likely to be worthy of blame.
College and university governance is always presented as a three-legged stool: boards of trustees, administration, and faculty. In fact, in the best governance situations, parents, alumni, students, donors, and the broader community are also widely consulted, and all parties understand the rules of engagement. Under this arrangement, the administration manages the institution; the faculty shapes, defines, nurtures, and protects the quality of the academic program; and the trustees take on the critical responsibilities of serving as stewards of the college’s finances, setting policy, and creating a climate that enables the president to succeed. The institutional buck stops with the trustees. And therein lies the problem.
A new set of circumstances developed during the recession. Although college and university presidents had accounted for issues like changing demographics, increased technological costs, and an end to tuitionfueled operational fixes, most did not anticipate the impact of changes in how students learned. The explosion of online education, the expansion of university brands to create a more global presence, the integration of technology into the classroom, and pressure from state and federal officials and accreditors to improve outcomes contributed to the new educational climate. But, ultimately, families voted with their feet as the recession continued. More than 40 percent of the college-going population now begins postsecondary education in community colleges. The for-profit sector, despite being plagued by loan default and other scandals, branded itself effectively and captured significant market share. The cost-benefit analysis has set in. Arguments about the value of the residential liberal arts experience make little difference, it seems, in an era when the race to the top is all about workforce preparation.
For these four-year colleges and universities—representing the tradition and heart of the American collegiate experience—the question has become how to communicate worth. What happens when you manage the institutional “brand” in ways that have become profoundly disconnected from how today’s students think, learn, and work beyond the collegiate gates? Why do most boards fail to have the discussion, helpful to the faculty, about not what but how a student can be taught most effectively?
How students learn is now the single most important policy question before governing boards. How these boards respond—and the vision that they provide—will determine their continued relevancy as partners in shaping educational policy in the twenty-first century
Board Structures
If college and university governing boards are to face the future confidently and provide proper oversight, then trustees must begin by looking at the way they govern themselves. In doing so, a number of considerations should not be forgotten: mission, structure, relations within governance with the president and senior staff and faculty, outreach to broader constituencies, and outcomes.
The membership of boards depends on the type of institution. Private institutions usually have about thirty board members, who are elected to meet a particular set of needs and aspirations. Alumni trustees constitute the overwhelming majority on these boards. Other trustees may be chosen for expertise, diversity and gender balance, political acumen, financial savvy, and donor capacity. Occasionally, boards maintain some level of faculty and student representation, at least on some of their standing committees. Attached to “voting” trustees are the emeriti, a group of often distinguished and wealthy individuals who collectively play a role as the wise old sages of the board. The governance committees of these boards spend countless hours deciding how to put these pieces together to match available talent to the institution’s strategic needs.
The problem with the structure of these boards is obvious to anyone who, like me, has served as a trustee. A “call for nominations” among board members often produces little more than a list of friends. At some institutions, certain classes, Greek chapter houses, and athletic team alumni predominate as the board recycles itself into seeming perpetuity. Emeriti trustees can be vocal, opinionated, and obstinate, remembering the college of their youth as the model for institutional vision and momentum. The worst of them use their giving priorities as a bully pulpit, with threats to withdraw support implied or stated. Trustees selected for their experience in business or finance can be helpful because, like it or not, colleges and universities operating within the global economy must survive and prosper in a competitive business setting. The worst of this group, however, take the business or professional school case study and superimpose it on a system of shared governance. Another group, trustees drawn from the “jockplex” that so many universities created as college sports became a big business, tends to see the academic program as secondary and has been remarkably successful in linking the institutional brand to the performance of athletic teams.
In the public sector, the approach is the same, although the mix of politically appointed members adds an interesting wrinkle. The work of publicsector boards is also shaped by open-records and sunshine laws. For some state officials, the ability to determine institutional vision depends directly on their ability to appoint their supporters to the board. Public-sector boards have many distinguished public and private members, but they behave at best as semiautonomous state agencies, despite the precipitous decline in state support. The result can be an uneven or incomplete talent pool from which to recruit new members.
The problem is exacerbated by the increasing need for public-sector boards to behave like the boards of private colleges and universities. Faced by new challenges, especially in policy and fundraising, trustees wrestle with how best to compete while operating under rules shaped by archaic state bureaucracies. This is especially true at research-intensive public universities, whose multibillion-dollar enterprises are global and tied to the nation’s economy and political interests.
Reconfiguring Boards
How, then, can we best deal with inherited and outmoded forms of governance in the twenty-first century? If how students learn is the dominant question, how best can boards be reconstituted to deal with this issue?
It is time for boards of trustees to assert the predominance of academics. Once the mission is restated and reinvigorated, college and university leaders need to examine the composition and structure of boards. Boards of trustees are inefficient, unnecessarily political, and duplicative in form and function. They are too large, unwieldy, and open to personality and intrigue. Alumni often predominate, and the issues of most importance to the loudest members move to the front for consideration. Talented board members who are not alumni and less senior alumni are often excluded or marginalized, despite the fresh contributions that they might make. When the trustees, emeriti, and faculty and staff members are gathered together at a board meeting, the meeting can quickly take on the theatrics of a Broadway show. For presidents, surviving the moment is often the only and best option.
As policy and oversight groups, boards need to be much smaller, focus exclusively on institutional direction, and work with the president to achieve it. A core group of trustees could form such an oversight board. These trustees would bring challenges and opportunities for the institution to their fellow trustees, faculty members, and other interested and committed constituencies. The oversight board would have a special responsibility to review the “dashboard metrics” that objectively measure the institution against its strategic plan and outside forces. And its members would of necessity work closely with the president to support the vision proposed. They would have to meet often enough, whether in person or through other means, to ensure accountability. And finally, they would have to be open and transparent in their actions.
A second, larger group of trustees can play an important role in diminishing the insularity that characterizes most board meetings. This group would provide a place where the faculty and members of the board could come together to look at the competitive world of higher education, the history and traditions of the institution, faculty interests in program design, and the capacity of the institutional vision to support change. The smaller oversight group would be well advised to monitor these discussions carefully, since they are the best predictor of how well the institution is grounded and how best to develop and sustain momentum.
Other groups of trustees might emerge, reporting to the board and using dashboard metrics to measure progress and success in areas where most board members have a dearth of experience, such as development, human resources, facilities, and managing endowments. By drawing from the community of experts who can join trustees and by creating metrics to be reviewed by the oversight board and the larger board, a more representative system of government could be fostered. And in a system of shared governance, the perception of inclusiveness can be almost as important as the reality.
In the larger group of trustees, the central question should always be, “How do our students learn?” If the trustees have established the primacy of the institution as an academic enterprise, then their charge becomes apparent: to bring the world to their institution and showcase the institution, in turn, to the world.
Working with the faculty and staff, board members should serve as facilitators of that one key element that gets lost in the current quarterly deliberations of trustees—ongoing conversations about great, new ideas that determine how the next generation of students will learn. Under this new structure, the board meeting would become the forum at which faculty members, administrators, and trustees meet to breathe life into the college’s strategic plan. In doing so, the board would also review the work of the smaller oversight group, the dashboard metrics from all groups, and the recommendations from advisory groups with special expertise. The effect on transparency, communication, capital expenditures, and morale would be immediate and lasting.
Once the trustees address the issue of mission and structure, the next concern should be building the relationships through which they obtain information. They should start with their relationship with the president.
Lines of Authority
In a system of shared governance, lines of authority must be clear. Trustees—many of whom are alumni, have long-standing personal relationships with staff members, or feel empowered as one-person emissaries to observe the campus climate—can abuse the privilege of their positions. Information can be gathered by the board through its leadership team as part of a presidential or campus-wide evaluation, but this process must be fair. Empowered staff members use board connections, student newspapers, faculty friendships, and staff gossip to undermine a president’s actions more commonly than some might imagine. One key responsibility of a board chair is to impose discipline on the board.
The relationship with the board chair can determine the success of a president or stop the momentum of an institution. If the chair’s role is to preside, then he or she ultimately has the power to support the president. Just as presidents must have the courage to manage and lead, board chairs must have the skills and courage to preside. Boards must have the confidence to let them do so.
It’s probably best, therefore, to begin a presidency with an understanding between the president and the board of trustees about what the term CEO means to them. Is the title more ceremonial and the role more like that of a chief operating officer because the board is reluctant to share power, influence, and authority? Success begins with all sides understanding the challenges that face them and the terms and conditions that govern their relationships as they meet those challenges.
These relationships extend to the faculty. At the best institutions, trustees must be the leading advocates for the faculty while not abandoning their policy and fiduciary responsibilities.
Presidents often cringe when a trustee, trying to be helpful, suggests a specific program change rather than pitching a general concept, format, or idea. Someone once asked me to define the role of a college president at moments when faculty members and trustees interact. I suggested that presidents hold a corporate title, operating as nineteenth-century urban ward bosses— connecting people, rationing resources, and doing favors—while working with a medieval craft guild. If the faculty is akin to a guild, then the most important first step a trustee can take is to appreciate the artisan, admire the craftsmanship, and support development of the product. With the faculty, process matters.
Both sides must come to terms with those lines that they cannot cross. They must leave the ideological debates and posturing to the social hour. And trustees must understand that clapping loudly when the tenure decisions are celebrated at the annual fete for promoted faculty members can help bridge a chasm that otherwise seems impossible to cross.
Finally, trustees must pay attention to groups like students, alumni, and parents who are not part of the formal governance structure. Student involvement is obviously critical and already well documented. While every institution can point to wonderful programs that benefit enormously from alumni input, most alumni are pigeonholed either as “keepers of the flame,” admission and graduate counselors, or development prospects. Higher education leaders seldom link the work of alumni to a dynamic vision of where the institution is headed. They fear backlash from alumni on hot-button issues involving Greek life, athletics, academic programming, and demographics.
New Roles
There is always one more comprehensive campaign to begin or complete. The board solution is often to coddle alumni. However, among major groups like faculty members, students, and parents, history may suggest that alumni are the least receptive to change precisely when American higher education is at a tipping point. But it is at this moment that alumni can be of most help to their alma mater.
We can remember fondly the not-too-distant past, when sports and alcohol preoccupied collective thinking among many alumni at certain institutions. Yet alumni live in the broader world, have the best interests of the institution at heart, and are connected to the currents that are changing American society.
Boards must rethink the role of alumni. First, alumni need to reclaim their position at the table as real partners and not just donors and boosters. They must also think less about how an institution’s best traditions can be kept sacrosanct. Alumni must apply to the institution that they cherish the same search for excellence that governs their professional lives. They need to worry about how students move “from cradle through career.” Boards should focus alumni efforts on those objective metrics that relate to where alumni can offer the most help today.
As we slowly come to the end of the deep economic recession, now is probably also the right moment for colleges and universities to take stock of the role of parents. Parents are a tremendously underutilized resource. They should not interfere with the duties and responsibilities of trustees, senior administrators, and faculty members—the principal players in shared governance. But, in the end, the role of parents in college life amounts to more than the thickness of their wallets. They can be invaluable and trusted advisers, communicators, and promoters of a college’s institutional vision. They are proud of their daughters and sons and of the institutions that accepted them. Many of them bleed the school’s colors as deeply and readily as their children.
Parents want what is best for their children. Their time frame typically extends through the four years that their children attend the institution. Of all the messages that parents convey to trustees, the most important is urgency. As consumers, they have done the comparative shopping and may see the weaknesses in programs, facilities, and practices. Parents can provide board members with insight into these weaknesses. It’s a tremendous gift—if board members listen. The governance of American colleges and universities has reached an important crossroads in its design and evolution. It is time for boards of trustees to think about how they acquire information, set policy, relate to other players, and assess outcomes. They cannot reasonably expect to find efficiency and agility in campus practices if they remain models of outdated practice. Worse yet, such boards will be unprepared to react to changes forced upon them from the outside, and especially from changes in how students learn.
The quiet crisis in board governance must be addressed soon. For American colleges and universities to thrive in the twenty-first century, leaders must adapt how and what they do. We need trustees who are up to the task. |
The power of content marketing
All learning should involve self-reflection. Whether it's attending an event or reading a book, there will be moments and passages when the narrative strikes a cord and you create a deeper connection with the subject. Reading Mark Masters' book, The Content Revolution, has been another one of those learning experiences where (thankfully) most of the content has resonated with me and whilst much of what was written has formalised my own shared beliefs, it has left me pondering can a business succeed if isn't willing to adopt a content marketing approach?
The notion set forth by Mark is that "businesses need to become more useful, interesting and entertaining to their audiences" in order to succeed. Whilst most organisations fear that people will not buy unless you're constantly shouting the loudest, adopting a content marketing approach does away with the shouting and puts creating and sustaining a meaningful, trustworthy and credible relationship first. Having not been an entrepreneur or business owner myself, some may say it's easy to preach that when the time comes to buy, the consumer will have already made up their mind because they know, trust and like the company they buy from. In reality this may not happen before a business is crippled from high overheads.
Whilst I have never "risked it all" myself, I have worked with new business ventures who have failed to take off. For the most part they have failed to invest in their dream, vision, belief and product long enough to see any fruits of their labour. Mark often refers to natural world analogies through his book to help visualise how the world of content marketing can make a difference if you give it enough time and I quite like this approach. It connects Marketing with a world which is seen as wholesome, nurtured and innovative. Marketing can often be seen as a frivolous activity (the first budget to go when things are tight), or a capitalist profession which makes us all spend money we don't have, and is often not considered an essential role within an organisation (I have certainly worked with many companies whose lack of a Marketing person has inhibited its potential). I remember reading somewhere that the CMO should receive Board level representation but it rarely ever does.
So it's nice to associate content marketing with a process which expects long term goals, the biding of time and organic growth. I'm a passionate paid media advocate, but over the years I have also learnt to appreciate the benefits of communicating what you stand for, building a brand and building relationships with consumers without always having a direct sale/conversion in mind. This is why I have enjoyed reading Mark's book, and come back to my original question, can a business succeed without embracing the principles of content marketing?
In taking Mark's advice I'm not going to paraphrase the contents of his book, you can read it for yourselves quickly enough (a few sunny days with time on your hands should do it), but I will draw out a couple of snippets which really resonated with me.
It's not necessarily about expertise, but familiarity, trust and personal connection
"Let's take things back to our school days. We all cherished picking our team whether it related to sport or study. The first members we picked for our team were never really those who were the best, but were predominantly with whom we got on and hung around...As businesses, we need to create the whole package that is more than being experts in the aim of standing out from the rest... People do not necessarily select the expert, but the one to whom they relate on a personal and emotional level."
Herein lies why businesses should become good at content marketing. People do business with those they know, like and trust. How can you expect to develop these traits if people won't listen to you? You need to become a business that becomes integral to a community and useful by:
being consistent and continuous with your message
acknowledging the problems you want to solve for them
using the most appropriate platforms to deliver your message
offering something more than just sales messaging - people don't want to be sold to, what they want is for their needs, hopes and wants to be catered for.
I recently conducted an audit for a prospective ecommerce client and throughout this book I could hear alarm bells going off in my head as their social activity totally contravened everything that should be successful and appropriate on social media. They constantly touted a 'buy buy buy' mentality and yet they were part of a community which loved food. There are so many other ways to meet their customers' needs and tap into emotional benefits in this space to develop brand loyalty. I'm afraid the hard sell is just lazy (and ineffective) marketing.
What do you stand for?
The next major hurrah moment during my read was the emphasis on a business "to stand for something" and something which other people also believe in. I've probably been guilty of not pressing this definition hard enough when my clients provide me with a brief, and sometimes companies really struggle to offer something unique. Should we as an agency walk away if this purpose isn't clearly defined, plausible or unique? It certainly makes our job harder and can limit growth potential (for both parties) if we don't.
This connects well with Mark's other point about storytelling. Even if you sell the same products what makes you different from your competitors is having your own voice and telling a story which is true to you. Having an opinion also helps! It's not about trying to sound important and "the expert" though, it's about authenticity and bringing value to your audience.
It's not a popularity contest
I like this one. Don't chase being popular. Aim to make lasting impressions which build strong relationships amongst a select group of consumers that stand the test of time, rather than look popular and end up with fickle, superficial affiliations which waste valuable time and resource. If what you preach resonates with your core following they will share on your behalf and help you build your community.
If you want attention in this world you have to earn it first. Same goes with trust. People need to understand that you are passionate about what you believe in, you're authentic, honest and real. Content marketing is a great way to show commitment to the cause and that you're willing to stick to it.
A content marketing strategy is paramount
Without writing my own novel on the subject, I will leave it at the point where having a content marketing strategy is a REALLY good idea. Mark quotes Joe Pullizzi, founder of The Content Marketing Institute and his seven points for an effective strategy:
Who is the reader?
What is my story?
In which area can I be the leading expert which will also help my business?
What is the objective?
How will I measure this exactly?
Is this initiative helping to build a unique audience?
How patient can I be in making this happen?
I'm a strong believer in a good content marketing approach will lead to business success (without it you may have some short term gains but it's not a precursor to strategic business growth). For those that do embrace it, it can just take a little longer for some to reap the rewards than others. My advice, keep with it for as long as you can and let me know how you get on. Oh, and read Mark's book (in the sunshine) if you can. |
Understanding the adoption process includes learning the types of children that are available for adoption in the United States and overseas, how you find those children (or birth parents), what is the role of attorneys and agencies, determining if your state allows for the use of a facilitator, what are the fees, time frames, document requirements, understanding the role of the adoption home study and post-placement supervision and the relationship between birth and adoptive families. Whether thinking about adopting or waiting for a child to be placed into your home, you may have questions, concerns or even doubts this will ever happen. The Internet has information, but local professionals and adoption support groups can help provide better information, support and networking.
January 13, 2016January 13, 2016 by Adoption.NET
There are many choices to make once you decide to pursue adoption as a way to build or enlarge your family. Each of these decisions will have an everlasting impact on your family and should be made after careful deliberation. Relationships between birth and adoptive parents are a critical piece of the adoption process. Read on … Continue Reading
Birth Mother Expenses: Ask the Adoption Coach
January 12, 2016January 12, 2016 by Rachel Garlinghouse
Can anyone tell me what the birth mother expenses are when people post in the paper, “Willing to adopt, all expenses paid”? I know this usually covers the home study but what else does it cover? Dear Reader: I believe you are referring to advertisements where a prospective adoptive parent is soliciting an expectant mother to … Continue Reading
Is Private Infant Adoption Right For Your Family?
November 24, 2015November 21, 2015 by Adoption.NET
Families pursuing adoption to grow their family have a selection of choices. There are several types of adoption, and each type varies considerably from one to the next. Private infant adoption, also known as independent adoption, is one such type. However, what differentiates private adoption from typical domestic adoption is that adoptive families pursue a … Continue Reading
Everything You Need to Know about Post Placement Contracts
October 20, 2015October 19, 2015 by Adoption.NET
Whether you are a birthparent who has selected a family, or adoptive parents navigating a match, the topic of post placement contracts will eventually arise if you are pursuing an open adoption. Also known as post-adoption agreements, or kinship agreements, a post placement contract is a voluntary contact agreement developed together by birthparents and adoptive … Continue Reading
The Adoption Homestudy: An Overview
Every adoption requires an assessment of the prospective adoptive family. This narrative report is used at various points in the adoption process. In a domestic process, the written report will be used for your initial approval as an adoptive parent or family in the court pre-certification process if needed in your state, reviewed by attorneys … Continue Reading |
Excess weight and foot pain may exacerbate one another
Posted by Alpha Orthotics on May 02, 2011
No matter what leads to what, a bunion splint leads to active lifestyle and less weight gain Sometimes, an enlarged bunion
can hinder a person's ability to walk or run and lead to excess weight gain. Other times, being overweight or obese can put too much pressure on the ball of the foot and lead to bunions.
It's a vicious cycle, but fortunately, there are ways to prevent or correct bunions without the need for bunion surgery that may also allow an individual to get in motion.
"No matter what leads to what, if you have a bunion, wearing and walking in a hinged bunion splint, such as Bunion Aid, will relieve bunion pain,
correct the bunion, and support the fallen arches caused by over-pronation. And this will lead to a more active lifestyle and less weight gain," said Gaby Federal, President of Alpha Orthotics Corp.
An article published in Lower Extremity Review supported the idea that bunions can lead to weight gain, since presence of the condition has also been associated with a reduction in quality of life and physical activity. |
About the Chai Mitzvah Program
About the Chai Mitzvah Program Chai Mitzvah is a program to enhance Jewish engagement. It is a simple model. Like a book group, Chai Mitzvah network groups meet monthly with beautifully designed text based source books on Jewish topics of interest. Each person in the group builds their ‘Jewish Bucket List' by making a commitment to engage in a social action project, identify something to learn, and adopt or deepen a ritual or spiritual practice. At the end of the program, each person celebrates the Chai Mitzvah journey with a certificate of completion, and has a tree planted in Israel in their honor. Groups find a fun way to celebrate their Chai Mitzvah commitments and accomplishments.
Monthly Group Study Each month, Chai Mitzvah groups, no matter where they are in the world, study the same topic using a specially designed curriculum. The source books are clearly laid out and accessible to those of all backgrounds and styles of practice, offering texts in Hebrew and English, from contemporary and traditional sources.
Learn more about our curriculum.
"Jewish Bucket List" Our tradition tells us that a full Jewish life involves our head, heart, and hands. So, the unique part of the Chai Mitzvah program is that participants are encouraged to build their "Jewish Bucket List". It is important for participants to identify what is personally meaningful to them by incorporating: Study - something you’ve always wanted to know something more about – culture history, language, literature, anything! Spirituality - A new or deepened spiritual practice or ritual - add to your life spiritually – maybe it’s prayer, or meditation, or a ritual
Social Action - pick some way of giving back to the world; find a social action/social justice project to which you’ll devote some time - big or small - it just has to be meaningful to the individual committing to it. |
Old Windows PCs can stop WannaCry ransomware with new Microsoft patch
In a rare step, Microsoft published a patch for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 8
Michael Kan (IDG News Service)
Users of old Windows systems can now download a patch to protect them from this week’s massive ransomware attack.In a rare step, Microsoft published a patch for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 8 -- all of them operating systems for which it no longer provides mainstream support.Users can download and find more information about the patches in Microsoft’s blog post about Friday’s attack from the WannaCry ransomware.The ransomware, which has spread globally, has been infecting computers by exploiting a Windows vulnerability involving the Server Message Block protocol, a file-sharing feature.Computers infected with WannaCry will have their data encrypted, and display a ransom note demanding $300 or $600 in bitcoin to free the files.Fortunately, Windows 10 customers were not targeted in Friday’s attack. In March, Microsoft patched the vulnerability that the ransomware exploits -- but only for newer Windows systems. That’s left older Windows machines, or those users who failed to patch newer machines, vulnerable to Friday’s attack.The ransomware was initially found spreading through attachments in email phishing campaigns. In certain cases, the scam emails pretended to represent a bank alert about a money transfer, according to Cisco’s Talos security group.Users can protect themselves by being careful about such emails, Microsoft said. The company’s free antivirus software Windows Defender, along with other third-party security products from those including Kaspersky Lab and Avast, will also detect and remove the threat. |
A photographic history of Apple products (pictures)
Apple II Plus
A new photography project and a just released book by Jonathan Zufi, "Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation," chronicles the life of Apple products in pictures. It's a beautiful look at everything Apple has ever made.
Zufi collected more than 500 products and took more than 150,000 photos for his project. The result is a simple, clean collection fit for any Apple fanatic. The book itself is 326 pages with more 650 photographs, but the Web site goes even deeper, displaying more than 3,500 photographs of iconic, classic, and rare Apple products.
In addition to the iPhones and MacBooks that are still around today, Zufi's collection also includes special limited release developer models and products which where made but cancelled before being widely released.
The Apple II Plus, seen here, was released in 1979 and retailed for $1,195. It shipped with 16KB, 32KB, or 48KB of main RAM, which was expandable to 64KB by means of the Language Card, an expansion card that could be installed. Photo by: Jonathan Zufi
Newton MessagePad Featuring a 20MHz ARM 610 processor, 4MB of ROM, 640K of SRAM, and infrared-beaming capabilities in a compact handheld case with a pressure-sensitive display, the original Newton MessagePad was one of the first handheld systems to attempt to recognize natural handwriting and use a basic form of artificial intelligence.
Photo by: Jonathan Zufi
The Apple Lisa
The business focused Apple Lisa featured a Motorola 68000 CPU, support for 2MB RAM, and support for external storage drives such as the Apple Profile.
Apple Disk II external storage
The first external storage device built for the Apple II was the Apple Disk II, which increased the computer's capabilities with a floppy disk drive for storing up to 140K on each disk. The separate controller card allowed support for up to two drives per controller.
StyleWriter II
The StyleWriter II was Apple's consumer-focused inkjet printer which allowed at-home publishing with laser-quality printing at 360dpi and 39 TrueType fonts, including Times, Helvetica, Palatino, ITC Avant Garde Gothic, and Symbol.
Quicktake 200
Released in 1996, the Quicktake 200 was the third and final version of Quicktake digital cameras from Apple, a Fujifilm-built device with a resolution of 640x480 pixels maximum (0.3 MP).
Apple Mouse IIe
The Apple Mouse IIe was the last mouse made for the Apple IIe. It used a DE9 connector, and was compatible with the Apple II, II+, Macintosh 128K, 512K, and Macintosh Plus.
Apple IIe Joystick
The first gaming joystick made for the Apple II computers was the Apple IIe Joystick. This device was the next generation gaming/graphics control device which followed the Apple II and Apple IIe hand controllers.
Apple VideoPhone Kit
The Apple VideoPhone Kit, released in 1997, allowed video conferencing over a 28,000bps modem, ISDN, or Ethernet connection, and came bundled with Netscape's CoolTalk audioconferencing software.
Apple II Paddles
The Apple II Paddles were the first gaming controllers for the Apple II platform and required plugging the paddles directly into a 16-pin DIP socket on the motherboard.
Newton 110 developer version
The Newton 110 developer version, also known as the Clear Newton, was one of just around 100 of the devices made specifically for developers and given out at the 1994 Mac Developers conference. The Newton 110 recognized printed or cursive handwriting, stored notes, and also recognized graphics and the inherent symmetry in objects.
Macintosh 128K
The first Mac, the Macintosh 128K, was a computer was originally planned to be released with a Twiggy floppy disk drive, similar to the one used in the Apple Lisa 1 computer.
High error rates with the Twiggy disk drive though forced Apple to switch over to the 400K Sony 3.5-inch disk drive in the last two or three months before the Macintosh's scheduled release on January 24, 1984.
Apple IIc Flat Panel Display
The black and white LCD Apple IIc Flat Panel Display for the Apple IIc had a resolution of 560x192 and used a DB-15 connector. It sold for $600.
eMate 300
The education oriented eMate 300 was a PDA based on the Newton platform, which used an ARM 710a RISC processor running at 25MHz, had 8MB ROM and 3MB RAM.
With a 480x320 backlit grayscale screen, the folding clamshell style also contained a keyboard, and the device also shipped with a stylus.
The Parallel Interface Board enabled a Lisa computer to accommodate peripherals like the Apple ProFile hard disk and the Apple Dot Matrix Printer.
Macintosh Plus The Macintosh Plus computer, the third model in the Macintosh line, launched in 1986 with a retail price of $2,600. The Mac Plus shipped with 1MB RAM, an external SCSI peripheral bus, and could run System 7. The 800K drive stores more system programs and applications on a dual-sided 3.5-inch disk and still leaves space for data files. The 800K drive operates at twice the speed of the 400K drive.
PowerBook 160
The PowerBook 160, which was released in 1992, introduced grayscale video to the PowerBook line. It was also the first model to support an external monitor using Apple proprietary VID-14 connector, and it was the first to allow more than 8MB RAM.
Unifile Twiggy floppy drive
Created in 1983, the Unifile Twiggy floppy drive was an innovative double-sided drive that had heads on opposite sides of the spindle. The Twiggy disks offered an extremely large capacity of over 800K. Though the Unifile was announced by Apple, the program was canceled before it ever shipped. It was intended to Apple II and Apple III computers, but the Twiggy drive was only ever used in the Lisa I. Many of the drives were made, but then the product was canned and most of the units were destroyed. Photo by: Jonathan Zufi
iPod mini Released in February 2004, the anodized aluminum iPod mini 6GB model was the second generation of the mini music player and had an 8 hour battery life.
The iPad, launched in April 2010, gave birth to an entire to category of device, the tablet. The iPad had a 9.7-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology at 1024x768-pixel resolution. |
Raising Elizabeth Without Barbed Wire and Bovines
Carrie Murgittroyd
HOLT, MICH.
— "A loose cow? What do you mean a loose cow?" I asked my daughter, Elizabeth.She was pointing out the car window at a hillside as we sped past a field in West Virginia. Our family was on the way home to Michigan after a week at the ocean."There," she said, "that cow's not in a pen."
She directed me to a lone black-and-white bovine grazing in a pasture. As I looked for the fencing along the ditch that paralleled the highway, I thought about that cow, the pasture, and my kids.
Both my husband and I grew up on farms and I found it hard to believe that our 11-year-old did not know the cow was in a pasture (and that a pasture is different from a pen). Perhaps we had been remiss in not teaching her a bit more about fences, fields, cattle, and the life in the country.I wondered if she had missed too much growing up in town. No rows of corn to run through. No play houses to build with bales of hay. No circus antics to perform on giant ropes in the old barn. No chores every morning and every night.I wondered (and yes, worried) if we had been teaching her the "right" things and if her upbringing - so different from that of her parents - would adequately prepare Elizabeth for what she needed to know about values, the work ethic, and the beauty and wonder of life.With this in mind, I turned to the back seat in order to help her understand that the cow wasn't loose. I asked, "Do you know what barbed wire is?"I explained that barbed wire is strung between posts to make a cow pasture. As fencing goes, it is not very sturdy. A cow, however, doesn't care. It leaves the fence alone and goes about its business peacefully. Not so, kids. As children, my brothers and cousins and I perfected (well, almost) the art of getting through, under, or across barbed wire fences without taking the time to open a gate.This is not to say that we didn't have our tangles with the barbs. We had many "L" shaped rips in our shirts, pants, and coats. On the skin it left different marks. I showed Elizabeth the scar on my right calf that's straight and narrow, like a line drawn with a fine-point pen. This can happen if you let go of the bottom wire too soon and it snaps up before you're on the other side of the fence.Of course, this showing led to a scar bragging contest among everyone in the car. Elizabeth, at her tender age, came up short. That's when it kind of hit me Maybe it's OK that she didn't grow up on a farm. She won't ever have physical scars from barbed wire but she will have her own badges from other experiences. And who's to say that those experiences won't teach her what she needs to know in this changing world?Sure, maybe she won't remember gathering warm eggs from underneath the hens, seeing a calf being born, having breakfast in the strawberry patch, or holding tight to a frozen Christmas tree while driving a tractor home from Uncle Jerry's. She will have different memories.Elizabeth has been to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans - places I never dreamed of seeing when I was 11. My daughter has tasted the salt while conquering a wave and riding it to the shore.For the next several miles, I smiled as I thought about a lot of other things that she has experienced that I never dreamed of as a girl. And now, after this afternoon in the car, she even understands the difference between a pen and a pasture.Our lessons continue. |
Cool Astronomy
Gecksteroids! Asteroids and geckos may share common force The force that holds asteroids together and the force that allows geckos to cling to surfaces may be one and the same. By
Ian O'Neill, Astroengine
of What do asteroids and geckos have in common? Not a lot, as you’d expect, but they may share a common force.This rather strange notion comes from research being done by a team of University of Colorado scientists who have been studying the odd nature of the asteroid Itokawa. When the Japanese Hayabusa mission visited the space rock in 2005 (Hayabusa’s sample return capsule is set to return to Earth on June 13th by the way), it noticed the asteroid was composed of smaller bits of rubble, rather than one solid chunk. Although this isn’t a surprise in itself — indeed, many asteroids are believed to be floating “rubble piles” — the rate of spin of the asteroid posed a problem.Itokawa spins rather fast and if only the force of gravity was keeping the lumps of rock together, they would have been flung out into space long ago. In short, the asteroid shouldn’t exist.
Although plenty of theories have been bandied around, one idea seems to stick.
More commonly found as a force that holds molecules together, the van der Waals force may bind the individual components of the asteroid together, acting against the centripetal force caused by its spin. But where do the geckos come in? Geckos are highly skilled in the “climbing up walls” department, and it’s the van der Waals force that makes this happen. Should the body of a gecko be tilted in such a way against a perfectly smooth, “impossible” to climb surface, the gravity acting on the little creature will trigger the force into action. Therefore geckos have evolved to exploit the practical application of van der Waals.This has some rather interesting ramifications for asteroid evolution too. During early stages of asteroid formation, the larger fragments of rock are flung off; the centripetal force exceeds that of gravity. In the latter stages of development, only the smallest rocks remain behind, their mass small enough to allow van der Waals forces to overcome the spin.So, there you have it, asteroids do have something in common with geckos. It seems only right to call these space rubble piles “Gecksteroids.”Thanks to my Discovery News colleague Jennifer Ouellette for drawing the comparison between asteroids and geckos!Source: Discovery News, arXiv.orgIan O'Neill blogs at AstroEngine.View all of the AstroEngine posts on the Monitor.Add/view comments on this post. |
Study Says Diet High in Whole Grains Lowers Risk of Diabetes, Cardio Disease
February 13, 2008 Patrick Totty Leave a comment
Share this: The debate between low-carb and low-fat diet advocates took a dramatic turn in January with the American Diabetes Association’s limited approval of low-carb diets as weight-loss aids. Momentum seemed to have shifted to low-carb proponents.
But now a Penn State study has concluded that diets high in whole grains not only help people lose weight, but also stave off diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The researchers tracked 50 obese people, 25 men and 25 women between the ages of 20 and 65 years, who had metabolic syndrome. (Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms, such as abdominal fat, high blood pressure, and high “bad” cholesterol, that predispose people to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.)
The portly participants were divided into two groups. For 12 weeks, both groups received the same advice on weight loss and exercise. Furthermore, they both consumed five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy products, and two servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry. The only difference? Every grain the first group ate was refined, like white flour. The other group couldn’t touch a grain unless it was whole, like oatmeal, whole grain cereal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, granola bars, popcorn, and whole-wheat crackers.
By the end of the study, participants in both groups had dropped an average of eight to 11 pounds. However, the whole grain group lost more weight in the abdominal region. Even better, the whole grain group experienced a 38 percent decrease in its C-reactive blood protein (CRP) levels. (CRP is an indicator of vascular inflammation and is considered a precursor to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.) The refined grain group experienced no decrease in CRP levels.
Researchers said that although they are not sure why CRP levels decreased in the whole grain group, the scale of reduction was similar to that seen in patients who use statin drugs.
This study was supported by the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Human Nutrition, and the National Institutes of Health. |
> Julius Caesar
Is "Julius Caesar" a play full of contradiction? In Act 1, Brutus tells Cassius that, though he would not have Caeser as the king, he still loves him. Throughout the play the characters express...
Is "Julius Caesar" a play full of contradiction? In Act 1, Brutus tells Cassius that, though he would not have Caeser as the king, he still loves him. Throughout the play the characters express what seem to be contradictory feelings or act in apparent contradiction to their professed beliefs. print Print
I think you've hit on one of the keys to understanding this play. All the arguments - and all the characters - have two sides. And one of the things that I really admire about this play is that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to make Shakespeare align to one side and not the other. In exactly the way Brutus hates Caesar as a politician (and would not have him king) but loves him as a man,...
I think you've hit on one of the keys to understanding this play. All the arguments - and all the characters - have two sides. And one of the things that I really admire about this play is that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to make Shakespeare align to one side and not the other. In exactly the way Brutus hates Caesar as a politician (and would not have him king) but loves him as a man, the play is packed full of contradiction. So - are the conspirators right to murder Caesar? Caesar does seem to want the crown (if you believe Casca's account of it, where Caesar is "loath to lay his fingers off it"). Caesar is arrogant, referring to himself in the third person. But will he prove a "serpent's egg", and grow up to be a dangerous serpent? Well, who knows? Does he show signs of tyranny? Yes. But proof? No. In the same way, is Brutus actually an honorable man? Well, he does everything for what he sees as the right reasons ("Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more"), certainly. But he is also a complete tactical disaster, and he gets every decision wrong (see the link to the Q&A post below). And why is he drawn into the conspiracy? Because Cassius appeals to his own arrogance, comparing him (and his own reputation) to Caesar's name and reputation. Is Brutus a brilliant, committed politican or a woolly-minded liberal? Both - and neither. (more next post...)
In the same way, Caesar looks at times like an old, frail man, and at other times like a tyrant. Benign old man or terrifying tyranny-in-embryo? Both - and neither.Is Cassius a sneaking, untrustworthy, lean and hungry villain, or a brilliant tactician who gets all the major decisions of the play correct? Both - and neither. Is Antony a charismatic, honorable politican, or simply a manipulative man with no scruples who knows how to seize a political moment to his own advantage? Both - and neither. You see where I'm going with this. "Julius Caesar" is an intensely political play because it is acutely aware that there is no black and white, but only shades of grey. There are two sides to every one of its issues. like
Why does Brutus kill himself in the end of Julius Caesar?
Who do you think was the tragic hero in Julius Caesar? Why? Was it Brutus because of all the...
What is the basic difference between the two funeral orations of Brutus and Mark Antony?
Why did Brutus kill Julius Caesar? Were they not friends?
What is the dramatic significance of Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral in Julius Caesar?
What reason does Brutus give in his soliloquy for killing Caesar in Julius Caesar?
In Julius Caesar, is Brutus a truly honorable character?
In Julius Caesar, why is Brutus a tragic hero?
In what order did the conspirators stab Caesar?
Using examples from the play, discuss how Brutus is the most honorable character in the play... |
<br>The City of London Lying in Hospital, City Road, Finsbury had as part of this hospital a chapel attached, which was principally intended for the "wives of poor industrious Tradesmen or distressed House-keepers" and the wives of soldiers and sailors. City of London Lying In Hospital, City Road, Finsbury was founded in 1750 for married women only. It was later moved to Old Street in 1773 and was renamed the City of London Maternity Hospital in 1918. Its doors were closed in 1983. <br> <br>The City of London Lying in Hospital, City Road, Finsbury had as part of this hospital a chapel attached, which was principally intended for the "wives of poor industrious Tradesmen or distressed House-keepers" and the wives of soldiers and sailors. City of London Lying In Hospital, City Road, Finsbury was founded in 1750 for married women only. It was later moved to Old Street in 1773 and was renamed the City of London Maternity Hospital in 1918. Its doors were closed in 1983. <br>
−London Metropolitan Archives. “Information Leaflet No 15, Records of Patients in London Hospitals.” (London: London Metropolitan Archives, 2000). +London Metropolitan Archives. “Information Leaflet No 15, Records of Patients in London Hospitals.” (London: London Metropolitan Archives, 2000).<ref>London Metropolitan Archives: Information Leaflet No. 15, Records of Patients in london Hospitals" (London: London Metropolitan Archives, 2000) See at: </ref> −In 1803 Mrs Anne Newby of the City of London Lying-in-Hospital received a medal of the Humane Society for her extraordinary success in recovering 500 babies, who at first were thought to be stillborn. +In 1803 Mrs Anne Newby of the City of London Lying-in-Hospital received a medal of the Humane Society for her extraordinary success in recovering 500 babies, who at first were thought to be stillborn.
England Middlesex Middlesex Parishes City of London Lying in Hospital Finsbury Contents
2.2.1 Non-Conformist Churches
The City of London Lying in Hospital, City Road, Finsbury had as part of this hospital a chapel attached, which was principally intended for the "wives of poor industrious Tradesmen or distressed House-keepers" and the wives of soldiers and sailors. City of London Lying In Hospital, City Road, Finsbury was founded in 1750 for married women only. It was later moved to Old Street in 1773 and was renamed the City of London Maternity Hospital in 1918. Its doors were closed in 1983. London Metropolitan Archives. “Information Leaflet No 15, Records of Patients in London Hospitals.” (London: London Metropolitan Archives, 2000).[1] In 1803 Mrs Anne Newby of the City of London Lying-in-Hospital received a medal of the Humane Society for her extraordinary success in recovering 500 babies, who at first were thought to be stillborn.
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes. Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection. Non-Conformist Churches
any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Probate records |
Industrial production was unchanged in May following a large increase in April and smaller increases in February and March. Manufacturing output declined 0.4 percent in May; the index is little changed, on net, since February. The indexes for mining and utilities posted gains of 1.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, in May. At 105.0 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in May was 2.2 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged down 0.1 percentage point in May to 76.6 percent, a rate that is 3.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2016) average. Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: SummarySeasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2012=100 Percent change 2016Dec.[r] 2017 2016Dec.[r] 2017 May '16 toMay '17 Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p] Total index
Previous estimates
Major market groups
Nonindustrial supplies
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below)
Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacitygrowth Average1972-2016 1988-89high 1990-91low 1994-95high 2009low 2016May 2016Dec.[r] 2017 May '16 toMay '17 Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p] Total industry
Stage-of-process groups
Primary and semifinished
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups
The output of consumer goods rose 0.2 percent in May. The indexes for consumer energy products and consumer non-energy nondurables rose 1.0 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, but the index for consumer durables decreased 0.8 percent. Business equipment posted a decline of 0.7 percent, with all of its major components registering decreases. The output of defense and space equipment rose 0.6 percent, while the indexes for construction supplies and business supplies each moved down 0.3 percent. The production of materials edged up 0.1 percent, with a gain of 1.0 percent for energy materials outweighing a sizable decline for durable materials and a smaller decline for nondurable materials. Industry Groups
With the monthly G.17 statistical release on April 18, 2017, the Federal Reserve Board began publishing estimates of the reliability of the levels and the rates of change (monthly and quarterly) of the reported production indexes for total industry and for its three major components: manufacturing, mining, and utilities. The reliability estimates are designed to give data users a sense of the typical range in which a statistic will likely end up after its final (fifth) revision in a monthly release. The reliability estimates are based on the revision history for the indexes back to 2008; each G.17 release will include estimates for those months and quarters for which either new or updated estimates were issued that month. A detailed explanation is available on the Board's website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/g17_technical_qa.htm#reliability The reliability estimates are issued in table 15 of the G.17 release, available on the Board's website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/table15.htm. A text file that contains the estimates is also available on the Board's website at . Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization The Federal Reserve Board issued its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization on March 31, 2017 (https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/revisions/Current/DefaultRev.htm). New annual benchmark data for 2015 for manufacturing were incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The updated IP indexes included revisions to the monthly indicator (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series were changed. Modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry affected the index from 1972 to the present. Capacity and capacity utilization were revised to incorporate data through the fourth quarter of 2016 from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other organizations. Note. The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the |
Hartford County, Connecticut
∣ Societies and Family History Resources ∣ County Courthouse and Government Records ∣ County Genealogy Links ∣ Hartford County was established on May 10, 1666 and was formed as One of four original counties created in Connecticut. The county was named after Hertfordshire, England. The County Seat was Hartford (1666-1960).
Areas adjacent to Hartford County are Hampden County, Massachusetts, Tolland County, New London County, Middlesex County, New Haven County, Litchfield County, New London County. Hartford County vital records can be found at the Connecticut Office of Vital Records has copies of birth, marriage, divorce and death records. There is a fee for each copy requested. Please refer to the information to the Statewide Vital Records in Connecticut for current fees and application process. Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. You can search online for Hartford County Birth, Marriage, Divorce or Death Records. You can also Order Electronically Online or can download an application for Connecticut Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Death Certificate Application or Town or City Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Death Certificate Application to mail.
Hartford County does have Federal Census Schedules to guide in looking into your family tree. Federal government Population Schedules are available for 1790-1890 (fragment), 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. Hartford Co. Mortality Schedules can be obtained for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Hartford Co. Industry and Agriculture Schedules can be found for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Hartford Co. Union Veterans Schedules can be found for 1890. One can find free online and printable census forms that can help with your research.
Researchers often overlook the importance of Hartford County court, probate, and land records as a source of genealogy and family history information. Buried away in Connecticut courthouses and archives everywhere are the dreams and frustrations of many Connecticut citizens. The chances are great that your ancestors have left a detailed record of at least some aspects of their lives in the Hartford County court records. Even if your ancestor is not mentioned in a Court case, consider all of the other procedures which could have lead to him or her appearing in court records.
Records of Rev. Roger Viets, rector of St. Andrew's, Simsbury, Conn. : and missionary from the Society for the Propagation of (search.ancestry.com)
Hartford County, Connecticut Church Books (amazon.com)
Hartford Co. CT Family Websites, Pictures & Histories
Connecticut Family Group Sheet Project (fgs-project.com)
Hartford Co. CT General and History Websites
See Also State History for Connecticut
Hartford County, Connecticut Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
Trips by trolley around Hartford (search.ancestry.com)
The history of ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut : comprising the present towns of Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington : an (search.ancestry.com)
Around the Horn in '49; Journal of the Hartford Union Mining and Trading Company (search.ancestry.com)
The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (search.ancestry.com)
Hartford County, Connecticut: Memorial History 1633-1884,Volume I-II (search.ancestry.com)
Ecclesiastical and other sketches of Southington, Conn. (search.ancestry.com)
Hartford County, Connecticut Wiki (familysearch.org)
Hartford Co. CT Genealogy (kindredtrails.com)
Hartford County, Connecticut (linkpendium.com)
Cyndi's List - United States - Connecticut - Counties - Hartford (cyndislist.com)
Hartford County Connecticut (genealogytrails.com)
Hartford Co. CTGenweb (ctgenweb.org)
Hartford County Genealogy Queries (cousinconnect.com)
Hartford Co. Data Collections (search.ancestry.com)
Hartford Co. CT Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers
See Also Map of Connecticut Links and Information
1895 Hartford County Map (livgenmi.com)
Hartford Co. CT Military Records
Connecticut Military Records Research Guide Connecticut Men in the Revolutionary War (search.ancestry.com)
Connecticut Military Records (fold3.com) provides access to military records, stories, photos, and personal documents of the Connecticut men and women who served. Perfect for Perfect for Hartford County genealogists, researchers, historians and more.
New Britain, Connecticut Directories, 1888-93 (search.ancestry.com)
Bristol, Connecticut City Directories, 1882-93 (search.ancestry.com)
Southington, Connecticut Directory, 1890 (search.ancestry.com)
Connecticut City Directories (search.ancestry.com) This database is a collection of city directories for various years and cities in Connecticut. Generally a city directory will contain an alphabetical list of its citizens, listing the names of the heads of households, their addresses, and occupational information. Sometimes the wife's name will be listed in parentheses or italics following the husband's. Often, dates of deaths of individuals listed in the previous year's directory are listed as well as the names of partners of firms, and when possible, the forwarding addresses or post offices of people who moved to another town. In addition to the alphabetical portion, a city directory may also contain a business directory, street directory, governmental directory, and listings of town officers, schools, societies, churches, post offices, and other miscellaneous matters of general and local interest. |
Our guide to nailing that application, interview and job!
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When it comes to applying for jobs, there’s a lot to consider. Firstly you have to think about what kind of job you want to apply, then doing the application, getting an interview and being so awesome in the interview that they give you the job!
And that’s all before you’ve even actually started the job. So here are 20 top tips to help you get that dream job. Find out as much information as you can about the job you’re looking for – find out what the role requires in terms of qualifications and skills, as this will be important to the employer. You can use our Careers A-Z, which has all the training, qualifications and responsibilities your role will require.
Note down all the relevant things you’ve done or have experience of that you can put in your application – having this written down somewhere will help when you write your CV, as you can order them and add in any details that may be relevant.
Get the right CV template for you – it shouldn’t be anything too over the top, or with a crazy font. This is the first impression that your employers will get of you and what you can offer them as a company, so it’s important to try and present the best version of yourself.
Research the company – if you know some relevant information about the company, such as previous projects or upcoming ones, you can mention this and then reference how you are interested in that particular work, or how you could benefit them with your particular skills.
Make sure your CV has structure to it – there are many websites and services that can help with building CVs, but it’s important to remember that you need to be clear and organised with what information you’re giving. If you’re just starting out, put down your education and highlight the relevant subjects to that role, then you can put your relevant skills and experience, and then your interests.
Think about what’s on your social media – it’s becoming more common that potential employers will look at your social media presence to see what you’re really like. So you need to carefully consider what sort of things people might be able to see.
Set up some professional social media accounts – Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are great for this, as you can build networks and relationships with people who are in similar roles or roles that you aspire to be in, and they’ll be able to offer advice, guidance, and who knows maybe even a job opportunity!
Get some experience – if you’ve not had any work experience yet, it’s never too late to start! Our Matching Service shows you all the great opportunities available to you in your local area. You can then apply and contact them directly to ask questions you may have. Another great way to see first-hand what construction is like is by visiting one of the sites available through Open Doors.
Check everything! You can never check your CV, covering letter and application enough – make sure that there are no spelling mistakes and that the grammar makes sense. You can find more on our Help with applying page, and get someone else to check over it as well; to make sure you’ve included everything you need to.
Read the questions – if you have to fill in an application form, make sure that you read the questions very carefully, as there’ll be information already within the question that will help you to format and answer it.
Be confident on the phone! Often one of the first stages in an application process is a phone interview, as this helps employers narrow down their choices for face to face interviews. It’s important to plan the call, making sure you have the right number, and to have some key bullet points written down of what you would want to say. It’s also important to think about where you’ll be taking the call, so try to go somewhere that’s quiet and has good signal strength – and remember to speak clearly and confidently.
Don’t be afraid – it can be intimidating talking to a potential employer, but be confident and positive when you speak to them. It’s also ok to ask them to repeat or elaborate on a question if you didn’t understand it. They’ll appreciate your honesty and it can help you to have more time to answer with relevant information.
Plan your interview – if you’ve been invited to a face to face interview, make sure you read through the job description again thoroughly and think about what kind of questions they could possibly ask you, whether they’ll be some specific ones about your skills or what strengths or weaknesses you think you have.
Think about your outfit – you want to make a good impression when you meet a potential employer, so think about what you’re going to wear. Make sure it’s clean and comfortable. You want to appear to be professional but also let your personality shine through too. You could do that through a splash of colour, an accessory, hair and make-up or even some fun socks!
Ask for feedback – if you get told that you didn’t get the job, ask for feedback to see where you can improve for your next interview. And remember to thank them for their time. This will leave a great lasting impression on the employer and you never know how that could become useful in the future.
Don’t be late! When you land that job, you need to make a good first impression when you start, so on your first day make sure that you’re on time, and leave plenty of time in case there’s traffic or delays on public transport.
Ask questions – you want to get know the people and place you’re working, so ask plenty of questions that will get people talking to you. If you show an interest in the work that someone is doing, you’ll be able to understand more about what they do and start to build great working relationships.
Take notes – if there’s important information you need to know, like any security information or things you need to sign, make a note of it to remember later.
Don’t get distracted – it can be really tempting to keep all your friends and family up to date throughout the day, but make sure that you only use your phone during your breaks and lunch.
Enjoy it! Make sure that you enjoy your first day, it can be daunting starting a new job, but everyone around will want to make you feel as welcome as possible so have fun and make the most out of it!
So now you know how you can ace those applications, impress at the interview and have a fantastic first day – so what are you waiting for?
Read our guide how to do the best you can in applications, interviews and on your first day! |
Brian Fricke, CFP® Retirement Planning When you’re planning a vacation, you do legwork ahead of time. You buy a travel guide or look online for details about your destination; you comparison shop airfare, hotels, rental cars, etc.
Planning ahead is simply a sensible strategy that helps you avoid stress. But somehow, when it comes to retirement planning, people often overlook this type of preparation. Perhaps it is just too intimidating to plan for something that is so uncertain. Even discussing retirement can be confusing because your definition of an incredible retirement is unlikely to be the same as mine. Your notion of an “incredible retirement” may not even be the same as your spouse’s!
So what should you do to get started?
Define what retirement means—for you, not someone else.
Retirement today is not the same as it was for your parents or grandparents, when most people worked for the same company for twenty or thirty years and then stop working altogether.
Know your values.
Values are not the same as your goals. You need to identify and understand your core values. Ask yourself what’s important about money to you? Is it safety, security, freedom or something else entirely?
Define your goals for the future.
This is where you start to put an action plan in place for your incredible retirement based on your goals, which stem from your values. |
It’s pronounced “Eye-gor” now
The canonical Igor of pop-culture is Dr. Frankenstein’s hunchbacked assistant — who does not exist in the original novel, and who isn’t named Igor in the movie: Dwight Frye’s hunch-backed lab assistant in the first film of the Frankenstein series (1931) is the main source for the “Igor” of public imagination, though this character was actually named “Fritz”. The sequels Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) featured a character named “Ygor”, played by Bela Lugosi; this character, however, is neither a hunchback nor a lab assistant, but an insane blacksmith with a broken neck and twisted back. He reanimates the Monster as an instrument of vengeance against the townspeople who attempted to hang him for graverobbing. He survives a near-fatal gunshot and appears in the next film, in which his brain is placed in the Monster’s body.
Universal Pictures would actively cement the idea of the hunchbacked assistant to the “mad scientist ” in the Frankenstein film series House of Frankenstein (1944) with J. Carrol Naish playing a hunch backed lab assistant named Daniel.
In the 1933 horror film Mystery of the Wax Museum, “Ivan Igor” is the name of the mad wax museum curator. The film was remade as House of Wax in 1953, but the name “Igor” was given to the curator’s henchman (played by a young Charles Bronson) rather than the curator himself. Not a hunchback, the character is deaf and mute, and is portrayed as an unconditionally devoted servant.
The name Igor, by the way, derives from the Norse name Ingvar, that was brought to ancient Rus by the Norse Varangians. Igor (son of the Varangian chief Rurik) conquered Kiev.
Disney Acquires LucasFilm
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4 billion:
“Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.”
“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.”
George Lucas owns 100 percent of LucasFilm, by the way.
Here’s the real news though:
Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.
Disney already owns Pixar and Marvel.
Posted in Business, Media | No Comments »
The Castle of Otranto
In 1988, James Cawthorne and Michael Moorcock included The Castle of Otranto, generally considered the first gothic novel, on their list of influential fantasy books. I mentioned this last year, but I just got around to reading the novel — and it really isn’t very good. In fact, it reads like a bad Shakespeare pastiche, full of star-crossed lovers, long-lost relatives, comic-relief servants, and a few apparitions.
I do believe Walpole did introduce one now-cliché trope though: the door that opens for no apparent reason, followed by a sudden draft that snuffs out the light.
Actually, a quick search reveals — brace yourself — a TV Tropes page devoted to the novel, another describing the genre and naming its prominent authors, and another listing all the genre’s tropes. Apparently they consider Otranto the trope-codifier for the haunted castle.
We understand how giant balloons behave. We have never launched a balloon that large before. A lot can go wrong and we learned a lot about how to make new balloons to go even higher.
I’m not a scientist but I know a number of them and they assure me that the sheer volume of information collected from the capsule and the suit is invaluable.
Pressure suit. The advancement to the space and flight industries is huge. A suit manufactured for 121K performed perfectly at 128K. We can now make one for 150K or higher. Those suits can be worn by the pilots and crew of the next generation of reconnaissance aircraft.
Capsule. With the basic design completed and fully tested, larger capsules can be built for a wide variety of purposes. The design features will be used in the next generation of air and spacecraft.
Balloon. The balloon used is of the standard high altitude balloon design type. It’s just bigger. Now we know how the largest atmospheric balloon in the world behaves. That will help us make bigger ones to go higher, thus increasing our range and capability. There should also be some new research to make a stronger balloon because they are very fragile.
Cameras. The cameras used were astonishing. We watched this event in HD from the edge of space! Cameras do not perform well in cold or high altitude environments. The ability to build a camera and high data compression broadcast system is amazing. Consider the fact that with NASA we get only a little very low quality footage and rarely live. When these experiments were first done the film was still on… well… film! The cameras on the ground we able to see 130K feet which is remarkable. That seems like a very nice surveillance system to me. A camera that can see 24km? WOW! And I haven’t even mentioned the optical tracking stuff that is years ahead of what the military has. Well, at least that we know about…
Communications Systems. All we know is that they worked like a charm and took three years to develop. I would love to know more and the implications are obvious. I would love to know if it was a line of sight system of a SATCOM system or something else. I know of some technology that is in production that is just scary, but no word on this new system.
Commercial tracking systems. The Stratos team used a wide array of compact and micro tracking equipment. They always knew the exact coordinates of Baumgartner and the capsule. They knew the altitude, wind speed, capsule speed, jumper speed, O2 saturation, air density, air pressure and so much more. The Stratos jump was one amazingly precise operation! That sort of micro tracking package can be used in an unlimited variety of applications world wide.
Parachute. The parachute used was designed for tandem operations. It has a drogue chute, a main canopy and a reserve canopy. However, a normal tandem drogue is set over the main canopy low on the jumper’s back. This one was set over the shoulders. As a parachute instructor I am dying to learn more about this new system! It was built this way to further reduce the possibility of spinning out of control. For those of us in the parachute and aviation world, this is very exciting.
Transcontinental personnel delivery. Imagine if you will a large capsule with a 4-man SOF team that goes aloft in Germany. At 135K the team exits in wing sleds and crosses the sea to land in Syria. That used to sound crazy to me. Not any more… I am quite sure that with a little work we could drop people from Main and reach Europe with little effort.
Transcontinental aerial gliders. Building on the previous idea, imagine a large glider with 60+ men hoisted to that altitude for the same mission type. I have this vision of the Aliens movie and again, 2 weeks ago it seemed silly. Not anymore.
Modern day floating bases. Could you have a floating missile base manned by 4 people at 100K? Seems plausible now… As do a very wide variety of defense and surveillance systems. It’s the same type of deterrent as a submarine to many lesser countries.
That Star Trek stunt. You just saw the early development of that stunt and capability.
Higher shuttle bail out altitude. Currently if there is a problem at a given point in flight the astronauts are supposed to chop the engines and glide down to 50,000 feet before attempting a bail out maneuver that has never been adequately tested and is assumed to not work anyway. Now that minimum bailout altitude can be pushed to 130-150K and use a better bail out system. (Yes, I am well aware that the shuttle program has recently been retired)
Better astronaut/cosmonaut recovery and rescue capability. The current bail out and recovery procedures are a sham. No one expects to live through them. They have never even been realistically tested. This experiment proves that a conventional form of bail out is indeed possible and a reality. Astronauts can go into orbit knowing that at the very least they can cut the engines and get out anywhere below 150K.
Better pressure suits for high altitude pilots. We are still using the old 1960’s suits. Pilots would love to get into something modern and rated for Mach 1.24!
Better bail out methods for high altitude pilots. High altitude aircraft like the U2 use capsule ejection systems. Now the technology exists that makes a bail out at 70K an easy reality.
Better safety for space tourism. It’s real. The technology has been proven. NASA is already contracting them. This will help them design better bail out and recovery procedures.
A 150-200K jump. The ease with which the Stratos team pulled off 128K leads me to believe that a much higher jump is in the near future. A few equipment tweaks and we’re there!
Transcontinental high altitude flight. The design of the Stratos capsule will be the number one design reference for the next generation of high altitude aircraft. The dreams of high altitude supersonic commercial flight just got a lot closer to reality.
Spacecraft design. Commercial companies are subcontracted to build space hardware. As such, new revolutionary spacecraft designs will use the Stratos capsule for reference and inspiration.
High altitude tourism. Why not? A lot of people would pay for that.
Extreme Sports. The folks at Red Bull Stratos believe that a new extreme sport is right around the corner. They think 50K skydiving is going to become a reality. And why not. They already have the capability to do it easily. That sort of thing would drive some very extreme innovation.
The open ended unknown. The original jump was a part of the space program and led to the current space suit designs. That type of research has given us so many things from Velcro to Post-it notes, to tang and thousands more every day items. Who can say how many new everyday items were just created and tested?
11 feet and 8 inches tall
Big signs and flashing yellow lights alert drivers that the railroad trestle at Gregson and Peabody streets in Durham, North Carolina is 11 feet and 8 inches tall. A local man named Jürgen Henn has decided to record all the tall trucks ignoring the signs:
Posted in Urbanism | 1 Comment »
Is a Pocket Gun Enough?
Gun nuts often ask, Is a pocket gun enough? Karl Rehn ran an experiment with his concealed-carry class based on the three seconds or less course of fire, which is based on the “average” gun fight:
Hands at sides, gun concealed, take one step to the left as you draw, three shots to the body at three yards.
Hands at sides, gun concealed, take one step to the right as you draw, three shots to the body at three yards.
Ready, two shots to head at three yards.
Hand on gun, draw and shoot one-handed, three shots to body at three yards.
Hand on gun, step left or right, draw and shoot two-handed, three shots to body at seven yards.
Ready, one shot to head at seven yards.
Hand on gun, draw and shoot one-handed, two shots to body at seven yards.
Gun in non-dominant hand (only), in ready position, three shots to body at seven yards.
Each string has a three-second par time.
He compared how his class did with a full-size pistol and with a back-up gun:
A total pool of 18 students shot the test with primary and pocket guns, during and after the pocket gun course. The pool included those with very little shooting experience, intermediate level shooters, and a few IPSC/IDPA Master class level competitors. The detailed data, shown in the chart on the next page, includes some interesting trends.
Shooters classified as “low skill” had passed the Texas CHL shooting test, but had no training or practice drawing from concealment or in other defensive pistol skills. This group did not attend the pocket gun class, and were given limited instruction in safe drawing technique prior to taking the test. For this group, the average difference in scores was significant (20 points).
Shooters classified as “medium skill” had taken at least one defensive pistol course, or had IPSC or IDPA match experience, or both. The average performance loss was 10 percent, with students shooting passing scores (over 90 points) with their primary guns, but falling short with the pocket guns. Two shooters, each using a pocket gun with a trigger very similar to their primary gun, scored the same (+/- 1%) with both guns, but failed to reach the 90 point goal with either.
Shooters classified as “high skill” had taken more than one defensive pistol course in the last year, or were regular competitors in shooting sports. These shooters had an average skill loss of less than 3%, with all but one shooter passing the test with both guns. None of these shooters had done any practice with their pocket guns in the past year prior to attending the pocket gun class.
Highly skilled shooters aced the test with either pistol — because the test was too easy for them, I argued (there, but moderated into the ether), not because they shoot just as well with either pistol:
I love the fact that you ran an experiment with a decent number of shooters of various skill levels.
I would like to clarify though that your test — because it relies on a generous three-second par time, rather than a shot-timer, and “good enough” shots at short range — masks the difference in effectiveness between full-size pistols and back-up guns in the hands of highly skilled shooters. They were able to ace the test even with a handicap.
If you’d used a shot-timer combined with IPSC scoring — points per second — or IDPA scoring — time plus a half-second penalty per point down — then you probably would have seen a much bigger margin between the highly skilled shooters’ scores with a full-size pistol and a back-up gun.
We the Sheeple
The latest Freakonomics podcast, We the Sheeple. opens by interviewing Bryan Caplan on The Myth of the Rational Voter: You know, if you’re a successful politician, you know you don’t succeed by figuring out what’s really going on in the world and trying to explain it to people. You need to find out what people what to hear and then tell it to them. That’s what you see in debates. That’s what you see voters, successful politicians instinctively are trying to read people, trying to read their faces, what does this person want me to say to him, and that’s how they win.
Iron Man 3 pits our hero against one of his classic enemies from the original comics, the Mandarin — a Fu Manchu knock-off who has mastered alien technology and harnessed it in a number of rings he wears.
Naturally the studio cast Ben Kingsley in this role — to avoid problems.
If you go back and read the original novel, The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, the villain is a worthy opponent — foreign, certainly, and sinister, but not a silly caricature. The movie versions and derivative characters though…
Chicago’s Street Gangs
Chicago’s street gangs are legendary: Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken criticism for Chicago’s skyrocketing homicide rate which stands this year at a shocking 19.4 per 100,000 residents. This is roughly triple the murder rate in New York City, is worse than in perennially crime-ridden Oakland and is within shouting distance of war-torn Afghanistan and Mexico, which are fighting vicious insurgencies. Even for Chicago, the current level of street violence is unusually brazen.
Chicago has always taken an ambivalent attitude toward it’s enormous, 100,000 strong, network of rival street gangs. Traditionally, part of the social fabric of Chicago’s ethnically divided wards, Chicago’s street gangs were far better organized and more ruthlessly disciplined than street gangs elsewhere, which allowed them a limited entree into participation in local politics. The Chicago Outfit from Al Capone’s day on controlled the votes in the old 1st Ward, ran several near suburbs like Cicero and recruited especially brutal sociopaths from the Forty-Two gang; the legendary Mayor Richard J. Daley in his youth had been a thug for the Hamburg Athletic Club, the Democratic Party’s election-time enforcers in the 11th Ward. In more recent decades, the Black P. Stone Nation/El Rukns were Federal grantees and a number of powerful street gangs today use the Black United Voters of Chicago as a front group and cut-out to make deals with local politicians and swing aldermanic races.
However disturbing the status quo may have been in Chicago, it is potentially changing for the worse. Much worse.
How much worse? The city may be nearly 2,000 miles from Mexico, but the country’s drug cartels are so deeply embedded in Chicago that local and federal law enforcement are forced to operate as if they are “on the border,” according to Jack Riley, special agent in charge for the Chicago Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Mexican cartels have made the strategic decision to stay in the background, because they don’t want to incite a federal response to international terrorism.
Everyone Becomes a Threat
Free entry is not always good, and monopoly is not always bad, Hans-Hermann Hoppe argues:
Free entry and competition in the production of goods is good, but free competition in the production of bads is not. Free entry into the business of torturing and killing innocents, or free competition in counterfeiting or swindling, for instance, is not good; it is worse than bad.
Since man is as man is, in every society people who covet others’ property exist. Some people are more afflicted by this sentiment than others, but individuals usually learn not to act on such feelings or even feel ashamed for entertaining them. Generally only a few individuals are unable to successfully suppress their desire for others’ property, and they are treated as criminals by their fellow men and repressed by the threat of physical punishment. Under princely government, only one single person — the prince — can legally act on the desire for another man’s property, and it is this which makes him a potential danger and a “bad.”
However, a prince is restricted in his redistributive desires because all members of society have learned to regard the taking and redistributing of another man’s property as shameful and immoral. Accordingly, they watch a prince’s every action with utmost suspicion. In distinct contrast, by opening entry into government, anyone is permitted to freely express his desire for others’ property. What formerly was regarded as immoral and accordingly was suppressed is now considered a legitimate sentiment. Everyone may openly covet everyone else’s property in the name of democracy; and everyone may act on this desire for another’s property, provided that he finds entrance into government. Hence, under democracy everyone becomes a threat.
Consequently, under democratic conditions the popular though immoral and anti-social desire for another man’s property is systematically strengthened. Every demand is legitimate if it is proclaimed publicly under the special protection of “freedom of speech.” Everything can be said and claimed, and everything is up for grabs. Not even the seemingly most secure private property right is exempt from redistributive demands. Worse, subject to mass elections, those members of society with little or no inhibitions against taking another man’s property, that is, habitual a-moralists who are most talented in assembling majorities from a multitude of morally uninhibited and mutually incompatible popular demands (efficient demagogues) will tend to gain entrance in and rise to the top of government. Hence, a bad situation becomes even worse.
Historically, the selection of a prince was through the accident of his noble birth, and his only personal qualification was typically his upbringing as a future prince and preserver of the dynasty, its status, and its possessions. This did not assure that a prince would not be bad and dangerous, of course. However, it is worth remembering that any prince who failed in his primary duty of preserving the dynasty — who ruined the country, caused civil unrest, turmoil and strife, or otherwise endangered the position of the dynasty — faced the immediate risk either of being neutralized or assassinated by another member of his own family. In any case, however, even if the accident of birth and his upbringing did not preclude that a prince might be bad and dangerous, at the same time the accident of a noble birth and a princely education also did not preclude that he might be a harmless dilettante or even a good and moral person.
In contrast, the selection of government rulers by means of popular elections makes it nearly impossible that a good or harmless person could ever rise to the top. Prime ministers and presidents are selected for their proven efficiency as morally uninhibited demagogues. Thus, democracy virtually assures that only bad and dangerous men will ever rise to the top of government. Indeed, as a result of free political competition and selection, those who rise will become increasingly bad and dangerous individuals, yet as temporary and interchangeable caretakers they will only rarely be assassinated.
How Would a Georgist Single Tax Work in Monopoly?
The history of Monopoly, the board game, is surprisingly political, as it was originally meant to illustrate Henry George’s half-socialist, half-capitalist idea that we should have a single tax on land — on the unimproved value of the land.
Bryan Caplan recently taught his sons how to play Monopoly, so he naturally asked, how would a Georgist single tax actually work in Monopoly?
Without improvements, even Boardwalk only yields a rent of $50. So a full-blown Georgist Single Tax would collect just $50 per landing. If the owner maximally improves the property by erecting a hotel, he’d get to keep $1950 ($2000–$50) a pop — 97.5% of the value. Despite the game’s Georgist origins, almost all of the value comes from improvements.
Is something fishy going on? In Georgist terms, no. Houses and hotels should definitely count as “improvements.” After all, the more you tax houses and hotels, the lower players’ incentive to build them. A non-gamer might imagine that players will always build as many houses and hotels as they can afford. After all, each house only costs $200 — a sum players can usually more than recoup as soon as the next player lands on Boardwalk. If you’re a gamer, though, you’ll quickly realize that things aren’t so simple. Buildings lose 50% of their value if you ever have to sell them, so you have a strong incentive to keep a decent amount of cash in hand.
Does Monopoly reveal a fatal flaw in Georgism? Not at all. (For the real fatal flaw, see my paper with Zac Gochenour). The reason why a Single Tax on the unimproved value of Boardwalk generates so little income is that the game artificially fixes a bizarre package of relative prices. A real estate market where (a) Boardwalk with nothing brings in $50 in revenue, (b) Boardwalk with a hotel brings in $2000 in revenue, and (c) a hotel only costs $1000 to build, simply wouldn’t be stable in a free market. Competing developers would bid up the rent of Boardwalk with nothing, bid down the rent of Boardwalk with a hotel, and/or bid up the price of houses.
The right lesson to draw is simply that despite its creator’s didactic motive, Monopoly is a bad way to grasp the essentials of Georgism. In a truly Georgist game, unimproved rents would be enormous, and improvements would be priced at marginal cost.
The Phantasmagorical Four
Mike Sterling presents The Phantasmagorical Four — the Fantastic Four, as if they came from the pen of H.P. Lovecraft:
Professor Richards leaned forward at his desk, studying intently the papers laid out before him. After a few minutes of this quiet contemplation, he sat up, his wooden chair creaking at the movement. He looked over his shoulder at me, as if just now remembering that he had an assistant, one that had been waiting patiently for the good professor to finally turn his attentions to him. “My apologies,” Richards said, though his tone did not sound apologetic at all. “I am currently attempting to unwrap a particular historical puzzle, and have need of my volume of Egyptology.”
I inferred from this statement that he intended for me to fetch this book for him. Though I have spent little time in Richards’ personal study, I had no trouble spotting it amongst the many shelves burdened with books of science and history, both well-studied and obscure. It was a thick tome, discolored by age and resting on a shelf just barely out of my reach. I turned away from the professor to find the stepping stool or ladder that he must have somewhere nearby to facilitate the retrieval of books stored at such an inconvenient height. However, oddly enough I found none immediately evident, but my curiosity regarding this discovery was interrupted by….
What could I call it? A sense? A “feeling,” like the sort one would have when another person is peering intently at you, and you know for certain that you are being so rudely stared at even without directly confirming it yourself. This, however, was not the weight of another’s intense observation I felt upon me. This was the feeling that something was behind me, not approaching me, but passing by, twisting and serpentine, splitting through the air with haste. I saw nothing of what it was, frozen briefly by the sensation, staring blankly at a crowded row of books only a foot or two away. I heard nothing, save for what sounded for all the world like the hard cover of a book briefly scraping along a high and distant shelf.
Just as suddenly as the feeling had come upon me, it was gone; and, the spell broken, I spun around to try to determine what had just occurred unseen behind my back while I had vainly looked for a ladder that wasn’t there. Professor Richards was still seated in his chair, as if he’d never left it, and it creaked again lightly now as he once more leaned forward over his desk. It was not to study his papers, I saw to my surprise, but rather to read the book of Egyptology, the very one that had been sitting on the shelf moments before. I thought perhaps it was simply a twin of the volume, maybe one that Richards had stored in a desk drawer and removed unheard, but a quick glance upward revealed that the book that was once there, was no longer.
I tried to form the words, to ask the professor how he had done it, but as I was even drawing the breath to speak, Richards turned away from his studies only long enough for a terse “That will be all.” I found my need to question wither away, replaced by a relief at having reason to depart.
Middle Earth is coming to America’s diner. That is, Denny’s is launching a Hobbit tie-in menu:
Menu items include 11 breakfast, lunch and dinner items such as “Hobbit Hole Breakfast,” “Frodo’s Pot Roast Skillet,” “Gandalf’s Gobble Melt” and the “Build Your Own Hobbit Slam,” which includes limited-time items such as “Shire Sausage.”
I assume they serve elevenses all day.
Much Ada About Nothing
Celebrating Ada Lovelace Day last week was much Ada about nothing. Julian Sanchez says:
I love the idea behind Ada Lovelace Day: Celebrating the neglected contributions of women in science and technology in order to encourage young women to pursue careers in stereotypically male fields where, all too often, a “boys club” environment continues to reign. But I really wish this effort could pick a better mascot than Ada Lovelace, a figure of no real importance to the history of computing, whose fame rests largely on her one and only paper, which regurgitated and popularized the ideas of a man.
Lovelace is frequently hailed as the “first computer programmer,” which is true in approximately the same sense that William Shatner is the “first starship captain.” That is: Lovelace published an algorithm written for her by Charles Babbage, which could have computed a sequence of Bernoulli numbers on Babbage’s never-constructed Analytic Engine. The original ideas in the paper are Babbage’s, and the paper — a translation from French of an Italian mathematician’s lecture on the Engine, followed by a much lengthier series of explanatory notes — was written with his close collaboration. |
#Technology Israeli flying car to provide revolutionary rescue tool
By David Brinn November 7, 2004, 10:00 pm
‘It takes on average one minute per story for a firefighter to get up with equipment. If we’re talking about 40 stories, that means the X-Hawk would be saving 40 minutes.’Up in the air – is that a helicopter? A bird? UNCOVER ISRAEL - Get the ISRAEL21cWeekly Edition free by email
How about flying car?
An aviation vehicle is currently being developed in Israel that can fly amid skyscrapers and park inside buildings. Its purpose is not to find that elusive parking place in New York City, but rather to become the most effective life-saving rescue feature since the ambulance.
Called the X-Hawk, the vehicle is a “rotorless” Vertical-Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicle. Unlike a helicopter, the X-Hawk’s propellers are not extended, but incorporated into the body of the aircraft, enabling it to pull up close to the windows of tall buildings without danger of collision. Those unique characteristics make the X-Hawk perfect for rescue and law enforcement work: evacuating injured people from high-rise buildings, high speed pursuit and other daring police activities. The X-Hawk is expected to be able to achieve a maximum speed of 200 KPH and to remain airborne for up to an hour and a half (like small helicopters).
Dr. Raffi Yoeli is the driving force behind the X-Hawk. Yoeli served in the Israeli Air Force as an engineer and received his PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology. He began his civilian career at Israel Aircraft Industries where he was one of the heads of the aborted Lavi fighter plane project.
Yoeli established the Urban Aerodynamics company in 2001 for the purpose of developing an urban aerial vehicle designed specifically for an urban environment.
“In a regular helicopter, if you want to move left, you have to first tilt to the left. Then you have to correct the movement by tilting to the right in order to straighten out. We eliminate those movements – a very important point when you’re working in constricted air space like an urban environment,” explained Janina Frankel-Yoeli, Urban Aerodynamics Vice President of Marketing, and Raffi Yoeli’s wife. The X-Hawk is based on all proven, off-the-shelf certified technology, meaning the engines are already Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) certified, and have been up and running in other helicopters. “What we’ve done is integrate the existing technology together with a patented control system. It’s a vane control system, there’s rows of vanes on the top and bottom of the panel – each of the ducts looks and works like a Venetian blind. They can either turn in unison or in a few degrees in one direction or the other,” she explained.
With its ability to go where no helicopter has gone before, the X-Hawk can be a windfall for emergency rescue workers – whether they’re involved in rescue efforts from buildings, city streets, or even open highways.
“The X-Hawk can dock on the side of a building; it can be of vital use in medical response teams. Until now, you can’t use an air ambulance in the middle of a city.If there’s an accident in downtown Manhattan, the only option is ground police, and you know what traffic there can be like,” said Frankel-Yoeli.
“Even in a situation in which there is more open space, like on a large highway, you never have aerial responders being the first to arrive. There’s always a ground crew first. They have to make sure the area is clear of wires, debris and other obstacles for landing. With the X-Hawk, the aerial medical response team can be first, saving precious minutes in which lives can be saved.”
But where the X-Hawk has really dazzled the U.S. rescue professionals who have learned about the vehicle is in its potential to rescue people from buildings.
“We have amazing potential to save people from buildings, an area that has received tremendous focus since 9/11. We had the fire chief from Washington D.C. visit us recently, and he said, ‘that’s great, but what’s more important is to get my people in to the top floors of the building.’
“He said it takes on average one minute per story for a firefighter or rescue professional to get up with equipment. If we’re talking about 40 stories, that means the X-Hawk would be saving 40 minutes. That’s a lot of lives that can be saved in 40 minutes,” said Frankel-Yoeli.
Urban Aerodynamics has produced one concept demonstrator of the new aircraft – called the City Hawk. It has completed 10 hover tests, at a height of two to three meters, with a pilot, and has registered a U.S. patent for the control system. The company is now moving forward with the development of our X-Hawk prototype vehicles. According to Hebrew paper Yediot Aharonot, an American company that deals with aerial medical evacuations has asked to be included in the project. The X-Hawk recently showed its abilities at a conference held by the American Law Enforcement Association, including representatives from airborne police units.
“We’re in the design stages for the X-Hawk, and in the process of raising $10 million for a civil demonstrator. At the same time, we’re approaching the U.S. government and U.S. companies to become partners with us in developing the X-Hawk for military purposes,” said Frankel-Yoeli.
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How does bankruptcy affect Social Security?
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Q:How does bankruptcy affect Social Security?
A:People who file for bankruptcy are required to tell the court about their sources of income, and how much money they earn each year. If the primary source of income comes from Social Security, then this will be exempt from the reach of creditors, since the court system considers and treats Social Security income differently from wages or salaries. Thus, if your Social Security benefit is your primary source of income, and you are interested in filing for bankruptcy, then you can benefit immensely by learning more about the legal implications of such a situation. Protection from Seizure or GarnishmentFor the most part, Social Security payments of all kinds are exempt from being touched by the court or by creditors. People who receive disability benefits, retirement payments or other forms of this income source generally avoid their money being claimed by their creditors or by the judge or trustee overseeing their case.Federal law recognizes that people who receive these payments need this money to live and buy basic necessities. It is therefore illegal for a judge to order that Social Security payments be seized or garnished by a creditor. Some Exceptions to the LawHowever, there are some exceptional circumstances where even Social Security benefits can be seized or garnished by a creditor. For instance, if a person owes back taxes, child support or student loan payments, then the judge may be unable to protect that person's money.Likewise, if people commingle their Social Security benefits in a bank account with other sources of income, such as alimony payments or dividends from investments, they risk having a lien put on their account and benefit payments. Rather than commingling their payments, they should put their Social Security checks into an account reserved for that money alone. Income Counted for Means TestPeople who plan to file for bankruptcy today are often required to complete a means test to determine if they are eligible to file for a Chapter 7 case. Their attorney will more than likely use their Social Security income as a means to determine their gross annual income, and their eligibility for a total discharge of most or all of their debts.While their payments may be safe from being claimed by the court, there is a need to report this income so that the court knows that they are legally eligible to file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.Protection of AssetsPeople who file for bankruptcy must declare all of their assets, including their cars, houses and sources of money. The trustee or judge will then consider which assets they can keep and which ones must be surrendered to the court.Rather than risk losing assets to the court, people should hire an attorney to protect their money and their possessions. Their attorney's job involves protecting their Social Security and making it clear to the court that this money cannot be touched. Without an attorney by their side, people could have their income inadvertently claimed by the trustee or on purpose by unscrupulous creditors. |
Nanoscale quantitative measurement of the potential of charged nanostructures by electrostatic and Kelvin probe force microscopy: Unraveling electronic processes in complex materials
Liscio A.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity | Palermo V.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity | Samori P.,University of Strasbourg
Accounts of Chemical Research | Year: 2010
In microelectronics and biology, many fundamental processes involve the exchange of charges between small objects, such as nanocrystals in photovoltaic blends or individual proteins in photosynthetic reactions. Because these nanoscale electronic processes strongly depend on the structure of the electroactive assemblies, a detailed understanding of these phenomena requires unraveling the relationship between the structure of the nano-object and its electronic function. Because of the fragility of the structures involved and the dynamic variance of the electric potential of each nanostructure during the charge generation and transport processes, understanding this structure-function relationship represents a great challenge. This Account discusses how our group and others have exploited scanning probe microscopy based approaches beyond imaging, particularly Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), to map the potential of different nanostructures with a spatial and voltage resolution of a few nanometers and millivolts, respectively. We describe in detail how these techniques can provide researchers several types of chemical information. First, KPFM allows researchers to visualize the photogeneration and splitting of several unitary charges between well-defined nano-objects having complementary electron-acceptor and -donor properties. In addition, this method maps charge injection and transport in thin layers of polycrystalline materials. Finally, KPFM can monitor the activity of immobilized chemical components of natural photosynthetic systems. In particular, researchers can use KPFM to measure the electric potential without physical contact between the tip and the nanostructure studied. These measurements exploit long-range electrostatic interactions between the scanning probe and the sample, which scale with the square of the probe-sample distance, d. While allowing minimal perturbation, these long-range interactions limit the resolution attainable in the measurement of potentials. Although the spatial resolution of KPFM is on the nanometer scale, it is inferior to that of other related techniques such as atomic force or scanning tunneling microscopy, which are based on short-range interactions scaling as d-7 or e-d, respectively. To overcome this problem, we have recently devised deconvolution procedures that allow us to quantify the electric potential of a nano-object removing the artifacts due to its nanometric size. © 2010 American Chemical Society.
Supramolecular photochemistry of drugs in biomolecular environments
Monti S.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity | Manet I.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity
Chemical Society Reviews | Year: 2014
In this tutorial review we illustrate how the interaction of photoactive drugs/potential drugs with proteins or DNA in supramolecular complexes can determine the course of the reactions initiated by the drug absorbed photons, evidencing the mechanistic differences with respect to the solution conditions. We focus on photoprocesses, independent of oxygen, that lead to chemical modification of the biomolecules, with formation of new covalent bonds or cleavage of existing bonds. Representative systems are mainly selected from the literature of the last decade. The photoreactivity of some aryl propionic acids, (fluoro)quinolones, furocoumarins, metal coordination complexes, quinine-like compounds, naphthaleneimides and pyrenyl-peptides with proteins or DNA is discussed. The use of light for biomolecule photomodification, historically relevant to biological photosensitization processes and some forms of photochemotherapy, is nowadays becoming more and more important in the development of innovative methods in nanomedicine and biotechnology. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.
Oligo(phenylenevinylene) hybrids and self-assemblies: Versatile materials for excitation energy transfer
Oligo(phenylenevinylene)s (OPVs) are extensively investigated π-conjugated molecules that exhibit absorption and fluorescence in the UV-Vis spectral region, which can be widely tuned by chemical functionalisation and external control (e.g. solvent, temperature, pH). Further modulation of the optoelectronic properties of OPVs is possible by supramolecular aggregation, primarily driven by hydrogen bonding or π-stacking interactions. In recent years, extensive research work has been accomplished in exploiting the unique combination of the structural and electronic properties of OPVs, most of which has been targeted at the preparation of molecules and materials featuring photoinduced energy transfer. This review intends to offer an overview of the multicomponent arrays and self-assembled materials based on OPV which have been designed to undergo energy transfer by means of a thorough choice of excitation donor-acceptor partners. We present a few selected examples of photoactive dyads and triads containing organic moieties (e.g. fullerene, phenanthroline) as well as coordination compounds (Cu(i) complexes). We then focus more extensively on self-assembled materials containing suitably functionalised OPVs that lead to hydrogen bonded aggregates, helical structures, gels, nanoparticles, vesicles, mesostructured organic-inorganic hybrid films, functionalised nanoparticles and quantum dots. In most cases, these materials exhibit luminescence whose colour and intensity is related to the efficiency and direction of the energy transfer processes. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.
Photoinduced electron transfer across molecular bridges: Electron- and hole-transfer superexchange pathways
Natali M.,University of Ferrara | Campagna S.,Messina University | Campagna S.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity | Scandola F.,University of Ferrara
Photoinduced electron transfer plays key roles in many areas of chemistry. Superexchange is an effective model to rationalize photoinduced electron transfer, particularly when molecular bridges between donor and acceptor subunits are present. In this tutorial review we discuss, within a superexchange framework, the complex role played by the bridge, with an emphasis on differences between thermal and photoinduced electron transfer, oxidative and reductive photoinduced processes, charge separation and charge recombination. Modular bridges are also considered, with specific attention to the distance dependence of donor-acceptor electronic coupling and electron transfer rate constants. The possibility of transition, depending on the bridge energetics, from coherent donor-acceptor electron transfer to incoherent charge injection and hopping through the bridge is also discussed. Finally, conceptual analogies between bridge effects in photoinduced electron transfer and optical intervalence transfer are outlined. Selected experimental examples, instrumental to illustration of the principles, are discussed. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.
Functional π-gelators and their applications
Babu S.S.,Indian National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology | Praveen V.K.,Indian National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology | Praveen V.K.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity | Ajayaghosh A.,Indian National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology
Chemical Reviews | Year: 2014
The large volume of research related to supramolecular π-gel chemistry indicates the potential of this area in the field of new functional materials useful for a variety of application, particularly to the fabrication of organic electronic devices. For improved electronic properties, it is necessary to avoid/reduce the content of insulating alkyl chains in the gelator molecules, which is the key point in balancing solubility and precipitation. This will improve the 1D ordering of the gelator and thereby the charge transport properties. Postpolymerization approaches and hybrid material assemblies of gels should be further explored to obtain stable structures that can overcome ambient conditions without loosing the electronic properties. π-gelators have great potential to the development of self-assembly based bulk heterojunction solar cells. For improved performance in this field, more appropriate D-A systems with absorption characteristics extendable to the near-IR and IR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum for more solar radiation coverage, improved stability and environmental compatibility are needed.
Not a molecule, not a polymer, not a substrate... the many faces of graphene as a chemical platform
Palermo V.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity
Chemical Communications | Year: 2013
What is, exactly, graphene? While we often describe graphene with many superlative adjectives, it is difficult to force this material into a single chemical class. Graphene's typical size is atomistic in one dimension of space, and mesoscopic in the other two. This provides graphene with several, somehow contrasting properties. Graphene can be patterned, etched and coated as a substrate. Though, it can also be processed in solution and chemically functionalized as a molecule. It could be considered as a polymer, obtained by bottom-up assembly of carbon atoms or small molecules, but it can be obtained also from top-down exfoliation of graphite (a mineral). It does not have a well-defined shape, such as that of fullerenes or nanotubes; conversely, it is a large, highly anisotropic, very flexible object, which can have different shapes and be folded, rolled or bent to a high extent. In this feature article, we will discuss the state of the art and possible applications of graphene in its broader sense with a particular focus on how its "chemical" properties, rather than its well-known electrical ones, can be exploited to develop original science, innovative materials and new technological applications. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013.
The purpose of this review is examination of the present scenario of electricity production and investigation of whether an electricity powered world is possible, indicating which primary energy forms should be preferably utilized. Currently, most of the primary energy used by mankind, including that employed to generate electricity, comes from fossil fuels, which need to be phased out because they bring about severe damage to climate, environment, and human health and, additionally, their stock will be largely depleted during the present century. All the energy technologies poised to replace those based on fossil fuels, namely nuclear and renewables (wind, hydro, concentrated solar power, photovoltaics, biomass, geothermal, tidal, wave) essentially produce electricity, and this suggests that we will progressively shift to an electricity-based economy over the course of the 21st century. The economic, technical, ethical and social issues entangled with nuclear technologies and the unexpectedly fast expansion of renewable energies (particularly wind and solar) point to an increasingly important role of the latter in electricity generation. The present one way utility-to-customer energy system, designed over one century ago, will need substantial reshaping to enable the build up of a smart grid capable of dealing with variable renewable supply and fluctuating end-user demand by exchange of information between customer and utility. To accomplish this result, effort in research and development of storage devices and facilities on the small (e.g., batteries, capacitors) and large (e.g., pumped hydro, compressed air storage, electrolytic hydrogen) scale is needed. In the medium and long term, the expansion of electricity production will also likely lead to progressive replacement of internal combustion engines with electric motors in the automotive sector, accompanied by a shift from individual to mass transportation systems. We have still a long way out of the fossil fuel era, but this challenge can be won only if carbon-free electricity largely replaces the direct combustion of irreplaceable and climate-altering fossil fuel resources. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Taking advantage of the electronic excited states of [60]-fullerenes
Accorsi G.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity | Armaroli N.,CNR Institute for Organic Syntheses and Photoreactivity
Journal of Physical Chemistry C | Year: 2010
The optical, electrochemical and excited state properties of C60 fullerene and its derivatives, combined with their peculiar structural features, have made them ideal modules for the construction of complex architectures which feature light induced processes. Here are described three selected classes of such systems investigated in our group by taking advantage of some intrinsic excited state properties of C60 fullerenes such as fluorescence, triplet lifetimes, or sensitized singlet oxygen luminescence. Fullerene hybrid assemblies with Cu(I), Ru(II), and Re(I) complexes undergo ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer (PET) upon excitation of the metalto-ligand-charge-transfer (MLCT) excited states of the metal-complexed moiety. In the case of the Cu(I) system, occurrence of PET by fullerene excitation depends on the specific functionalization of the carbon sphere. Fullerodendrimers equipped with oligophenylenevinylene moieties and showing enhanced or reduced PET as a function of dendrimer structure and size are presented along with simpler monochromophoric fullerodendrimers which illustrate the capability of fullerene triplets to probe dendritic shielding effects. The peculiar ground and excited-state properties of rigid and conformationally flexible fullerene-porphyrin systems arranged in a face-to-face fashion are described, both with meso,meso-linked or triply fused porphyrin oligomers. Control of the direction and nature of photoinduced processes is achieved in such systems, which additionally show charge transfer or porphyrin-centered near-infrared luminescence. The whole work is discussed in a historic perspective and further development for photoactive fullerodendrimers and face-to-face arrays, particularly in solar energy Conversion Devices, is envisaged. Copyright © 2010 American Chemical Society.
ChemSusChem | Year: 2011
Hydrogen is often proposed as the fuel of the future, but the transformation from the present fossil fuel economy to a hydrogen economy will need the solution of numerous complex scientific and technological issues, which will require several decades to be accomplished. Hydrogen is not an alternative fuel, but an energy carrier that has to be produced by using energy, starting from hydrogen-rich compounds. Production from gasoline or natural gas does not offer any advantage over the direct use of such fuels. Production from coal by gasification techniques with capture and sequestration of CO2 could be an interim solution. Water splitting by artificial photosynthesis, photobiological methods based on algae, and high temperatures obtained by nuclear or concentrated solar power plants are promising approaches, but still far from practical applications. In the next decades, the development of the hydrogen economy will most likely rely on water electrolysis by using enormous amounts of electric power, which in its turn has to be generated. Producing electricity by burning fossil fuels, of course, cannot be a rational solution. Hydroelectric power can give but a very modest contribution. Therefore, it will be necessary to generate large amounts of electric power by nuclear energy of by renewable energies. A hydrogen economy based on nuclear electricity would imply the construction of thousands of fission reactors, thereby magnifying all the problems related to the use of nuclear energy (e.g., safe disposal of radioactive waste, nuclear proliferation, plant decommissioning, uranium shortage). In principle, wind, photovoltaic, and concentrated solar power have the potential to produce enormous amounts of electric power, but, except for wind, such technologies are too underdeveloped and expensive to tackle such a big task in a short period of time. A full development of a hydrogen economy needs also improvement in hydrogen storage, transportation and distribution. Hydrogen and electricity can be easily interconverted by electrolysis and fuel cells, and which of these two energy carriers will prevail, particularly in the crucial field of road vehicle powering, will depend on the solutions found for their peculiar drawbacks, namely storage for electricity and transportation and distribution for hydrogen. There is little doubt that power production by renewable energies, energy storage by hydrogen, and electric power transportation and distribution by smart electric grids will play an essential role in phasing out fossil fuels. Energy: The hydrogen economy is often proposed by media and also by some scientists as the way out from fossil fuels. Is it an achievable goal? How far are we from it? This Review makes a critical analysis of the use of hydrogen in several different technologies. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. |
[Map of part of Georgia and South Carolina].
Portion of an unidentified printed map showing roads, railroads, towns, and drainage. Relief shown by hachures. Title and scale from Stephenson's Civil War maps, 1989. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), S20 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Manuscript annotation in ink at lower right corner: From Chf. Engrs. Off., Mily Divn. Miss., O.M. Poe, Bvt. Col. ...
Poe, O. M. (Orlando Metcalfe)
Middle Georgia & South Carolina
Scale ca. 1:633,600; 1 in. = 10 miles. Relief shown by hachures. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.) 129.1 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Copy 1 From the papers of Joseph Roswell Hawley. AACR2
United States Coast Survey - Bache, A. D. (Alexander Dallas) - Lindenkohl, A. - Krebs, Charles G. - Hawley, Joseph R. (Joseph Roswell)
Southern Georgia and part of South Carolina
Relief shown by hachures. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.) 129.45 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Includes list of authorities. Two copies
United States Coast Survey - Bache, A. D. (Alexander Dallas) - Lindenkohl, A. - Krebs, Charles G.
Relief shown by hachures. From the Orlando M. Poe papers in LC Manuscript Division. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.) 129.46 Includes list of authorities. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC copy imperfect: Western half is missing. Vault
United States Coast Survey - Bache, A. D. (Alexander Dallas) - Lindenkohl, A. - Krebs, Charles G. - Poe, O. M. (Orlando Metcalfe)
Relief shown by hachures. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), 129.5 Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC Copy lacks red overprint. This copy has been hand colored to show railroads in red and the boundaries of Georgia in Blue, South Carolina and Florida in red, and Alabama in yellow. LC Copy ...
Relief shown by hachures. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Description derived from published bibliography. LC copy: sheet 6 of a 6-sheet series of maps used by Gilbert Thompson during the Civil War. In addition to this sheet, the Geography and Map Division has sheet 1 (see CW 508.5), sheet 3 (see CW 305a.6), sheet 4 (see ...
United States Coast Survey - Bache, A. D. (Alexander Dallas) - Lindenkohl, A.
Birds-eye map of the Western and Atlantic R.R., the great Kennesaw route; Army operations, Atlanta campaign, 1864.
Map of northwest Georgia from Atlanta north to Chattanooga, Tenn., showing location and date of battles, railroads, principal roads, towns, rivers, and relief by hachures.
Fleming, Brewster & Alley - Western and Atlantic Railroad Company
"Atlanta campaign," left wing 16th Army Corps., May 4th to Sept. 8th, 1864 : Maj. Genl. G.M. Dodge, comdg., Genls. Corse and Burke, comdg. divisions
Shows dates, troop positions, and campsites in northwestern Georgia between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Relief shown by hachures. Gift; Miss Eleanor Sherman Fitch; July 7, 1942. Blue print. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), S180, 121 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. "Merged into the 15th A.C., Aug 64." Date "June 1890" printed on label, label affixed to ...
Bell, C. J.
Map illustrating the operations of the army under com'd of Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman, in Georgia, from May 5th to September 4th, 1864
Shows Union and Confederate works in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. Relief shown by hachures. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), S33, 123 Annotation in ink "Ezra Ch[urch]" west of Atlanta. In manuscript pencil at lower left: "Federal lines in blue, Rebel [lines in] red." In manuscript ink at lower left: "Photographed at Chief Engr's Office, Mily. Divn. Miss., Atlanta, Ga." Available also through ...
Brooks, Alfred F. - Poe, O. M. (Orlando Metcalfe) - United States. Army. Military Division of the Mississippi. Chief Engrs. Office
Genl. Sherman's campaign war map.
Map covering most of Georgia and South Carolina, showing defenses along the sea coast and around the principal towns, Confederate prisons at Andersonville and south of Millen, Ga., roads, railroads, towns, drainage, and relief by hachures.
Map illustrating the operations of the army under command of General W.T. Sherman, in Georgia, from May the 5th to September the 4th, 1864
Shows Union and Confederate works in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. Relief shown by hachures. Gift; Miss Eleanor Sherman Fitch; July 7, 1942. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), S181, 127 Indicates coverage of 5 additional maps described under CW 131 and S200. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC copy imperfect: Sectioned horizontally into 2 sheets, ...
Map showing the operations of the national forces under the command of Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman during the campaign resulting in the capture of Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 1, 1864
Shows dates and troop positions in northwestern Georgia between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Relief shown by hachures. Differs from other 1864 ed. (Sher 28) in inclusion of note at lower left. Gift; Mr. Sherman Ewing; Feb., 1965. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), 128, S27 Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image. Includes note. Signed in ink at lower left: ...
Hergesheimer, E. (Edwin) - Krebs, Charles G. - Poe, O. M. (Orlando Metcalfe) - United States Coast Survey - Hergesheimer, E.
Relief shown by hachures. Shows the area between Chattanooga, Tenn. and Lovejoy, Ga. "Prepared at the Coast Survey Office, Washington, D.C., from information furnished by Capt. O. M. Poe, Chief Engr. Genl. Sherman's staff and from Gen. Sherman's published report." LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.) S28 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Lacks text found on ...
Lloyd's topographical map of Georgia from state surveys before the war showing railways, stations, villages, mills, &c.
Scale ca. 1:580,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 129.6 "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1864 by J. T. Lloyd." "Price in sheets colored in counties 50 cents. Mounted and varnished. Hand-colored general map with places where battles occurred underlined in red. Another copy is in Fillmore map coll. No. 110-W. The Geography and Map Division also has an uncolored ...
Lloyd, James T.
Relief shown by hachures. "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1864 by J. T. Lloyd, in the clerk's office of the Dist. Court of the U.S. for the 8th n Dist. of New York." "Price in sheets colored in counties 50 cents. Mounted and varnished $1.00. Pocket Edn. with Union backs $200[sic], sent free by mail." Hand-colored general map with places ...
Sherman's campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta [1864]
Scale ca. 1:500,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 129.85 From his History of the Civil War, 1861-1865. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1917. Facing p. 314. Map of northwest Georgia showing the "lines of works erected by the United States forces" in blue and "Confederate forces" in red. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as ...
Rhodes, James Ford - Servoss, R. D.
[Troop positions in Georgia].
Shows "Hookers line," "Hookers old works," "Gen. Newtown's right," "Stanley's left," and "Rebel works." Area and engagement unidentified. Relief shown by hachures. Title and date from Stephenson's Civil War maps, 1989. Pen-and-ink and blue ink on tracing cloth, mounted on paper. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), S23, 130 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image.
Map of army operations Atlanta campaign between Cassville and Mariette and vicinity
Scale 1:285,120. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 132.6 Map of Bartow, Cherokee, Paulding, and Cobb counties, Georgia, showing location and date of battles, entrenchments, towns, roads, railroads, drainage, and relief by hachures. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Western and Atlantic Railroad Company
Map of army operations Atlanta campaign between Kingston and Atlanta
Scale 1:285,120. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 132.7 Map of Bartow, Cherokee, Paulding, Cobb, and Fulton counties, Georgia, showing location and date of battles, towns, roads, railroads, entrenchments, drainage, and relief by hachures. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Scale ca. 1:830,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 133 From Century illustrated monthly magazine, v. 34, July 1887. P. 446. Map of the northwest Georgia showing location and date of engagements, railroads, towns, rivers, relief by hachures, and county names and boundaries. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Map of the Atlanta Campaign
Relief shown by hachures. Map of the northwest Georgia showing location and date of engagements, railroads, towns, rivers, and county names and boundaries. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), 133.2 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Description derived from published bibliography.
Map[s] illustrating the military operations of the Atlanta campaign ... 1864
Shows Union Army lines of march, dates, troop positions, and campsites in northwestern Georgia between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Relief shown by hachures. The coverage of these 5 maps is indicated on J.v. Glümer's Map illustrating the operations of the army under command of General W.T. Sherman, in Georgia, from May the 5th to September the 4th, 1864 (CW 127, S181). LC Civil War maps ...
Relief shown by hachures. Shows Union Army lines of march, dates, troop positions, and campsites in northwestern Georgia between Chattanooga and Atlanta. The coverage of these 5 maps is indicated on J.v. Glümer's Map illustrating the operations of the army under command of General W.T. Sherman, in Georgia, from May the 5th to September the 4th, 1864 (CW 127, S181). LC Civil War maps ...
United States. War Department. Office of the Chief of Engineers - Julius Bien & Co.
Map of Chickamauga National Military Park.
Scale not given. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 154.5 Copyright no. 20184aa, May 27, 1895. 98 sites are listed and keyed by number to the map. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Ferger, Edward - Taylor, A. J.
Map of Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Park
War route to Chickamauga. Dedication Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park, September 18, 19, and 20, 1895.
Scale ca. 1:57,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 157.6 Copyright, 1895, by Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. "13421" is in the lower left corner. Title when folded: War route to Chickamauga. Dedication Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park, September 18, 19, and 20, 1895. Map shows roads, railroads, state boundaries, place names, and boundary of national park. "Red lines indicate government roads." Description ...
Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway
United States. Army. Department of the Cumberland. Topographical Engineers
United States. Army. Corps of Topographical Engineers |
Thirty pen and ink maps of the Maryland Campaign, 1862 : drawn from descriptive readings and map fragments
Photocopies of manuscript maps showing Union and Confederate troop positions. Confederate troop positions annotated in red pencil. Title from typewritten label (5 x 14 cm.) affixed to p. [1]. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), 243 LeGear. Atlases of the United States, 10668 Each map includes note. At lower right of each map: 2. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as ...
Russell, Robert E. L.
Field notes on Sharpsburg battle field
Shows names of some residents. Relief shown by hachures. Accompanied by separate piece of paper with bar scale for "Large scale map." Pen-and-ink and pencil (some col.) on graph paper with red edges. Bound in black leather. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), H4 Includes notes on final 3 pages. Printed label on end paper: Wm. F. Murphy's Sons Company ... Available also through ...
Hotchkiss, Jedediah
Field note book of Wm. Luce, Eng. of Capt. J.W. Abert's party of U.S. Top. Engs., with pass from Gen. Banks of Oct. 1861 : [Maryland].
Field note book of William Luce, Engineer of Captain J.W. Abert's party of United States Topographical Engineers, with pass from General Banks of October 1861 | Captured field notes
Shows roads and general maps in Frederick and Montgomery counties, Maryland, and names of some residents. Relief shown by hachures. Pen-and-ink and pencil on lined paper. Folded pass pasted to p. [1]. Bound in brown leather. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), H6 Title and the following are written on a slip of paper pasted on the front cover of the notebook: Luce and ...
Luce, William - Hotchkiss, Jedediah
Sketch book of Jed. Hotchkiss, Capt. & Top. Eng., Hd. Qrs., 2nd Corps, Army of N. Virginia : [Virginia].
Sketch book of Jedediah Hotchkiss, Captain and Topographical Engineer, Headquarters, 2nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
Shows general maps of northwestern Virginia and parts of Montgomery County, Maryland, with some showing roads, troop movements, and the names of some residents. Relief shown by hachures. "This volume is my field sketch book that I used during the Civil War. Most of the sketches were made on horseback just as they now appear. The colored pencils used were kept in the places ...
The new war map of Virginia, Maryland & Pennsylvania.
General map of the Middle Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay regions showing railroads, highways, and selected forts in eastern Virginia. Does not show Civil War battle locations or troop positions. Relief shown by hachures. Printed in brown. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC copy fold-lined. Acquisitions control no.: 91-52 CW3
Russell, (Benjamin ) - Russell
Map of part of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware : from the best authorities
Scale ca. 1:400,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 13.4 Relief shown by hachures. Depths shown by soundings. "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1861 by E. & G.W. Blunt in the ... Southern District of New York." General map of the Chesapeake Bay region showing cities and towns, state and county boundaries, railroads, roads, canals, drainage, lighthouses, forts, and soundings. ...
Heyne, Chas. (Charles) - Bien, Julius - Fillmore, Millard - E. & G.W. Blunt (Firm) - Heyne, Chas
[Map of parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia covering areas from Harrisburg to Leesburg, and from Hancock to Baltimore].
Shows names of some residents. Relief shown by hachures. Title, date, and scale from Stephenson's Civil War maps, 1989. Each sheet pasted together in 3 sections, sectioned in 2, and mounted on cloth. The manuscript original is at the Handley Library in Winchester, Virginia. LC Civil War maps (2nd ed.), H156 In ink in bottom right corner: No. 805. Available also through the Library ...
Pocket map showing the probable theatre of the war
Scale ca. 1:1,700,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 1 Map of Maryland, Delaware, and parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, showing "camps & forts" underlined in red, "prominent places" underlined in blue, roads, railroads, drainage, towns, and boundaries. Insets: [Street pattern of the city of Baltimore] 9 x 12 cm.-[Map of the city and county of Washington, and the county of Alexandria] 13 x ...
Scale ca. 1:1,700,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 1.1 Another issue. Map of Maryland, Delaware, and parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, "camps & forts" underlined in red and "prominent places" underlined in blue are not shown. Insets: [Street pattern of the city of Baltimore] 9 x 12 cm.-[Map of the city and county of Washington, and the county of Alexandria] 13 x 13 ...
War map, showing the vicinities of Baltimore & Washington,
Scale ca. 1:450,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 241.5 "Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1861 by G. M. Hopkins." General map of eastern and central Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Upper Potomac from McCoy's Ferry to Conrad's Ferry and adjacent portions of Maryland and Virginia
Scale ca. 1:130,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245.17 Another edition. Map, extends from Frederick, Maryland, west to Winchester, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland, south to Front Royal, Virginia. Depicted are roads, railroads, canals, drainage, houses, cities and towns, and relief by hachures. In some areas, countryside is described by terms such as "hilly & wooded country," "open country," etc. Includes border. Inset: Strasburg ...
United States. Army. Corps of Engineers - Macomb, J. N. (John N.) - Strother, D. H.
Scale ca. 1:130,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245.15 Map, without border, extends from Frederick, Maryland, west to Winchester, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland, south to Front Royal, Virginia. Depicted are roads, railroads, canals, drainage, houses, cities and towns, and relief by hachures. In some areas, countryside is described by terms such as "hilly & wooded country," "open country," etc. Stamped in lower left ...
United States. Army. Corps of Engineers
Upper Potomac from McCoy's Ferry to Conrad's Ferry and adjacent portions of Maryland and Virginia.
Scale ca. 1:130,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245.2 Another edition. Corrections S.W. of Winchester by Capt. Meigs, Sept. 1864. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Portion of the Military department of Washington embraching lower counties of Maryland.
Scale 1:200,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245.1 General map extending from Washington, D.C., south to Point Lookout, Maryland. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Map of the vicinity of Hagerstown, Funkstown, Williamsport, and Falling Waters, Maryland
Scale ca. 1:21,500. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245 "United States forces are shown in blue [and] Confederate forces are shown in red." Indicates houses, names of residents, stone fences, roads, vegetation, drainage, and relief by hachures. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
Map of the Maryland Campaign, Sept. 3rd to 29th 1862
Scale ca. 1:193,000. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 244 Annotated in different colors to show the routes between Sept. 4th and 14th of the "9th Corps, Reno,"1st Corps, Hooker," "12th Corps, Williams," "2nd Corps, Sumner," "6th Corps, Franklin," "Couch's Division," and "Sykes Division." Positive photostat of map in E. W. Sheppard's The Campaign in Virginia and Maryland, June 26th to Sept. 20th 1862 ...
Sheppard, Eric W.
Birds eye view of Maryland and Virginia.
Not drawn to scale. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 449.5 Panoramic map looking south from southern Pennsylvania showing relief, rivers, place names, and railroads. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.
S. N. Gaston and Company
Theatre of operations, Maryland Campaign, September 1862
Relief shown by hachures. The numerous red and blue ink troop position symbols are believed to have been added by hand to the photocopy base maps by Genl. Ezra A. Carman. Statement at foot of base-map title is lined over in black ink: Taken from atlas accompanying war records. The base maps cover central Maryland including the regions of Baltimore, Washington D.C., Harper's Ferry, ...
Mattern, H. W. - Carman, Ezra Ayers
Map of Antietam National Cemetery at Sharpsburg, Maryland
Scale 1:600. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245.65 "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1867 by the Board of Trustees of the 'Antietam National Cemetary' in the Clerks Office of the U.S. District Court for Maryland." 29 "references" are keyed by number to the map. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as ...
Scale ca. 1:48,500. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 251 From Century illustrated monthly magazine, v. 32, June 1886. p. 290. Shows batteries, troop positions and movements, names of commanders, roads, street pattern of Sharpsburg, drainage, vegetation, relief by hachures, houses, names of residents, and fences. Chronology of events appears below the map. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of ...
Wells, Jaco
Map of the battlefield of Antietam. This map shows the position of each of the forty-two different commands of the regular army engaged in the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. Battery ...
Scale 1:14,080. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 250 Legend lists Union commands and the names of the commanders. Each unit is keyed by number to a position on the map. Confederate positions are not indicated. Shows roads, railroad, houses, fences, names of residents, "Burnside Bridge," "Bloody Lane," "Dunker's Chapel," "National Cemetery," towns, vegetation, drainage, fords, and relief by hachures. Description derived from published ...
Antietam Battlefield Board - Friebus, Theo
Northwest, or no. 1, sheet of preliminary map of Antietam (Sharpsburg) battlefield. Enlarged from the "Michler" map of the war records atlas with corrections and additions
Scale ca. 1:10,400. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 250.2 The Geography and Map Division has sheets 1 and 2 of 4 sheets. For a description of sheet 2, see Civil War Maps entry no. 250.3. Map extends from Sharpsburg north to Bakersville and shows roads and lanes, houses and names of residents, fences, drainage, and woodland. Troop positions are not noted. This map ...
Antietam Battlefield Board
(No. 2) Map of the battlefield of Antietam
Scale 1:14,908. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 250.1 Map of the battlefield showing roads and lanes, houses and names of residents, fences, drainage, woodland, and relief by hachures. Troop positions are not indicated. This map was acquired by the Library of Congress in 1948 with the purchase of the papers and maps of Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also ...
Southwest, or no. 2, sheet of preliminary map of Antietam (Sharpsburg) battlefield. Enlarged from "Michler" map of the war records atlas with corrections and additions
Scale ca. 1:10,400. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 250.3 The Geography and Map Division has sheets 1 and 2 of 4 sheets. For a description of sheet 1, see Civil War Maps entry no. 250.2. Map extends from Sharpsburg south to Antietam Iron Works and shows roads and lanes, houses and names of residents, fences, and drainage. Troop positions are not noted. This ...
Antietam battlefield. Preliminary map no. 3.
Scale ca. 1:5,040. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 245.6 Detailed map of the battlefield showing roads and lanes, fences, houses, names of residents, crops, woodland, and relief by hachures. Troop positions are not noted. This map was acquired by the Library of Congress in 1948 with the purchase of the papers and maps of Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss. Description derived from published bibliography. Available ... |
Smoking Tied to Back Pain, Arthritis
Two new studies have implicated smoking in the development of psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory back pain. MedpageToday
Two new studies have implicated smoking in the development of psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory back pain.Note that taken together, the study results illustrate that the interactions between environmental factors and the onset, course, and outcomes of rheumatic diseases are growing increasingly complex. Two new studies have implicated smoking in the development of psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory back pain.
In one study, the relative risk for incident psoriatic arthritis was 1.54 (95% CI 1.06 to 2.24) for previous smokers and 3.13 (95% CI 2.08 to 4.71) for those who currently smoke compared with people who had never smoked, according to Abrar Qureshi, MD, and colleagues from Harvard University in Boston.Read Full Article
In the second study, smokers had earlier onset of inflammatory back pain, with a regression coefficient β of −1.46 (P=0.04) and worse disease activity (β = 0.20, P=0.03), reported Maxime Dougados, MD, of Paris-Descartes University in Paris, and colleagues.
"Taken together, the interactions between environmental factors and the onset, the course, and outcomes of rheumatic diseases are getting increasingly complex, and it is becoming increasingly clear how detrimental the influence of smoking is on most of these diseases," wrote Jürgen Braun, MD, of Rheumatology Medical Center Ruhrgebiet in Herne, Germany, and colleagues in an accompanying editorial.
The studies and editorial were published in the June Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
The study from Qureshi and colleagues examined the incidence of the condition among 95,000 participants in the Nurses' Health Study over 14 years, identifying 157 cases.
The likelihood of developing psoriatic arthritis increased with the duration and intensity of smoking (P<0.0001 for trend for all): Less than 25 years of smoking, RR 1.70 25 years or more, RR 3.12 Less than 20 pack-years, RR 1.48 20 to 44 pack-years, RR 3.33 45 or more pack-years, RR 3.91 Moreover, the risks of severe disease were "remarkably elevated" among smokers with a 25-year history (RR 4.29, 95% CI 1.65 to 11.18, P=0.005) and with 20 or more pack-years (RR 3.86, 95% CI 1.62 to 9.19, P=0.030), according to Qureshi's group.
Among the possible mechanisms by which smoking could influence the incidence and course of psoriatic arthritis are through the induction of oxidative stress, and effects on inflammation and the immune system, the researchers noted.
"The mechanisms underlying the association remain to be elucidated and further work is warranted to uncover the molecular or biological pathways linking exposure to cigarette smoke and the development of [psoriatic arthritis]," they wrote.
Limitations of this study included self-report of psoriatic arthritis and possible diagnostic misclassification, along with a female predominance.
The second study from Dougados and co-authors included 647 patients from France with early axial spondyloarthritis, 37.2% of whom were past or present smokers.
The mean age at onset of inflammatory back pain was 31 among smokers and 33 among nonsmokers (P=0.04).
Along with earlier onset and greater disease activity, smokers reported worse function (β = 0.38, P=0.02) and poor quality of life (β = 1.38, P<0.001).
On MRI, smokers were more likely to have structural lesions of sacroiliac joints (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.26, P=0.03) and the spine (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.55, P=0.01).
The worsened disease activity and poorer function seen among smokers in this study "also translated into increased missing work days as a result of disease, which may lead to a higher socioeconomic burden and costs, especially taking into account the relatively young age of onset and long expected disease survival of these patients," observed Dougados and colleagues.
They recommended that patients with axial spondyloarthritis be "strongly advised" to quit smoking, "as there seem to be disease-specific benefits that go beyond those described for the general population."
The study by Qureshi's group supported by Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.The study by Dougados's group was supported by the French Society of Rheumatology and Pfizer.All authors and the editorialists reported no conflicts of interest. Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner 2012-05-18T12:19:24-0400 |
ə-ˈven-chə-ˌrēn Stone of Self Reflection & Opportunity
Aventurine is a stone that is available in a variety of colors, although the shades of green are the most commonly related to the stone. Other colors include, but are not limited to: blue, red, brown, peach, yellow and grey. This lovely stone is often mistaken for Jade, Amazonite, and in some cases, even Chalcedony.
There is a story of lore stating that the origin of the name of this stone is from Venetian Glass makers in the 18th Century accidentally dropping shimmering shavings into green glass that gave it a wonderful sparkle. This story may not be wholly inaccurate, but it is certainly not the whole story. It is almost as if these stories state that Aventurine is not a gemstone at all, but a piece of sparkly glass, more like Goldstone. Aventurine is most assuredly a stone, not a shimmering glass.
Mohs Hardness of 7 with a trigonal crystal structure.
Scientifically there are two types of Aventurine. The most common is Aventurine Quartz, which has platy inclusions of green fuchsite mica. And Aventurine Feldspar, which has green platy crystals, giving this variety more of a sparkle or glittering. Aventurine Feldspar has a Mohs hardness of 6 and has a triclinic crystal structure.
Quartz in general is one of the largest available gemstone deposits from igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary stone, covering nearly 12% of the earth’s crust.
Green Aventurine Quartz is actually considered a ‘quartzites’. Meaning that it is actually a rock, not a mineral, comprised essentially of interlocking macrocrystalline quartz grains with disseminated grains from other minerals that impart colors to the stone.
As a variety of quartz and feldspar, Aventurine deposits are found in Brazil, India, Austria, Russia, Spain, Chile, and Tanzania. Some of the most primitive stone tools crafted by human ancestors more than 2.5 million years ago were found to be made of many quartz varieties, such as Aventurine.
Aventurine is a lovely stone used to balance the male/female energies, to help reinforce decisiveness, and supplementing greater motivation in all activities. All of these attributes are once again assisted by Aventurine to offer an inner equilibrium and and amplified leadership skills and abilities.
Told to stimulate dreaming as well as enhancing visualization, Aventurine has quite a positive effect on the psyche. This is a wonderful stone for those involved in creative ventures or activities of any kind, as it told to impart incredibly creative ideas from one’s inner openness and the aligning of the physical and astral bodies. Aventurine is considered an all around ‘luck’ stone, in any color. Although the green color seems to be the most powerful, especially where money is concerned.
Blue The blue shade of Aventurine is used in healing and balancing the emotions, helping us to communicate more clearly and creatively. It stimulates creativity, intellect, as well as independence. It is also said to provide patience, eliminate stubbornness, control excitability, and to give one a deeper understanding of the cause and effect in situations, thus allowing one to more completely understand any situation and to assist in finding the optimal solution.
Green Green Aventurine is told to relieve anxiety and calm one’s emotions, to bring about opportunity and to give good luck in games of chance. It is said to have the ability to enhance one’s sense of humor and cheerfulness as well. While it makes a powerful good luck piece to draw opportunities your way, it is told that it may also draw unexpected adventures as well as good luck in love.
Peach This is the most soothing Aventurine stone, to assist with decision making skills and to enhance creativity. This is a good stone for writers, artist, musicians, and anyone else working on a creative endeavor or in the creative field, to help opening up and enhance creative visualizations.
Red Red aventurine not only enhances creativity, it grants the ability to intuitively see possibilities and take advantage of those offerings. It is told that it shall bring the bearer more prosperity and less negativity.
Aventurine is told to assist one in making decisions from the heart and bestowing the courage to live one’s truth openly and proudly around others, without worry of judgement. It is comforting, supportive, and balancing as well.
Green has a very strong healing energy as well as a ‘growth’ vibe. It is told to have the power to calm a troubled spirit, bring about inner peace, and relieve deep seated anxieties and fear, while cultivating a positive outlook on life.
Aventurine has been used in Medicine Wheel rituals to assist connection with the spirit guides by lifting the true heart one (or a group) becomes a beacon to the guides.
Physically, Aventurine has effectiveness on the adrenal glands, muscular system, connective tissues, and nervous system. Said to be one of the best stones for relief of migraine headaches. Always helpful with eyes and eyesight, it also helps one “see” in true light.
Aventurine is most effective when worn or carried for longer periods of time, the longer it is utilized the more effective the results will be.
Aventurine is a stone used in magical practice for general luck, but specifically for attracting money; it is often coined the ‘gambler’s stone’ as long standing lore, and said to be used in games of chance.
It is best when used for increased perception, to stimulate creativity, and enhance intelligence. It is wonderfully gifted in bringing clairvoyance, inducing psychic dream states to bring answers to quandaries, and to glimpse into the future.
Aventurine needs to be cleansed after each ritual or medatative use, or at least once a month under running water, and allowed to recharge in the sun. If at all possible, allow that recharging to be in, on, or near a living green plant, which may help to rejuvenate both the stone and the plant.
Zodiac Stone of: Aries
Associations: Mars
Birthstone: Not a Traditional or Modern Birthstone for any month.
Green is the favored color of Aventurine Chakra work, as it is related to the heart, it is used mainly to both clear and activate the 4th, Heart Chakra, as well as protect the heart. Much akin to a cherished shield, Aventurine provides a a protective defense against others who wish to attach themselves to use one’s personal energy as their own.
Used during meditation, Green Aventurine may be programed with quite a strong intent based on one’s desired attributes of this lovey stone. |
by Nick Gromicko and Ethan Ward
Admixtures are ingredients other than water, aggregate and Portland cement that are added to a concrete mixture immediately prior to or during mixing. These ingredients can be used to modify the properties of concrete by affecting its workability and set time, compensating for the effects of temperature during curing, ensuring the quality of the concrete during mixing, transport and placing, and even for adding pigment. The use of concrete admixtures is fairly standard for both residential and commercial builds. While admixtures provide benefits and solve problems when properly utilized, they may also contribute to defects if applied improperly. For example, if an accelerating admixture is used incorrectly or contains too much calcium chloride, there is evidence that drying shrinkage can be increased and lead to cracking. While it may be difficult to determine whether the improper use of an admixture is the culprit behind a defect found during an inspection, knowledge about the different types of admixtures and their functions can be beneficial for inspectors who seek a greater understanding of the complex and dynamic elements of the concrete materials of a building’s components. Types of Admixtures Concrete admixtures are classified by their functions and the properties they lend to concrete. They include:
retarding;
accelerating;
water-reducing;
air-entraining; and
super-plasticizers.
Each of these types of admixtures is used to achieve different effects and solve specific problems. There are several other common admixtures used for purposes that do not fit within these categories, such as bonding and waterproofing mixtures. Retarding admixtures are used to increase the set time of concrete by slowing hydration. This is especially useful for counteracting the effects of high temperatures, which cause concrete to harden at a faster rate. Since most retarders also act as water reducers, they are often called water-reducing retarders.
This type of admixture works by forming a film around the compounds, which slows their reaction with water. The thickness of the film determines how much the rate of hydration is retarded and, by extension, how long the concrete will take to set. Both organic and inorganic agents may be used in retarding admixtures. Unrefined calcium, sodium, NH4, carbohydrates, salts of lignosulfonic acids, and hydrocarboxylic acids are all examples of organic retardants. Inorganic retardants include zinc and lead oxides, phosphates, magnesium salts and borates. Accelerating admixtures work in the opposite manner from retarding admixtures, decreasing the set time of concrete. This helps counteract the effects of cold weather, which causes hardening at a slower rate. The use of these admixtures may also allow early removal of forms and early surface finishing. In certain cases, they may also allow for early load application.
Chemical compositions of accelerators may include organic compounds, such as triethanolamine, as well as inorganic compounds, such as soluble chlorides, carbonates, silicates and fluorosilicates. Calcium chloride is the most commonly used accelerator for concrete, but chloride-free accelerators are becoming more popular due to the problems associated with calcium chloride, which can include corrosion of steel reinforcement, rapid stiffening, and an increase in drying shrinkage.
Water-reducing admixtures can be used to increase set time in hot weather, similar to retarding admixtures, but their main role is to allow for a more fluid mix with a lower water content. Commonly, 5% to 10% less water may be used in the mixture when water-reducing admixtures are utilized.
Active ingredients in water-reducing admixtures fall into three categories:
salts and modifications of hydroxylzed carboxylic acids (HC type);
salts and modifications of lignosulfonic acids (lignins); and
polymeric materials (PS type).
In addition to improving workability by increasing the fluidity, water-reducing admixtures also increase the strength of concrete, as well as its freeze-thaw resistance. Air-entraining admixtures are another additive used to enhance concrete’s durability in relation to freeze-thaw cycles, which is especially important in colder climates. These admixtures disperse small air bubbles in the mix. The bubbles then become part of the matrix that binds the aggregate together in the hardened concrete. Air-entrained concrete also has the added benefit of being more workable, and the use of air-entraining admixtures reduces bleeding and segregation of fresh concrete, as well.
The chemicals most commonly used for air-entrainment fall into four categories:
synthetic detergents;
salts of petroleum acids;
salts of wood resins; and
fatty resinous acids and their salts.
Super-plasticizers are also known as high-range water reducers. These admixtures can be used to reduce the water content of concrete by up to 30%, creating a highly fluid and workable mix. This flowing mix is used in heavily reinforced structures and placements in which adequate consolidation by vibration cannot otherwise be easily achieved.
Most commercial formulations of super-plasticizers fit into one of four families:
sulfonated melamine-formaldehyde condensates (SMF);
sulfonated naphthalene-formaldehyde condensates (SNF);
modified lignosulfonates (MLS); and
polycarboxylate derivatives.
Other Types of Admixtures
There are several types of admixtures that fall outside the realm of the main five categories above. Bonding admixtures are sometimes used to facilitate bonding new or fresh concrete with old or set concrete. These may include the addition of compounds such as acrylics, polyvinyl chlorides, acetates and butadiene-styrene co-polymers.
Coloring agents, either integral or surface-applied, are another form of admixture that is commonly used. Some types have the additional effect of accelerated surface hardening, which can be advantageous.
Waterproofing and damp-proofing admixtures include soaps, butyl stearate, mineral oil and asphalt emulsions. These additives can help reduce water penetration into the larger pores of the concrete.
“Anti-freeze” admixtures have a very high amount of an accelerating agent that produce an extremely fast set time. These are generally used in commercial applications.
Concerns When Using Admixtures
Concrete mix can be compromised if directions are not followed explicitly. It is often necessary to add supplemental materials in order to balance out any negative side effects that the use of an admixture may have on the finished concrete. An in-depth knowledge of the interrelated effects of different admixtures is generally required in order to utilize them successfully and avoid compromising the finished concrete. This makes choosing the appropriate admixture the responsibility of experts. The process or finished product may be weakened further if several parties are involved at different stages of the manufacture. The final quality of the finished concrete can be the result of individual decisions on the part of the producer, placing contractor and the builder. This makes communication an important factor.
Some admixtures may have a questionable impact on the environment. Super-plasticizers, for example, may pollute groundwater and surface waters. Ongoing research is being conducted to determine how different admixtures impact the environment. |
Health Benefits Of Nonalcoholic Wine
Wine lovers, get ready for a buzz kill. A new study has found that drinking two glasses of red wine a day can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease - but only if the alcohol has been removed.Writing in the journal Circulation Research, Spanish investigators reported on 67 men with several cardiovascular risk factors or diabetes. The men spent three periods of four weeks each, enjoying either non-alcoholic red wine, red wine, or gin with their meals, switching to a different beverage at the end of every phase.During the month they indulged in regular red wine or gin, the men's blood pressures showed little or no change. But there was a drop in their blood pressure when they drank the non-alcoholic wine. The dip in pressure was modest - just a few points - but it translated into a 14 percent reduced risk for coronary heart disease and a 20 percent decrease in risk for strokes.
Chemical BenefitsPolyphenols are the antioxidant compounds in red wine thought to bestow its heart-healthy benefits, including reduced blood pressure. However, previous studies haven't found that drinking red wine corresponds to a drop in blood pressure. Just last year a Dutch study reported that drinking a dairy beverage infused with polyphenols didn't budge the blood pressures in those with mild hypertension.Why would removing the alcohol from the wine improve pressure in this particular study? The authors speculate that the virgin wine increased nitric oxide in the bloodstream, a chemical that relaxes blood vessels.Drinking alcoholic red wine raised nitric oxide slightly and gin, not at all. According to Dr. Franz Messerli, a cardiologist at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York., this could mean that alcohol cancels out some of the good done by the antioxidants. "Since alcohol in larger doses narrows the blood vessels, it can override the beneficial relaxation of the vessels by the polyphenols in the red wine," he said.
More Proof NeededDr. Malissa Wood, a cardiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center in Boston, said she thinks there could be other reasons why the nonalcoholic wine lowered blood pressure but they weren't clearly laid out in the study."Maybe it's related to the type of grape and process used to make the wine - the authors didn't specify whether or not all the wines were made from the same grapes using the same techniques. It's also possible that the process for removal of alcohol leads to formation of another potentially beneficial compound or increases the content of antioxidants," she said.The study had additional limitations that should be considered as well. For one thing, both the researchers and the men knew what each glass contained. Perhaps this influenced them in some way. The subjects also didn't do a "washout" period before switching drinks so their blood pressures didn't get a chance to reset to their baseline.
"There could be a carry-over effect between treatments that was cumulative with time, resulting in lower blood pressure as the trial continued in time," said Donna Arnett, the current president of the American Heart Association and a professor at the University of Alabama School of Public Health in Birmingham.Including a group of teetotalers would have served as a useful comparison, Arnett said. And, she said, the findings might not hold for women or healthy individuals.Given these limitations, the experts say wine lovers hoping to lower their blood pressure should stay tuned for larger, better designed studies. In the meantime, moderate drinking (one drink a day for women, two a day for men) has been found to confer a host of other cardio-protective effects, including a reduced buildup of plaque in the arteries and an increase of "good" cholesterol. Over-imbibing is clearly associated with a greater risk of heart disease and stroke.People who wish to abstain from alcohol completely -- and anyone under 21 years of age -- should note that beverages labeled "non-alcoholic" aren't completely alcohol-free. By law, they're allowed to contain up to half a percent of alcohol by volume. A drink that truly has no alcohol is labeled "alcohol free." Read more |
Overcoming Canine Obesity
Obesity is the most common canine nutritional disease in this country, occurring in up to 25% of dogs. While the many problems associated with weight gain are frightening, it's reassuring to know that by keeping your dog at a reasonable weight, you can reduce his chances of diabetes, heart disease, orthopedic problems, and possibly even cancer.
To determine whether your dog is overweight, stand over him and check for a waist—a visible indentation behind his ribs. All dogs, regardless of breed should have a waist. Then give him a hands-on test. Can you feel his ribs? They shouldn't be sticking out, but you should be able to find them through a layer of skin and muscle, and be able to easily count them. If all you feel is rolls of fat, it's time to begin a diet and exercise plan.
Feed your dog properly
If you feed your dog a prepared pet food, the label on the package will provide a guideline as to how much to feed daily. These recommendations are a guideline only and you should make adjustments according to your dog's individual needs. Don't forget to take into account the calories in treats and other tidbits he eats—they shouldn't make up more than 10% of his daily calorie intake.
Get enough exercise
Try to exercise your dog as much as he is able. The more muscle he maintains, the more calories he'll burn and less fat he'll carry. Not only that, but when you fill his time with fun activities, he'll spend less time hanging around the food bowl. This increased activity won't just benefit your dog, it will benefit you.
Instruct family members and visitors not to give your dog any treats or table scraps.
Don't give your dog one heaping bowl of food that he can eat whenever he wants. Instead, give him two to four small measured meals a day so you can regulate his portions.
Start keeping a record of your dog's weight. If possible, weigh him once a week.
If you have more than one dog, feed them separately. That way, your overweight dog won't have access to that "second helping."
To keep him from begging for food, feed your dog before you have your own meals.
If your dog spends a lot of time outdoors, make sure that all of your garbage cans have secure covers. (That applies to indoor garbage cans, too!)
Keep lots of clean, fresh water available.
Finally, be sure to take your dog to your veterinarian for a checkup and expert advice. Your vet may give you guidelines on exercise appropriate for your dog's age and health as well as specific advice on how much he should be eating. He can also check for, and treat, any weight-related problems. |
Comment NEW DELHI, India — Seated on a hospital bed and dressed in a simple white undershirt, singer Bant Singh gestures unconsciously with the stump of his right arm as he speaks. His powerful voice has a rough beauty that is, like that of Woody Guthrie or Hank Williams, well suited to his dark subject.
"If we're to starve," he says, "we may as well fight for our freedom. At least we'll be remembered. Move away from living on the streets, or our thatched hovels. Let's all become Bhagat Singh, become masters of this nation, stop this looting, stop the violation of our wives and sisters."
It's that kind of talk, and equally revolutionary songs, that cost Singh both of his arms and one of his legs. As a Dalit — a member of one of the castes once known as "untouchable" — Singh angered higher caste landlords, whom he criticized for exploiting workers, just by speaking out. But when he dared to bring the upper caste men who raped his daughter to court, eventually sending three of them to jail with a life sentence in 2002, his so-called "betters" decided to get even.
One night four years later, a gang of seven men caught Singh returning home through a wheat field, smashed and broke his body with axes and iron rods, and left him for dead. But he refused to die. And he refused to shut up. He shouted, and sang, until one day he saw justice done, and all seven attackers were convicted for the assault.
His heroism made him a bigger star in the rural Punjab than he ever was when he still had all four limbs, and he's an inspiration to oppressed people across India. Now, thanks to a bunch of deejays, musicians, filmmakers and photographers who call themselves The Bant Singh Project, his voice is about to be heard in India's urban nightspots, and maybe even across the globe.
"Each of us was independently moved by Bant Singh's history and desired to work with him," said American Chris McGuinness, a Bombay-based deejay who's performed at the International Indian Film Academy Awards and contributed score music to a film featured at Cannes. "His music and lyrics are interesting. He has a unique background and his presence injects something special into the music. Working with him allows us to make fresh music and build awareness of issues that affect many people in India."
Fusing the music of McGuinness, Taru Dalmia (aka Delhi Sultanate) and Samrat B (aka Audio Pervert), the project will lay Singh's protest songs over electronic grooves and the beats of dancehall, dubstep, ragga and hip hop, and on some tracks Dalmia's rap will serve as creative translation of Singh's Punjabi poetry. Photographer Lakshman Anand has also made a short film about Singh, examining the struggle of Dalits in the Punjab through the vehicle of his tragic story, which was shown in Delhi in September.
Earlier this year, the crew drove from the posh side of Delhi to Bant Singh's remote village in the Punjab with a car full of recording equipment and other gear. The mission was to jam with the man and record his songs for the project, of course. But for the city musicians, it was a transformational experience, sleeping on the roof and splashing in the local swimming hole with Singh's eight kids.
"There's a big language barrier, so him coming across as an iconic figure came to us first," said Samrat. But the content of Bant Singh's songs is inspiring, too. "His lyrics also involve taking the example of the legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, who was branded an extremist by the Congress Party but is considered an iconic figure by the lower class of Punjab. But what he's singing about is very contemporary."
The words of one mournful tune, for example, take on the exploitation of the women of the poor. The narrator of the song is a young girl who, because of her great beauty, is being given in marriage to a family that is wealthier and perhaps of higher caste than her own. There's a terrible echo to Bant Singh's personal experience when, fearing that she will be mistreated, she asks her father to include the means to protect the family's honor in her dowry:
The implication is that rather than live as a slave, she will shoot her husband and herself. But Singh's story is about living on. He says that for his people, the song's message is important, because nobody has ever told them that they can fight back.
"The little that I read about [Bant Singh] in the papers made it appear that he was destroyed," said Samrat. "But when we met him, he was incredibly strong. He's lost three of his limbs, but he has
immense strength of character." |
Select Committee on European Union Fourth Report
National competition authorities
52. Under the Commission's proposal the national
competition authorities in the Member States would take on an
additional major role in the day to day enforcement of the Community
Competition Rules. The Commission would assist by drawing up notices
and guidelines to explain its policy and to provide guidance on
the application of Community law by national authorities. The
Commission envisaged a network of authorities operating on common
principles and in close collaboration. National authorities would
notify the Commission when it was dealing with a case. If the
question arose as to which national authority should handle a
case the documents should be passed on to the authority "best
placed to deal with it". [13]
53. The CBI pointed out that few national competition
authorities have direct experience in the application of the Competition
Rules (p 12). Professor Whish said that the level of experience
from one Member State to another was vastly different and only
about half had taken powers to apply Community competition law
(QQ 12, 20). Both France and Germany had done so. Since 1992 the
French had applied the Community competition rules on average
about two or three times a year. Proving the necessary effect
on inter-State trade had sometimes been difficult (Q 205). The
Germans had applied Articles 81 and 82 in 21 cases, four of which
were before the introduction of Regulation 17 in 1962. Dr Wolf
(BKA) explained that the German Federal Cartel Office had found
it useful to apply the Community rules where they were more stringent
than domestic German law and in particular sectors such as tourism
and energy (QQ 165-6). There was very little experience in the
UK. The UK had not empowered its competition authorities to apply
Articles 81 and 82 directly other than for those sectors which
fell to Member States under Article 84, ie international
air transport and international tramp vessel services. UK authorities
had only experience of one case, the proposed British Airways/American
Airlines alliance (p 134, Q 296). The Commission saw a continuing
role in supporting the weaker, less experienced brethren (Q 275).
The Government accepted that there would be different levels of
expertise and that the Commission might have to judge when they
thought there was a significant problem in which they should intervene
(Q 332).
54. The CBI said that expertise had to be consistently
applied. The national authorities might not have the same experience/resources
as the Commission. Mr Cowen said that competition law was not
applied in a vacuum - "other industrial policy does need
to be taken into account and is currently taken into account in
a unified system within the European Commission". When the
Commission took a decision the Competition Directorate General
would co-ordinate its position internally and with other parts
of the Commission having relevant knowledge of the industry concerned.
The CBI questioned how a national competition authority would
do that. The White Paper suggested that national competition authorities
might be closer to national markets and industry. Mr Cowen said:
"That is something which leaves me very cold". There
was a need for a one-stop shop, where cases could be dealt with
in a short time-frame (QQ 41, 46, 47, 62).
55. A further question was the relationship with
national competition laws. Many Member States, including the UK,
France and Germany, have adopted competition laws modelled on
the EC rules. That added another layer of complexity. Each of
these national "look alike" competition laws is slightly
different. This raised (further) consistency issues. Mr Ogilvie
Smals queried how, in the UK, the Competition Act would work -
"we have just legislated onto the statute book a notification
system at the very moment that the Commission is proposing to
dump theirs. We have a bit of a legislative muddle". Mrs
Martin Alegi said that the OFT had been stressing that it was
more appropriate to notify the Commission rather than the OFT
to secure the benefit of pan-European notification. The Commission's
proposals carried the risk that there would be multiple national
notifications where previously an agreement would have been notified
only to Brussels. The CBI was extremely concerned at the possibility
of straightforward commercial agreements being subject to layer
upon layer of regulatory review (QQ 59-60). Mr Paulis, for the
Commission, said that the direct applicability would have to be
taken into account in relation to the application of domestic
competition laws in all cases which affected trade between Member
States (QQ 269-71). A Community Regulation would be enacted to
prevent national legislation from prohibiting or varying the effects
of agreements exempted by Community regulation.[14]
The Government accepted that Community law would have to be applied
by national authorities. There was in practice considerable overlap
between Community law and national law. Mrs Bloom (OFT) foresaw
that the OFT would want to apply Community law in future and hoped
that other competition authorities, given the choice, would also
elect to apply Community law. One of the potential benefits of
the proposed reform was that, instead of having Community law
and 15 different national regimes, national authorities would
apply Community law. That would have advantages in developing
consistency and giving industry some degree of legal certainty
56. As regards the particular position of UK competition
laws, Professor Whish agreed that the Commission's proposal did
not fit well with the Competition Act. The idea of notification
was built into the new UK regime. That regime also envisaged a
different role, more restricted as regards exemptions, for national
courts - "So you have a rather curious wrinkle that a national
judge could make decisions under Community law that he or she
could not make under domestic law". There were other differences
in the application of Community and domestic rules giving rise
to "some rather peculiar cross-overs". Given the number
of other Member States which have adopted look-alike competition
laws the problems were unlikely to be restricted to the UK (QQ
18-19). Ms Anderson (DTI) accepted that some changes would have
to be made to the Competition Act, though it was too early to
say what they might be. Ministers' objective would remain that
of having the two systems, Community and UK, working properly
together (Q 303).
National courts
57. Far more controversial was the proposal to extend
to national courts the ability to apply Article 81(3). In its
Response to the Commission, the Government noted that national
courts already were empowered to take decisions on Articles 81(1)
and 82 and therefore had to weigh technical evidence including
that relating to economic effects. Economic evidence related to
consideration of Article 81(3) could be handled in the same way.
The Government saw no problem in principle in UK courts applying
Article 81 as a whole, though certain practicalities needed further
consideration. It recognised, however, that mechanisms would have
to be established for co-operation between national courts and
national competition authorities, building possibly on existing
arrangements in Member States (pp 132-4).
58. The CBI did not consider national courts to be
suitable forums to apply Article 81(3). They were not equipped
to deal with the kind of complex economic arguments which that
involved. Giving national courts the power to apply Article 81(3)
would not produce tangible benefits (p 12). Professor Whish pointed
to what was required in applying Article 81(3). It was a very
different analysis to that under Article 81(1) and involved a
complex evaluation. "Did the joint venture between Ford and
Volkswagen to build a multipurpose vehicle in Portugal contribute
to technical progress? Commissioner van Miert said that one of
the influential factors was that this was going to bring important
new production to a part of the Community where local male unemployment
was high. I do not immediately find it obvious that that is part
of the judicial process". A national judge would not find
it easy to evaluate the criteria of Article 81(3) and to give
expression to the Community policy that might be relevant (QQ
12-13). Mr Lever and Mr Peretz also drew attention to the large
margin of appreciation exercised in the complex assessment needed
under Article 81(3). They said: "The training of the general
judiciary, whether in this country or in the other member States
simply does not equip the judges to engage in such an exercise"
(p 159). The German Government said that it would be very difficult
for private parties to show that the requirements of Article 81(3)
were met (p 75). Mr Nagy (Hungarian Competition Office) also doubted
the ability of national judges, not just in the applicant States
but throughout the Union, to apply Article 81(3). That should
be reserved for national competition authorities and for specialist
administrative courts (Q 246).
59. That view was shared by Mr Justice Ferris and
Mr Justice Laddie. They did not see judges and national courts
as the appropriate forum for the application of Article 81(3).
Mr Justice Ferris gave three reasons. First, a court was not a
suitable tribunal. The "sort of feeling that judges can decide
economic issues to my mind is wholly misplaced
They cannot
make value judgements except in a very limited field, certainly
not in relation to general economic questions". Secondly,
there was a question whether the issues to be determined in application
of Article 81(3) were justiciable. The criteria in Article 81(3)
were insufficiently precise. Mr Justice Ferris said: "The
court should not have any part to play, it seems to me, in deciding
whether an agreement or a course of conduct contributes to improving
the production or distribution of goods or promoting technical
or economic progress". Thirdly, there were procedural considerations.
The procedures of a court, as recent experience in the UK showed,
may not be the most efficient way of handling these issues. They
might be resolved more quickly and expeditiously by an administrative
body (Q 133). A number of witnesses considered an administrative
body, especially the Commission, was better placed to deal with
such issues which might have an impact on people not represented
before the court and companies and businesses which might not
even yet be in existence (QQ 103-4, 134, 136). Mr Lever and Mr
Peretz argued strongly that there should be an efficient system
of administration of Articles 81 and 82 as public law so that,
in hearing private law cases in which those Articles were relied
on, the courts have the benefit of the findings of the competent
authorities or of a specialist tribunal. In the field of competition
law, private law was no substitute for public law (p 159). But
Mr Justice Laddie recognised that national courts had to be there
to deal with urgent matters, particularly to do rough justice
by way of interlocutory relief. He said, "at least at the
end you know that the final decision whether or not this is of
public interest is to be decided by the people who are specialists
in the subject and for that reason at some stage a proper result
will be achieved. Importantly, in this field you are talking about
a result which will almost inevitably affect people who are not
parties to this litigation" (Q 141).
60. BEG said that national courts were already under
a duty to examine Articles 81(1) and 82. That entailed a good
deal of economic analysis. All that was being done in adding Article
81(3) was to provide a defence to a company to an agreement in
respect of which a court finds there are some restrictions. Mr
Green said: "good judges are well used to assessing facts
and I do not think that they should really feel scared of that
task or confront any real difficulties" (QQ 81, 102). Mr
Roth (Competition Law Association) also thought that while there
were difficulties in applying 81(3) these were often not as great
as those in applying Article 81(1). Application of Article 82
(which national courts already faced, though not necessarily happily)
was, in his view, the most difficult of all (Q 100). Mr Paulis,
for the Commission, did not accept that Article 81(3) could not
be applied by national courts. Applying Article 81(1) was probably
equally or more difficult in practice. The four conditions in
Article 81(3), which were not a substitute for public interest,
were clear. The Commission's experience was that the views of
the parties were difficult to second guess, though there was some
room to question the applicability of Article 81(3) on the basis
of the third condition, that the restrictions were not indispensable.
But the "indispensability" condition was, in Mr Paulis'
view, no more difficult for national courts to apply than the
similar test in Article 86(2) (formerly 90(2)) and the application
of the competition rules to undertakings entrusted with the operation
of services of general interest (Q 287).
61. Mme. Montalcino (DGCCRF) did not believe that
it would be more difficult for national courts to apply Article
81(3) than many other laws. She accepted, however, that there
would need to be training and for the Commission to have an opportunity
to be heard in front of the national court (Q 222). M. Chambu
(DGCCRF) thought that if national courts could cope with applying
national judges. The use of block exemption regulations to cover
the bulk of agreements would also assist (Q 223). Mr Nagy (Hungarian
Competition Office) was pleased that the Commission was prepared
to treat national courts as "grown-ups" (Q 242).
62. The CCBE, while not being opposed in principle
to the application of Article 81 as a whole by national courts
and authorities, expressed concern whether those bodies had adequate
resources and experience and would be able to cope with an increased
workload in this field (p 152). Mr Paulis, for the Commission,
thought that the real question was whether national judges were,
like judges elsewhere in the world, capable of learning the subject
matter. The Commission was taking a gamble on this, but one that
was well worth taking if Community law was to be brought into
real economic life (Q 276).
63. The CBI said that the Commission should be wary
of creating a complaints-driven system that encouraged private
litigation. This could open the floodgates and encourage frivolous
or vexatious litigation aimed at frustrating legitimate business
plans, potentially damaging investment (p 12, Q 53). Mr Justice
Laddie thought that the proposal would give rise to more litigation.
The more difficult it was for a court to decide an issue the more
advantageous it would be for a party to plead the matter (Q 135).
But the Joint Working Party had doubts about that. Mr Freeman
said that the White Paper proposals did not substantially alter
the basic balance of advantage, which favoured complaining to
the authorities rather than going to the court (Q 107). Mrs Holmes
added that giving national courts the ability to apply Article
81(3) should not open any more floodgates than the new Competition
Act which gave individuals direct rights of civil action where
they were victims of anti-competitive practices (Q 109).
64. Mr Paulis, for the Commission, did not think
that the Commission's proposal, by encouraging private enforcement
of the Competition Rules through the courts, would lead to a sudden
increase in litigation. The competition rules were usually invoked
as a defence. There were no treble damages in Europe, no punitive
damages and very little in the way of contingency fees (Q 291).
BEG took a similar view on the effect of Article 81(3). It should
not produce extra litigation because the Article provided a shield
rather than a sword: "if anything, it might mute cases because
the other side will be able to raise a defence not presently available
to them" (Q 106). The Competition Law Association thought
that the White Paper proposals, by making it easier for national
competition authorities to deal with complaints, might cause more
complainants to go to them rather than the courts (Q 109).
65. Mrs Martin Alegi (CBI) pointed out that the vast
majority of courts dealing with Article 81 and 82 issues would
not be specialist competition courts but ordinary, commercial
and administrative, courts up and down the Community. She did
not think it would be practical, for example, to pass all cases
in the UK to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (QQ 48, 52). Mr Green
said that in the UK Article 81 and 82 points tended to arise by
way of defence in a variety of disputes over contracts, patents
etc. It was entirely fortuitous in which court the matter arose.
The nature of the dispute (eg whether there had been a
breach of contract in the last three years) meant that the court's
approach would be a historical one. It would not, unlike an administrative
authority, be looking at the matter prospectively (Q 104).
66. Witnesses drew attention to the fact that there
were substantial differences in the procedures and approach of
courts in the Member States. In Mr Justice Laddie's view, there
would be very large differences in the way national courts did
the job and in the speed with which it was done. "So long
as that exists it is an invitation to forum shop, if only because
one party will want to slow things down and another will want
to speed them up". That was very unsatisfactory. The Brussels
Convention, which might be thought to assist by providing rules
determining jurisdiction, itself created problems. The Convention
provided alternative bases of jurisdiction to deal with a variety
of scenarios. The rules were differently interpreted in different
Member States (QQ 131, 137, 145, 147). The CCBE said that rules
with regard to procedure, methods of appeal, sanctions and confidential
information varied widely across the EC. Without some form of
harmonisation of these areas of law, and a clear definition of
which courts and authorities have the right to hear a case, forum
shopping was likely to become a significant problem. At the same
time there might be no proper national means of redress in cases
where forum shopping was not possible (e.g. in case of an abuse
of a dominant position by a purely national player) (p 152).
67. The Government acknowledged that the risk of
forum shopping was "an important point, although under the
Commission's preferred approach there would be no possibility
of binding exemption decisions in the new system, which would
mitigate the effect of possible forum shopping" (p 134).
Mr Paulis, for the Commission, accepted that there was a risk
of forum shopping but thought it would be a transitional phenomenon
for so long as the law was unclear and its application not sufficiently
predictable (Q 290).
68. Mme. Montalcino accepted that application of
Article 81(3) was not always a simple matter. There was a need
for expertise. Under the French system, when applying the equivalent
of Article 81(3) the courts could ask the DGCCRF to assist the
court. The courts could also appoint experts to make assessment
as to whether an agreement contributed to economic progress (Q
223). Mr Freeman (Joint Working Party) thought that the civil
law system, with its inquisitorial approach and ability to seek
a court appointed expert and to obtain expert evidence through
the bench, might be better suited to the determination of Article
81(3) issues than the common law adversarial style of litigation
(Q 103). Mrs Martin Alegi (CBI) also expressed concerns about
the adequacy of procedures and powers of national courts when
compared to the Commission. She said that national courts, whilst
generally having very good powers to obtain evidence from the
parties to a dispute before them, did not have good investigative
powers by and large to obtain full information on the economics
of the function of international markets. The CBI was also concerned
that exemptions under Article 81(3) often involved the parties
accepting or making some modifications. The majority of exemptions
granted have involved some amendments to the original proposals.
In some cases the parties entered into a virtual negotiation with
the Commission. The adversarial procedure of UK courts was not
designed to apply Article 81(3) in such a way (QQ 48, 49). |
Gsk3 AND Diabetes
REVIEW AKT/PKB Signaling: Navigating the Network.
Brendan D Manning, Alex Toker
The Ser and Thr kinase AKT, also known as protein kinase B (PKB), was discovered 25 years ago and has been the focus of tens of thousands of studies in diverse fields of biology and medicine. There have been many advances in our knowledge of the upstream regulatory inputs into AKT, key multifunctional downstream signaling nodes (GSK3, FoxO, mTORC1), which greatly expand the functional repertoire of AKT, and the complex circuitry of this dynamically branching and looping signaling network that is ubiquitous to nearly every cell in our body...
April 20, 2017: Cell
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/28049096/anti-diabetic-effect-of-three-new-norditerpenoid-alkaloids-in-vitro-and-potential-mechanism-via-pi3k-akt-signaling-pathway
Anti-diabetic effect of three new norditerpenoid alkaloids in vitro and potential mechanism via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
Dan Tang, Qi-Bin Chen, Xue-Lei Xin, Haji-Akber Aisa
Diabetes is a metabolic disease with the characteristic of high blood glucose (hyperglycemia). In our previous study, we found that nigelladines A-C (compounds A-C), three norditerpenoid alkaloids from the seeds of Nigella glandulifera Freyn (Ranunculaceae) exhibited protein of tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitory activity in vitro. In the present study, we further investigated their anti-diabetes activities in L6 moytubes and illuminated the mechanisms of action of compounds A-C. Several parameters of glucose metabolism such as glucose consumption, glycogen content and hexokinase activity were increased by compounds A-C...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27849005/insulin-igf-signaling-affects-cell-transformation-in-the-balb-c-3t3-cell-model
Doerte Poburski, Christiane Leovsky, Josefine Barbara Boerner, Luisa Szimmtenings, Michael Ristow, Michael Glei, René Thierbach
The increased cancer mortality of diabetes type 2 patients is most likely an evidence of the tight connection between tumor development and energy metabolism. A major focus of today's research is still the identification of key proteins of both diseases and the development of corresponding inhibitors. In this study we combined the two-stage BALB/c-3T3 cell transformation assay (BALB-CTA) with the IR/IGF-1R inhibitor OSI-906 (linsitinib) and analyzed alterations in protein activity and energy parameters in non-transformed as well as transformed cells...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27649495/renoprotective-effects-of-atorvastatin-in-diabetic-mice-downregulation-of-rhoa-and-upregulation-of-akt-gsk3
Renoprotective Effects of Atorvastatin in Diabetic Mice: Downregulation of RhoA and Upregulation of Akt/GSK3.
Potential benefits of statins in the treatment of chronic kidney disease beyond lipid-lowering effects have been described. However, molecular mechanisms involved in renoprotective actions of statins have not been fully elucidated. We questioned whether statins influence development of diabetic nephropathy through reactive oxygen species, RhoA and Akt/GSK3 pathway, known to be important in renal pathology. Diabetic mice (db/db) and their control counterparts (db/+) were treated with atorvastatin (10 mg/Kg/day, p...
Mulberry anthocyanin extract ameliorates insulin resistance by regulating PI3K/AKT pathway in HepG2 cells and db/db mice.
Fujie Yan, Guanhai Dai, Xiaodong Zheng
This study evaluated the capacity of mulberry anthocyanin extract (MAE) on insulin resistance amelioration in HepG2 cells induced by high glucose and palmitic acid and diabetes-related metabolic changes in type 2 diabetic mice. In vitro, MAE alleviated insulin resistance in HepG2 cells and increased glucose consumption, glucose uptake and glycogen content. Enzyme activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) were decreased due to PPARγ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) and forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1) inhibition...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27546510/mg53-is-a-double-edged-sword-for-human-diseases
REVIEW MG53 is a double-edged sword for human diseases.
Yan Zhang, Hong-Kun Wu, Feng-Xiang Lv, Rui-Ping Xiao
Mitsugumin 53 (MG53), also named Trim72, is a multi-functional TRIM-family protein, which is abundantly expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle. It has been shown that MG53 not only plays important physiological roles but also acts as a crucial pathogenic factor of various diseases. First, MG53 preserves cardiac and skeletal muscle integrity via facilitating plasma membrane repair. Second, MG53 is essentially involved in cardiac ischemic preconditioning and postconditioning by activating PI3K-Akt-GSK3β and ERK1/2 cell survival signaling pathways...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27534430/knockdown-of-gsk3%C3%AE-increases-basal-autophagy-and-ampk-signalling-in-nutrient-laden-human-aortic-endothelial-cells
Knockdown of GSK3β increases basal autophagy and AMPK signalling in nutrient-laden human aortic endothelial cells.
Karen A Weikel, José M Cacicedo, Neil B Ruderman, Yasuo Ido
High concentrations of glucose and palmitate increase endothelial cell inflammation and apoptosis, events that often precede atherogenesis. They may do so by decreasing basal autophagy and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity, although the mechanisms by which this occurs are not clear. Decreased function of the lysosome, an organelle required for autophagy and AMPK, have been associated with hyperactivity of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β). To determine whether GSK3β affects nutrient-induced changes in autophagy and AMPK activity, we used a primary human aortic endothelial cell (HAEC) model of type 2 diabetes that we had previously characterized with impaired AMPK activity and autophagy [Weikel et al...
October 2016: Bioscience Reports
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27526674/hgf-alleviates-high-glucose-induced-injury-in-podocytes-by-gsk3%C3%AE-inhibition-and-autophagy-restoration
HGF alleviates high glucose-induced injury in podocytes by GSK3β inhibition and autophagy restoration.
Congying Zhang, Bo Hou, Siying Yu, Qi Chen, Nong Zhang, Hui Li
Podocyte injury or loss plays a major role in the pathogenesis of proteinuric kidney disease including diabetic nephropathy (DN). High basal level of autophagy is critical for podocyte health. Recent studies have revealed that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) can ameliorate podocyte injury and proteinuria. However, little is known about the impact of HGF on podocyte autophagy. In this study, we investigated whether and how HGF affects autophagy in podocytes treated with high glucose (HG) conditions. HGF significantly diminishes apoptosis, oxidative stress and autophagy impairment inflicted by HG in podocytes...
Sulforaphane Prevents Neuronal Apoptosis and Memory Impairment in Diabetic Rats.
Gengyin Wang, Hui Fang, Yanfeng Zhen, Gang Xu, Jinli Tian, Yazhong Zhang, Dandan Zhang, Guyue Zhang, Jing Xu, Zhiyue Zhang, Mingyue Qiu, Yijia Ma, Hongrui Zhang, Xinxin Zhang
BACKGROUND/AIMS: To explore the effects of sulforaphane (SFN) on neuronal apoptosis in hippocampus and memory impairment in diabetic rats. METHODS: Thirty male rats were randomly divided into normal control, diabetic model and SFN treatment groups (N = 10 in each group). Streptozotocin (STZ) was applied to establish diabetic model. Water Morris maze task was applied to test learning and memory. Tunel assaying was used to detect apoptosis in hippocampus. The expressions of Caspase-3 and myeloid cell leukemia 1(MCL-1) were detected by western blotting...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27294151/nanoparticle-delivered-human-biliverdin-reductase-based-peptide-increases-glucose-uptake-by-activating-irk-akt-gsk3-axis-the-peptide-is-effective-in-the-cell-and-wild-type-and-diabetic-ob-ob-mice
Nanoparticle Delivered Human Biliverdin Reductase-Based Peptide Increases Glucose Uptake by Activating IRK/Akt/GSK3 Axis: The Peptide Is Effective in the Cell and Wild-Type and Diabetic Ob/Ob Mice.
Peter E M Gibbs, Tihomir Miralem, Nicole Lerner-Marmarosh, Mahin D Maines
Insulin's stimulation of glucose uptake by binding to the IRK extracellular domain is compromised in diabetes. We have recently described an unprecedented approach to stimulating glucose uptake. KYCCSRK (P2) peptide, corresponding to the C-terminal segment of hBVR, was effective in binding to and inducing conformational change in the IRK intracellular kinase domain. Although myristoylated P2, made of L-amino acids, was effective in cell culture, its use for animal studies was unsuitable. We developed a peptidase-resistant formulation of the peptide that was efficient in both mice and cell culture systems...
2016: Journal of Diabetes Research
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/27163678/microrna-194-modulates-glucose-metabolism-and-its-skeletal-muscle-expression-is-reduced-in-diabetes
MicroRNA-194 Modulates Glucose Metabolism and Its Skeletal Muscle Expression Is Reduced in Diabetes.
Celine Latouche, Alaina Natoli, Medini Reddy-Luthmoodoo, Sarah E Heywood, James A Armitage, Bronwyn A Kingwell
BACKGROUND: The regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) at different stages of the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and their role in glucose homeostasis was investigated. METHODS: Microarrays were used to assess miRNA expression in skeletal muscle biopsies taken from healthy individuals and patients with pre-diabetes or T2DM, and insulin resistant offspring of rat dams fed a high fat diet during pregnancy. RESULTS: Twenty-three miRNAs were differentially expressed in patients with T2DM, and 7 in the insulin resistant rat offspring compared to their controls...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/26824655/electron-transport-chain-remodeling-by-gsk3-during-oogenesis-connects-nutrient-state-to-reproduction
Electron Transport Chain Remodeling by GSK3 during Oogenesis Connects Nutrient State to Reproduction.
Matthew H Sieber, Michael B Thomsen, Allan C Spradling
Reproduction is heavily influenced by nutrition and metabolic state. Many common reproductive disorders in humans are associated with diabetes and metabolic syndrome. We characterized the metabolic mechanisms that support oogenesis and found that mitochondria in mature Drosophila oocytes enter a low-activity state of respiratory quiescence by remodeling the electron transport chain (ETC). This shift in mitochondrial function leads to extensive glycogen accumulation late in oogenesis and is required for the developmental competence of the oocyte...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/26627601/antidiabetic-effect-of-polysaccharides-from-pleurotus-ostreatus-in-streptozotocin-induced-diabetic-rats
Antidiabetic effect of polysaccharides from Pleurotus ostreatus in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
Yan Zhang, Tao Hu, Hongli Zhou, Yang Zhang, Gang Jin, Yu Yang
This study was performed to evaluate the effects of total polysaccharides extracted from Pleurotus ostreatus on type 2 diabetes. Rats were administered with high-fat diet and streptozotocin (STZ) to induce diabetes. The rats were then treated with 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/d POP or vehicle for 4 weeks. Our experiments indicated that POP reduces hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia levels, improves insulin resistance, and increases glycogen storage by activating GSK3 phosphorylation and GLUT4 translocation. Moreover, POP reduces the risk of oxidative damage by increasing superoxide dismutase(SOD), catalase(CAT), and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) activities and decreasing malonaldehyde(MDA) level...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/26201094/irisin-inhibits-hepatic-gluconeogenesis-and-increases-glycogen-synthesis-via-the-pi3k-akt-pathway-in-type-2-diabetic-mice-and-hepatocytes
Irisin inhibits hepatic gluconeogenesis and increases glycogen synthesis via the PI3K/Akt pathway in type 2 diabetic mice and hepatocytes.
Tong-Yan Liu, Chang-Xiang Shi, Run Gao, Hai-Jian Sun, Xiao-Qing Xiong, Lei Ding, Qi Chen, Yue-Hua Li, Jue-Jin Wang, Yu-Ming Kang, Guo-Qing Zhu
Increased glucose production and reduced hepatic glycogen storage contribute to metabolic abnormalities in diabetes. Irisin, a newly identified myokine, induces the browning of white adipose tissue, but its effects on gluconeogenesis and glycogenesis are unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of irisin on gluconeogenesis and glycogenesis in hepatocytes with insulin resistance, and its therapeutic role in type 2 diabetic mice. Insulin resistance was induced by glucosamine (GlcN) or palmitate in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells and mouse primary hepatocytes...
November 2015: Clinical Science (1979-)
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/26200352/the-glycogen-synthase-kinase-3%C3%AE-and-%C3%AE-isoforms-differentially-regulates-interleukin-12p40-expression-in-endothelial-cells-stimulated-with-peptidoglycan-from-staphylococcus-aureus
The Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3α and β Isoforms Differentially Regulates Interleukin-12p40 Expression in Endothelial Cells Stimulated with Peptidoglycan from Staphylococcus aureus.
Ricarda Cortés-Vieyra, Octavio Silva-García, Javier Oviedo-Boyso, Alejandro Huante-Mendoza, Alejandro Bravo-Patiño, Juan J Valdez-Alarcón, B Brett Finlay, Víctor M Baizabal-Aguirre
Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is a constitutively active regulatory enzyme that is important in cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric diseases. While GSK3α is usually important in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases GSK3β is fundamental in the inflammatory response caused by bacterial components. Peptidoglycan (PGN), one of the most abundant cell-wall structures of Gram-positive bacteria, is an important inducer of inflammation. To evaluate whether inhibition of GSK3α and GSK3β activity in bovine endothelial cells (BEC) regulates the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-12p40, we treated BEC with SDS-purified PGN from Staphylococcus aureus...
Activation of the insulin-signaling pathway in sciatic nerve and hippocampus of type 1 diabetic rats.
M R King, N J Anderson, C Liu, E Law, M Cundiff, T M Mixcoatl-Zecuatl, C G Jolivalt
Peripheral neuropathy is a major complication associated with diabetes and central neuropathy characterized by Alzheimer's disease-like features in the brain is associated with increased dementia risk for patients with diabetes. Although glucose uptake into the cells of the nervous system is insulin-independent, contribution of impaired insulin support is clearly recognized to play a role, however not yet fully understood, in the development of neuropathy. In this study, we assessed the direct role of insulin on the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) of insulin-dependent type 1 diabetic rats...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/26094891/osteoprotegerin-and-denosumab-stimulate-human-beta-cell-proliferation-through-inhibition-of-the-receptor-activator-of-nf-%C3%AE%C2%BAb-ligand-pathway
Osteoprotegerin and Denosumab Stimulate Human Beta Cell Proliferation through Inhibition of the Receptor Activator of NF-κB Ligand Pathway.
Nagesha Guthalu Kondegowda, Rafael Fenutria, Ilana R Pollack, Michael Orthofer, Adolfo Garcia-Ocaña, Josef M Penninger, Rupangi C Vasavada
Diabetes results from a reduction of pancreatic β-cells. Stimulating replication could normalize β-cell mass. However, adult human β-cells are recalcitrant to proliferation. We identified osteoprotegerin, a bone-related decoy receptor, as a β-cell mitogen. Osteoprotegerin was induced by and required for lactogen-mediated rodent β-cell replication. Osteoprotegerin enhanced β-cell proliferation in young, aged, and diabetic mice. This resulted in increased β-cell mass in young mice and significantly delayed hyperglycemia in diabetic mice...
July 7, 2015: Cell Metabolism
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/25875172/mir-375-promotes-redifferentiation-of-adult-human-%C3%AE-cells-expanded-in-vitro
MiR-375 promotes redifferentiation of adult human β cells expanded in vitro.
Gili Nathan, Sharon Kredo-Russo, Tamar Geiger, Ayelet Lenz, Haggai Kaspi, Eran Hornstein, Shimon Efrat
In-vitro expansion of β cells from adult human pancreatic islets could provide abundant cells for cell replacement therapy of diabetes. However, proliferation of β-cell-derived (BCD) cells is associated with dedifferentiation. Here we analyzed changes in microRNAs (miRNAs) during BCD cell dedifferentiation and identified miR-375 as one of the miRNAs greatly downregulated. We hypothesized that restoration of miR-375 expression in expanded BCD cells may contribute to their redifferentiation. Our findings demonstrate that overexpression of miR-375 alone leads to activation of β-cell gene expression, reduced cell proliferation, and a switch from N-cadherin to E-cadherin expression, which characterizes mesenchymal-epithelial transition...
https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/25833158/loss-of-glycogen-synthase-kinase-3-isoforms-during-murine-oocyte-growth-induces-offspring-cardiac-dysfunction
Loss of glycogen synthase kinase 3 isoforms during murine oocyte growth induces offspring cardiac dysfunction.
André Monteiro da Rocha, Jun Ding, Nicole Slawny, Amber M Wolf, Gary D Smith
Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is a constitutively active serine threonine kinase with 1) two isoforms (GSK3A and GSK3B) that have unique and overlapping functions, 2) multiple molecular intracellular mechanisms that involve phosphorylation of diverse substrates, and 3) implications in pathogenesis of many diseases. Insulin causes phosphorylation and inactivation of GSK3 and mammalian oocytes have a functional insulin-signaling pathway whereby prolonged elevated insulin during follicle/oocyte development causes GSK3 hyperphosphorylation, reduced GSK3 activity, and altered oocyte chromatin remodeling...
Anti-diabetic efficacy of KICG1338, a novel glycogen synthase kinase-3β inhibitor, and its molecular characterization in animal models of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
Kyoung Min Kim, Kuy-Sook Lee, Gha Young Lee, Hyunjin Jin, Eunice Sung Durrance, Ho Seon Park, Sung Hee Choi, Kyong Soo Park, Young-Bum Kim, Hak Chul Jang, Soo Lim
Selective inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) has been targeted as a novel therapeutic strategy for diabetes mellitus. We investigated the anti-diabetic efficacy and molecular mechanisms of KICG1338 (2-(4-fluoro-phenyl)-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine-7-carboxylic acid(4-methyl-pyridin-3-yl)-amide), a GSK3β inhibitor, in three animal models: Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, leptin receptors-deficient db/db mice, and diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. Biochemical parameters including glucose tolerance tests and gene expressions associated with glucose metabolism were investigated... |
Currency & Conversions
What are some precious metals on the stock market?
Some precious metals on the market include gold, silver and platinum, states Investopedia.com. These valuable metals are commonly traded on commodity markets in bulk form, which is referred to as "bullion."
What are some tips for buying gold and silver?
Where can I find the price of gold?
How much is a silver shilling?
Precious metals are chemical elements that infrequently occur in nature and are mined for their high commercial value. Precious metals are popular investment items that can be in the form of metal bars and coins. Additionally, people may invest in precious metals to set up their individual retirement accounts, which enable them to hold tangible financial assets, notes SBCGold.com.Gold is perhaps the most popular precious metal available for buying and selling on the exchange market. Its value is regularly monitored close to seven days a week on an around-the-clock basis. Some factors that may impact the trading price of gold include armed conflicts, political crises, economic instability and rate of inflation, explains Investopedia.com.Aside from gold, silver is also commonly used as a base in jewelry making. Other applications for this precious metal include coinage, electronics and medical products. In terms of market value, silver tends to vary widely compared to gold. Platinum, meanwhile, is likely to yield a higher value than gold in certain circumstances such as in times of political stability. Other precious metals on the market include palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium, states CBMint.com. |
What are some typical duties of a business manager?
Though the full responsibilities of a business manager may vary between organizations, typical duties include monitoring the performance and productivity of employees, outlining strategies for growth and development within departments, and reporting all progress to other managers or executives. Some managers may also handle clerical aspects such as creating job descriptions, interviewing applicants and conducting performance reviews.
What is included in a job description for a general manager of operations?
What is the role of a duty manager?
What is the job description of a business manager?
A business manager takes on a wide range of responsibilities depending on the size and nature of the company for which she works, often taking accountability for the actions of numerous employees within a team or department. The core duties of the job involve ensuring that each employee under her watch adheres to the goals and policies of the company by performing in line with their job requirements. For example, a manger of a customer service team may monitor agents to ensure they answer customer inquiries accordingly, while a sales team manager may track quotas and goals for the employees.
Managers also create reports on the actions of their employees and relay the information to the executive members of the company -- or in the case of small businesses, directly to the owner. The job can also focus on developing specific policies or practices within the department and training the employees accordingly. Many managers also conduct evaluations for the employees, which can result in advancement within the company or the termination of the position. |
How do you withdraw a 401k after getting fired?
To withdraw from a 401(k) plan after termination, an individual fills out the required distribution forms provided by the former employer, reports the Motley Fool. Termination from employment is not one of the exemptions from the 10 percent penalty the IRS imposes on early distributions.
What does "RMD" mean when referring to an IRA?
How do you borrow against a 401(k)?
What is the average 401(k) balance held by people of various ages?
The former employer sends a Form 1099-R at the end of the year, which states the amount of the distribution and the amount withheld for federal tax, states the Motley Fool. An individual who is younger than 59 1/2 uses this information to fill out Form 5329 to determine the 10 percent penalty. If another exemption applies, such as disability or leaving work at the age of 55, he documents it on this form. He can then record the information from these forms on his tax return to calculate his total tax liability.
If a person is not suffering financial hardship, he can avoid a penalty by rolling his 401(k) into another qualified retirement, such as an IRA, according to The Nest. This allows him to defer paying taxes until he takes a distribution and avoid paying the penalty. Money from a 401(k) must be deposited into the new plan within 60 days of withdrawal.
wiki.fool.com
budgeting.thenest.com
What are the government rules regarding 401(k) withdrawals?
Investors may start withdrawing funds from their 401(k) at age 59 1/2 and must start taking annual minimum distributions starting at age 70 1/2, explains T...
How can seniors make more money?
Senior citizens can earn additional income through full-time or part-time work, temporary positions and freelance and consulting work, notes John Mackey fo...
What is the average retirement nest egg savings for a 64-year-old?
The average retirement nest egg for a person aged 64 years old who actively saves is between $103,000 to $148,000, as of 2015, as stated by The Motley Fool...
What is the average 401k savings by age?
People 65 and over had an average 401(k) account balance of $202,800 in January 2015, while those between 55 and 64 had an average balance of $180,881, acc...
What are the rules for withdrawing from a 457 plan? |
What is Imagine Learning?
Imagine Learning is a software program that teaches language and literacy to children through various activities, games and video clips. Version 14 runs on PCs, Macs and tablet computers, as well as iPads, Android devices and Chromebook. Continue Reading
What kinds of language and literacy programs does Imagine Learning offer?
What is the Scholastic READ 180 reading program?
What are some good games for first graders?
When children first use the program, they are evaluated in terms of their language and literacy skills. Based on the assessment, the program assigns content material for them to learn and practice. Reports are generated for teachers or parents to track children's progress and identify areas of mastery or weakness.
The program content includes topics such as letter recognition, syllable awareness and phonics. Reading fluency and comprehension are also emphasized. The program is appropriate for a variety of students, including children who struggle to read, are native speakers of anther language, or have disabilities or special needs.
The program offers support for its activities in 15 languages for children who speak English as a second language. In addition, there is a Spanish version of Imagine Learning for preschool and kindergarten students.
Imagine Learning was developed in 2004 by educators and software professionals. The company is based in Utah. As of 2015, nine of the 10 largest school districts in the United States use Imagine Learning software programs. The programs are also used in schools in Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Latin America. |
What are some common tubers?
Some common tubers include potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, yams and Jerusalem artichokes. Though the names sweet potatoes and yams are used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Continue Reading
What are some examples of tubers?
What did the Arawak tribe eat?
What are the differences between yams and sweet potatoes?
The sweet potato is a vine related to the morning glory, and their flowers resemble each other. The tuber is long, tapered and can be many colors, though most people are familiar with the soft, orange-fleshed sweet potato.
Yams also come in many colors, but their skin is black and rough, and their flesh ranges from white to red. They are prepared much like sweet potato and are native to Africa.
Cassava looks very much like a yam, but it is native to South America and the Caribbean. Because it is prone to bruising, cassava is often sold with a wax covering. It is the source of tapioca and is poisonous when eaten raw; but cooking it removes any toxins.
Jerusalem artichokes are neither artichokes nor are they from Jerusalem. They are native to the Americas and were called girasole because of their sunflower-like blossoms. Girasole was then corrupted to Jerusalem. These tubers are highly nutritious, but the plant can be aggressive.
One of the most important crops in the world, the potato is prized for its versatility. It can be baked, sautéed, boiled, mashed, roasted and used in salads. |
What causes brown spots on legs?
Brown spots are caused by an excessive production of melanin due to aging, sun or ultraviolet light exposure, as stated by Healthline. UV light exposure leads to the generation of melanin, according to Mayo Clinic. Melanin creates a tanned area that protects deeper layers of skin from the UV light.
According to the experts, what causes age spots?
What causes crusty skin spots?
What causes back cysts?
Melanin is a pigment in the outermost layer of skin that gives skin its color. After years of sun exposure, melanin becomes clumped into spots due to being produced in high concentrations, according to Mayo Clinic. Chronic use of tanning beds results in the same outcome.
Certain individuals are more likely to develop brown spots than others, states Mayo Clinic and Healthline. People with fair skin and more frequent or intense sun exposure are at greater risk. People over age 40 and those with a history of tanning bed use are also more likely to develop brown spots.
Avoiding the sun between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and using sunscreen both aid in prevention, according to Mayo Clinic and Healthline. Apply sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or greater 30 minutes before sun exposure, and reapply every two hours. Protective clothing also reduces the chances of getting brown spots. Hats, long sleeves and special UV-blocking clothes are helpful. |
Pain & Symptoms
What are some causes of low energy?
Low energy is caused by a variety of factors including a normal response to insufficient sleep, heart and lung problems, psychosocial or neurological conditions, and a number of diseases, disorders and conditions. A life-threatening lack of energy can be caused by a drug overdose, electrolyte imbalances, arrhythmia or severe infection, states Healthgrades.
What are some causes of low blood oxygen levels?
What are some possible causes of back pain?
What can cause loss of balance while walking?
When a person experiences low energy levels because of factors such as overexertion, stress and lack of sleep, energy levels rise as soon as the person practices stress management, eats properly and gets enough rest and sleep. Persistent low energy levels may be a sign of an underlying disease or condition, notes Healthgrades.
Lung and heart problems that can cause a person to have low energy levels include coronary artery disease, irregular heartbeat and pneumonia, while drug and alcohol abuse, anxiety disorders and grief are a few psychosocial and neurological conditions that can cause low energy levels. Other diseases and disorders that can cause a person to have a lack of energy include anemia, diabetes and thyroid conditions, explains Healthgrades.
Lack of energy on its own is not usually a medical emergency. However, if it develops suddenly or if it is accompanied by other serious symptoms, the person should seek medical attention urgently to avoid significant complications, according to Healthgrades.
healthgrades.com
What causes low hemoglobin levels?
Low hemoglobin counts may be linked to certain diseases and conditions such as cancer, cirrhosis, hypothyroidism, iron deficiency anemia, kidney disease, l...
What are some common causes of low body temperature?
Common causes of low body temperature include cold exposure, shock, infection, alcohol or drug abuse, and certain metabolic disorders, according to WebMD. ...
What are some common causes of body itch?
Causes of body itch include skin dryness, internal diseases, skin conditions, disorders of the nervous system and allergies, according to Mayo Clinic. Preg...
What could lower right pelvic pain signify?
Lower right pelvic pain can signify a variety of conditions that include infections, hernias, broken pelvic bones and intestinal disorders, according to We...
What are some of the causes of nausea in men?
What are some reasons for leg pain behind the knee?
What are some causes of puffy eyelids?
What are the causes of overgrazing?
What is a method to get rid of leg cramps?
What are some causes of a bowel obstruction? |
by Janet Raloff 5:30pm, January 28, 2009 Email
The District of Columbia government manipulated data about the health impacts of lead contamination in local water supplies between 2001 and 2004. Federal agencies then colluded in downplaying any lead-poisoning risks to D.C. children by keeping quiet about what they knew. Or so charges Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech, the lead author of a paper that details repercussions of the incident. An unintended consequence of the DC Water and Sewer Authority's 2001 decision to switch from chlorination to an alternative water-disinfection technology — chloramination —was the sudden release of large amounts of lead from plumbing (pipes, solder and faucets) into drinking water. It made no sense that children’s blood-lead concentrations wouldn’t rise if waterborne lead concentrations spiked. Yet that’s what District officials reported finding in 2004. So Edwards, a plumbing engineer, and some colleagues requested to see the data that local health and water authorities had analyzed. Edwards also requested data and any correspondence about the issue from federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA oversees DC’s water quality because there is no state agency to provide its own rules or guidance.)
In the end, Edwards says, “We couldn’t get answers.” So his team submitted at least 30 Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests to District and federal agencies again asking to see the lead data and any correspondence pertaining to it. Under FOIA law, a response should have been forthcoming in 30 days. But the researchers have yet to get their hands on the data they sought — which, in some cases, was requested almost four years ago. And that is even after formally appealing the unresponsiveness of these agencies.
Not accepting the District’s conclusion that blood-lead concentrations in children were unaffected by a three-year spike in waterborne lead, Edwards and two colleagues from Children’s National Medical Center did their own thorough probe. Yesterday, a paper detailing their findings showed that blood-lead values in the District’s youngest residents — babies and toddlers — indeed spiked within neighborhoods where drinking-water-lead values had risen most precipitously. For any organization not to have witnessed the trend reported in the new paper, there must have been “either an intentional attempt to minimize the extent of the problem — or [scientific] ignorance,” contends Bruce Lanphear, a pediatric epidemiologist at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, who has extensively studied lead impacts in children. But it wasn’t ignorance, Edwards asserts. “I know, absolutely, scientific fraud occurred.” Edwards leveled the charge yesterday following a briefing to reporters in Washington, D.C.
“Within a few months of a Washington Post article that came out in 2004, the [District] health department claimed it looked and looked and looked and couldn’t find any evidence of children being harmed” by drinking lead-tainted water for three years, says Edwards. For studies by the District’s health department, the local water utility, and those that each organization had funded to all have missed evidence of a blood-lead spike in local children is prima facie evidence “that there is fraud involved,” Edwards claims. “It simply defies decades of research that proves unambiguously that high lead in water can harm children.”
And the water tainting was in some instances dramatic. Although EPA has an “action level” for lead in residential drinking water of 15 parts per billion, “in some cases hazardous-waste levels of lead were coming out of people’s taps; we’re talking in some homes of 5,000 ppb lead in the drinking water,” Edwards says.
By law, if lead values posed a health risk, the water authority was supposed to have informed the public. EPA’s lead and copper rule spells out the wording and precise actions that should be taken, provisions that Edwards notes “were not followed by the water utility.” If they had been, affected families might then have been able to install lead-cleanup systems or switch to bottled water for cooking and drinking. As it is, Edwards says, since at least 2002 “EPA has admitted it knew about much of what was going on” (as detailed in Washington Post stories in 2004 and a major utility-financed analysis of the chloramination repercussions known as the Holder report). The new data and Edwards’ charges will, I predict, cause heads to roll. President Obama has promised “transparency” and science-driven action. For District agencies to have played fast and loose with data on an IQ-lowering poison such as lead — and on EPA’s watch — should trouble lawmakers on Capital Hill (many of whom live in the District and drink its water).
Interestingly, there’s some evidence already that change may be on the way. Edwards received a letter dated Jan. 21 — the day after Barack Obama was sworn in — from the CDC’s FOIA office. It said that a review of filings by its new staff turned up Edwards’ appeal of the denial of data on the District’s lead situation two and a half years earlier. The letter asked if he was still interested in the office reviewing his case.
Edwards jumped to the phone and immediately called the office. “And I almost fell out of my chair,” he says, because someone not only answered the phone” — a total novelty — but promised him “We’ll get on this.’”
Edwards, M. and S. Triantafyllidou and D. Best. 2009. Elevated Blood Lead in Young Children Due to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water: Washington, DC, 2001 — 2004. Environmental Science & Technology (in press). DOI: 10.102/1es802789w
Holder, Jr., E.H. 2004. Summary of Investigation Reported to the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (July 16): 154 pages. [Go to]
Obama, B. 2009. Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies. The White House (Jan. 21). [Go to] |
P A P E R B A C K S
RELIGION, CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY UNITED STATES
BAAS Paperbacks Series Editors: Philip John Davies, Professor of American Studies at De Montfort University; George McKay, Director of Communication, Cultural and Media Studies Research Centre at the University of Salford; Simon Newman, Sir Denis Brogan Chair in American Studies at the University of Glasgow; and Carol R. Smith, Senior Lecturer in English and American Studies at the University of Winchester. The Cultures of the American New West Neil Campbell Gender, Ethnicity and Sexuality in Contemporary American Film Jude Davies and Carol R. Smith The United States and World War II Martin Folly The Sixties in America: History, Politics and Protest M. J. Heale The Civil War in American Culture Will Kaufman The United States and European Reconstruction John Killick American Exceptionalism Deborah L. Madsen The American Landscape Stephen F. Mills Slavery and Servitude in North America, 1607–1800 Kenneth Morgan The Civil Rights Movement Mark Newman The Twenties in America: Politics and History Niall Palmer The Vietnam War in History, Literature and Film Mark Taylor Contemporary Native American Literature Rebecca Tillett Jazz in American Culture Peter Townsend The New Deal Fiona Venn Animation and America Paul Wells Political Scandals in the USA Robert Williams
MARK HULSETHER
the more possibilities come into view. and consider its implications for how readers should approach this book. its sounds and smells at different times of the year. Many students enter my classes like travelers who want to tour as comprehensively as possible. What maps do they need? They might start with a general orientation. We might have to hire a jet and fly over the route to complete such an itinerary – and how much could we learn about any one place that way? Think for a moment about a place you know well: its component parts. Although maps and guidebooks supply limited information. Importantly. I compare our syllabus to the itinerary of a trip. they enable informed decisions about where to stop. As we pass through various places. Unfortunately. Consider how severely this would limit the time we could spend in any one place. Each person may have a different sense of what is too shallow or too narrow. Such are the modest yet significant goals of this book. Could a traveler ‘cover’ the task of understanding this place by driving through and checking off its name in a logbook? Travelers should abandon the unattainable goal of comprehensive coverage. When I teach on US religion. what are the disputed issues? Once we have clarified such matters the problem shifts to choosing a route. Where are New York and Seattle? Are they logical beginning and ending points? Where do the travelers currently stand in relation to these cities? What are the key landmarks between them – and insofar as people disagree about this question. they might keep us from losing the forest for the trees while traveling through a large territory. They want to taste a little bit of everything. briefly to be sure. Imagine travelers who have only one week to travel from New York to Seattle. we can agree to seek a route through some representative cities and landmarks. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
Mapping US Religion
Let us begin with the matter of brevity. the more diligently a traveler tries to be comprehensive.2
religion. but with more attention than a flyover allows. To understand religion adequately we must eventually move to a level of mapping that is more like living in a place for an extended period than passing briefly through. Suppose we settle on a route that passes through all fifty states plus Quebec and Mexico City. The term ‘religion’ can mean so
. and adopt a motto that we will use for this book – striving for maximum breadth without shallowness and maximum depth of engagement without narrowness. its associations with past events. Nevertheless. we can shift from an orientation map to a concise guidebook. We can pause to explore them.
many things that generalizing about it is difficult. and rituals that carry powerful resonance for the group but are invisible to outsiders. However. interactions with outsiders. and changes over time. conflicting interpretations of the ‘same’ ideas. and to others it means that religions are limited to a private intrapersonal sphere. are often surprised by the complexity they encounter. whether in overt and self-conscious ways or informally and implicitly. Likewise. Yet in many cases these assumptions are misleading – especially the ideas that religions are disappearing. and weakened by ‘secularization’ in some sense of this slippery word. probably irrational. unchanging. the complexity and fluidity of lived religion is hard to grasp without exploring several religious groups in depth. How should the group express its core teachings? Which behaviors command its time and energy. multiple levels of experience. Much of what constitutes a religious group – what religion is for this group – is its debate about what its central practices should be today.’ In fact. We must proceed
. one thing is safe to say. but who have the impression that religions are monolithic blocks of tradition. and subtleties such as declared principles that contradict actual behaviors. People who have experienced only one kind of religion are often amazed by the differences they discover through such explorations. and what they should become in the future. It is true that many religious people are conservative and that church and state are largely separate. people who have little personal experience with any form of religion. All large religious traditions include internal conflicts. such scholarly assumptions do match some religions we will meet on our trip. Many scholars assume that religions are cut-and-dried cultural forms – largely unchanging (or at least conservative). and which are taboo? What are its values and how do these relate to everyday events and emergent controversies? Who can speak as an authority? How is this decided? The beating heart of any religion is its process of working out such understandings. or always conservative and privatized. to others it means only that religions are separate from the state but otherwise thriving. We cannot feel this heartbeat through memorizing cutand-dried propositions like ‘religion X believes in doctrine Y. with attention to many levels of experience inside each group. and our challenge increases insofar as our stress on complexity goes against the grain of much academic writing. (For some scholars secularization means that religions are disappearing entirely. It is hard to dramatize such complex textures in a short book.2) Admittedly.
interpret their religious practices and build their arguments (whether about science or other issues) using the same analytical categories and standards of evidence as secularists. travelers can choose from many types of maps: road maps. gender. many self-professed religious people. for example. religious people may try to persuade secularists that their beliefs – their forms of ‘cultural difference’ to invoke the academic buzzword – deserve as much respect as differences based on race. ethnicity. Just as travelers expect ‘normal’ maps to focus on roads. However. Another might chart historical change to dramatize how today’s roads and cities emerged. In this sense. as we move from case to case. So far we have talked as if there is only one kind of map of religions. we also need to map patterns that cut across denominational lines. etc. The assumption that religion is irrational must also be tested case by case. categorized according to their doctrines. and so on. maps of roadside attractions or regional music scenes. If so.4
religion.) but also ordinary people who do not always take their cues from such leaders. or sexuality. This does not deny that. such as interactions of religion and media. and distinctions based on race. No doubt this is important. True. some religions make claims that are not backed by evidence that a secularist would accept. However. imams. some readers may expect this book to chart denominations like Baptists and Catholics. We must chart not only leaders (priests. Although we do not have the space to explore even one religious group in depth. stances toward secularization. One type might ignore roads and focus on geological features that cut across national boundaries. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
case by case. especially from liberal traditions. many fundamentalists base their teachings about the origins of the world on a literal reading of Genesis. However. rabbis. topographic maps. and generation. we can prepare for such exploration by introducing a range of interesting groups and modeling ways to frame questions about them. the book is a sort of reconnaissance map for travelers who may later return to a few sites that spark their interest after getting the lay of the land. Even in cases where religious claims contradict secular ones. Often
. The point is that we cannot make blanket judgments about this matter before concrete investigations. starting from a premise that religions are internally complex and entangled with wider sociopolitical issues. the main question for planning our route would be how much time to spend zooming in and out of particular sections. we may encounter religious ideas that are unpersuasive or downright dangerous.
fasting. but which are the most useful? This depends on the questions we want to answer. Native Americans. but a practice such as meditation. In fact. Are they one group or three? What groups deserve attention on a one-week trip? We must juggle maps that dramatize many such issues. we need a pie chart that can show more than one religion in any given place. To learn about the mix of groups. potluck suppers. and the upper Midwest is home to a green group – Lutherans of German and Scandinavian ancestry. imagine a geographic map created by assigning a color to each major denomination – blue for Baptists. the land of the Puritans? This reflects Catholic immigration since the nineteenth century. Not only does it render Episcopalians invisible. and so on – and color-coding every county in the nation to show the largest denomination in that county. through dozens of Christian groups. Why is there so much red in New England. red for Catholics. casting spells. Let us consider the strengths and limitations of three maps that are especially useful for gaining an overview of the landscape our trip will cover.3 And before we can determine which of a group’s activities are the most important ones to treat in our guidebook. it does the same to many others. A rough and ready version for the US as a whole is easy to visualize because it starts with a fifty per cent slice for white Protestants and twenty-five per cent slice for Catholics. Perhaps if the map were based on the religious make-up of elite country clubs. from Muslims and Hindus who now outnumber Episcopalians. it has limits. we may need to think carefully about how to identify the group in the first place. Are these two groups or one? These same Baptists may join with Mormons and Muslims in a religious-political cause.4 With this map one can see at a glance that the Southeast is a Bible Belt of Baptist blue. the Southwest is red due to Latino/a Catholics. and secularists. the region around Utah is gray for Mormons. First.introduction
the most important aspect of a religious group is not its doctrine. if we search for a Protestant establishment on this map – measured by the descendants of the former Puritan and Anglican establishments. sweat-lodge ceremonies. to a huge range of groups such as Jews. neopagans. We might also notice more subtle things. or volunteering in soup kitchens. Consider that a doctrinal dispute might lead two nearly identical Baptist churches to condemn each other to hell. The remaining twenty-five
. the story would be different! Although this map is an excellent place to start. All these maps are accurate. the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ – we will be hard-pressed to see it anywhere. hymn singing.
And this is only the beginning of complexities that make it fruitless to press for high precision in such charts.’ Where should we set a threshold where religiosity gives way to secularity? The above numbers are based on self-reports to pollsters. and the United Church of Christ.). its central chapters about Jesus.5 But how much commitment do such numbers reflect? More than eighty per cent tell pollsters that they consider the Bible divinely inspired – thirty-three per cent claim it is literally true – but less than half can name even one of the four gospels. we might bump the secularist slice into the fifteen to twenty-five per cent range and shave a few percentage points from other slices. secularists. Should we classify Mormons in the Christian category (as they insist) or as a separate religion (as many Christians prefer)? Where do we place people who practice both Catholicism and Afro-Cuban Santería? Should we count agnostics with Jewish parents as Jewish or secular? In any case. etc. Such a problem becomes increasingly complex as we draw a pie chart in greater detail. Suppose. however we slice the pie. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
per cent is divided more or less evenly among African American Protestants. because it waxes and wanes depending on how we measure ‘religiousness.’ how should we categorize someone who tells a pollster she is Catholic but has not attended church in the last ten years? Depending on our approach to such questions. The size of the secularist slice is a matter of contention. and a catchall category for all other groups. Given that fundamentalists even attack bishops of large Christian denominations as ‘secular humanists. Lutherans. So far we have only noted that white Protestants represent fifty per cent of the pie and mentioned four denominations: Baptists. and a wide range of other groups throughout the country.6
religion. that we want to explore disagreements about sex among Catholics who appear lumped together in the same slice of a pie chart. Episcopalians. synagogue. Suppose we hope to compare their patterns of disagreement to those among Mormons – a solid gray region in the geographic map – and the leading Protestant groups. however. nor dozens of smaller ones – not to mention hundreds of subdivisions and name changes
. the overall picture it shows is clear: high levels of religious affiliation. We have not yet mentioned two of the largest Protestant groups. Such polls consistently show religious commitment high enough to surprise people from more secularized countries such as Britain and France: ninety per cent report belief in God or a higher power and forty per cent claim regular attendance at church (or mosque. strong Christian majorities. Methodists and Pentecostals.
This map encourages
. This was especially true when they coincided with lines of class. with diminishing returns setting in rapidly because so many slices have family resemblances. Moreover. most denominations encompass a wide internal spectrum. Whereas liberal Methodist parents before the 1960s might have strenuously opposed their child marrying a Catholic. We could easily slice a denominational pie chart into mind-numbing detail. Most large denominations range across the entire spectrum. Catholics. polarization along the spectrum has increased. across denominational lines.introduction
caused by mergers and schisms. and a ten to fifteen per cent slice for liberal ones. A culture war map helps us visualize such changes. conservative Methodists. or language along with religion – for example. ethnicity. it too has limitations. One solution is to sort Protestants into three clusters: two slices of fifteen to twenty per cent each for fundamentalist and moderate denominations. than they do with liberals in their own denominations. In earlier years the lines between denominations represented sharper differences than they do today. Then take each slice from our pie chart and redraw it as a horizontal bar that ranges along this continuum. and Jews – and dramatizes why they may get along better with each other than with people in the liberal wing of their own traditions. However. It takes attention away from centrists who resist being drafted into a war between liberals and conservatives.6 Although this map is useful for understanding religious changes. conservatives from large denominations like the Methodists or Catholics often feel that they have more in common with each other. today they might be relieved if their child marries a liberal Catholic rather than a fundamentalist Methodist. even though sex is a hot button issue on the culture war spectrum. For a time Mormons even tried to build their own autonomous state! Today. although in some cases such as the Southern Baptists the bar stretches from center-left to far right. when issues cut across denominational lines – as do conflicts about sex – even such simple lines get in the way. Charted this way. A culture war map highlights people who cluster near the ends of this spectrum – for example. Imagine a continuum stretching from extreme religious-political liberals on the left to extreme conservatives on the right. when Italian Catholics or German Lutherans lived in self-contained immigrant communities. while in others like the United Church of Christ it stretches from center-right to far left. It can also distort our thinking about conflicts over race and sex.
they simply begin to orient us. When this field crystallized during the 1940s. we will need to shift among different views of the landscape. Thus.8
religion. with the implications we have been discussing. African-American religion seems somewhat ‘homeless’ on this map because black Christians and Muslims are frequently liberal on issues of race and class but conservative on issues of doctrine and sexuality. these three maps by no means exhaust our options. Over time. It is an invitation to critical thinking about multiple ways to interpret the landscape. This book is not designed as a unitary ‘master map’ to use without such flexibility and discernment. it is an orientation not only in the sense of a selective overview. but also because it encourages readers to get oriented – to step back and compare views of the landscape. As you read. it is a guidebook for a brief tour.
Recall that our goal is not simply to pare down our subject for an uncluttered orientation. try to discern which maps are most helpful for addressing the questions you bring to the trip. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
us to think about one coalition of liberals (including both males and females. but it also seeks to prepare readers for deeper explorations during return trips to places we will visit. the field became cautious about making sweeping generalizations about US identity. At times we may need a map that focuses our attention on what most women (whether conservative or liberal) have in common compared with men or what most blacks have in common compared with whites. American Studies is a scholarly field that studies North America (typically the US in particular) in an interdisciplinary way. Thus. more than it is like a paint-by-number kit for reproducing one recommended view. it largely blended studies of history and literature. blacks and whites) battling one coalition of conservatives (also of mixed races and genders). We will also use this selectivity to underline a specific point: how religion is part of struggles for cultural hegemony that are at the center of discussions in American Studies and cultural studies. True. and its scholars often discussed which aspects of US national culture (considered as a totality) were distinctive compared with Europe. in order to discern the best tools for addressing their priority concerns. Because the trip we are about to begin covers so much territory in a short time. Many battles in real life are not structured this way. rather it highlighted differences
within the US such as racial conflict and/or issues that cut across national borders such as empire. they also explore popular music. Its scholars not only analyze classic texts such as Shakespeare’s plays. For our purposes. as opposed to all scholars who study any kind of culture – is harder to pin down because it is even more interdisciplinary than American Studies. and Stuart Hall. literature. Through such explorations. with strong input from sociology. and media studies. and specialists in ethnic and gender studies. and because a mind-boggling range of topics falls under the rubric of culture. Questions they asked about Britain – how everyday experiences of working people related both to ‘high culture’ and to trends like industrialization and the rise of mass media – also proved relevant to other societies. the field does have certain distinctive preoccupations.7 Cultural studies – that is. the movement that goes by this name. television. what the field studies is how culture as symbolic communication relates to the exercise of power.8 We can trace the origins of cultural studies to post-World War II British scholars such as Raymond Williams. One can compare Hall’s analysis of Thatcherism in Britain to a study of Reaganism in the US. Although there is no clear line dividing cultural studies from other fields. Broadly speaking. rather scholars assume that specific cultural texts and practices have multiple layers of meaning and are part of a larger jockeying for power. the key point is that the US branch converged with American Studies. Thompson. During this process. such as ethnographers. one can start from Thompson’s analysis of how Methodism influenced British working-class politics. and extend similar questions to US Methodists. P. E. sociologists. How do such topics relate to power? Does film X dovetail with the dominance of some group? Can activity Y change the dynamics of power? The idea is not that culture always mirrors dominant power relations. Like American Studies it bridges disciplines. a network of scholars identified with cultural studies spread around the world. and everyday practices like sports and shopping. Because scholars in the overlapping fields of American Studies and
. Scholars scaled back their contrasts between the US and Europe and beefed up their comparisons between colonial or neo-colonial powers on one side (including both the US and Europe) versus their former colonies on the other. For example. the field’s interdisciplinary mix added more scholars from beyond literature and history. Each branch of the network borrows from and/or rebels against the British founders in distinctive ways.
One is that some writers use terms like ‘military hegemony’ to describe raw
. and the ability to critique it is essential for anyone who seeks change. poor people. But suppose that we can interpret both the tattoo and the poem as responses to dominant (hegemonic) assumptions about ‘normal’ feminine behavior. we have a vocabulary to discuss whether these cultural expressions have anything to say to each other. counterhegemonic alternatives in the realm of culture cannot create social change by themselves. Underdogs (whether they are students. culture and politics in the 20th-century us cultural studies analyze a huge range of issues from many disciplinary angles. If we can analyze both a French tattoo and a Dickinson poem in relation to hegemony. To be sure. critique them.10 religion. Hegemony refers to a situation in which a pattern of thought or behavior (a hegemonic pattern) is taken for granted as common sense.’ it helps us to remember that what counts for normal should not be taken for granted. let us consider it more carefully. But it seems normal for teachers to assign reports. Exploring this case might be fascinating. Consider what would happen if a college student tried to assign a book report to her room-mate. and develop alternatives. this reflects their hegemony in the classroom. Nevertheless. and this works to the power advantage of one group (the hegemonic one) and the disadvantage of others. Perhaps she obtained it while studying in Paris to rebel against her Baptist mother who sees Dickinson as a role model. We must beware of two pitfalls when using hegemony analysis. Perhaps we are talking about a Wiccan tattoo on a US college woman. What can a sociologist who studies French body art say to a scholar of Emily Dickinson poems? However. for example. cultural hegemony remains a major form of power. both fields often use the concept of cultural hegemony – a term which roughly refers to dominant patterns of behavior considered ‘normal’ – in a way that allows them to connect their far-flung interests. the military could crush a counter-hegemonic movement that enjoys wide support. A shared language of hegemony enables us to bring these women into dialogue and to weave together insights about them from sociology and literary studies. it is hard to bring different parts of these fields into dialogue. ethnic minorities. Since hegemony is a key category for this book. Raw coercion might block such efforts. Building it is essential for anyone who seeks to lead through consent rather than coercion.) have little hope of changing hegemonic patterns – patterns they may not even think about – unless they become aware of them. It may turn out that they do not.9 Even though ‘hegemonic’ is a longish word for ‘normal. etc.
whereas we will use the word ‘hegemony’ as shorthand for cultural hegemony. we will meet religious people who. Granted. that is. someone is sure to note that my judgment about this matter is
. They fall between such extremes. When he competes head-to-head with extroverted right-handed executives. sexuality. like our left-handed executive. Building hegemony is a matter of everyday persuasion and coalition building. For example. and. some claims to underdog status based on conservative religion make more sense than claims based on left-handedness. Since it is based on underdogs internalizing ‘normal’ assumptions rather than bowing to coercion. race. I try to persuade my students that my leadership is in their interest. take their privilege for granted and exaggerate their grievances. Imagine a rich executive who feels like an underdog because he is left-handed and shy in a world where right-handed extroverted people are hegemonic. Whereas classic forms of hegemony theory sometimes focused on only one kind of power (based on economic class). an expectation in a classroom that the teacher sets the agenda. Another pitfall is the temptation to look for a monolithic structure called ‘the hegemony. This means that we must clarify what forms of hegemony are most significant on a case-by-case basis. gender. it might make sense for him to feel disadvantaged. Nevertheless. for the exercise of power through consent without coercion. most people are neither straight white male millionaires nor homeless Haitian lesbians. of course. but in other contexts this reflects a lack of perspective. Thus. and so on. He is taking his privilege for granted as ‘normal’ and exaggerating the drawbacks of being shy. religion – as multiple forms of hegemony existing in complex layers.introduction
force. are allies of Republicans who control the government. successful elites must persuade underdogs that they are addressing their concerns. However. This hypothetical executive helps us think about real cases in which religious conservatives feel like underdogs oppressed by secularists – even as they stand within the historical momentum of Protestant hegemony. we will treat many kinds of power and identity – including class. and promote the interests of rich white men. Such arguments may be convincing. coaches may be students. However.’ True. a coach/ teacher/husband would clearly enjoy hegemony over a player/student/ wife. Although these layers be mutually reinforcing. there may be a common sense in a sports club that the coach makes the rules. since not all forms of hegemony are bad. teachers may be wives. and an assumption in a fundamentalist church that families need husbands as heads over wives.
job insecurity and overwork. If classrooms need teachers. the modern patriarchal nuclear family) in a way that excludes other kinds of families. The concept of hegemony will help us focus on how religions interact with such questions. Shifting to another form of hegemony. The same principle extends to religious topics. Although specialists on religion have long been part of American Studies. on the principle that they should invest it wherever they can make the most additional money – irrespective of whether this meets human needs or destroys the environment? Do the rich deserve to be rich? If you are poor is it probably your own fault? Once again the issue hinges on persuasion. We could extend this analysis in many directions. One goal of this book is to contribute to a higher profile for religion in American Studies and cultural studies. and economic trends that undermine communities.12 religion. Recall how analyzing a Wiccan tattoo and a Dickinson poem in terms of hegemony helped us to bring these issues into dialogue. especially among scholars who study recent years. we could add an expert on such books to our conversation. conservatives might appeal to real concerns of women. culture and politics in the 20th-century us suspect since I am the teacher. relating the case to scholarship about Muslim women’s dress or the portrayal of witches on television. for example. Hegemony analysis is not about critique abstracted from cases. effective teachers must either be able to answer such questions or prevent them from arising in the first place. and when they should redefine common sense.
. Despite many exceptions to this rule. it is about developing a habit of asking under what conditions underdogs should accept dominant forms of common sense. Suppose that the mother of our tattooed Wiccan reads evangelical self-help books. do families need male heads over wives? In an attempt to make such a case. must our economy ‘normally’ be structured as it is? Must decisions about what is produced and how it is divided be decided by people with money. the field often treats religion as a marginal factor that appears – if at all – near the end of lists beginning with race. By using the concept of hegemony. religion deserves greater attention in the field. This is precisely the sort of question that hegemony analysis promotes. Cultural studies is even less likely to focus on religion. gender. class. Yet such arguments may or may not persuade women that the best way to address such concerns is to increase male power and define the ‘traditional family’ (that is. They might stress the fragility of families: high rates of divorce and abuse. and empire. we can move the study of religion closer to central conversations in these fields.
the same is true of religion. sometimes ironically but sometimes with impressive zeal. integrated into conversations in American Studies – but one more preliminary matter remains to clarify. What do we mean by the term ‘religion’ in the phrase ‘mapping US religion’? When we search for it. This does not lead cultural studies to give up on the idea of counterhegemonic art or better laws! Just as some forms of literature and law are innovative and counter-hegemonic. even in such cases. This book assumes that religious sub-cultures are not special cases (read: conservative and irrational by definition) but require the same nuanced and multilayered study that scholars would use for any other cultural practice. ritual. for example. law. literature. Consider that people perform rituals of devotion for Elvis Presley and UFOs.introduction
One reason for scholars’ lukewarm interest in religion is their tendency to assume that religion is normally an obstacle to counter-hegemonic struggle. they may teach that conservative tradition must be maintained indefinitely because it reflects the eternal will of God. interesting questions arise. presenting themselves as normative traditions expressing timeless truths.
Strategies for Dealing with Religious Diversity
We have discussed our two main goals – a brief orientation to US religion. who benefits from this common sense? What cultural work does religion accomplish from case to case? By exploring such questions. However. Decisions about what religions do today and should do tomorrow – whether in the realm of thought. religion is a static form of conservative hegemony rooted in the past. Why do so many citizens practice religion even under such conditions? Why does a sharp distinction between privatized religion and other parts of life seem like common sense – and since we have defined hegemony as a form of common sense that normalizes a power imbalance. or activism – are part of wider struggles to build and contest hegemony. what are we looking for exactly? How can we tell if someone is not religious enough to belong in our itinerary? The answers are not always clear. According to this stereotype. and music can also take conservative forms. In certain contexts it is marginal to politics. Of course.
. this book seeks to improve the quality of discussion about religion in cultural studies and American Studies. many religions do take such forms. However. some media discourses are oblivious to it. To advocate a higher profile for religion in American cultural studies is not to say that religion is always the most important factor.
’ Fundamentalists assert both that secularists practice a ‘religion of humanism’ and that members of liberal churches are not truly religious. but if we define religion so broadly. mysterious presence. it is not easy to decide what to cover in this book.’11 The point is not to go to Thwackum’s extreme – they use him as a cautionary example – but to solve the problem of being paralyzed by religious diversity by centering the narrative on traditionally dominant groups. However. and so on.’ Scholars even have a tradition of poking fun at this procedure by quoting Parson Thwackum from the novel. Elvis devotees. I mean the Christian religion. That is. in an effort to find an impartial definition. would this definition require us to say that attending church was not an experience with religion?10 In the light of such questions.14 religion. is there anything that is not religious? Is anything more religious than anything else? Also. Scholars have a tradition for keeping such problems under control: centering narratives on major Protestant churches while exploring how these churches interact with ‘outsiders. if someone attends a Baptist church but doesn’t value the experience deeply. they may not believe in a God ‘out there’ although they teach in seminaries. and not only the Protestant religion but the Church of England. ‘semi-religious’ practices (extending to consumerism). many New Agers lack institutional commitments yet have deep spiritual interests. humanists. Suppose we agree not to consider anyone to be religious – at least for this book – unless they belong to an established institution that interacts with some god. Classic forms of Buddhism are atheistic. One might do this more subtly than Thwackum and less grudgingly than conservatives who see only a few true religions amid an endless supply of heresies and idolatries. if we include the above people – Buddhists. Some liberal Christians disavow belief in traditional theism. one might give respect to ‘alternative religions’ (extending to UFO devotees). or higher power. albeit ‘godless. culture and politics in the 20th-century us They speak of playing sports religiously. and not only the Christian religion but the Protestant religion. However. Tom Jones: ‘When I mention religion. The point is to use the leading
. and Red Sox fans – where do we stop? Should we follow the advice of certain scholars in religious studies who. suggest that anything that is deeply valued or centers a person’s worldview should be understood as a religion. Cold War propaganda claimed that Communism was a secular religion. This might help us focus. We cannot work from a definition of religion that excludes all these people. even if this is something like consumerism? This has advantages. New Agers.
and religious forms analyzed in scholarly maps. Muslims. He posits a time lag between first confronting diversity. For example. then moving through three stages of response to it. Native Americans and Mormons did not enjoy toleration during his first stage. William Hutchison’s book. spiritualists. Recent scholars have stressed the limits of such models and moved toward a more open-ended pluralistic model that expands the range of issues to consider. and Jews. he centers his narrative on the Protestant establishment – denominations like the Methodists. Then they went on to showcase the interplay of Buddhists. In the first stage. Yet are they sufficient? Can we map US religion without periodization schemes and patterns of organization stronger than giving equal attention to all
.12 He comments that some scholars are so intent on mapping the diversity of Wiccans. as long as we are alert to such limits. Such explorations are essential. regions. Hutchison offers a framework for thinking about many forms of religious diversity – both long-standing forms and recent flowerings – in the context of a core narrative that charts the interplay between outsider groups and a hegemonic center. but had to adjust to a series of shocks to this system. by shifting attention from Puritan theologians to popular healing rituals in New Mexico. pluralism simply meant tolerating alternatives to the status quo without legal persecution. is a sophisticated version of this approach. Santeros. In the process they greatly expanded the themes. and dozens of others. and full participation for gays and lesbians remains controversial today. and Baptists – and its response to Catholic and Jewish immigration. Religious Pluralism in America.introduction
self-described religious institutions as the center of gravity in an overall narrative and as a baseline for selecting and analyzing outsiders. In Hutchison’s model. grudging toleration changed to active inclusion or assimilation. Nevertheless. Presbyterians. for example. In contrast. Catholics. and the rest that they remind him of people who survey US politics without attending to Democrats and Republicans. At each stage Hutchison is aware of limits to pluralism. Protestant insiders began from a baseline of hegemony in the early 1800s. Eventually a third stage emerged – pluralism as full participation in society without any sense of being a second-class citizen. people spoke of the US as a melting pot. Elvis worshippers. In the second.13 They began by shifting emphasis from Protestants to a triple establishment of Protestants. Fewer scholars write synthetic books as opposed to targeted studies that treat groups like Hasidic Jews or Ghost Dancers in their own terms.
Lippy treats the paradigmatic example of pluralism – harmonious relations among Protestants. but by the end of the century this was no longer true. he introduces the black church under slavery. celebrations of diversity versus grudging admissions that diversity exists. between
. and an individualism so extreme that ‘there were in theory as many forms of spirituality as there were Americans. and denominationalism.16 religion. we need to pare down Lippy’s cast of characters and distinguish patterns among the differences that he lumps together as pluralism: widespread versus rare expressions of religion. We have noted the dominant position of Christians. full circle. Ranging further. In general. Lippy is aware that pluralism was already significant in 1900 due to ethnic diversity. Nevertheless. at the dawn of the twentieth century it was still possible to presuppose Protestant hegemony. Catholics. and profound personal spiritualities versus mere secular individualism. Within this framework. for example. bottom-up struggles for equal rights versus top-down pressure to assimilate. the separation of church and state. especially white Protestants. Likewise. Lippy treats a richer range of topics than Hutchison. schisms over gay rights. culture and politics in the 20th-century us comers? Does an aspiration to map religious diversity fully bring us back. we must consider the internal power dynamics of various groups. but it has a downside: his organizing term. He extends this paradigm of peaceful co-existence to Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants. women’s ordination. he argues that pluralism ‘came of age’ through immigration. This is a significant gain. bitter conflicts about whether abortion is murder. to the impossible goal of touring every state plus Canada and Mexico in a week? Charles Lippy’s overview of twentieth-century religion dramatizes these questions. still under the rubric of pluralism. We must be alert to their power as we chart their contacts with other people. and the rising importance of religious dissent and individualism. and Jews in white suburbia. the clash of Christian and Native American traditions. experiences a sort of gridlock as a framework for analysis. the rise of Jewish neoconservatives. we need an approach that can dramatize diversity while at the same time identifying centers of power and underlining conflict. encounters of Puritans or Spanish priests with Native Americans and enslaved Africans. declining attendance at Catholic mass.14 According to Lippy. pluralism.’ How far can the term ‘pluralism’ stretch before it breaks? For our purposes. a relative decline in Protestant power. for example. religions that are freely chosen versus violently imposed.
In a book of this kind. we might think of it as fast-forwarding to the point at which our main tour begins. For example. The middle parts of each section (Chapters 3 and 6) explore cases of religion interacting with sociopolitical conflict. The final parts (Chapters 4 and 7) explore cases of religion relating to cultural change. Rather than adopt a definition of religion that makes it hard to discover anything that is not religious. Native American ceremonies and ritual aspects of US nationalism). Two major sections follow this chapter. churches and things associated with them) or widely discussed as religious (for example. As befits a work of synthesis and interpretation based on recent scholarship. pluralism is not always the best interpretive paradigm. we will give equal weight to stressing religious diversity and analyzing dominant religions as parts of hegemonic formations. we will focus on groups and practices that are either self-described as religious (for example. and the second (Chapters 5 to 7) extends this discussion to the present. rape.
. but words such as racism. The relationship between a Bible-quoting slave master and an enslaved woman who never learned to read includes pluralism.introduction
Baptist men and women. any approach to selection and definition is inevitably messy. Nevertheless. Our strategy falls midway between Parson Thwackum’s narrowness and the unattainable goal of giving all groups equal time. we will range widely and try not to stack the deck toward any single definition of religion. and at times their interplay resulted in a harmonious blending of insight. and conquest – terms that call more attention to hegemony and less to a celebratory style of multiculturalism – are indispensable. The first (Chapters 2 to 4) treats religion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However. Chapter 1 introduces key players and themes in US religious history from the pre-conquest period to the late nineteenth century. we should be alert to the ways that this definition relates to power. Each section opens with an overview of key players and dynamics during its period (Chapters 2 and 5) then zooms into more detail on selected case studies. We will spend more time on larger and more powerful groups. No doubt exploring such issues includes appreciating pluralism. Puritan and Native American rituals both deserve respect on their own terms. Rather we will try to enact a lesson of hegemony analysis – that if we start from a common-sense definition.
.. Religion: the Basics (New York: Routledge. 1996). E. 68. Sharpe. 2000). Malory Nye. 2003). 109. Religion and American Cultures. Charles Lippy. Interpreting the Sacred (Boston: Beacon. Good places to enter this debate are Thomas Tweed. ed.introduction
2 (1986). 1992). Religious Pluralism in America: The Contentious History of a Founding Ideal (New Haven: Yale University Press. and John Hinnells. n0s 3–4 (1995). On defining religion see William Paden. 2003). Tom Jones (Oxford World Classics edn) (New York: Oxford University Press. Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century (Armonk: M. 5–27 and Bruce Grelle. 1996) and Laderman and León. 519–40. Henry Fielding.. William Hutchison. 2005).
In parts of the US there was limited contact for another three centuries.1 Major American civilizations rose and fell before Europeans arrived. the so-called ‘discovery of America’ did not occur until ninety-five per cent of human history in the Americas had passed. It is to do as much as we can. Africans and Polynesians probably also reached the Americas.
Native Americans Meet Europeans
Given the small numbers of Native American people today. it is easy to underestimate how extensively Europeans depended on knowledge about living on the land that natives built up over thousands of years. and politics – a tour as selective as a seven-day trip from New York to Seattle. However. and some of these were as complex as civilizations in Europe at the same time.c h ap t e r 1
Key Players and Themes in US Religion before the Twentieth Century
We have been preparing for a tour of twentieth-century religion. However. our task in the current chapter is even more challenging. human history in the Americas began thousands of years ago – and we cannot substitute for them here. in the scope of a few pages. so that whites did 20
. In any case. culture. It will be difficult to cover such a large territory in the chapters that follow. Many lengthy books have been written on this subject – after all. and how much of American history between 1500 and 1900 was constituted by the interplay – through both co-operation and conflict – of red and white. since Scandinavians earlier settled in Newfoundland and explored the Great Lakes region. we can introduce some key groups and trends to bear in mind if we want to understand the story we will join around the turn of the twentieth century. to set the historical context for our trip. Large-scale contact with Europeans dates from the voyages and colonization schemes of Christopher Columbus 500 years ago – although these were not the earliest contacts.
by the time of European contact the largest cities north of Mexico – for example. although on a smaller scale. It is misleading to assume that the communities encountered by British settlers represented typical native societies. Most of these infections were not intentional – although at times colonizers used tactics like distributing ‘gifts’ of blankets infected with smallpox germs. Like the Meso-Americans. they were born from the earth of the Americas. had earlier risen and fallen in the Mississippi valley. Cakohia near the
. let us focus on the clash between the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez and the Aztec empire – the ‘London’ or ‘Rome’ of the Americas since it was the dominant power among an evolving set of complex MesoAmerica societies including Olmecs. To avoid the mistakes of our hypothetical Iroquois explorers. and had concluded that this ‘empty’ place told them all that they needed to know about Europe. Suppose we imagine (although this did not really happen) that Iroquois explorers had reached a remote part of Norway in the Middle Ages after its population was decimated by the bubonic plague. we do not blame the death solely on tuberculosis germs. Mayans. Europeans carried germs for which natives had little resistance. and many more. epidemics caused a shocking demographic collapse that eventually killed up to ninety per cent of the people. these Mississippean people built cities centered on pyramids and ruled by a priestly-administrative elite. Trade routes allowed them to share ideas and technologies.) In any case. People who do not accept such teachings as scientific facts might still reflect on how these myths underline the deep roots of native people in the land compared with European latecomers.key players and themes before the 20th century
not become the majority until ninety-nine per cent of this history had passed. However. and epidemics preceded colonizers to many regions. Shouldn’t they have visited London or Rome? We risk a similar mistake if we assume that the observations of European colonists report on ‘timeless’ native ways. Societies somewhat comparable to the Aztecs. In contrast. (If a prisoner in a slave labor camp dies of tuberculosis. and we should not make a similar mistake when thinking about the conquest of America. Most scholars believe that the first Native American people migrated to the Americas from Asia over the Siberian land bridge. native accounts of their origins often stress how their ancestors emerged from underground with the help of supernatural beings – in effect. and there was a cumulative impact if epidemics arrived at the same time as slavery and/or the loss of land.
and most of them still hold today. Missouri. a period as pagan Viking adventurers and another as Christians under Nazi occupation – something similar is true of native groups. Swahili. and Chinese. after horses had escaped from Spanish settlements and spread throughout the plains. Yet. The goal of education was to learn such traditions and acquire life skills. living in tipis and using horses to hunt buffalo. They did not acquire horses until the late 1700s. Native societies reorganized in a network of villages. Thirdly. they moved to the plains after losing territorial wars with Ojibwe people who enjoyed stronger alliances with fur-traders. although Meso-Americans developed literacy. They were as small as hunting bands of a few extended families. despite large differences from place to place. gender relations were often
. culture and politics in the 20th-century us place where the Mississippi. it is hard to draw clear lines between religious aspects of native cultures and their general ways of life. enriching tribes that acquired them and threatening other tribes with extinction. It is nearly impossible to identify a ‘typical’ native society. degrees of hierarchy.22 religion. and Ohio rivers meet – had been abandoned.2 A few generalizations tend to hold for Native American religion before 1900. First. Consider the Lakota Sioux – a group that whites often imagine as ‘normal’ Indians. and emphasis on military values. By the late 1800s whites had slaughtered most of the buffalo and forced the Lakota onto reservations. Secondly. some with differences as large as those between Russian. Before this time most Lakotas lived further east. They used hundreds of languages. like present day Scandinavians who are no longer Viking raiders. Lakotas only hunted buffalo on horseback for one century of their history. lifestyles. native cultures in the US did not do so until well after European contact. the Lakota are still alive even though buffalo hunts are part of the past. linked by confederations and trading systems but relatively decentralized and self-sufficient. native cultures stressed oral tradition. Just as the Norwegians that we imagined being discovered by Iroquois have long histories with many stages – for example. Although certain ceremonies and aspects of nature are recognized as especially powerful or sacred in a way that corresponds loosely to the Western category ‘religious. Unlike Christian or Islamic cultures in which texts like the Bible or the Qur’an are central to religious life and the teaching of youth. They encompassed huge differences in foods. and as large as the leading cities in the world at the time.’ such things are not seen as separate from the ordinary so much as on a continuum with it. kinship systems.
Native myths and rituals stressed maintaining relationships of respect and balance within their communities and local ecologies. since natives did take from nature and sometimes damaged ecosystems severely. Memories of these wars of conquest were still fresh – and. of course. and animal spirits. compared with Europeans who considered themselves above nature and stressed subduing it for their ends. This present-minded.key players and themes before the 20th century
more balanced and less hierarchical compared with the Europeans. The Spanish typically displaced native elites and exploited the native population through slavery or other forms of forced labor. South Dakota in 1890. The last military confrontation between the US Army and Native Americans occurred at Wounded Knee. to start from the extreme military-political
. The French in the Mississippi valley and Great Lakes region were somewhat less disruptive – often métis (or blended native-French) communities grew up around Catholic missions and trading posts – but the French too transformed and exploited native communities through the fur trade and the forms of dependency that accompanied it. cyclically-oriented. however. Native people were more likely to understand themselves as part of a web of nature and to live in ecologically sustainable ways – although we must not romanticize this point. resulting in the loss of most land and self-determination. By the late 1800s colonization was nearly complete. Every native society eventually suffered military conquest by a European power. thunder beings. female ritual leaders. The contrast is especially strong if ‘progress’ demands traumatic imbalances such as uprooting people from communities and ravaging the environment. and veneration of both gods and goddesses. It is misleading. while the British stole land and pushed native people out of the way. People offered prayers to corn mothers. bitterly painful and demoralizing from the native perspective – as the twentieth century opened. matrifocal families.3 Some cultures disappeared entirely. Fourthly. and locally-grounded focus of religious energy contrasts sharply with a modern Western mindset based on visions of universal progress. and the British model was winning out in most of Canada and the US (which by this time had seized half of Mexico). tribes existed in a less antagonistic relationship with the rest of the natural world. Russians in the Pacific Northwest blended the Spanish and French models. with more scope for women’s political power. they practiced seasonal ritual cycles linked to hunting and agriculture.
the kernel of truth in self-serving ideologies about empty land is that resources were abundant. Access to horses was even more valuable. Scholars call this the ‘middle ground’ and stress its creative aspects. Therefore. European metal tools for cooking. By no means was the settlers’ quality of life self-evidently better. Europeans traveled on Indian roads. Often these advantages were more important in the context of competition with rival native groups than with whites. Particularly at first. Settlers needed native expertise about what plants and animals they could eat – eventually crops developed by natives including corn. Natives adopted European technologies and often became
. tobacco.24 religion. between first contact and the late stages of conquest. often they wanted settlers as allies in complex diplomatic relations involving multiple native and European nations. but often this took a long time to develop. sometimes lasting for generations. Native groups did not make a united front to push the first wave of colonists back into the sea because it seemed more important to keep each other in check. there were motives for co-operative exchange and coalition building. native enemies of the Aztecs co-operated with Cortez. many ‘white Indians’ joined native communities through capture or running away and had no desire to be rescued. However. it was also about intercultural exchange. Creek diplomats played British. Thus. culture and politics in the 20th-century us imbalance in 1900 and project it backward even 100 years. there was room for all. few Indians worried about their grandchildren waking up a hundred years later to discover that whites had stolen their land and enslaved them. much less to the 1600s. Both groups had ideas and technologies of interest to the other. there were periods of rough parity in power and respect. partly because of the epidemics noted above.4 It involved complex negotiations in which the Europeans were not always the most powerful players. From a native perspective. and Anglo-American colonists against each other to negotiate better terms of trade and maintain their power vis-à-vis native rivals. hunting. and war gave major advantages to groups that developed the trade or kinship relations to acquire them. and tomatoes become staples in Europe – and about surviving on the land. Native warriors could have expelled or absorbed the first wave of European colonists. natives eventually realized that they were becoming dependent on European goods and that a wave of conquest was sweeping over them. Of course. for example. and sometimes married them. Such interplay was not only about jockeying for control of land. potatoes. French. traded with natives. Moreover.
most whites considered native people a part of the past. missionaries were literally given control of the government’s Indian Office (the forerunner of today’s Bureau of Indian Affairs) largely to promote this policy. Whites also imposed a policy called allotment that broke up tribal communities and sold off tribal land in individual parcels. In every region some native people eventually turned to armed resistance when the power balance tilted too far. frequently this divided communities into bitter factions.6 Native people continued to fight for cultural survival. however. but sometimes a creative middle ground – than to imagine that Europeans simply showed up and displaced older ways of life. indeed from 1870 to 1882.key players and themes before the 20th century
Christian. and as we will discuss in Chapter 7. in 1900 whites stood on Indian land and moved within the momentum of centuries of interaction with Indians.
. We should not imagine that all these resistance efforts were doomed. especially during the 1600s and early 1700s. as some followed prophetic visions and others rejected them. in practice it mainly opened the door for whites to acquire native land through tactics that were tantamount to theft. their struggles gained significant momentum by the second half of the twentieth century. Pontiac’s campaign in the Great Lakes region in the 1760s. the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico from 1680 to 1692.5 Thus. Missionaries ran many of these schools. For the moment. Europeans struck deals for access to hunting grounds and orchards. However. as dramatized by the success of the Pueblo Revolt. the middle ground had collapsed almost everywhere by 1900. In theory this taught natives to ‘progress’ toward US individualism. Whites took children from their parents and raised them in boarding schools where they were indoctrinated into Christianity and forbidden to speak their own languages. During at least half of the time between Columbus’ arrival and the turn of the twentieth century. and struggles from the Ohio valley to Florida in the early 1800s. However. but native people themselves were militarily defeated and decimated by disease. it is more accurate to say that American history was constituted by cultural-political exchanges with natives – often involving forced labor and war. Prophets who called their people back to traditional ways often led the resistance. native warriors increasingly went down to defeat. Battles with Sioux on the northern plains and Apache in the Southwest continued after the Civil War. Examples include the war of Metacom (or King Philip) against Puritans in 1675.
Once at international slave markets. Many escaped African-Americans were integrated into tribal societies. Cherokee elites owned plantations similar to Anglo-American ones. even though it is sometimes seen as unusual because it had a black majority after 1700. especially the Caribbean and coastal parts of South America. and this led to intense exploitation of labor on an unprecedented scale. A settler society like Massachusetts.8 To understand the dynamics of African-American religion. we must grasp the slave system’s brutality. the emerging American system was based on plantations of sugar. Almost immediately after Columbus reached the Caribbean. White. The middle passage was harrowing. was the unusual one in an Americas-wide perspective.7 Forced labor has been common throughout world history. the foundation on which Americans stood in 1900 was created more by the history of red–white–black relations than red–white relations alone. However. and some Native Americans made money catching runaway slaves and selling them back into the market. African slave-traders were an integral part of the Atlantic slave business and slavery also existed in Native American societies. and families were often divided. he began to import African slaves to replace natives who were dying from epidemics or mounting resistance. Over time Cherokee slavery was drawn into the world system. and Black
Viewed from the perspective of centuries rather than millennia of experience. Overall. with thirty-five times more whites than blacks. Before the 1800s – that is. both physical and cultural. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
From Red and White to Red. high percentages of people died en route to the Americas while packed into the dark and unspeakably unhealthful holds of ships. In much of the Americas. blacks accounted for a third of the population in Britain’s American colonies if we include Barbados (which was larger than Massachusetts and Virginia combined in 1660) and Jamaica (larger than New York in 1760). and other goods that were integrated into an international market. Many masters
. for 300 of the 500 years since Columbus arrived – more people crossed the Atlantic from Africa than from Europe. cotton. For example.26 religion. slavery among the Cherokees had earlier taken place on a small scale. captives from the same regions of Africa were separated so that their languages and customs would be hard to maintain. Africans became the majority population. tobacco. sometimes as a prelude to a captive’s assimilation into the community. In this regard South Carolina was the most typical of the thirteen colonies that formed the US. What happened on a small scale with such native entrepreneurs took place on a massive scale in Africa.
enslaved people learned that masters often saw themselves as paternalistic caretakers of their property. enslaved people were not passive victims without resources to persist and in limited ways thrive as a community. Nevertheless. People did not experience rape. At times. and various practices humiliated them and dramatized their second-class status. Such strategies have been controversial because they undermined support for more radical rebellion and risked internalizing a ‘slave mentality’ which accepts paternalistic hegemony.’ which has trivialized black women and romanticized slavery in films like Gone With the Wind. torture. So it was under slavery. between white children and slaves who cared for them or between masters and their personal attendants or sexual consorts. Under the circumstances slave communities developed which were surprising healthy and resilient. Slave systems in world history have not always cared about the variations in skin tone that signal ‘race’ as we commonly under-
. bonds of affection developed across racial lines. or steal food. Enslaved workers had some scope to negotiate about working conditions.9 Before discussing how religion related to this situation. If pressed too hard they could slow down.key players and themes before the 20th century
raped enslaved women. Let us recall that the social order in today’s America is also maintained quite violently – in this case through the discipline of the market and prison system – but even the poorest citizens survive within these constraints. ruthless pursuit of escaped slaves. slaves could appeal to such paternalism to win better living conditions in places where resistance seemed impossible. Scholars debate about the impact of black conversion to Christianity in this context. Cooks could poison their masters. only to see it inherited by descendants of their oppressors – it did have seasonal rhythms. sabotage equipment. let us reflect on the concept of race. If they chose. and intense repression of revolts. some mutual influences between the races were positive and creative. not without some happiness. Moreover. (Thomas Jefferson’s long-running affair with his slave Sally Hemings is a famous example. for example. Most slaves were forbidden to read and write. At the same time. Although slave work was grueling and exploitative – among its bitterest legacies is that blacks created much of the society’s wealth. or seeing their children auctioned every day. with luck it might happen rarely. murders.) This dynamic has been distorted through the stereotype of the nurturing black ‘Mammy. The system was maintained with whippings. with a moral-religious responsibility to civilize slaves and care for them like children.
) 11 African-American religion is an especially important example of cultural mixing – a key locus for the interplay between European hegemony.10 Despite laws and cultural norms that forced people into separate and unequal racial categories. enslaved Africans and indentured servants from Europe were not treated in markedly different ways. along with other physical and cultural signals that today allow suntanned ‘white’ suburbanites to have darker skin tones than many ‘black’ people without observers confusing their ‘color’ status. Such evidence reflects the fact that some ‘disappearing’ natives did not die. African tradition. One study found that fifty per cent of black students in South Carolina had a grandparent with Native American blood. Up to a quarter of the captives were Muslim. Haley had 267 ancestors in addition to Kunte Kinte – and almost a third were Cherokee. but in the Americas the lines between masters and slaves were racialized in ways that reverberated through the society long after slavery ended. English. Most of the others practiced traditional forms of West African religion. It is difficult to generalize about the religions that Africans brought to the Americas.’ when they might otherwise have formed stronger alliances with poor Africans. and black populations of the US mixed to a greater degree than many people realize. with its many cultural and institutional ramifications. the red. elites decided that indentured Europeans could work for a specific period and then move to a free status – the first step on a road that later led to citizenship and voting rights – while Africans would be locked in permanent servitude. Race was used to divide and conquer the work force.28 religion. African religions did
. Creating and enforcing hierarchies based on race. Roots. seventyfive per cent of the gene pool of one culturally intact tribe in Belize can be traced to Africa. Poor Europeans aligned themselves with elite Europeans in an emerging category of ‘whiteness. Like Native American religions. or Irish. white. and they paid considerable attention to the veneration of ancestors. In six previous generations. became a foundational aspect of US society that continues to the present. Consider the genealogical line dramatized in the 1970s television series. and counter-hegemonic struggle. and the numbers in Mississippi were higher. rather they were enslaved and blended into the ‘black’ populace. culture and politics in the 20th-century us stand it. between writer Alex Haley and his enslaved Gambian ancestor. (Africans could also be absorbed by native societies. Skin color became a marker of difference. Kunte Kinte. However. These religions were typically polytheistic. In the early years of British colonization.
Such religions continue to thrive as Santería and Vodou in the Caribbean and Candomblé in Brazil. given that a key concern of Puritans was stamping out the veneration of saints. One scholar sees the result as a ‘spiritual holocaust’ that nearly stamped out African religions in the emerging US outside of a few pockets such as New Orleans. and spirit possession. and a system
. Slave masters worked with greater or lesser diligence to stamp out these religions. often this meant little in terms of learning doctrines or participating in Christian rituals. alongside most other unsupervised meetings. styles of music and dance. Often they emphasized drumming. divination. However. folk tales. Islamic practice did not survive across generations in an organized way. In Catholic colonies where everyone residing in a parish was a church member.key players and themes before the 20th century
not distinguish sharply between religious and non-religious parts of their culture.13 In the US. Spanish and French Catholics were far more open to such practices than British Protestants. but fragmented aspects of African traditions – sensibilities toward ancestors. what survived were not fully developed traditions like Haitian Vodou. Church-sanctioned societies called confraternities became key institutions that carried forward selected African practices. with relatively minor adaptations for language and/or blending influences from different parts of Africa. Africans and Native Americans both embraced Christianity more readily. dancing. even when educated Muslim slaves were able to maintain traditions such as daily prayer. Colonies run by Roman Catholics were more conducive than Protestant colonies to a blending of traditions that extended African religions.12 This result was not inevitable. In some places – more often in Latin America than the British colonies and more often on large plantations with complex slave quarters than smaller ones where blacks and whites were in closer contact – ceremonies were passed intact to new generations. In regions where masters periodically replenished their slave quarters with new arrivals from Africa. thus. insofar as they could continue worshipping traditional deities by addressing these deities with a dual set of names – one as Catholic saints and another extending traditional understandings. Openly organizing slave mosques was out of the question. slaves often received perfunctory baptisms that they would not have received in a Protestant system. it was easier to maintain traditions than in places (including most of the emerging US) where the slave population was self-sustaining. Ceremonial drumming was outlawed.
Moreover. and calland-response sensibilities continued. whites had inherited a common-sense assumption that Christians could not be enslaved. the main result of this process was the creation of a distinctive form of Christianity. addressing black converts as brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as specific African words were lost but much of the underlying pattern of thinking – the ‘African grammar’ so to speak – was passed on. missionaries from then radical Protestant sects like the Baptists. However. and magic called conjure. and Methodists risked pariah status by leading inter-racial worship. This is easy to see in the cases of music and the so-called superstitious practices of conjure. something similar was true of African religion. an arm of the Anglican Church began preaching to slaves in 1701. vocal styles. and healing. healing practices.30 religion. Conversion risked the awkward scenario of baptizing slaves. and condemning slavery. the common sense informing them lingered on. In the British colonies. Whites felt that Christianization might make slaves harder to discipline. the process of Christianization was surprisingly slow.14 For slaves in the US. since this blurred lines of racial separation.15 (Later we will discuss twentieth-century efforts to rebuild non-Christian forms of African religion in dialogue with immigrants from the Caribbean and the Muslim world. only to inform them that they could not read the Bible since it was illegal for them to read at all. curses. Blacks had obvious reasons for maintaining their traditions and refusing to worship a God in whose name they had been enslaved – a God who was imagined as white. and although such laws were easily rewritten.to late 1700s. Moravians. Even when ceremonial drumming was outlawed. heavily inflected by African influences and the concerns of enslaved people about how religion relates to power and hegemony. whites were also standoffish toward converting blacks. Not until white southern evangelicals stopped criticizing slavery and
. This was the law in Virginia in the early 1600s.) However. Even without fully articulated traditional communities. In the mid. but it gained few converts to its staid and cerebral style of religion. tunes. and they did not want to worship with blacks or even imagine an afterlife where the races were equal. In this context. culture and politics in the 20th-century us of charms. African folk tales continued to be retold and people still consulted conjurers for charms. African rhythms. considering that conversion was a key ideological rationale for slavery. missionary efforts made limited headway. These preachers faced such strong opposition from other whites – including social ostracism and physical violence – that their growth was limited before the 1800s.
Moreover. 200 years after slavery came to Virginia. so they often met at night in brush arbors in remote parts of their plantations. in the early 1800s. blacks preferred an African-inflected music style. with few educational barriers to leadership. and rejected a dualism between spiritual and sociopolitical equality. they had to do so in secret. Southern whites did not allow blacks to meet alone. and an emotionally charged form of chanted preaching. they focused on themes of suffering. they stopped teaching that slavery was a necessary evil and began to describe it as a positive Christian good. Evangelicals worshipped in an emotionally expressive style that was open to the incorporation of African musical sensibilities. in reaction to attacks by abolitionists. However. evangelical institutions (especially Baptist) stressed bottom-up leadership and local autonomy. This allowed ordinary rural folk to address their priority concerns through their sermons and church activities. Nevertheless in the evangelicalism which emerged in a series of revivals known as the Great Awakenings – often led by Baptists and Methodists – blacks found a form of Christianity that they were willing to embrace. and ecstatic behavior somewhat reminiscent of African spirit possession. Before slavery ended. much of black Christianity developed as an invisible institution. Whites highlighted Biblical texts like ‘Slaves. Blacks sang spirituals such as ‘Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?’ based on a Bible story about God protecting a prisoner thrown into a lion’s den. Blacks interpreted America not as a promised land but as an Egypt to flee.key players and themes before the 20th century
convinced themselves that spiritual equality in the eyes of God carried no implication of sociopolitical equality did they gain many white converts. as long as they could do so on their own terms. a type of dance-like worship called shouting. US blacks finally began to embrace Christianity on a large scale. If blacks wished to hear such preaching and sing their own songs. Thus. stressed compassion and justice for the poor. Whites interpreted the story of the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land either as an apolitical teaching about individual souls seeking God or as an allegory about Puritans fleeing religious persecution in Europe for an American promised land. obey your masters’ (Ephesians 6:5) and stories about biblical heroes who gained slaves as a reward for their virtue. sanctioned worship involved blacks sitting in the back of white churches or white clergy preaching to slaves.
. dance. Eventually. They interpreted the social implications of Christianity differently from most whites.
and there was an established church. Presbyterians. French.32 religion. This was especially true in New England. colonies that welcomed pluralism (such as Pennsylvania) or accepted it because diversity overwhelmed efforts to police uniformity (such as New York) became models for the US as a whole. but Europeans typically dominated. In 1895 the National Baptist Convention emerged as the largest black denomination.16 In many places. where African-Americans and Native Americans had limited day-today presence. Maryland had a slave economy.
. but considerable ethnic and religious diversity: the Dutch and British vied for control of New York. This role continued after the Civil War as blacks faced ongoing racism and poverty. and the professions was highly limited. New York had many slaves and was home to the Iroquois Confederacy. However. and black that constituted American history from 1500 to 1900. in Catholic regions and the South there was more cultural mixing. as well as among the growing group of blacks who migrated to cities like Atlanta or Chicago.
Key Players in European-American Religion during the Colonial Era
Europeans increasingly dominated the interplay of red. white. and German sectarians. black clergy came to play key roles as community leaders. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Free blacks in cities like Philadelphia and Charleston could afford to be less secretive. Independent black Baptist and Methodist churches began to organize in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The middle colonies had European majorities. and Sephardic Jews. which also was home to Swedes. In the long term. the population was fairly homogeneous. who organized the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion (AMEZ) in 1816 and 1821. about the same time that the invisible institution was developing in the South. Because black participation in business. southern black churches moved from invisibility toward formal organization on a large scale. they were slower to create a national organization than black Methodists. After emancipation. Protestants and Catholics coexisted uneasily in Maryland. Churches became key centers for the African-American community. Because Baptists are so decentralized. the military. settlers created small-scale transplanted European societies. and some of the leading free black churches were based in Pennsylvania. As we have seen. Pennsylvania welcomed Quakers. both in southern agricultural regions that maintained a system of segregation and tenant farming that provided little improvement over slavery.
Protestants repudiated the authority of bishops. We might think of Catholicism as the trunk of Western Christianity and Protestantism as a major branch off this trunk. and participating in rituals called sacraments. this led to significant change. one southern elite commented that anyone who wanted slaves to read the entire Bible ‘belonged in a room in the Lunatic Asylum. and it took a long time to develop. A vivid example of the conflicts that could arise is the African-American reading of Exodus as a warrant to rebel against slavery. the spirit of God present in the world. and most southern colonies had them until the 1780s. According to Protestants. Christians stress written sources (especially the Bible) and literacy. It transformed the everyday experience of religion for ordinary people.key players and themes before the 20th century
at first this by no means seemed inevitable. Most colonists were at least nominal Christians. stopped venerating saints. until 1833. and ordination) and have an elaborate hierarchy headed by bishops and the Pope in Rome. de-emphasized and/ or reinterpreted many of the sacraments. and it shifted power within Christianity because it allowed laypeople to interpret the Bible for themselves. Since Protestants lack the unified structure that allows Catholic diversity to flourish as movements and niches within an overarching church. Protestantism splintered into hundreds of denomi-
. these things had become so corrupt that they interfered with the teaching of Jesus and the direct relationships needed between God and believers. confirmation. Unlike religions based on oral traditions. they trace this back to the earliest years of the Church. and later came to be understood by such names as Savior and Son of God. seeking forgiveness for human imperfection and wrongdoing. Roman Catholics practice additional sacraments (confession.’17 All Christians emphasize doing the will of God as revealed through Jesus’s teachings about compassion and justice. the founder of Christianity who began as a Jewish prophet and teacher. When Protestants put the Bible in the hands of grassroots Christians in the early modern era. Massachusetts had an established church for more than half its history. marriage. and since Protestants encouraged believers to interpret the Bible for themselves. Christians believe in a single creator God who takes three forms known as the Trinity: the Creator of the universe. was killed by the Roman Empire. anointing the sick. and closed monasteries and convents. Unlike polytheists. and Jesus Christ. including baptism (through which one joins the church) and holy communion (in which Christians eat together and remember a key moment in Jesus’s life).
they came to the Americas as English Puritans. which came to the Americas as Mennonites. saints. and similar groups. stressed the teaching of salvation through God’s grace alone. Scots–Irish Presbyterians. Radical Reformers saw such arrangements as too compromised. They felt that Catholics obscured essential teachings about God’s grace and sovereignty by relying on priests. or authority structure based on bishops. Anglicanism. It began when King Henry VIII declared the independence of the English Church from the Pope.’ However. French Huguenots. they came to the Americas with immigrants from these places. The main concerns of Luther and Calvin were theological rather than political. since (as Calvin put it) human nature is ‘totally depraved. named after the monk Martin Luther who sparked the German Reformation. These groups are also called Anabaptists because they considered Catholic baptisms invalid and re-baptized their converts. or the Church of England. and the Radical Reformation – based on how sharply they broke with Catholicism and shifted authority toward the grassroots. named after the Genevan minister John Calvin. No human works could bring sinners closer to God. Ever since Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.34 religion. culture and politics in the 20th-century us nations. Anglicans came to the Americas as an arm of the British government. Lutherans. One result was that later stages of the British Reformation proceeded as a revolt against Anglican bishops in addition to Catholic ones. Calvinists led the efforts to radicalize the English Reformation and thrived in many parts of northern Europe. European governments and clergy had been deeply entwined. and German and Dutch Reformed Churches. often pacifist. They favored selective (or sectarian) churches that gathered serious disciples distinct from mainstream society. We can sort out its key families – Anglicans. Calvinists. shifts in theology had political implications. made the smallest changes. There was no sharp distinction between tithes and taxes. theology. after the American Revolution they reorganized as the Episcopal Church. and bishops
. but otherwise changed little of the worship. Amish. Persecution forced them to the margins of society in separatist communities. Lutherans became dominant in Germany and Scandinavia. its LutheranCalvinist mainstream. and sacraments as intermediaries between individuals and God. shared Luther’s key ideas but put more stress on God’s sovereign power and made more radical changes in Catholic liturgies. Whereas Lutherans and Calvinists made their peace with Protestant rulers and organized state churches (at times Calvinists experimented with theocracies).
however. often utilizing forced labor. both gained power at the expense of feudal aristocracies who spoke for a unified Christendom. Religious wars in Europe translated into wars for empire in the Americas. and the unchurched. Let us consider the four key players on the Euro-American religious scene during the colonial era: Roman Catholics. In the upper Midwest and Canada the main Catholic presence was through French missionaries loosely associated with the fur trade. Just as we cautioned against lumping together rival groups like the Cherokees and Creeks as a single bloc against white encroachment. In both Catholic and Protestant countries a key rationale for conquest was the goal of expanding the reach of Christianity. we must not lose sight of the bitter differences among European colonizers. and the Mississippi Valley – Catholicism was the major European religion. a full century after Columbus but still earlier than the first British colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts. Protestant–Catholic conflict was linked to the long-term rise of modern nation states and the middle classes. Elites feared that chaos would result if all members of their societies were not subject to the same religious– political laws. clerics established a line of mission settlements. Luther published his manifesto called The Ninety-five Theses in the same year (1517) that Cortez began his campaign against the Aztecs. Largely due to such considerations. as well as Spanish settlements in Florida. in Quebec their settlements did displace native people. In the northern parts of colonial Mexico such as California and Texas. the Reformation was also about political shifts and alliances. the Reformation and the conquest of the Americas began at the same time.18 Priests were part of the political apparatus of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Haiti. which meant that questioning bishops was also rebellion against the aristocracy. was based on plantation slave labor. debates about what forms of slavery were justifiable were argued using evidence from the Bible and canon law. Thus. the French were less likely than the British or Spanish to steal land or enslave natives. the Reformation sparked a series of wars. although they returned twelve years later. They founded a key settlement on the Rio Grande at Santa Fe. California.
. New Mexico in 1598. A 1680 revolt of Pueblo Indians expelled the Spaniards. As noted above. Moreover. at least in regions that became part of the US. The most lucrative French colony. Beyond the thirteen colonies that formed the US – that is. Canada. Puritans. Anglicans. in a huge territory including Latin America.key players and themes before the 20th century
were part of the aristocracy.
Only a handful of Catholics lived in the British colonies. that Catholicism became a major player in the US at large. in the early 1600s the Puritans (who organized as Congregationalists and split between one
. with an influx of Irish immigrants and the US seizure of the northern half of Mexico. Nevertheless. However. recruiting a high-quality cadre of clergy to the wilds of the New World proved difficult. More passionate about religion were the Puritans. which they considered little better than Catholicism. They were supported by taxes and in theory everyone in their colonies was born into an Anglican parish. continued to enjoy many advantages and to recruit elites to their churches. Prominent laity organized in boards called vestries played a key role in running parishes. and for a time he sponsored Catholic worship led by Jesuit priests. and most Anglican clergy sided with the losing British side during the American Revolution. beginning in Virginia in 1607. and Afro-Caribbean cultures. Two additional factors eroded Anglicanism’s long-term influence: evangelicalism proved more attractive to rank-and-file southerners than the Anglicans’ cerebral and formal style. the Anglicans. including the Pilgrims who arrived at Plymouth. The two obvious key players in the British colonies were the Anglican and Puritan established churches of the southern colonies and New England. In Britain the law eventually made space for the peaceful co-existence of Anglicans and Calvinist dissenters. However. In general Maryland’s religious institutions were weak after 1650. Spanish. We will pick up this story later.19 Anglicans came as an arm of the English government and/or the companies it chartered. reorganized as Episcopalians after the revolution. The US gained a largely Catholic region with a blend of French. including both Presbyterians (who vested power in regional bodies called presbyteries) and Congregationalists (who gave autonomous power to local congregations). anti-Catholic rioting and a Protestant political takeover put Catholics on the defensive and limited their religious practice to private homes. culture and politics in the 20th-century us at least until the Haitians successfully rebelled in 1791 – a fateful event for the US since the war caused an influx of refugees to New Orleans and allowed Jefferson to acquire French-claimed territory cheaply in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Massachusetts in 1620 and a larger group that founded Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s.36 religion. and it was not until the 1840s. These were strong Calvinists whose name signals their desire to purify Anglicanism. However. The Catholic aristocrat George Calvert founded Maryland in 1634. many rural southerners had tenuous connections to churches.
In contrast. Puritans sought a colony to shape according to their sense of God’s will. Blasphemy and adultery were capital crimes. enslaved. miring one deeper in sin. one had to give persuasive testimony to existing church members that one was among God’s elect. because they criticized distracting trappings of wealth and eliminated special vocations of priests and nuns. Quaker missionaries and accused witches were executed. he simply reveals that he does not understand his predicament. Puritan colonies were not theocracies in the sense that clerics ruled directly. if he tells a judge that he will pay his debt by working harder. joining a Puritan church was not a matter of choice or recruitment. and persecuted by. and people were required to attend worship services that lasted for hours. Misguided efforts to focus on good works would only dig sinners into deeper holes. but of declaring one’s confidence that one had been elected by God. Recall how all Calvinists. their hard work was channeled
.’ A pious Puritan woman named Anne Hutchison was exiled for questioning the authority of male clerics. this included choosing to be saved. Imagine a defendant in court who is a million dollars in debt and working at a minimum wage job. To join an Anglican parish.’ Thus. while Pequot Indians were killed. or confined to ‘praying towns. The Puritan quest for religious freedom imposed sharp limits on the freedom of non-Puritans. Sociologist Max Weber later suggested in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that the anxieties created by this theology – the need for confidence about election even though no one could be sure about it – drove Calvinists to work harder than other people. His only hope is for someone to forgive his debt. including Puritans. they saw themselves as junior partners in a vanguard experiment to establish God’s will on earth. British authorities. God’s grace toward sinners is like such forgiveness. Puritans felt that the decision to forgive sin was entirely in the hands of a sovereign God and that the human soul was so corrupt that striving for election was like spinning a car’s wheels in the mud. one simply had to be presented for infant baptism. taught that it was futile to seek salvation through human works. According to Puritans. They spoke of their covenant with God to create ‘a city on a hill’ – a Biblical allusion that also evokes the idea of being ‘the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:14). to join a Puritan church. like Catholic ‘priestcraft. Moreover. In effect.key players and themes before the 20th century
group which sought to reform Anglicanism and another which wanted to separate from it) were highly dissatisfied with. but magistrates were expected to enforce Puritan policies and only church members could vote.
but that the two grew up together and were mutually reinforcing. individualism. into building wealth and (in the Puritan case) colonizing the New World. significant levels of disinterest in Christianity have been ongoing. most people did not join churches. In fact. The point is not that Calvinism caused modernity or vice versa. stress on literacy. Anglicans. especially for Puritans. only fifteen per cent of taxpayers were church members in many New England towns. In effect.
. Many scholars believe that a broad Puritan sense of collective mission has been a lasting component of US culture. This in turn helped to explain why the nations that emerged as leaders of the modern world system were often Calvinist. Even in New England after the first couple of generations. worldly success came to be seen as a religious vocation and a rough-and-ready indication of whether one was saved – even though this was not their theologians’ intention. the ambitious and disaffected. One scholar notes that Puritans were required to attend lengthy Sunday services. we could easily overestimate the pervasiveness of religion in colonial America. Only ten to fifteen per cent of people in the British colonies in 1776 were church members.21 True. the Puritans’ psychological anxiety. Although immigrants were sometimes the most pious members of the European communities they left behind – as was true of Puritans – often they were the least pious: young people. people fleeing the draft. but numerous attendees were ‘horse-shed Christians’ who spent much of the day hanging around in the horse sheds socializing. Weber believed that later stages of Euro-American capitalism retained a quasi-religious version of this ‘Protestant work ethic’ without the overt theology. church membership was more demanding in the past. compared with more than fifty per cent in the twentieth century. and sense of mission (recall their vision of building a city on a hill) fit together with aspects of modernity such as visions of progress. Nevertheless. In effect.22 By 1692. Massachusetts prosecuted its famous witch trials. Recall how rural folk had little contact with clergy in much of the South. the fourth key player alongside Catholics. when Salem. and the rise of science. and Puritans was the largest of all: the unchurched.20 In light of the Puritan legacy.38 religion. culture and politics in the 20th-century us into the everyday world – above all. restless adventurers. increased membership does not prove increased commitment. despite the fact that the original Puritan churches were already struggling by the late 1600s as New England changed from the land of pious Puritan pilgrims to the land of individualistic Yankee merchants. unattached males. this was also true on the frontiers of westward expansion for years to come.
Preachers raised emotions to a fever pitch in frontier camp meetings that mingled ecstatic forms of African-American religion and white evangelical styles. Even Puritan clerics were fascinated by miraculous signs. the contrast between Anglicans and Baptists was especially striking. three more groups emerged as key players: evangelical revivalists. Ancient astrological theories and European traditions mingled with African and Native American ideas. Deists who stressed harmonizing religion and Enlightenment reason. and so on. it tugged at the emotions through sentimental music and preaching that instilled the fear of hell. and witches. Beginning with two waves of revivalism in the years around 1740 and the early 1800s – the First and Second Great Awakenings – revivalism became a permanent fixture on the landscape. stories about devils. popular magic. Even when evangelical worship was less raucous. Far more than Puritans. also known as being ‘born again. and – as in earlier stages of Protestant history – this translated into a sort of countercultural rebellion as dissenters refused to defer to authority in expected ways.
Expanding the Cast of Key Players
From the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s. divination.key players and themes before the 20th century
For both horse-shed Christians and the unchurched – and.’ Although revivalists emerged from a full spectrum of Protestantism
. so-called superstitions. and a set of religious innovators who stretched the boundaries of Christianity or moved beyond them. indeed. they appealed to the exercise of human will and the importance of emotion. Evangelicals gained their following by recruiting the unchurched on a large scale – church membership had doubled to twenty-five per cent by 1860 – and creating schisms and spin-offs from established churches. for church members as well – folk religious practices held great importance. All this was focused toward the trademark goal of evangelicalism: leading sinners to make a personal decision to accept Jesus as savior. We have noted the prevalence of conjure among Africans. Their structures of institutional power were bottom-up as opposed to top-down. evangelicals soon won a place alongside Episcopalians and Puritans in the religious establishment.23 Evangelicals appealed to working people. Listeners responded by fainting or shouting. and similar practices were widespread among whites: healing charms. Many of them repudiated Calvinist theology by exhorting people to make a conscious choice to be saved and by stressing good works. for the unchurched such interests were near the center of everyday religious practice.
not as an infant but only after consciously professing one’s faith. Since Baptists have (until recently) prided themselves on local autonomy and freedom from central authority. Schisms somewhat like the one between Anglicans and Methodists were common. Lutherans. Although they built seminaries like other groups. ‘Tidewater’ churches. intellectualized. Because of these origins. Presbyterians split between conservatives and a revivalist ‘New Light’ faction. more elite. with Free Will Baptists embracing emergent teachings about emotions and the human will while other Baptists maintained Calvinist teachings. they are a paradigmatic example of the decentralized and schismatic quality of evangelicals. They divided between newer frontier churches and older. any farmer-preacher with a Bible and a call to ministry could start a church. such as boards for co-ordinating missionary work (Missionary Baptists supported them and Primitive Baptists opposed them). and others) as one broad movement and contrast it with two other key players – Deists and a cluster of alternative religions outside the mainstream. but for now it is best to think of evangelicals (Methodists. later we will discuss how they split over modernism. During the late
. This helped them plant new churches through a system of circuit riding. They divided theologically. Methodists had bishops and a strong central organization. We have noted how Baptists divided racially. Lutheran Pietists battled Lutherans who maintained a stress on liturgies and historic confessions. Moreover. there are dozens of kinds of Baptists. or corrupted by establishment status. People broke from Congregationalism to start Baptist churches. and Anabaptists – Methodists and Baptists made the greatest gains. what is true inside the Baptist family is also true in wider evangelical world – Baptists represent only one family (albeit the largest) among dozens of others. Baptists. Calvinists. it was a renewal movement that sought a more profound piety and more effective outreach to working people. and whether to join the Southern Baptist Convention when it developed as a structure to link southern congregations. Wherever evangelicals perceived elite clergy becoming complacent.40 religion. they also share songs and traditions. Nevertheless. Methodism began as an offshoot of Anglicanism. Later we will discuss other trees in the evangelical forest. schisms followed. Eventually it broke away to become a separate denomination. in which preachers traveled by horseback over large territories on the frontier. Baptists do agree on a few things such as the need for baptism by full immersion under water. culture and politics in the 20th-century us – Anglicans. They split over centralized structures.
especially the doctrine that Jesus was supernatural. and Deist politicians tried not to antagonize evangelicals too much. in alliance with Baptists who agreed
. Deist ideas became widely influential. A movement called Unitarianism.key players and themes before the 20th century
1700s many leaders of the emerging nation – including Thomas Jefferson. The Deist creator was like a watchmaker who builds a watch. As we will see. Benjamin Franklin. and it formed a bridge between liberal religious thinkers in the Revolutionary Era and at the turn of the twentieth century. extended the Deist emphasis on moral issues and its rejection of aspects of religion that were inconsistent with humanistic values. and their push for laws that are not biased toward any single religion became part of the nation’s foundational legal structure. Deists stressed the importance of moral laws and a divine creator – what the Declaration of Independence called ‘the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God. it is silent about religion. without penalty. Although few people embraced Deism to the exclusion of other religions. although Deists argued that the core ethical teachings of Jesus agreed with natural law. These had little to do with Biblical revelations. a religion closer to what we would today call humanism than to evangelicalism. God was not present in the world. when Deists spoke of moral laws they meant the same natural laws that anyone – such as the ancient Greeks – could discover through reason. or no religion at all. and leaves it to run on its own. Jefferson spearheaded this effort. especially to perform miracles or answer prayers. Although its following was small.24 They embraced Deism. Virginia led the way in passing laws that stripped established churches (in this case Anglican ones) of tax support and official status. Except for a sentence prohibiting religious tests for public office. its underlying goal of rethinking religion in light of reason remained important for years to come. at least if his teachings were disentangled from supernaturalist corruptions added by the clergy. which emerged largely from New England Congregationalism. while guaranteeing individuals the freedom to practice dissenting religions.’ much less commitments to an established church or a Christian nation. However. and George Washington – harmonized religion with emergent forms of Enlightenment reason. winds it up.’ Sometimes they remained half-hearted church members. Human moral and mental capacities were sufficient. Deists stressed freedom of conscience. it was influential in elite circles around Harvard University. Unitarianism’s name signals its rejection of orthodox Trinitarian theology. The Constitution lacks even vague language about ‘Nature’s God.
In the long run. Especially interesting were the many experiments with new religious communities. some state churches survived for several more decades. even for sects like Baptists and Shakers who most benefited from the First Amendment. Nevertheless. for mapping stages in the evolution of pluralism. They became markedly more popular when the corruptions of politics became a smaller part of religious life and people’s resentments of political bosses were less likely to translate into resentment of religious leaders.26 Although most were small. as a group we might consider these innovations as a final key player on the religious scene. discussed in the Introduction. culture and politics in the 20th-century us with few of his religious ideas except his opposition to Anglicans. Still others stressed innovations in health. many new religious experiments flourished in the 1800s. Native Americans and enslaved blacks reaped few benefits. as opposed to positive inclusion or full participation. However. Even today some people resist its implications. it was a vanguard experiment that had never been tried as state policy before. Virginia’s law became a model for the First Amendment to the US Constitution: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Because the state’s official neutrality toward religion created a relatively level playing field for religious entrepreneurs. nor prohibit the free exercise thereof. the less toleration it enjoyed. Many people feared that it would lead to moral anarchy. It was mainly freedom for varieties of white Christianity – often only white male-led Protestantism – as opposed to multiculturalism as currently understood. Moreover. Benefits for women and non-Protestants were circumscribed. At first it meant mere toleration of dissent. Others were radical offshoots of evangelicalism under idiosyncratic prophets.’ Since this amendment prevented Congress both from creating a national church and from interfering with established churches in specific states. From a European perspective. Some were utopian communities formed by Unitarians or secular reformers.25 We should not overestimate the religious freedom in the emerging nation. at the outset the experiment seemed bold and risky. although the First Amendment did give free black churches somewhat more room to maneuver. we should not forget how radical the US commitment to religious freedom was in its day. but only in a defensive posture. The more a group flaunted accepted behaviors as well as teaching unorthodox ideas. In retrospect we know that religions thrived when they were cut free of entanglements with the state.42 religion. the most successful was
.’ This included sex with multiple spouses and a higher degree of gender equality compared with conventional marriage. Ann Lee had suffered greatly in childbirth (this was not unusual as high percentages of women died while giving birth in this era). Not all experiments with alternative family structures increased women’s power. economic co-operation. the Shaker community she founded practiced celibacy. to understand any religion we must consider its impact on women and how it reinforces or challenges hegemonies related to gender. Mormons saw themselves reviving the religion of the Hebrew patriarchs – including plural marriage. If people wanted to experiment with new configurations of the ‘normal’ bourgeois family.28 An especially interesting religion to analyze from the perspective of gender is Spiritualism. the Oneida Community founded by John Humphrey Noyes. or Mormonism. although Noyes did exercise a degree of patriarchal control. As we will discuss more fully below. Shakers taught that the divine principle was both masculine and feminine and that Ann Lee was equal to Christ. which centered on séances in which spirit mediums passed on messages from the dead. a method of mental healing with an associated metaphysic linked to an unorthodox reading of the Bible. Most scholars interpret Mormon polygamy as more patriarchal than mainstream society. She taught that sexual lust was the original sin. For example. One example is Ann Lee’s founding of the Shakers.key players and themes before the 20th century
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Deceased family members. somewhat like today’s psychics and channelers. Another example is Mary Baker Eddy’s 1879 founding of Christian Science. although Mormon economic communalism and the co-operation between wives in polygamous families may have appealed to some women. By the 1850s it had built a selfsufficient nation called Deseret (later the state of Utah). especially children who died young. with sex roles that were distinct but with a strong sense of gender equality compared to ‘normal’ society. they also tended to move toward alternative religions. they had to exercise it beyond mainstream Christianity. which was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith. In another religious experiment. community members were bound together in ‘complex marriage. a communal movement that gained its name from its ecstatic style of worship. If women felt a calling to preach at this time.27 This is especially true of alternative religious experiments during the 1800s.
For example. Abolitionism and religious reform were deeply entwined. Spiritualism was widespread in the mid-1800s. Spiritualism was a two-edged sword for women’s empowerment. and women’s dress. and Enlightenment confidence about spreading civilization. In Spiritualism. There was a large overlap between Spiritualists. One scholar argues that mediums who gave lectures in trance were the first major group of US women permitted to speak in public.29 We could easily extend a list of alternative religions. seeking alternatives to Christianity and to hegemonic gender roles went hand-in-hand. of course. the first generation of women’s rights activists. unlike most other religions of this era. white. For them. mainstream and alternative – played important roles. and black. as well as chart interactions among these groups in many situations. explore each group we have mentioned in more depth. the native and mestizo communities that had already been established in the West for generations before the Anglos arrived. northern and southern. Nevertheless. since women became mediums partly because people considered their essential nature to be more passive and receptive than men’s. loomed large in debates about slavery and southern identity. including Native American ones. marital rape. and séances were even held in the White House. they were not themselves seen as speaking. westward expansion and the Civil War were both major sociopolitical dramas in which religious actors of many kinds – red. male and female. both black and white. culture and politics in the 20th-century us appeared. and Quaker social reformers (Quakers were another religion friendly to women since they had no clergy and taught that every person had his/her own inner light). the most powerful leaders were female. Likewise religion.44 religion. most middle class families included people who experimented with it. Spiritualists championed reforms related to issues including divorce. and native resistance movements led by new prophets – and. We could. It drew on ideals reminiscent of the Puritans.30 We cannot tell its story without attention to missionaries. health. just as we could range beyond our list of key players in the religious landscape. the work of mediums helped prepare for later forms of women’s leadership. the desire of evangelicals to convert native people. Most national Protestant denominations split along North–South lines. of course. Northerners and Southerners both insisted that God was on their side in the Civil War. frontier churches. Consider the ideology of Manifest Destiny that promoted conquest of territory between the Appalachians and the Pacific. and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
It was notorious for terrorizing blacks and their white sympathizers. often by lynching people or burning homes and churches. the semi-secret militia that served as the armed wing of white southern society. ‘Glory. and biblical motifs of suffering and vindication. Recall that our goal was not to survey all aspects of religion before 1900. introducing key names and themes along the way. Whereas most lodges were relatively apolitical. African-Americans. ongoing resentment of Yankee aggression. With its chorus. Klansmen were famous for burning wooden crosses as warnings to their enemies and organizing processions in which they dressed in hooded outfits. however. as well as politicians who co-operated with them. the black understanding of southern identity was different. It perceived itself as a self-defense organization upholding southern Christian traditions. Rather than expanding on this point. and was somewhat akin to. blacks were. but rather to move quickly to the years when our main discussion begins. the KKK served as a militia and vigilante group that resisted the northern armies that occupied the South after the war. rituals of respect for slain Confederate soldiers. Westward expansion and the Civil War and its aftermath are just two among many themes that we would need to explore more fully if our goal were a comprehensive analysis. when President Lincoln met Stowe.’31 At the turn of the twentieth century. It overlapped with. God’s Truth is Marching On’ its Biblical resonances were unmistakable. In the South a cultural sensibility emerged that scholars call ‘The Religion of the Lost Cause. The KKK began after the Civil War as one of many male-only secret societies that flourished throughout the country. let us draw this chapter to a close.’ It combined idealistic nostalgia for antebellum society. Hallelujah. four
. was the best-selling book of the nineteenth century. Masonic lodges in that it taught esoteric rituals and had an elaborate hierarchy. Together these themes gave a religious cast to what whites called southern identity. Glory. he said. If we bear in mind the interplay of the players we have introduced – Native Americans. somewhat like ghosts.key players and themes before the 20th century
1852 religious anti-slavery novel. of course. more likely to notice the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). ‘So this is the little lady who caused this great war. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. in some places the KKK functioned as a quasi-public shadow government. The northern victors added ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ to a short list of songs evoking US national identity. Although officially secret. memories of the war remained vivid in the minds of aging soldiers who had fought on both sides.32 Naturally.
. The Land Looks After Us: a History of Native American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press.’ Journal of the American Academy of Religion vol. 2 On Lakotas see Raymond DeMallie and Douglas Parks. Jordan. ed. and three emergent players (evangelicals. such that citing all sources is both impossible and incompatible with our goal of brevity. and alternatives to all of the above) – we will be in a good position to consider new developments at the turn of the twentieth century. 59 (1991). 2001). 1997). Deists. ‘The decade ahead in scholarship. 1540–1866 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Roll: the World the Slaves Made (New York: Random House. 5 Joel Martin. 1977). 4 Richard White. 15–22. ‘Before and beyond the Sioux Ghost Dance: Native American prophetic movements and the study of religion. 1979). Native American Religions: Selections from the Encycopedia of Religion (New York: Macmillan. Orientations to Native American culture and religion include Joel Martin. 1987). The Invasion Within: the Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America (New York: Oxford University Press. Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society. James Axtell. culture and politics in the 20th-century us European groups in colonial America (Catholics. Canaan Land: a Religious History of African Americans (New York: Oxford University Press. Puritans. 1987). When Jesus Came. 1500–1846 (Stanford: Stanford University Press. Anglicans. African-American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture (New York: Routledge. draws on three decades of reading. American Holocaust: the Conquest of the New World (New York: Oxford University Press. Sexuality and Power in New Mexico. I have tried to cite it only once. a classic response is Lawrence Levine. and ideology in the United States. 833–62. 1650–1815 (New York. Sioux Indian Religion: Tradition and Innovation (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1972). no. Roll. and Republics in the Great Lakes Region. Lawrence Sullivan.’ New Left
. The American Indian and the Problem of History (New York: Oxford University Press.’ Journal of American History vol. and when faced with a choice between citing sources more useful to students or sources that could make me less vulnerable to academic attack. 1989) and Calvin Martin. no. Broad studies on black history and religion include Albert Raboteau. like those that follow. eds. Invasion Within and George Tinker. 3 (2003). 7 David Wills. 10 Barbara Jean Fields. 9 A classic study stressing paternalistic aspects of slave religion is Eugene Genovese. 1992). Missionary Conquest: the Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage. 677–702. I have tried to err on the side of students.46 religion. 1991) and Ramón Gutiérrez. If a source relates to my treatment of a topic in multiple chapters. the unchurched). 3 David Stannard. 1992) and Timothy Fulop and Albert Raboteau. Cambridge University Press.
1 This chapter. race. Empires. 90. Sidney Mintz and Richard Price. 8 Theda Perdue. Birth of African American Culture (Boston: Beacon. 1985). ‘Slavery.’ Religion and American Culture vol. Black Culture and Black Consciousness (New York: Oxford University Press. 1991). 3. on changes in plains cultures see Pekka Hamalainen. The Middle Ground: Indians. eds. 1 (1993). 2001). ‘The rise and fall of plains Indian horse cultures. 1993). 6 On missions see Axtell.
Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora (Boston: Beacon. Joseph Murphy. On numerical trends.’ Jon Butler. On the Southwest.’ Journal of Ethnic Studies no. David Moore. ‘The manipulation of race. ‘The impact of Puritanism on American culture. but also to ‘culturally mulatto’ practices like minstrelsy and rock and roll. On black Christians see. 2004). 1993) and Murphy. ‘Anglican tradition in colonial Virginia. A Religious History of the American People (New Haven: Yale University Press. Max Weber. 1996). There are strong traditions of white resistance not solely to inter-racial sex. The Democratization of American Christianity (New Haven: Yale
. 1990). see the notes on Catholics in Chapter 2. Religion in Colonial America (New York: Oxford University Press. and a smaller amount of Native influences). Down By the Riverside: a South Carolina Slave Community (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. in addition to books already cited. There is a huge literature on every group treated in this section. Joseph Holloway. 1978). It is striking how often mestizo identity is valorized as the foundation of Mexican culture (despite some indigenous people and descendants of Spaniards who hold out for purity) compared with the reluctance to embrace mulatto identity in the US. 1776–1990: Winners and Losers in our Religious Economy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Slave Religion: the ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South (New York: Oxford. Native. 1992). Cited in Charles Joyner. Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (New York: Knopf. 158. Perspectives on American Religion and Culture. 4–21.. On Anglicans see David Holmes. Africanisms in American Culture (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience. Hall.key players and themes before the 20th century
Review no. caste and identity: classifying Afro-American. The Black Church in the African American Experience (Durham: Duke University Press. The Churching of America. When Jesus Came. 181 (1990). the Corn Mothers Went Away. ‘Manipulation of race. see the bibliographies in Lippy and Williams. see Gutiérrez. Jack Forbes. 1989) and his edited collections including Puritans in the New World: a Critical Anthology (Princeton: Princeton University Press. African. A good place to enter the literature on Puritans is the work of David Hall including Worlds of Wonder. Nathan Hatch. C.’ in Williams and Lippy. MA: Harvard University Press. Forbes.’ in Williams. 2000) and Sydney Ahlstrom. 17 (1990). 1990) and Albert Raboteau. see Roger Finke and Rodney Stark. 1994). Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya. 1990). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Los Angeles: Roxbury. caste and identity. 66–79. Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience. 1972). 1985). For overviews. Santería: African Spirits in America (Boston: Beacon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People (Cambridge. ed. ‘Routes: Alex Haley’s Roots and the rhetoric of genealogy. and a smaller amount of African influences) and ‘mulatto’ (a blend of European. The system was less binary in places with more free blacks and/or where native people were the main labor force. Daniel Walker Howe. Native Americans and red–black people. 64 (1995). 1057 ff. Worlds of Wonder.’ Transition no. see Butler. For general citations. Consider the terms ‘mestizo’ (referring to a blend of European. 1–51. 95–118.
Gender. the Mormons. Randall Miller. Re-Telling American Religious History and Susan Juster and Lisa McFarland. see also articles by Braude and Ann Taves in Tweed. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth Century America (2nd edn) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
University Press. 1976). and the Oneida Community (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1984). and Charles Reagan Wilson. Facing West: the Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire Building (New York: Schocken Books. 2000). The Enlightenment in America (New York: Oxford University Press. Cited in Braude. Henry May. 1865–1920 (Athens: University of Georgia Press. Religion and the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press. The Evangelical Tradition in America (Macon: Mercer University Press. and the Creation of American Protestantism (Ithaca: Cornel University Press. 1990). 1980). Women and American Religion. 1984). 1998). The Godless Constitution: the Case Against Religious Correctness (New York: Norton. R. 1993).
. Charles Reagan Wilson. 1998). 1989). Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans (New York: Oxford University Press. Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause. Alternative American Religions (New York: Oxford University Press. 2000). eds. 59. Leonard Sweet. Christine Heyrman. Women and American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press.48 religion. Laurence Moore. ed. A Mighty Baptism: Race. 1995). Stephen Stein. Lawrence Foster. Neither King Nor Prelate: Religion and the New Nation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1996). eds. Religion and Sexuality: the Shakers. 1987).. Southern Cross: the Beginnings of the Bible Belt (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Classic work in American Studies on these themes includes Richard Drinnon. Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth Century America (2nd edn) (New York: Oxford University Press. 1990) and Ronald Takaki. Ann Braude. Edwin Gaustad. Harry Stout. R. Laurence Moore and Isaac Kramnick. 2001). Ann Braude.
At the same time. faced far-reaching cultural changes. women’s access to safe abortions and professional careers. Not until mid-century did middle class Protestants think of Catholics and Jews as part of mainstream society. There was also a Protestant establishment. computers. It lacked televisions. and imperial conquest. visible gay and 49
. suburban sprawl. people during these years were creating a world like our own for the first time. and they actively proselytized throughout society. struggles to end slavery. There was a flowering of diversity within a sort of free market for religious entrepreneurs created by a state that was officially neutral on religious questions. US culture early in the twentieth century remained very different from our own. professional football. electric refrigerators. Consider a few things that most citizens now take for granted which were introduced in the first half of the century: automobiles. interstate highways. It was not until 1920 that half of US citizens lived in cities. There was conflict based on racism. movies. Although Protestant elites had lost many legal privileges. women’s suffrage. somewhat like Iraqi-Americans and American Hindus with grandparents in Calcutta do today. radios. sizeable Asian immigration. access to reasonably reliable contraceptives.c h ap t e r 2
We have seen that by the turn of the twentieth century. including evangelicals and the remnants of earlier established churches. they still enjoyed considerable cultural hegemony at least among the middle and upper classes. atomic bombs. jazz. In important ways. During the early twentieth century the key players already introduced. There were efforts to recast religious traditions in ways consistent with Enlightenment reason. Social Security. the internet. the landscape of US religion included a rich mix of traditions. and a forty-hour working week. plus additional players not yet mentioned. black voting rights in the South. the right to organize labor unions without government harassment. Italian-Americans or American Jews with Russian grandparents faced questions about whether they belonged.
and hounded by the Spanish Inquisition. because the community was so tiny – in 1776 its total size in the British colonies was less than a tenth of one per cent of the population – Sephardim and Ashkenazim had to co-operate to maintain synagogues and hire specialized workers to do such things as butcher meat in approved ways. Each section has three chapters. a campaign of Catholic expansion that the colonization schemes of Columbus extended. Each section then follows with two chapters that zoom in to treat selected cases in more detail. Sometimes we will be looking at a different part of the gem. and perform the initiation ritual of circumcision. However. fears of global warming. Jews had emerged as a key player alongside the groups introduced above. Sephardic Jews – that is. and then fled when Spain took over this settlement. There will be a sense of circling through related material more than once. Wealthy lay trustees dominated the community’s life because the first rabbis (teacher/scholars who served as Jewish authorities) did not
. we will slow down and unpack some of the complexity that resulted as our key players interacted with evolving trends.50 religion. The 1654 immigrants were refugees from this persecution. In the next two sections. concentrating on sociopolitical issues in the middle chapter of each section and cultural issues in its concluding chapter. Their arrival was part of the fallout from a Christian campaign to expel Muslims from Spain in the 1400s. serve as cantors to lead worship. beginning with one that clarifies religious demographics and flags major historical developments at a high level of generality. or wide access to universities for the middle class. other times what is interesting is the shifting play of light on the same part of the gem. hip-hop music. having escaped to Holland. largely on the strength of nineteenth-century immigration. Jews were exiled. culture and politics in the 20th-century us lesbian communities. pressured to convert. cars made in Japan. moved to a Dutch settlement in Brazil. somewhat like holding up a cut gem and examining its facets from different angles.1 A handful of Jews had been present at least since 1654 when a small group arrived in New Amsterdam (later New York) and successfully lobbied to stay over the objections of its governor.
New Key Players on the Landscape: Jews and Roman Catholics
By 1900. Jews of Spanish ancestry – had different customs and a higher social status than Ashkenazi Jews from central Europe who joined them in the Americas. The fortunes of Spanish Jews took a sharp turn for the worse after this struggle.
Still this was well under one per cent of the population. Perhaps a third of all east European Jews emigrated.5 million Jews in the US. The numbers swelled between 1880 and 1920. especially the immigrants of 1880–1920. often working their way up from jobs as traveling peddlers. when impoverished Jews from small towns in Poland and Russia suffered intense persecution. After 1820. in 1900 the community was either very small (insofar as we are discussing relatively prosperous Jews) or extremely poor and centered on self-contained ethnic neighborhoods in a few cities (insofar as Jews had significant demographic weight). certain businesses including the garment trades and banking. Although most Jews. and using Enlightenment criteria to evaluate
. as they had done in Europe where they were forbidden to own land. arrived extremely impoverished. and Jewish – as roughly equal in cultural weight. However. immigration from Germany increased. although not without resistance from Anglo-Protestants. By 1925 there were 4. and Jews were soon building synagogues and establishing themselves as merchants throughout the country. ethics. If people needed legal judgments they wrote to rabbis in Europe. The first wave of German immigrants embraced Reform Judaism. Other places where Jewish influence was stronger than we might expect from their slice of the demographic pie (now in the two per cent range) include Hollywood. they blended into the emerging business classes. representing more than three per cent of the population and a far higher per centage of the nation’s most influential city. Jews suffered various kinds of social and economic discrimination and there were more than enough anti-Semitic politicians to be worrisome. the community as a whole prospered so much that by the Cold War era many people found it natural to talk about the country’s three main religions – Protestant. a movement somewhat analogous to Deism and Unitarianism in its stress on reason. Catholic.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 51 arrive until the 1840s.000. This happened throughout the twentieth century. and professions such as law and university teaching. Over several generations in the colonies. It was not until the children and grandchildren of the immigrants of 1880–1920 moved out of inner city ghettos into the suburbs and professions on a large scale – joining Jews from long-established families – that the community entered the mainstream. which took off as the center of the film industry in the 1920s under Jewish leadership. From 1776 to 1880 the population increased a hundredfold to 250. where most of the new immigrants and nearly half of all US Jews lived. New York. Most Jews worked as merchants.
The Talmud is a set of commentaries on Torah by rabbis. were ideally supposed to dedicate themselves to this study. the Torah and the Talmud. Reform Judaism implied change in how the community was structured and religion itself was understood. Jews study and debate the Torah and its Talmudic interpretations. since it can move wherever Jewish communities can study Torah and follow its laws. but that the public realm of work and politics could be religiously neutral? Reform Jews made the controversial decision to privatize their religion. all Jewish men. In practice there is a range of commitment to this ideal.
.52 religion. largely as matters of private belief. Somewhat similarly. Consider how the US Constitution is continually being reinterpreted for new situations through a body of legal precedents and innovations. Although the community was multifaceted – in Europe the Yiddish language and the stories and songs associated with it were especially important – much community life centered on studying Jewish holy texts. and observing the laws set down in them. Until recently women were excluded from this study – in fact. Judaism is among those most focused on literacy – a focus that helps to explain the success of Jews in the US educational system compared with Native Americans and many Christian groups. Nevertheless. Because European Christians typically forced Jews to live in self-contained ghettos – and because these communities often suffered persecution and/or exile – an internally rich and outwardly defensive Jewish culture grew up around this religious center. in which governments assumed that many religions could coexist. However. so that they can study the Torah. Jews had existed as a community dispersed around the Mediterranean and Europe ever since the Romans destroyed their Jerusalem temple in ad 70. and almost from the beginning in the Americas. rabbis had become community leaders and guardians of tradition. among all the world’s religions. not just a few rabbis. Orthodox Jewish men still say a daily prayer thanking God that they were not born as women. Jews faced an unaccustomed choice between blending into the wider society and continuing to live in close-knit communities built around a distinctive culture. Torah refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible – what Christians call the Old Testament – and by extension to a larger set of laws and sensibilities for structuring an observant life. It also makes Judaism highly ‘portable’ compared with religions centered on particular regional landscapes. culture and politics in the 20th-century us which traditions to retain and which to leave behind. By the early 1800s in Germany. How should Jews respond to Enlightenment experiments with religious freedom.
Rabbis came to act more like Protestant clergy. Reform synagogues moved further and faster than other Jews down the road of creating a Judaism that felt at home in modernity. manage synagogues and raise money for various projects. they argued that following the elaborate dietary laws prescribed by Torah (also known as keeping kosher) and separating the sexes during worship (women often sat in a balcony behind a screen) were not required for faithful Jews in the modern world. much less mandatory. For example. Most Reform Jews stopped keeping kosher – in a famous case. This was just one way in which worship moved toward what was called decorum. and change (hopefully improve) many aspects of their life that were in tension with the hegemonic society. the Hebrew Union College scandalized conservatives by serving shellfish. with vernacular instead of Hebrew language. They were expected to give talks somewhat like Protestant sermons. The goal was to blend mainstream US and Jewish identities into a seamless whole. However. and generally please a clientele that presupposed the voluntarism that shaped US religion – that is. when weighed against the Jewish value of celebrating the human capacity to critique and improve outmoded traditions. and increased women’s participation. (A later movement called Reconstructionism sought to soften this distinction by valorizing a broader sense of ‘positive historical Judaism. as opposed to their traditional roles as scholars.’ within an approach that
. Led by rabbis such as Isaac Meyer Wise of Cincinnati and institutions he helped to create such as the Hebrew Union College. people could decide for themselves whether or not to co-operate with a rabbi’s plans. which generally meant that attending synagogue was becoming more like middle-class Protestant worship: more solemn and emotionally subdued. at a commencement banquet – and their synagogues used ‘family pews’ so that men and women could participate together. they argued that progress required holding onto these kernels of wisdom but leaving behind the husk of traditionalism in order to build appropriate Jewish practice for the modern era. a food traditionally considered unclean.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 53 focus on abstract ethical teachings as opposed to a set of customs and rituals that shape an entire way of life. Reform Jews noted that core truths of the Torah had been expressed in many cultural-legal forms over the years. one long-term consequence was a sense that there could be something like ‘religious Jewishness’ – the private practice of Judaism – distinguishable from being Jewish as a total culture and way of life. Such practices no longer seemed sensible.
less as a total way of life and more as a personal choice of selected practices which made less dense and authoritative claims on their lives. The form of Jewish religion that benefited most from this pattern was Conservative Judaism (Orthodox Judaism remains vital down to the present. most immigrants were fairly observant.54 religion. there was a pattern in which first generation immigrants attempted to transplant Old World practices as fully as possible. Among Jews. Orthodox rabbis were scarce. typically groups of men from the same region in Europe organized a set of small and decentralized synagogues in urban storefronts. or they wanted to be part of a general Jewish community – living in Jewish neighborhoods.’ The weekly rhythm of such congregations became a thinner suburban version of the more vibrant communal life of inner-city neighborhoods. like many other ethnic groups. but often ‘shuls with pools. In general the third of east European Jews who came to the US represented the least pious third of the community. culture and politics in the 20th-century us presupposed Reform Judaism’s adjustments to modernity as opposed to reviving orthodox observance. By the mid-twentieth-century. Families observed the Sabbath and other traditional practices as they could. except on holidays such as Yom
. Nevertheless. eating Jewish foods. Later. often built large synagogue centers that served as community centers as well as spaces for worship and studying the Torah – not merely humble shuls. but their children ran as far away from these traditions as they could. Many rabbis complained that attending worship was one of the lower priorities of congregation members. Conservatives had become the largest Jewish religious group because their suburban synagogues captured the most second and third generation immigrants. speaking Yiddish.) East European Jews who immigrated between 1880 and 1920 had little interest in a Reform version of Jewish identity. and so on – without studying the Torah or investing significant time at any synagogue at all. what the second generation had tried to forget. Either they wanted to be Orthodox. They lived in a different socioeconomic and linguistic world from assimilated GermanAmericans. but as a minority option). Conservative congregations. since Old World rabbis discouraged emigration. the third generation tried to remember – but in a revised form. or places for prayer. fearing that America was unclean and irreligious. and a sizable number of immigrants were indifferent or hostile to synagogues.2 The story was different for these immigrants’ children and grandchildren. as well as Reform congregations which were close behind them in numbers.
Jews attend weekly worship at significantly lower rates than Christians. Orthodox. in 1972. or Jewish nationalism – support for an autonomous homeland where Jews could form their own state free of persecution by Gentiles. especially when they ate at restaurants or socialized with Gentiles. Often Conservatives expected their rabbis to keep kosher. Thus. ‘We are unalterably opposed to political Zionism. In general. Although they were slower than Reform Jews to adopt family seating. It attempts to remain observant unless it sees compelling reasons to change.’ they
. Later. the Jewish Theological Seminary. Zionism began to build momentum in the 1890s under the leadership of Theodore Herzl. most Conservative Jews moved from inner-city neighborhoods to the suburbs during the middle years of the century and lived relatively assimilated middle-class lives. or allow women to read from scrolls of Torah during worship. by mid-century Conservatives had adopted all these practices. while the Jewish Theological Seminary did not accept female rabbinical students until 1983 (Orthodox Jews still do not ordain women). permit people to drive to synagogues on the Sabbath (the strictly observant only walk because of the many prohibitions on Sabbath activities). and if asked to identify with a state they opted for the US.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 55 Kippur or when youth celebrated their coming-of-age ceremonies called bar mitzvahs (and by mid-century also bat mitzvahs for girls). This is Zionism.’3 Nevertheless. Reform Jews would be the first to ordain a female rabbi. wrote that ‘there is nothing in American citizenship which is incompatible with our observing the dietary laws. He lobbied the British government for land in Palestine – which became part of the British Empire after World War I – and pioneering Zionists began to build settlements there. and free country we Jews need not sacrifice a single iota of our Torah. Conservative. At first most US Jews were lukewarm or hostile toward Zionism. Reform Jews stressed universal values over nationalist commitments. and secular camps. glorious. Conservative Judaism represents a compromise position between Reform and Orthodoxy. A fourth Jewish movement that is deeply inflected by religion (if not a religious tendency in its own right) cuts across the Reform. Compared with Reform it is more reluctant to change traditions in the name of progress and enlightenment. our sanctifying the Sabbath … or our perpetuating any other law essential to the preservation of Judaism … In this great. while Reform rabbis boldly Americanized. the president of the Conservatives’ leading school. and they themselves made some efforts to observe dietary laws. but they did not follow these laws strictly.
They joined considerable numbers of Irish who had already arrived. the tide shifted and Zionism gained strong majority support as people learned of the magnitude of Hitler’s effort to exterminate all European Jews in death camps. it was first organized to aid Jews in Palestine early in the century. Nevertheless.’4 Jewish socialists also stressed universal values – in this case the international solidarity of workers – and they saw Zionism as wrongheaded and divisive. Then.5 We have seen that. They created many groups that are Zionist either in the narrow sense of supporting Israel. Herzl preferred to base his state in Palestine. but was willing to negotiate with the British for part of Uganda if necessary. during and after World War II. for example. and millions of Irish came to the US. Roman Catholics were the immigrants who made the greatest overall impact between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s because of the huge numbers of people involved. Zionism picked up significant support in the 1930s when only a handful of Jewish refugees from Nazism were allowed to enter the US. the largest Jewish women’s group. participation in a broadly Zionist movement became part of the identity of most US Jews. joined by conservative Christians who saw Israel fulfilling Biblical prophecies. ‘America is our Zion. Although no immigrant religion increased in cultural and demographic weight more than Jews. is Zionist. Relatively few US Jews have seriously considered moving to Israel. the idea of a safe and autonomous homeland was attractive. even though Catholicism was the most influential European religion in the Americas throughout the colonial era. as well as another
. and in recent years they have increasingly questioned whether Israeli policies toward the Palestinians are morally defensible and/or in the best interests of Jews. Hadassah. culture and politics in the 20th-century us declared. This changed dramatically by the 1840s.56 religion. it was marginal in the British colonies before the early 1800s. Jews sent monetary donations to Israel after its 1948 founding and often traveled there. Nevertheless. at least as a broad cultural sensibility. when the staple crop of potatoes failed in the predominantly Catholic country of Ireland. Many Orthodox Jews felt that Zionism cheapened messianic hopes that should be left in God’s hands when they reduced them to everyday politics. Jews successfully lobbied the US government for strong pro-Israeli policies. For example. or the broader sense of pursuing a model of autonomous Jewish organization and self-defense. and envisioning Jewish control of the historic city of Jerusalem resonated with Biblical texts about the return of the Messiah.
and later brought it into the US as a slave state.) In all these places. longstanding Spanish and Native American communities came under Anglo rule. First. A huge tide of miners and associated fortune-seekers moved to California from China. which also loomed large. They saw ‘Old World’ Catholic institutions as the antithesis of progress and democracy and feared that Catholic influence was undermining the democratic virtue of the US. the top defenders of religious freedom among US elites. and its impact was compounded by two religious factors. they came to dominate the leadership ranks of the US Catholic hierarchy down to the present. Deists. the eastern US. which grew in later years) this was the largest immigration wave in US history. All this was in addition to sociopolitical competition and the Irish impact on the labor market. Then. were even more hostile to Catholic bishops than they were to the Protestant religious establishment. the US went to war with Mexico.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 57 large group of German Catholics who had settled in rural communities in the Midwest. Some of the most complex interactions took place when gold was discovered in northern California in 1848. since the Irish were the first large group of US Catholics and were strongly committed to building churches. Considered as proportion of the population at the time (as opposed to raw numbers. and South America. Protestants literally defined their religion in opposition to Catholics. during 1846–8. In the early 1800s Anglo-Protestants began to settle in the northern Mexican territory of Texas and in 1835 they engineered a rebellion that first declared Texas an independent republic. Secondly. but the same cultural fears that made Anglos worry about absorbing the Irish population also made them worry about absorbing the centers of Mexican population. with considerable violence and expropriation of resources. when speaking of a ‘Christian America’ they meant ‘Protestant America’. Well into the twentieth century. primarily to seize its territories between California in the west and Colorado in the east. these immigrants entered a country where the hegemonic groups were intensely anti-Catholic. joining Native Americans and Spanish Californios who had lived there
.6 Equally significant for US Catholicism was the Anglo conquest of the Southwest. the aggrieved communities were Catholic. they nursed bitter memories of Protestant–Catholic wars and the persecution of Protestants by Catholic rulers. Wherever there had been Spanish mission settlements. (There was talk about annexing the entire country.
US Catholics were largely – although not exclusively. and a communal sense of shared participation in an overarching tradition that had lasted for centuries. Nevertheless. Catholics were by far the largest denomination. especially in the Mexican-American and German-American cases – urban and working class. by the early decades of the twentieth century there was no ambiguity – due to massive immigration of industrial workers from places like Italy and Poland.58 religion.) In any event. Although in theory Catholicism was a universal faith for which cultural differences did not matter – each local parish was supposed to offer the same essential teachings/practices and include all people who lived within its territory – in fact. devotional practices such as lighting votive candles and praying the rosary. This was an apples and oranges comparison since it was based on counting all Irish as Catholics. and Irish Catholics assumed strong religious leadership.8 Frequently churches stood at the center of immigrant commu-
. nearing the twenty-five per cent demographic slice they have roughly maintained to the present. Often conflict developed between Irish clergy and Catholics from other ethnic backgrounds. holidays. but Italian–Irish and Polish–Irish frictions later reached similar levels. Catholics shared a focus on weekly attendance at mass. Chinese immigration was curtailed in the 188os. a liturgy in which all Catholics heard the same Latin words and took part in the same celebration of Holy Communion. respect for clergy. attitudes toward alcohol. They built on the Spanish missionary presence and competed intensely with Protestant missionaries. Catholic ethnic groups had major differences in languages. related conflict between Latino/a and Euro-American Catholics continues today. whereas the Methodists in second place counted only church members. and other matters. sensual aspects of worship such as incense and pictures of saints. German–Irish tensions were the most intense in the early years. parishes usually catered to specific ethnic groups. Catholicism rapidly emerged as one of the nation’s most powerful churches. and Protestant and Catholics became dual pillars of the California religious establishment. By 1850 it claimed more members than any other denomination. ritual practices. Catholics were also united in a religious sensibility that placed less emphasis on preaching and individual conversion compared with Protestants. The Irish were prominent among the newcomers. (Baptists did not even count children as members until after they were baptized as young adults.7 Thus. rather it emphasized sacraments. culture and politics in the 20th-century us for centuries.
traditionalists saw Americanists throwing out the baby with the bathwater because they had been seduced by false ideologies of American progress. In 1884 they decreed that every parish in the country should sponsor its own school. positions similar to the Americanists’ eventually triumphed. before the 1960s Americanists aroused suspicion in the upper ranks of the church hierarchy for what the Vatican feared was excessive accommodation with modernity (even today
. They felt that Americanist bishops were becoming too comfortable as junior partners in circles of power and losing touch with their parishioners. but by the turn of the century they were on the defensive because the leaders of world Catholicism had sided with their opponents. Bishops worried that educating children in public schools was incompatible with passing on a Catholic faith. lodges. and political machines in ways that varied from place to place. especially if their first language was not English. At first Americanists seemed to be winning their battle for control of the US hierarchy. whose low-paid work as teachers made the system possible. In this context priests and church-related organizations often led efforts to establish such institutions. The Americanists were somewhat analogous to Reform Jews in their openness to adapting traditions to hegemonic US religious practices – although the differences are also instructive. Catholic bishops divided between an Americanist tendency led by Cardinal James Gibbons and a more conservative group led by Archbishop Michael Corrigan.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 59 nity life. orphanages. interwoven with groups such as unions. Although at first some bishops tried to work with Protestants toward religiously neutral public schools. and the major way that children learned how to be Catholic. As we will see. and other institutions. hospitals. However. saloons.9 Americanists bitterly disagreed with traditionalists about strategies for Catholic success: how much compromise and dialogue with Protestants was desirable and/or inevitable? Whereas the Americanists saw themselves responding creatively to positive aspects of US society. Education became a central focus of energy for US Catholics. given these schools’ Protestant teachings and overt goal of assimilating immigrants into a melting pot. Despite their shared commitment to resist assimilation into a Protestant-flavored melting pot by building autonomous schools. Immigrants who faced hostility from the dominant culture often desired their own hospitals. the majority of bishops voted to reject this strategy. and other social organizations. It was the most important job of nuns.
Also. which were by no means trivial. In truth. Moreover. however.60 religion. such scholarship did not advance very far in Catholic circles until later years – but this was largely because Rome forbade such explorations in Catholic schools. Catholics were remarkably disciplined and unified. which should be recognized by the state. but Rome had even more leverage before 1908 because the US church still had missionary status). culture and politics in the 20th-century us Rome’s opinions matter because it holds the power to appoint bishops. schools. Pope Leo XIII issued pronouncements known as encyclicals that condemned Americanists and called for a church that ‘enjoyed the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority. they continued to work for more liberal policies in the spaces available to them. At least by Protestant standards. We need to remember. and activist groups co-existing with cross-cutting and overlapping authority – means that Catholics are far less monolithic in practice.’10 In 1907 Pope Pius X followed with a sweeping condemnation of modernism. compared with both the official policies of its leaders and the fears of its critics. and so on. The Vatican also opposed scholarly efforts to harmonize Catholic doctrine with modern ideas or engage in dialogues with other religions on a basis of equal respect. once appointed. This plus the immense complexity of Catholic organizational structures – with dioceses. since. but Catholics were centralized enough to enforce policies in their schools and to make most bishops toe the line. upcoming generations of Catholic laity moved toward the
. that Protestant standards of unity do not set a high bar. which means that decisions should be made at the lowest feasible level of organization. parish priests decide on local matters unless bishops need to intervene. Vatican offices. many orders of priests and nuns. bishops run their dioceses unless cardinals need to intervene. conferences. Rome worried about bishops who sought compromises with public schools and/or co-operated with labor unions in which Catholics made common cause with Protestants and socialists. Catholic practice on the ground was diverse – especially if we focus on what laity actually did as opposed to what bishops thought they should do. Similar decrees by Protestant authorities would simply have caused schisms. Many clergy saw Rome’s condemnation of the Americanists as a damaging blunder. bishops had considerable autonomy. The Vatican felt that US bishops were not fighting hard enough against religious pluralism – an unfortunate situation since (in the Vatican’s view) there was only one true Church. civic groups. Catholics stress the principle of subsidiarity. For example. In the 1890s. devotional societies.
and politicians filled their speeches with words like ‘Christian Nation’ and ‘God bless America. churches were tax exempt. most universities were church related with clergy as presidents. Protestant influence became more pervasive in the nineteenth century than it had been during the colonial era. and alternative religions. with Enlightenment ideals that emphasized progress and reason. advanced hand-in-hand with things stressed by evangelicals. business leaders. In other words. Already in the revolutionary era.
Well before 1900. clergy administered Indian reservations. Catholics did not climb the ladder of middle-class success as quickly or consistently as Jews. in many cities with large Catholic populations (including former Puritan strongholds like Boston) Catholics were more than just one key religious player. by the mid-twentieth century white Catholics were entering the mainstream as professionals. Congregationalist descendants of the Puritans. Sermons often assumed that the new republic could play a vanguard role in God’s plan for the future of
. Public schools featured Bible readings and Protestant prayers.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 61 US mainstream in patterns somewhat like those that we have already noted among Jews – whether or not the Vatican approved. People assumed that things stressed by Deists. and they spoke about this progress in relation to the millennium. preaching what scholars call civil millennialism. the better to advance their shared ideals against Deists. a thousand-year period of peace mentioned in Biblical texts about the end of time. they were becoming the dominant player. Catholics. the top evangelical groups (especially Baptists and Methodists) and the heirs to the old Protestant establishment – Episcopalians. while Deists spearheaded the independence movement using ideologies of natural rights guaranteed by Nature’s God. Protestant preachers had followed close behind. However. laws enforced the Christian practice of closing businesses on Sundays.11 Even before 1900. they perceived the new nation as representing progress toward fulfilling God’s will in history. Congress had chaplains. and Presbyterians (the main Calvinist denomination in the middle colonies) – had made an uneasy peace with each other. these Protestants functioned as a religious establishment. Although this was not a formal legal establishment.’12 Protestant ideals based on faith and revelation blended. such as mission and morality. such as democracy and freedom. and workers in the nation’s most desirable blue-collar jobs. at least in the popular mind. Taken together.
Missionary societies supported work both on the US frontier and in places like India and China. Other groups published Bibles. but joined on this issue by many Catholics and Jews) as. Related processes spearheaded by missionary leaders led to a World Council of Churches (WCC). culture and politics in the 20th-century us humankind. and outlawing alcohol. periodicals. Annuit Coeptis (God smiles on our undertaking) and Novus Ordo Saeclorum (a new order of the ages). eventually they settled on the slogans. winning women’s right to vote. thus fulfilling Puritan dreams of building a city on the hill. Some of these causes were mainly part of efforts to proselytize and were relatively apolitical. the committee that designed the Great Seal of the US considered using an image of the Exodus. democracy.13 Such ideas continued during the era of Manifest Destiny. other parts of the Benevolent Empire promoted controversial political causes like abolishing slavery. Protestants built a dense network of organizations known as the Benevolent Empire to promote their values and push for social reforms. appeared from the perspective of whites (especially Protestants. on balance.62 religion. and war became major preoccupations of this network. Organizations such as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the settlement house movement sought to uphold a sense of Protestant identity in emerging cities and to help immigrants address the challenges they faced. and religious civilization. which represents something like a Protestant version of the United Nations. along
. By the 1950s these councils. or ecumenism. In the absence of an official state religion this network was voluntary. although they did strengthen Protestant cultural hegemony. others were co-operative or independent. By 1908 a Federal Council of Churches linked many of the top Protestant denominations. but it had a quasi-established flavor. tracts. and in 1950 this expanded into the National Council of Churches (NCC). and pulp fiction that promoted Christian values. A movement for church unity. labor conflicts. developed partly out of Protestant co-operation on such causes (‘life and work’ issues) and partly from a search for common ground on theology and structures of denominational authority (‘faith and order’ issues). However. a virtuous and divinely mandated extension of progress. Dramatizing this sensibility. As we will see. Conquest that appears in retrospect to American Studies scholars – and certainly appeared to Native Americans and Latino/as at the time – as a sordid and bloody exercise of imperialist greed. Some of its interlocking organizations were sponsored by single denominations. in the twentieth century Progressive reform.
Early in the century Lutherans included many second and third generation immigrants. while the larger Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Presbyterians maintained high educational standards for their clergy and a more centralized organizational structure than most evangelicals. (In 1939 most white Methodists patched up their differences and formed the precursor of today’s United Methodist Church. as well as northern and southern branches of white Methodism that had split over the Civil War. Lutherans were coalescing into a three-party system by the first half of the century. and time of immigration (earlier and more assimilated versus later and more ‘ethnic’). However. Baptists were in second place as a group – although as we have seen.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 63 with several denominational bureaucracies and social service agencies. both these Lutheran clusters were most analogous to Conservative Judaism. were headquartered in a New York office building nicknamed the God Box. The largest family was Methodism. region (East versus Midwest). Let us consider the so-called seven sisters that were the largest Protestant groups as the century opened.) Some of the strongest activist agencies were Methodist.14 Next in line was Lutheranism. and although their overall instincts were traditional they were open to changes such as shifting from Swedish to English liturgies. (The SBC passed the Methodists to become the largest Protestant denomination by the late twentieth century. with organizational divides reflecting dozens of differences based on ethnicity (Swedes versus Norwegians versus Germans versus others). it was somewhat less pietistic and its leaders were better connected in establishment circles. they attracted relatively affluent and urban members. If we compare stances toward assimilation among Lutherans to the stances of Jewish immigrants. Another included most Swedes and was stronger in eastern cities. and many smaller groups stayed aloof from the establishment. Germans were important in both branches. Lutherans were nearly as prone to schism as Baptists. who had grown from their base as elite churches in colonies such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania to become the largest Calvinist denomination.) In third place were Presbyterians. it included black and white branches that had split around 1800. blending selected aspects
. One cluster included most Norwegians and was more Midwestern. their family was deeply divided. the tradition of most Scandinavians and many Germans. doctrine (more versus less pietistic). Relatively liberal northern Baptists (known as American Baptists after 1907) represented them among the seven sisters.
By mid-century most Lutherans were entering the urban middle class or were reasonably prosperous farmers. Like Catholics. although its theology and liturgical style remained distinctive. Episcopalians have been the nation’s wealthiest religious group throughout most of US history – although Jews now equal it on this front – and nearly half of all US Presidents have been either Episcopalian or Presbyterian. (The family of George W. Although Lutherans (along with Reformed immigrants from Holland and Germany) faced less resistance to cultural acceptance than any other group of non-Anglo immigrants. They played an increasingly significant role. but since 1800 at the latest. As the twentieth century opened. the relevant comparison is mainstream orthodox practice rather than ultra-orthodox Hasidic communities. due in part to a demographic weight that is now larger than Presbyterians. and scholars typically mapped most Lutherans. By 1988 these two groups merged to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Lutheran immigrants often built their communities around churches. their historical momentum and elite membership meant that they remained important. let us briefly note the sixth and seventh. the Congregationalists (heirs to the parts of the Puritan establishment that did not become Unitarian) and Episcopalians. It clung to the German language and a sectarian ethnic-religious identity based on strict readings of Lutheran doctrine. Both steadily lost market share to evangelicals – not just since the 1960s as common wisdom has it. and embracing middle-class values. in the Protestant mainstream. most Missouri Synod Lutherans assimilated into the middle class while retaining their strict doctrines. thus insofar as they are like Orthodox Jews. In the twentieth century. Lutheran churches were more like Catholic parishes catering to ethnic enclaves than downtown Presbyterian churches. Nevertheless. In many places. took a stance more analogous to Orthodox Jews. especially the rural Midwest. Like Catholicism it built its own school system because it mistrusted public schools. Bush is predominantly
. this resistance was not trivial for impoverished rural people whose first language was not English. despite the efforts of some of their leaders. culture and politics in the 20th-century us of Anglo-American revivalism with traditional liturgies. the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.64 religion. Scholars often mapped the Missouri Synod with the fundamentalist Christian right. Lutherans were the least visible of the seven groups in the establishment.15 Before discussing the fifth of our seven sisters. especially in prestigious seminaries and ecumenical organizations. A third group. except the Missouri Synod.
we need to introduce two additional branches on the ‘tree’ of the wider evangelical movement.’ and throughout their history they have been leaders in the push for church unity. At the turn of the century the ‘Of God’ family was far more likely to be ignored or disparaged as ‘Holy Rollers’ than to be mentioned as part of the establishment. This denomination later split between the more liberal and northern-based Disciples of Christ – the fifth of our seven sisters – and the more conservative and southern-based Churches of Christ. they are also known as Restorationists. a Presbyterian is a Methodist who has gone to college. Its leaders were dismayed by denominational divisiveness and sought to restore the purity and unity of Christianity by returning to original or ‘primitive’ Biblical precedents. Thus. they eventually formed their own denomination. The older camp.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 65 Episcopalian.’16 Although by 1900 the leading congregations in all these denominations were solidly middle-class. the Salvation Army. the church he most often attends is a liberal Episcopal one. Nevertheless. Nevertheless. an Episcopalian is a Presbyterian who lives off his investments. the Holiness Movement. To place the fifth sister. but enough do so to serve as a rule of thumb.) The ‘Of Christ’ family was a strong force alongside Baptists and Methodists in Southern and Midwestern revivalism in the 1800s. and their ideas influenced not only their own churches but also kindred groups like Primitive Baptists. We will call these the ‘Of Christ’ and ‘Of God’ families because many sub-groups in each family end the names of their churches with these words.) Alongside the theological differences among Protestant churches. It was largely an offshoot of Methodism but also drew other people who desired a renewal of piety. but they cluster in two camps. it was gaining strength and by the end of the century it had grown into one of the leading players on the religious landscape. Like Baptists the ‘Of God’s’ have a bewildering number of sub-groups. and several simply named ‘Church of God. class differences are equally important.’ Recall that many evangelicals rejected Calvinist teachings about human
. began in the mid-1800s. It includes denominations like the Church of the Nazarene. At first they simply went by the name ‘Christians.17 (Not all denominational names ending with these words match the families. southerners used to joke that ‘A Methodist is a Baptist who wears shoes. the Disciples of Christ. although Bush is formally a Methodist. levels of affluence and distinctions between old and new wealth remained important. it attracted economically disadvantaged people and many considered it strange and exotic.
’ Rather. they read it as a literal command from God to handle poisonous snakes. serpent-handling churches should be the fastest growing religion in the world!) Most Holiness people interpreted sanctification in less extreme ways: working hard. culture and politics in the 20th-century us depravity and the futility of good works. with varying theological emphases.19 (If. so that their goal was not merely salvation in which one’s debt of sin is forgiven despite ongoing guilt. being ‘born again. began around the turn of the century as an offshoot of the Holiness movement that drew especially deeply on African-American ecstatic worship and focused special attention on the charismatic gift of speaking in tongues. Holiness believers continued to nurture counter-cultural sensibilities. cultivating virtues like witnessing and charity. as some sociologists theorize. One of the most radical Holiness groups (a tiny but still revealing minority) interprets the Biblical text ‘They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it will not hurt them’ (Mark 16:18) not as a metaphor of God’s protection or even a conditional promise like ‘if you are bitten by a serpent you will not die. Through obeying this command they have created a form of worship that dramatizes the precariousness of life and the depth of their faith in the most visceral way imaginable. and (for women) wearing clothes deemed inappropriate such as pants or sexy outfits.
. after which believers could advance to a second step of becoming perfectly ‘sanctified. Pentecostalism. Holiness groups spoke of a foursquare gospel. studying the Bible. and press for revival. attending movies. Some remained within a broad Reformed tradition but aimed for deeper piety and spiritual empowerment. One was expecting an imminent return of Christ to end history.66 religion.18 Whereas nineteenth-century evangelicals often joined the middle class and smoothed off their rough edges of emotionalism and radicalism. and avoiding behaviors such as dancing.’ did not distinguish them from other evangelicals. The first side of the square. Two more tapped into the supernatural blessings (or charismatic gifts) of divine healing and receiving a Holy Ghost Baptism that perfected and empowered them. Rather. with an impressive sense of community and purpose. salvation was only a first step.’ or holy. churches thrive if they do not allow ‘free-riders’ to join them without making a serious commitment. In any case a drive toward radical obedience and a sanctified life remained. but there were three more sides. while others swung the theological pendulum to the opposite extreme from Calvinism. The second sub-group in the ‘Of God’ family. Holiness churches radicalized this critique. organize camp meetings.
Starting from nothing at the turn of the twentieth century. However. whether by Pentecostals or healers in other traditions. and savvy to build institutions by any means necessary – even if this requires disregarding ethical and doctrinal standards expected by others. or generally forsaking the world. by the end of the century they had become one of the leading US denominational families and even a world religion.) Many people clearly craved this sort of experience. Pentecostals blend what one scholar calls primitive and pragmatic impulses. In this sense Pentecostals have been quite ‘worldly’ despite their primitivism. Amid the ways that groups in the ‘Of God’ family blend and diverge – a complex issue because Holiness churches often evolved into Pentecostal ones or were absorbed by them – an emphasis on tongues is what most distinguishes Pentecostals. (One could ask similar questions about ritual healing. on the day of Pentecost.20 Primitivism refers to a radical commitment to follow God’s spirit wherever it leads.
. letting women preach. although some cases seem to involve self-suggestion or fakery. Pentecostal worship cultivated the build-up of ecstatic emotion that we have discussed as a feature of evangelical revivalism. expecting to be able to preach in tongues when they arrived. Prayer.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 67 The Bible speaks about Jesus’s disciples receiving the ability to speak in unknown foreign languages. and other institutions faster than virtually any other denomination. Some Pentecostals traveled to foreign lands without language training. shortly after his execution and resurrection. Pragmatism refers to the ambition. being jailed for pacifism. or tongues. the relations between psychic processes and healing are so poorly understood that sweeping pronouncements about this matter are hazardous. whether it trivialized or deepened one’s spiritual life remained contentious. it is unclear whether this is all that ever happens in tongue-speaking and what psychic depths and/or dialogues with realities beyond the psyche are unlocked through the experience. radio stations. To tap this ability in the present. and preaching often focused on bringing worshippers to the point of ecstatically speaking unknown words. improvisational spirit. Bible schools. although this experiment was abandoned with no firm evidence that it ever worked. music. even if this means handling snakes. Most tongue-speaking seems to be a learned behavior of letting down one’s emotional guard – what psychologists call ‘disassociating’ – and uttering syllables with no objective meaning. The combination of both impulses in the same people helped Pentecostals build churches.
before we reflect on how to map interactions among our key players – the founding cast of characters intro-
. until all their companions are burned out and exhausted. At key revivals that formed the backdrop for Pentecostalism. with ministers like Seymour serving as mentors for white Holiness clergy. and then another. was led by a black preacher. to some extent.)21 During the first two decades of the twentieth century. and white Pentecostals often claim that a white preacher named Charles Parham started the movement on New Year’s Day in 1901. Pentecostalism was among the more racially integrated social spaces in the whole country. they see themselves responding to God and recovering practices from Biblical times. it split into predominantly black denominations (notably the Church of God in Christ) and predominantly white ones such as the Assemblies of God. This was by no means a trivial matter even though it was short-lived. However. (We should be clear. southern revivals had brought together black and white for decades before Parham. We could go overboard with such thinking. and European revivalism were key influences.68 religion. tongue speaking represents a Christianization of practices similar to African spirit possession. at least in part. By far the most important event for launching the Pentecostal movement. Nevertheless. plus Multiple Maps for Multiple Interactions of our Key Players
We must be careful not to extend our lists too long in an effort to be comprehensive. because it is clear that the roots of Pentecostalism are not solely AfricanAmerican. William Seymour. Holiness churches. Pentecostalism largely failed to sustain itself as an inter-racial movement. that this line of interpretation is foreign to the mindset of most Pentecostals. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Pentecostals extended the blending of African and European influences begun by earlier African-American Christians. blacks were present who had experienced Afro-Caribbean practices in which devotees go into trances and allow spirits to possess their bodies and speak through them.
Three Final Groups. not from Africa. however. as a ‘blackenization’ of evangelicalism. Nevertheless. the 1906–9 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. Some southern Pentecostal churches remained integrated for years even during the depths of Jim Crow segregation. dispensationalist teaching. tongue speaking and other Pentecostal practices can be interpreted. until we are like travelers who become obsessed with seeing just one more site. Thus.
and assimilation faced by Roman Catholics and Jews. Armenia. Nevertheless. remains one of the two leading Orthodox groups in the US. Although they are not key players on all national maps. the top Russian group. ethnicity. However. Serbia. and far too important to neglect entirely. Compared with other forms of Christianity. and more stress on overcoming ignorance and gaining spiritual wisdom. along with the larger
. The Russians have a longer history in the Americas. often competitive. Orthodox believers put less stress on breaking a sinner’s pride and forgiving willful wrongdoing. There are Orthodox variations on many of the same questions about immigration. it has an especially profound and elaborate liturgical life and visual culture. long before the Reformation. the Russian and Greek Churches are the most influential. Orthodox churches have had even less distance from political-administrative power than have Roman Catholics. because of traditional entanglements between this church and the Russian state.22 Amid a kaleidoscope of Orthodox groups in the US. its politics became murky after the Russian Revolution of 1917 – schisms resulted as churches representing non-Russian groups declared independence and disputes about who were the legitimate Russian Orthodox leaders wound up in the US courts. who ideally works as an arm of the state. and Romania during the same decades as east European Catholics and Jews. national churches. Orthodox Christians came to the US from places like Russia.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 69 duced in Chapter 1 plus Jewish and Catholic immigrants and emergent Protestant groups like Lutherans and Pentecostals – three additional groups beyond the mainstream require brief mention. and the patriarch of Constantinople (later Istanbul) has exercised special power. they are major forces in certain cultural niches. beginning in Alaska in the 1700s. leads each church. Historically. the Orthodox Church of America. and came to exist as a set of loosely associated. By the early 1900s the church had moved its headquarters to New York and emerged as an umbrella organization for Orthodox immigrants from many places. An especially powerful bishop called a patriarch. Orthodox churches split with Rome in 1054. with roots reaching back to the beginnings of Christianity in eastern Europe and southwest Asia. a tradition as rich as Roman Catholicism. One such group is Orthodox Christianity. Syria. When thinking about the sin from which Christianity saves people.23 Its missionaries baptized perhaps a sixth of Alaska’s native people and mediated between native converts and Russian traders who were more interested in exploiting the natives than converting them.
Mormon family law became a test case for how much deviance from ‘normal’ religious practice would be tolerated. the main branch of Mormons moved to a territory near the Great Salt Lake. many Mormons ignored the law – perhaps a quarter of their families had multiple wives – and in 1879 the issue came to a head in the Supreme Court’s first case based on the Constitution’s free exercise clause.70 religion. Since the US Army easily won the military confrontation. experienced striking growth and change from the late nineteenth century to the present. By the time of the Civil War. where it
. A group introduced in Chapter 1. but not his freedom to engage in behaviors ‘in violation of social duties or subversive of good order. In the mid-1800s Mormons built a series of settlements that were embroiled in conflict with non-Mormon neighbors. After an Illinois mob murdered their founder. both the theocratic Mormon state and the territory of Utah claimed this land. which had two million members by the 1990s. In the National and World Councils of Churches. However. At this time the press was fascinated by Mormon polygamy. the rich history of Orthodox Christians and their ability to mediate between Protestants and Roman Catholics make them important in ecumenical dialogues. even though Reynolds testified that he would be damned if he did not practice it. where they displaced Shoshone and Ute Indians (smaller Mormon groups broke away at this time).) Eventually the US took the reins of power in Utah. the court ruled that the Constitution guaranteed the freedom of a Mormon elder (George Reynolds) to his ‘opinions’ about doctrine. Orthodox leaders have acted at times as brakes on innovation. because of their male leadership and traditionalism. Mormons emerged from the same matrix as Restorationists who tried to rebuild Christianity on Biblical precedents – many people saw plural marriage as an anti-woman outrage and interpreted it along similar lines as the popular image of Oriental harems. the Mormons. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Greek Orthodox Church. US.’24 This included polygamy. In Reynolds v. Others used polygamy as an opportunity to talk publicly about sex in a context in which the subject was largely taboo. Joseph Smith. (The court’s distinction – freedom of religious opinion but criminalization of religious behavior – set a precedent for many subsequent cases. Although polygamy was outlawed in 1862. the main negotiations were about the terms under which Utah could enter the Union as a state. Although this practice was modeled on the Bible – in general. especially efforts toward gender equality. and for four decades there were dual governments jockeying for power.
Mormons tilted toward conservatism. Far from maintaining cultural-economic radicalism. especially in Latin America. teaching that God has a material body and humans evolve into Gods. They gave up not only polygamy but most of their economic communalism (although vestiges remain in their discipline of giving and their social service system). They stressed their commonalities with other Protestants despite many distinctive teachings and temple practices. and teaching an unorthodox account of ancient American history based on the Book of Mormon.26
. However. it is better to think of positive thinking as a theme or movement that cuts across multiple traditions. twentieth century Mormons became a paradigmatic example of embracing hegemonic US values. which we will call positive thinkers. Largely because its young adults are required to spend two years as missionaries. In the 1890s this deal was done. Starting from this baseline of conflict with the mainstream. In some ways it represented a defeat for Mormons. Mormons ended the twentieth century with five million US members and an equally large number around the world.25 The final group. In some ways it fits best in a map of new religions. wearing special undergarments.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 71 seized Mormon economic resources and refused to give them back unless Mormons renounced polygamy and capitulated to the US legal system. while others exist as a current within Christianity. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (LDS). rather than a demographic slice in its own right. vicariously baptizing non-Mormons who have already died to give them a place in heaven. rivaling groups like Presbyterians and Muslims. Mormon traditionalists still practice polygamy in a semi-underground way. Mormons and Orthodox Churches each had a one per cent slice of the US demographic pie. Mormonism is among the world’s fastest-growing religions. is more diffuse. and after 1960 they stressed the centralization of church institutions on a model reminiscent of large corporations. Beginning in 1890 with a quarter of a million people living on land that Easterners considered no more desirable than an Indian reservation. parts of this loose-knit family tap into metaphysical traditions with deep roots in the past. including avoiding alcohol and caffeine. Thus. They lobbied to be considered as just one among other Protestant groups – even though some scholars see them more like a separate religion alongside Christians and Jews – and called by their full name. but since they dominated Utah’s demographics and economy they were able to put a strong stamp on the regional culture. in which case they could get their property back and become a state.
he concentrated on how faith could increase self-confidence. Christian Science continued in the twentieth century and several spinoffs with similar themes also developed. Given its interest in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy and European traditions of hidden (or ‘occult’) wisdom. At a minimum they share enough interest in cultivating spiritual dimensions of the self and tapping into hidden energies of the universe – as well as harnessing these energies toward healing. wisdom.27 It is not entirely clear whether people as diverse as Mary Baker Eddy. culture and politics in the 20th-century us We have noted that Mary Baker Eddy’s mental healing system. Meanwhile. If we treat New Thought as the center of gravity in our map of positive thinkers and imagine this movement heading down a path that led in later years toward New Age healing and humanistic psychology.72 religion. His path led toward later ‘health and wealth’ televangelists such as Oral Roberts and Joel Osteen. As a group they are a significant current within US religion even though most New Thought organizations are quite small. was a key alternative religion of the nineteenth century. In some ways he was the ultimate folksy evangelical (without much fire and brimstone). Peale did not fit comfortably on either side of conflicts between Christian fundamentalists and modernists. Helena Blavatsky. author of the bestselling book. How should we chart the relationships among our growing (although still over-simplified) list of key players? Categorizing them by denomination or ethnic group – the main way we have proceeded so far – is
. Group rivalries and the tension between elitist and middlebrow sensibilities make this a murky question. Christian Science. Theosophy’s path also led toward the New Age movement. and wealth through cultivating the right mental attitude. These became loosely associated under the banner of New Thought. we will see complementary paths branching off in two directions. but along a route more deeply engaged with Asian traditions. pursuing a more pragmatic and middlebrow path were Christian preachers such as Norman Vincent Peale. Peale touched lightly on compassion for the poor or conversion from sin. self-actualization. scholars do attempt to group them. and Norman Vincent Peale really should be mapped together. and self-actualization – that it is interesting to bring them into dialogue. The Power of Positive Thinking. On the more esoteric and mystical of these paths is the Theosophical Society founded by Helena Blavatsky in 1875. but in the end he always returned to prosperity through positive thinking. Nevertheless. in other ways he was the ultimate banal modernist (without much social ethics).
William Jennings Bryan. often it was hard to disentangle the distinction between normative feminine behavior and conventional religious behavior. lines of class and religion often coincided and there were important associations between religion and gender. Wounds were still raw from the Civil War at the turn of century. as did diverse Catholic groups. different forms of evangelicals and immigrants – and not all of their conflicts developed along denominational or ethnic lines. in 1920 half of all citizens still lived in rural areas. Although divides between corporate elites and working-class people often did break down along lines that matched denominations – for example. Although cities were rapidly growing. Episcopalian owners versus Catholic laborers – employers could be Christian. Thinking about regional patterns from a different angle. or agnostic. Irish Catholics and Southern Baptists worked together in the Democratic Party against northern Protestants who formed the backbone of the Republican Party.
. The Populist movement – the mobilization of impoverished southern and Midwestern farmers against bankers. Catholics and Lutherans in eastern cities lived in a different world from Lutheran farmers on the plains or Catholic miners in the West. due both to wartime co-operation and a sense of white Protestant solidarity against a tide of immigrants. If we search for the factors that structure the most helpful maps. As we will highlight in Chapter 3. religious rhetoric. and we will have more to say about it below. Other top contenders are class and gender. railroads. a rural– urban split was highly consequential for religion. tax reform. and other corporate interests that were bleeding them dry – blended its economic goals (cooperative ownership of grain-shipping businesses. and workers were drawn from nearly every religious group. and North–South schisms in denominations such as the Methodists and Presbyterians remained a basic structural divide in US religion. Although such maps are a good place to start. and fairer banking policy) with a movement culture that blended democratic and co-operative values. a leading contender is racial and ethnic difference. and grassroots organizing that drew on church networks. Not to be forgotten is North–South conflict. The Populist leader. This should already be clear.changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 73 not the only useful approach. Jewish. Nevertheless. Some of the bitterness between whites from the North and South healed during the years around World War I. Black and white Protestants struggled bitterly. there are family resemblances among many groups – for example. the religious and racial dynamics of the regions remained distinct.
For Bryan. 2001). and independent denominations. 5 On Catholic history see James Fisher. Yvonne Haddad. Chester Gillis. Barbara Myerhoff.
1 Entry points to the literature on US Judaism include Hasia Diner. and articles by Jacob Neusner and Jonathan Sarna in Religion and Immigration: Christian. Christian values supported grassroots democracy. We will return to this conflict. Jewish. or conflict – and looking ahead to upcoming chapters. By the end of century these grew into the most powerful sector in US religion. (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. This was the fundamentalist–modernist conflict that peaked in the 1920s. Catholics and Jews in Twentieth Century America (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 40. 3 Solomon Schecter cited in Gaustad and Schmidt. Jews in America (New York: Oxford University Press. 2 Irving Howe. These will select a few cultural–political issues of the early twentieth century and explore more concretely how religious people interacted with them. 2003). 1978). radio stations. They built their own network of schools. Jane Smith. when Protestant liberals from establishment denominations battled conservatives from these same denominations (joined by many Holiness and Pentecostal people) over stances toward emerging intellectual and social changes. cited in Egal Feldman. and John Esposito.28 Each of these divides had a major effect on what one heard in church. 1999). Judaism in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Let us close this chapter by underlining the multiple ways that our key players interacted – through co-operation. and where one’s charitable donations went – yet none of them matches up reliably with lines on a pie chart based on denominations. For now let us simply note that liberals won most of the battles for control of large denominations. from 1898. 1994). publishing houses. peaceful co-existence. The World of Our Fathers (New York: Galahad Books. Catholics in America (New York: Oxford University Press. and Muslim Experiences in the United States. But we are getting ahead of our story. whereas the survival of the fittest justified the rule of monopolistic railroad barons and bankers who threw farmers out of their homes. 2000). Roman Catholicism in America (New York:
. eds. One pattern alongside these others (neither more nor less important) does represent a fault line that later widened into the culture war discussed in the Introduction. 4 Declaration of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Joseph Blau. whom one embraced as a religious ally. Number Our Days (New York: Simon and Schuster. but fundamentalists did not respond by folding up and dying. 1976). culture and politics in the 20th-century us later defended fundamentalism over evolutionary theory at the Scopes Monkey Trial.74 religion. 215. Religious History of America.
1960). Forrester Church and Timothy George. Longinqua Oceani (1895) quoted in Religion in America (7th edn). Jews had no central authority to enforce policy. Robert Handy. See also DeAne Lagerquist. for further exploration see Edith Blumhofer. Sydney Ahlstrom. 1985). Roads to Rome: the Antebellum Protestant Encounter with Catholicism (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999). Wacker. 315–37. Hutchison. John Corrigan and Winthrop Hudson. 2004). This terminology follows Sam Hill. F. Taking Heaven By Storm: Methodism and the Rise of Popular Christianity in America (New York: Oxford University Press. 153. The Lutherans (Westport: Praeger. The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present (Garden City: Image Books. 1993) and Diane Winston.’ in Continuity and Discontinuity in Church History.
. 1989). ed. Dolan. eds. paints a vivid picture of immigrant Catholics. One Name But Several Faces: Variety in Popular Christian Denominations in Southern History (Athens: University of Georgia Press. Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody’s Sister (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities (2nd edn) (New York: Oxford University Press. In addition to books cited above see Bill Leonard. Jenny Franchot. Red-Hot and Righteous: the Urban Religion of the Salvation Army (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Unlike bishops who entered modernity with a centuries-old assumption that the Church should be an arm of the state ministering to a Catholic populace. eds. ‘Annuit Coeptis: America as the Elect Nation. William Hutchison. 1995). See Grant Wacker. 2005) and John Wigger. Religion and American Culture (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Religion and Society in Frontier California (New Haven: Yale University Press. (Leiden: Brill. Surveys in US religion often slight Lutherans. 1998). Laurie Maffly-Kipp. Jews had an even longer experience of minority status and persecution. 1994). 2000).changes in the religious landscape: early 20th century 75
Columbia University Press. and Jay Dolan. (Upper Saddle River: PrenticeHall. Other key documents are Leo XIII’s 1899 Testem Benevolentiae and Pius X’s 1907 Pasccendi Dominici Gregis. Unlike Catholics. Conrad Cherry. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia (New York: Penguin. Baptists in America (New York: Columbia University Press. 1996). see also works of Colleen McDannell and Robert Orsi cited in Chapter 4.. Religious History. ed. Between the Times: the Travail of the Protestant Establishment in America. 1979). Leo XIII’s encyclical. God’s New Israel: Religious Interpretations of American Destiny (revised edn) (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1900–1960 (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1998). 272. American Catholic Experience. 2001). 1984). each synagogue was autonomous. 1990). George Marsden. an exception is Ahlstrom. Religious Pluralism in America. A classic study is Will Herberg.. Heaven Below. 1999). Dennis Covington. 1994). Protestant Catholic Jew (revised edn) (New York: Anchor.
Themes in Religion and American Culture. The Populist Moment: a Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America (New York: Oxford. see also Iain MacRobert. 27 Craig Prentiss.’ in McDannell. Oral Roberts: An American Life (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 127–48. Mary Farrell Bednarowski. 1988) and Cheryl Sanders. Richard Ostling and Joan Ostling.’ in Goff and Harvey. 1978). 1996). The Populist Persuasion: an American History (New York: Basic Books. 28 Lawrence Goodwyn.S. 316–27. and the New Thought Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999).’ in Williams. ‘Power of positive thinking. 23 Laurie Maffly-Kipp places Russian Orthodox priests in Alaska within a rich mix of groups from Hawaii and the Pacific Rim in ‘East-ward ho! American Religion from the perspective of the Pacific Rim. Martin’s Press. 1980). 1999). 22 John Erickson. Religion of the United States in Practice. Saints in Exile: The Holiness-Pentecostal Experience in African American Religion and Culture (New York: Oxford University Press. 249. The Black Roots and White Racism of Early Pentecostalism (New York: St. ‘Shifting ground and the third transformation of Mormonism. 2000). 1981). Religious History. Orthodox Christians in America (New York: Oxford University Press. Sexual Purity. 1985). Mormon America: the Power and the Promise (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
.’ in Tweed. 24 Quoted by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan. Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women. 26 Donald Meyer. 25 Klaus Hansen. Perspectives on American Religion and Culture. Beryl Satter. David Harrell. Philip Barlow. God’s Salesman: Norman Vincent Peale and the Power of Positive Thinking (New York: Oxford University Press. 1993). Mormonism and the American Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 140–53. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
21 In addition to general texts on the black church. 1995).76 religion. The Positive Thinkers: Religion as Pop Psychology from Mary Baker Eddy to Oral Roberts (2nd edn) (New York: Pantheon. Michael Kazin. ‘The State. 1989). Retelling U. Carol George. New Religions and the Theological Imagination in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
etc. Such stops cannot fully clarify the multi-leveled and dynamic nature of religion. DC – deserve more time than we actually have. and historic sites we can explore during such breaks – if we fill every timeslot – is only twelve. and Chapters 6 and 7 in the final section – we will make a few such stops. Yet we are only projecting two or three choices from each of the above categories (cities. chosen from hundreds of possibilities. We discussed how such a trip is inevitably selective. by moving toward nuanced treatments of a few issues. museums. much less explore the whole city in one night. attending a baseball game in Chicago. Each stop has its distinctive importance. museums. climbing a mountain in Colorado. we 77
. cultural events. however. If we use our first day for orientation. even though we are slowing down slightly. allow us to strike a balance between merely sketching the lay of the land. some of our choices – for example. or visiting the top museums of Washington. we planned a representative route through the landscape with a few stops along the way.) during our whole trip. They do. In the second and third parts of each major section of this book – this chapter and the next one in the middle section. In other words. and treating a few issues in somewhat greater detail to give a feel for the concrete texture of religious life. the upcoming chapters intensify the problem of selectivity that we flagged from the outset. the maximum number of cities. In New York alone it is hard to narrow a list of activities to twelve. but also represents many roads not taken – some of which readers might return to explore later. Also.c h ap t e r 3
Religion and Social Conflict in the Early Twentieth Century
In the Introduction we made plans to explore twentieth-century US religion at a pace analogous to a seven-day trip from New York to Seattle. Rather than try to cover everything at a speed that would be like flying over cities and checking them off in a logbook. landmarks. as we have done in the past two chapters. Moreover. natural landmarks. A seven-day trip includes time for one mid-day break and one evening stopover every day.
and other industries. and the US recruited laborers from around the world for low-skilled jobs in large factories. Likewise the upcoming chapters seek to dramatize the interplay of our key players in relation to a few major issues. Nevertheless. although most migrants from the US South were Protestant and many eastern Europeans were Jews or Orthodox Christians. then extending westward through northern Europe and the northern US to another line in the Midwest between Minneapolis and St. giving our tour a blend of breadth and depth. Italy. During the half-century centered on 1900. Rising cities within this belt acted like magnets. production was small-scale before the late 1800s.) Often cities specialized in particular industries. and Detroit for cars. We must move at a pace that is more like reading a guidebook than spending an extended period in any one place. wages were near the subsistence level. Tokyo. Horses. later the greatest influxes were from Mexico and Central America. Hours were long and
. However. notably railroads. This was a global phenomenon centered on cities in the US and Europe. Parts of the US shared in this trend. Italy. Mumbai. drawing workers from nearby rural areas and migrants from other countries. the Industrial Revolution began to unfold in the coal and textile industries of England. many of these workers were Catholic. Imagine a belt starting along a line in central Europe between northern Germany and Milan. mines. After the Civil War the industrial machine took off. and some building blocks of an industrial economy fell into place. and Mexico City joining the ‘belt’ – now a global network – and more Asians and Africans among the workers.78 religion. and riverboats transported most goods. it was difficult for workers even to save money for emergencies. in ways that serve as a model for later explorations. Louis.1 Although elites became fabulously rich from their employees’ hard work. Chicago for agribusiness. canals. (A related process continues in today’s post-industrial economy. Pittsburgh was a center for steelmaking. much less start independent businesses or send their children to universities. and the Working Class
Between the mid-1700s and mid-1800s. and Russia. Wealth. with new cities like Atlanta. thus. the main influx of US workers came from the rural South and places in southern and eastern Europe like Poland. and the main labor force was composed of skilled artisans. As we have already discussed. a cross-country trip can select a few cities.
Religion. culture and politics in the 20th-century us still cannot discuss issues in depth. parks. and events to visit.
For example. sabotaging equipment. In a divide and conquer strategy. Rather they saw politicians and judges as partners with management.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
workplaces were often dangerous. Strikes often escalated into gun battles between unions and hired police forces paid by employers. or calling on other unions to strike related industries or block trains carrying strikebreakers (in the 1930s general strikes closed down both San Francisco and Minneapolis-St. often blacks. employers hired workers who spoke a range of languages and fomented divisions between them. and who lived a life of leisure? On what basis was this decided? We can adapt such questions to ask about religion and economics. troops from the National Guard or the federal army were sent in to ‘maintain order’ – almost always an order congenial to the owners. or behaviors during strikes? Do Biblical interpretations reinforce corporate
. and crush their organizations. Much work was mind-numbingly monotonous. especially after the turn of the century as managers broke the production process into small components and gave each worker a single task on an assembly line like an interchangeable cog in a machine. much less as an ally in their efforts for better working conditions. and who lacked access to basic housing and medicine? Should children have to work? Were their workplaces safe? Who worked eighty-hour weeks. At this time. Children often worked to keep family economies afloat. and vulnerable recent immigrants were used for this purpose. Which business practices are moral and which are sinful? Which religions attract the rich and which attract the poor? What difference does this make to their weekly activities. This perception was especially strong at the high tide of US socialism. sweeping laws were passed to imprison or deport workingclass leaders. People lived in crowded neighborhoods that sometimes lacked such basic resources as running water. Paul). suppress their newspapers. understandings of sin. prisoners. such police might shoot unionists who were attempting to stop owners from bringing in strikebreakers. Labor conflicts were intense and sometimes bloody. Thus. or in company towns where they had to shop at company stores and could be evicted from their homes if they complained. Unionists might respond by shooting back. In this context. labor leaders did not perceive the government as a fair broker between themselves and corporate elites. who had free weekends. during World War I and the early 1920s. no issue faced by our key players was more important than class. If such struggles escalated. How should wealth be produced and who should control it? Who owned an unjust share of the goods produced by the society.
In theory. True believers in this theory would literally tell our Christian developer that she has a moral duty to build luxury housing. and their decisions about how to use this wealth – and thus by extension what will be produced. do church and union activities compete for resources. although by the same token. or environmental lawsuits. because US law allows investors to ‘externalize’ most social consequences – that is. work together. In reality a pure free market does not exist. she will face strong pressure to do so. Suppose a Christian businesswoman wants to build affordable housing for homeless people and can do so for a profit. or exist in separate compartments? If a denomination votes Republican (the typical choice of business leaders and Midwestern farmers) do its religious ideas affect Republican policies or vice versa? The answers to some of these questions are straightforward. while disregarding the social and environmental costs as ‘externalities’ that the government and/or ecosystem are expected to absorb. for example. Control of wealth is highly skewed toward the owners of corporations. This would hold true even if luxury housing damaged the environment and increased homelessness. which may imply. if she can make higher profits building luxury housing. the benefits of this system outweigh the costs of absorbing externalities because markets efficiently allocate resources where they are needed most – with the proviso that this system can measure ‘need’ only in terms of market demand. Even so. that the homeless do not ‘need’ housing. Workers can influence corporate policies directly through strikes and workplace negotiations or indirectly through community institutions and elected representatives. luxury taxes. Since businesses that grow tend to swallow up those that do not. since competitors who do this will thrive and threaten her business with extinction. According to free market theory. It can devise tax breaks that make affordable homes profitable. everyone benefits as the economic pie grows and wealth trickles down to the poorest people. A city can recover costs that a luxury developer wants it to absorb – or prevent the costs in the first place – through zoning. culture and politics in the 20th-century us hegemony? If the members of a parish and union overlap.80 religion. owners can pocket the difference between their product’s market value and their short-term production costs. developers can bribe politicians to kill such tax breaks. the system has a ruthless structural logic. Community groups can honor civic-minded builders in ways that override their economic losses or
. under what conditions – are based on maximizing profits and reinvesting them to make their wealth grow further.
and that massive wealth is justifiable if used for community needs. and other organizations since the beginning of industrialization. Negotiations of this kind. He assumed that all social classes should celebrate the market as an engine of progress. which was given to railroad companies in the 1800s. everyday politics is largely a negotiation about who should pay for such things. police. working people had also had organized unions. with considerable success. The ‘gospel of wealth’ is a shorthand term for the idea that capitalism is inevitable and/or divinely ordained. and sewers. stolen from Native Americans by the US Army. governments provide benefits that businesses presuppose such as roads. As the century opened they presided over a system in which the state did little to direct the economy other than to promote corporate interests. were near the heart of politics during the years that the US built its industrial economy.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
pressure builders not to pollute the environment. Starting from these premises. beginning with elite ideas and working our way down the class hierarchy. the strike. made a classic argument for this gospel. including the vote. and politicians routinely allocate funds or create incentives to enable the projects they consider priorities. At the same time. who rose from poverty to become one of the world’s richest people. that anyone who works hard can become rich on a ‘level playing field’ of the market. They also had cards to play. since doing so would corrupt them and prevent the ablest managers from rising in an economic struggle akin to Darwinian
. and that in any case the system reflected impartial economic laws. Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. in which the government and community set ground rules within which property owners make investment decisions. A classic example is the massive amount of land. Importantly. we could easily trace similar corporate welfare schemes down to the present. radio stations. and religious traditions that called free-market hegemony into question. Railroad fortunes are the antithesis of self-made success through individual virtue in a free market. Government spending affects the market demand for everything from pencils to bombs. He maintained that the rich should not pass their fortunes to their children. they pushed this idea as much through churches as through newspapers. Religion was part of this equation because elites interpreted their economic success as evidence of moral virtue. and advertisements. Carnegie made a distinctive argument for philanthropy. Let us consider some religious arguments about these matters. Elites worked to shape public opinion and buy political influence. political parties.
the unworthy’ was anathema. Such writings encouraged people to believe – although this was an outrageous distortion of real life – that being poor was evidence of laziness and immorality. He saw the economy betraying
. whether you were rich or poor. The gospel of wealth was attacked from inside Protestantism by the social gospel movement and from outside Protestantism by Catholic social thought and the labor movement. libraries. and that the poor deserved their poverty. but two further ideas: that entrepreneurs (not workers) played the key role in creating wealth and thus had the right to manage it. Jr. According to Carnegie. Rather elites should donate their money and business skills to build schools. and parks. we must distinguish social gospelers from clergy like the author of ‘Acres of Diamonds’ – those who were complacent about business and quick to offer Biblical apologies for social Darwinism. the drunken. a Baptist who worked first in an impoverished New York neighborhood and later as a seminary professor.2 Many elite voices echoed Carnegie. that one critic suggested taking the cross off its building and replacing it with a sign reading ‘SOCONY’: Standard Oil Church of New York.82 religion. One minister toured the nation giving a speech called ‘Acres of Diamonds’ that spoke of the abounding opportunities for success that not only made it easy to become rich. Carnegie believed that his plan to give back fortunes to the communities that helped produce them plus his support for inheritance taxes could ‘solve the problem of rich and poor’ and create Christian harmony (in theory he also supported the right to unionize. hospitals. one of the leading ministers led a congregation so dependent on John D. he presupposed not only the beneficence of capitalism. you probably deserved it. Sermons by elite clergy agreed. Because most liberal Protestant clergy used some rhetoric of progress and social uplift. Horatio Alger wrote best-selling fiction about youth who rose from rags to riches through hard work. Rockefeller. although in practice he was a union-buster. The social gospel was an activist version of liberal Protestantism – the religious wing of a wider movement for Progressive reform and the politicized wing of Protestants whose theology was moving in similar modernist directions as the Reform Jews and Unitarians discussed above.3 A good example of a social gospel minister was Walter Rauschenbusch. In short. Even within the moderate social gospel camp. culture and politics in the 20th-century us evolution. but even made it one’s duty to become rich.) However. ‘those worthy of assistance … seldom require assistance’ and using philanthropy to ‘encourage the slothful.
Like other Progressives. it included the social sin of economic oppression. True. these clergy preached to churches full of prosperous Republicans. For Rauschenbusch. Above all they included activists who organized workers across many jobs and industries rather than by craft. They included socialists who sought to use the vote to enact tax reform and public ownership of wealth – not only of a few small enterprises like libraries and municipal waterworks. They organized by craft – one union for cigar-makers. it is more accurate simply to see him as hopeful about making a positive impact. social gospelers sought to impose order on the marketplace. Most social gospel preachers had lives far removed from industrial workers. in theological terms. such preachers were often moderate socialists. Returning to our example of housing developers. but major industries like railroads and oil companies. although few supported the IWW. Labor radicals included anarchists who advocated autonomous control of workplace decisions by laborers rather than managers. They shied away from supporting strikes. creating ground-rules to stop unscrupulous builders from gaining monopolies. and outlawing the use of child labor and unsafe building materials.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
the promise of democracy. Some Progressives even began to co-operate with labor unions – the least radical ones available – in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). sin was not solely a matter of individual morality. and so on – such that corporations could use divide and conquer tactics to defeat several craft unions and a mass of unskilled laborers. Thus. later they worked in the more radical sectors of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). many fell somewhere on a continuum between participating in the Socialist Party and advocating cerebral socialist principles. more democratic. However. associated with overcoming sin and moving closer to the kingdom of God. Progress toward greater justice was. another for pipe-fitters. as well as politics. allowing aristocratic robber barons to treat workers little better than industrial peasants. it became fashionable for scholars to ridicule Rauschenbusch for his supposed blindness to evil and the ambiguities of power. we might imagine Progressives strengthening zoning laws. preferring to call
. Some managers felt that dealing with the AFL was more prudent than rejecting all unions and risking the growth of radicalism. In later years. he advocated broadly socialist reforms that would make the economy. Early in the century their top organization was the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Such unions focused on ‘pure and simple’ negotiation over wages. However.
84 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us for compromise and co-operation in labor conflicts. We might consider them as expressing the guilty conscience of the middle class and trying their best to use their churches to atone for their guilt. At times their voice was important in calling for fair play and Progressive reform. For example, an ecumenical group called the Interchurch World Movement issued a report on the steel strike of 1919, bringing workers’ grievances to a wider audience than they would have reached through the mainstream press or labor publications. As politicians hammered out decisions about how much to compromise with unions and support reforms that benefited working people, religious advocacy was a significant part of the public discourse. Nevertheless, social gospelers had limited power because they had few troops to command. In the heat of battle in the Gastonia, North Carolina, textile strike of 1929, workers went to Baptist and Holiness churches and the union organizers were Communists. Managers belonged to the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches that were home to most social gospelers – but if clergy from these denominations in Gastonia had supported the strike they would have lost their jobs. Such considerations were also relevant for northern church bureaucrats. The Interchurch World Movement, which was funded by Rockefeller money, ended in a highly publicized collapse shortly after its report on the steel strike. Although multiple factors were involved, observers felt that the timing was not coincidental.4 Turning to Catholic leaders, we find a different dynamic: many troops ready to mobilize (parishes were full of actual and potential union members), sympathy for their cause, but indecisiveness about whether to mobilize them. On the one hand, Catholic social teaching was clear, from Rome to the parish level: Catholic opposition to modernity included opposition to free-market economies, because these increased poverty and injustice, fomented the sins of individualism and greed by encouraging people to maximize personal profits, and pressured women and children to work when they should be at home. Pope Leo XIII made these points forcefully in his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, ‘On the Conditions of the Working Classes.’ During World War I Catholics organized the National Catholic Welfare Conference, which was roughly similar to the Federal Council of Churches except that it coordinated dioceses rather than denominations (later it evolved into the US Conference of Catholic Bishops). Father John Ryan, the head of its Social Action Department, popularized Catholic social teaching through
religion and social conflict: early 20th century
many books and the 1919 ‘Bishops Program for Social Reconstruction.’ Ryan was the Catholic most analogous to Protestant social gospelers – an intellectual who largely lobbied clergy and policy-makers to be more concerned about economic justice.5 At the same time, Catholics were emphatic that their teaching was an alternative to (not an endorsement of) any labor movement that smacked of atheistic socialism. They also disapproved of unions that were structured as secret societies (many early unions were secret for self-defense reasons, and clerics compared them with the anti-Catholic Masons), supported women’s independence (Catholics advocated a ‘living wage’ sufficient for a male breadwinner to support a wife at home, and unions that organized women were out of sync with this vision), or blended Protestants and Catholics in the same organizations. Rome’s preferred strategy was to create all-Catholic unions guided by the church. US labor leaders considered such dual unionism utterly wrongheaded, and most US Catholics who cared about labor issues agreed with them. A key task of Americanist bishops was to persuade their colleagues that it was a bad idea to promote dual unions along with a dual education system, and a better idea to steer Catholics toward acceptable unions and away from unacceptable ones. Although the Americanists lost most of their battles, they did win this one. Thus, the question shifted – case by case – to which bishops and priests actually made it a priority to support local labor struggles, and if so what unions they found acceptable. The Knights of Labor, a worker’s organization drawn from many industries and led by an Irish Catholic, gained some support; Cardinal Gibbons convinced Rome not to condemn the Knights despite their secret status and religiously mixed membership. In 1910 Catholics organized a trade union group called the Militia of Christ for Social Service. However, any union seen as socialist was deemed unacceptable – which is not to say that all pious Catholics avoided such unions, but only that they had to join over their clergy’s objection. Many labor leaders were radical enough to rouse bishops’ suspicions. In 1886 they excommunicated a popular New York priest named Edward McGlynn for supporting Henry George, a politician who sought to increase property taxes and distribute the wealth more equally. In the long run, the bulk of Catholic support came in behind the AFL, especially insofar as it forged alliances with Democratic politicians from the Catholic-dominated political machines that controlled cities such as Boston and Chicago. In 1928 such a politician, Al Smith of New York,
86 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us won the Democratic nomination for President. Smith lost the election partly because Protestant clergy made a campaign issue out of the papal encyclicals that had earlier been used to silence Americanist bishops. Asked if he supported the papal condemnation of US religious pluralism, Smith reportedly responded ‘Will somebody please tell me what in hell an encyclical is?’6 He claimed that he had been a devout Catholic all his life but had never even heard of such teachings, much less used them to guide his policy decisions. Nevertheless, Protestants claimed that Smith would put his loyalty to the Pope ahead of the US Constitution. Despite Smith’s defeat, his nomination signaled how central Catholics had become to the Democrats. When the party’s next candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, came to power during the depths of the Great Depression, the stage was set for a major shift. At this time, capitalism was widely seen as a discredited failure. Up to a third of all workers were unemployed without a significant social safety net, people were literally starving, and radical movements were gaining strength. These included grass-roots self-help, left-wing parties such as the Communists, and a labor tactic called the sit-down strike in which unions took over factories from the inside rather than picketing outside them while owners ran strikebreakers through their lines. Socialist critique gained hegemony in many intellectual circles. In this context, Roosevelt’s New Deal committed the state to intervene more actively to guide the economy, for example, by stabilizing banks and expanding industrial planning. Such intervention in market decisions intensified during World War II; it remains a major feature of today’s economy, especially in the overlapping territory between government and business known as the military–industrial complex. More controversially from a business perspective, the New Deal used taxes to create programs that addressed working-class problems, such as Social Security and a program that put unemployed people to work on projects such as building national parks. Importantly, the state stopped routinely intervening in strikes by sending police to side with owners; it guaranteed a right to collective bargaining and established ground-rules to facilitate this. The New Deal represented a new social contract in which moderate unions and Democratic politicians – both with strong Catholic constituencies – won a place at tables of power, joined by Jews and to a limited degree by blacks. (Blacks, who had traditionally supported the Republicans since the Civil War, increasingly joined the Democratic voting bloc
in the North but remained disenfranchised in the South.) We should not exaggerate the Catholic and Jewish breakthrough. Working-class ethnics were only one part of the Democratic coalition, alongside conservative southern Protestants who opposed Republicans because of their role in the Civil War. Unions were the weakest partner in negotiations between management, government, and labor. Conservatives despised Roosevelt and waited for a chance to roll back the New Deal, despite the fact that the New Deal largely represented an effort to co-opt radical dissent and channel it within the capitalist system. After the crisis of the 1930s passed, radicals were demonized and driven from power, and courts interpreted labor law in ways that curtailed the power of unions. Nevertheless, the new social contract was highly significant for the descendants of Catholic and Jewish immigrants. They were joining mainstream society, with relatively secure and well-paid jobs and a social safety net to reply upon in old age and times of economic difficulty.7 Catholics had a wide spectrum of economic views, both to the right and left of the main trend we have traced. We can gain a better sense of this spectrum’s complexity by comparing three Catholic voices. We have already introduced one of these – the centrist John Ryan, who was nicknamed ‘the Right Reverend New Dealer.’ Secondly, and far better known, was the radio preacher, Father Charles Coughlin. Early in his career he advocated harmonizing the New Deal with Catholic social teaching, but at the height of his fame in the mid-1930s (when he was among the most popular radio personalities in the country) he spent more time attacking Roosevelt and the organized left than attacking conservative elites. By the late 1930s he was a notorious anti-Semite, as we will discuss further in Chapter 4. Most scholars map Coughlin as a right-wing populist with fascist sympathies, at least in the later stages of his career.8 A third voice, Dorothy Day, reminds us that not all Catholics opposed the radical left. Insofar as we consider bishops and immigrant enclaves as the heart of Catholicism, Day was about as unrepresentative a Catholic as one could imagine. Nevertheless, she became one of the nation’s most famous Catholics. Day was raised as a middle-class Protestant and attended the University of Illinois. She became active in New York intellectual circles, where she had an affair with playwright Eugene O’Neill and studied left-wing anarchist thought. She converted to Catholicism because she felt a need for the community, spirituality, and grounded social critique that it provided, and she blended her anarchist and pacifist
88 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us sensibilities with Catholic teachings against war and economic injustice. Out of this mix, Day co-founded a newspaper, The Catholic Worker, and an associated movement that ministered to poor and unemployed people throughout the country. The movement grew rapidly in the 1930s, branching out from a base in New York; after World War II it continued on a smaller scale. By the standards of unions and political parties, the Catholic Worker Movement was decentralized and apolitical. It focused on the communal lives of its local groups and on directly feeding and housing needy people using donated goods and labor. Participants in the movement lived simple lives of voluntary poverty. In some ways their houses of hospitality were like communities of monks or nuns even though they did not ordain people; volunteers passed through their doors for whatever time period they wished. Although Day’s vision was small-scale and in some senses apolitical, in other ways it was radically politicized. She was scathingly hostile to capitalism, which she saw as utterly incompatible with Christianity, and she was a strict pacifist even during World War II. After 1945 the Catholic Worker Movement engaged in protests against nuclear weapons. Alongside Quakers, Day and her colleagues helped keep a religious peace movement alive from the 1930s until it revived in the 1960s.9
Religion and the Politics of Gender
By now it should be clear that we must be careful before lumping together all members of large religious groups. For example, black and white Baptists disagree on major issues, and Catholic Worker activists are very different from conservative Catholics. When describing a given group it is sometimes safe to assume that one’s descriptions apply equally to men and women. But often this is not a safe assumption, because gender conflicts are near the heart of US religion. This section discusses the difference it made to be a religious woman rather than a man during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as well as the role of religion in movements for women’s rights.10 At the turn of the century, opportunities for women were far more limited than they are today. Women lacked the right to vote. They were excluded from industrial jobs, professions, and many service jobs that are considered pink-collar today. In financial and legal contexts, they were treated more like dependent children than the equals of men. For example, husbands controlled their wives’ property, and laws against
and women of all ages who worked in jobs open to them such as teaching. religion had an ambiguous in-between status. unmarried daughters who worked in textile mills. while her husband spoke for her in public contexts like voting and the courts.and anti-slavery factions battled in Kansas during the 1850s. when pro. Clergy spoke of a God who was the Father of humanity and creator of the universe. they were seen as falling short of a ‘true womanhood’ that was their natural vocation. and war were male domains. a famous minister named Henry Ward Beecher sent rifles – nicknamed ‘Beecher’s Bibles’ – to the anti-slavery forces). If they sought to expand their options through social reform.) Nevertheless. insofar as women’s choices and circumstances diverged from the ideal. Christianity maintained a strong public role. learn the womanly roles of humility and religious sentiment. black women who worked as caretakers for white people’s children. Because they were dependent on fathers and husbands. women had limited options if they wanted to leave abusive fathers or unloving marriages. nursing. women were supposed to exist in the private world of home and family. by the 1800s religion was associated
. not all women with children had husbands. or if they felt a calling to pursue ‘male’ vocations such as law. However. clerking in department stores. and not all women with husbands were sexually attracted to men. or medicine. many women’s lives were far removed from this model: rural wives who worked on farms alongside their husbands. Not all women had children. a girl should be brought up in a loving home. politics.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
marital rape and abuse were weak to non-existent since marriage gave a husband rights over his wife’s body. and prostitution. According to the ideal of domesticity. (The latter case was not necessarily seen as a problem. preaching. working-class mothers who took in boarders. Preaching was a man’s job with a prestige comparable to the highest professions. On the one hand. building on the ways it had long informed US law and policy. This ideal was most attainable for white urban women in affluent families. In a society that polarized most aspects of life into a public sphere for men and a private sphere for women and the family. sweatshops. they had little leverage as long as they lacked the vote. Nevertheless. She should devote herself to being a mother and maintaining her home. Business. and find a husband to take over her father’s role as caretaker. and they did not hesitate to address ‘masculine’ policy issues (for instance. since the dominant ideology held that lust was a male trait and virtuous women were passionless.
we should add a set of all-male organizations called lodges – the Masons. Some argue that women strengthened churches. Scholars treat nineteenth-century Protestantism as a classic example of this trend. Catholics had a full-blown version of religion that glorified mothers and the home. and many more – to the list of alternative religions that we earlier identified as a collective key player. and the private sphere became linked largely because most US religions have had strong majorities of female participants – with only a few exceptions. The pattern intensified after 1800 due to disestablishment. The years when lodges grew the most in comparison with churches – as well as when lodges most emphasized elaborate initiation rites – were years when churches seemed most feminized and when boys
. religion. others speak about a ‘feminization of religion’ and lament that this trend watered down the Protestant heritage. Much of Jewish religion centered on home Sabbath observances led by women. the Odd Fellows. as discussed below. usually religions which made no distinction between being born into a culture and being part of its religion. which led to even larger gender imbalances and less male interest. which in turn made men less comfortable in churches. By the late 1800s.11 The pattern of female majorities among the laity was already strong in the colonial era. it became associated with teaching morality in the home and glorifying motherhood. When Puritan clergy lamented declines in their group’s piety. In any case. Women. Evangelicals stressed sentimental themes like following one’s heart. This is a striking pattern given that men have monopolized most leadership roles (especially before the 1970s) and taught that God commands female submission. The Constitution defined religion as a matter of individual conscience – but more importantly. African-American churches and their associated network of women’s clubs shared in the trend. they were largely worrying that fewer men than women were joining their churches. culture and politics in the 20th-century us with the private sphere. As churches came to depend on people voluntarily investing their time. the trend of laywomen outnumbering laymen cut across many groups and time periods. women volunteered more than men – no doubt partly because they lacked other social outlets. In this context. more than seventy per cent of participants in many churches were women.90 religion. Female majorities could create a spiraling dynamic in which religion became identified as feminine. letting God lead one like a mother leads a child. and resting in the bosom of a gentle Jesus – a way of imagining Jesus which portrayed him as rather androgynous if not feminine.
perhaps fraternal initiation rituals could do better. Women should welcome their vocation of providing a shelter from this world. but women could enjoy it all the time (once again. based on a public–private distinction that reflected an urban market society but made limited sense for other times and places – came to be seen as ‘the Biblical model. and war. defenders of the domestic ideology hotly denied that the women’s sphere was any less important than the public sphere. Sin entered the world through Eve’s disobedience. rather than pursuing male responses to the emerging gender system. The chain of authority passed from God. the first human (Adam) was male. through (male) political leaders. Paul counseled celibacy. with the result that God had cursed women to be ruled by men. most Christians assumed that the Bible supported the hegemonic system. children. Rather they were being placed on a pedestal and encouraged to thrive in a sphere that matched their nature – which was increasingly understood as pure and virtuous (with the Virgin Mary as a role model) rather than weak and prone to temptation (as one might expect from a daughter of Eve).
. note how the ideal fitted the experience of middle-class whites better than others).12 However. The world of business and politics was brutish and amoral. and then to wives. Moreover. and animals. Why did they participate so enthusiastically? What did they do with the religious groups they created? How did this affect the gender system over time? According to the dominant ideology. politics. what would become of morality and virtue in the modern world? Thus. women were not oppressed by being confined to the home. to (male) heads of families. males could only enjoy this refuge during their hours away from work. Clergy added that this division of roles was part of the order of nature ordained by God. The emerging modern family – a nuclear rather than extended family. and the first woman (Eve) was created from Adam’s rib.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
were expected to make the sharpest transition from a mother-dominated world of childhood to a man’s world of adult success. it lowered men’s quality of life and reflected badly on men’s nature. If churches were too female-oriented to help young men negotiate this break. and if we were traveling at a more leisurely pace.’ Although groups like the Mormons and Shakers noted that Biblical patriarchs practiced polygamy and St. God was male. if women did not provide a refuge from the dog-eat-dog world of the market. let us stay with the female majority in the churches. After all. Men joined lodges in huge numbers. exploring their rituals would reward a longer stop.
Consider that many people have used the Bible to deny that God is literally a male and that the Bible necessarily supports the supremacy of human fathers when it speaks of God as Father. and using them to trump texts that teach women’s subordination. Genesis can be read as teaching that Adam and Eve were created at the same time in God’s image. presenting them as the Bible’s core teaching. Although arguments from the gender-blind pole do challenge male hegemony in some ways. just as churches can work to prevent murders instead of taking them for granted. so also churches can treat women’s oppression as a problem to overcome.’ Feminists became expert at finding texts that supported gender equality. If so. but as an unfortunate result of sin. and divine parenthood allows one to appeal to a higher authority if one’s human father is oppressive. What they more commonly debate is whether feminism is un-Biblical when it presupposes gender conflict.’ Most Christians consider this absurd – yet this is exactly the same verse that includes the words ‘your husband … shall rule over you. there was debate about interpreting the Bible. it will range from strong misogyny at one pole to weaker claims of genderblind neutrality at the other. even though feminists can advance powerful Biblical arguments. with Eve created out of Adam’s side to symbolize equality and companionship. They stressed Galatians 3:29 (‘There is no longer Jew or Greek. perhaps ‘he’ transcends gender. somewhat like the mark placed on Cain after he murdered Abel.
. there is no longer male and female. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Granted. in other contexts they can discount the importance of gender. given the spiritual equality of the sexes. However.92 religion. there is no longer slave or free. The text that curses women to ruled by men can be read not as a command to emulate forever. as to the Lord’). parents are equal in ‘his’ eyes. be subject to your husbands. for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’) and explained away Ephesians 5:22 (‘Wives. when they do so they build on a text with many anti-feminist dimensions. Some fundamentalists do not allow women to take drugs to ease the pain during childbirth because Genesis 3:16 curses Eve with the words ‘in pain you shall bring forth children. Pro-equality readings of the Bible were a distinct minority until the 1970s (after which they became common in liberal churches) and have been controversial in every decade. In other words.13 Many scholars argue that the continuum of debate about women’s roles will remain tilted toward conservatism as long as the debate is primarily grounded in the Bible. hardly anyone uses the Bible to contend that God the Mother transcends ‘her’ gender and that this supports female supremacy.
women’s participation in churches. scandalizing more moderate social gospelers). Even scholars who grant that women could use religion as a base to struggle for equality tend to stress the limits that churches placed on such struggles. and mission. female reformers focused on winning the right to vote (finally accomplished in 1920) and working on social gospel causes such as ending child labor. Although male social gospelers also championed such causes. Working from a base in Protestant churches. especially its programs for women and children. on the third they formed a key part of the cultural fabric of US global expansion and established precedents that led toward women’s ordination. Although Christians were not the most radical part of the first wave of US feminism. they judge that arguments based on secular law and advocating equal rights. rather than arguments based on the Bible and promoting the welfare of families. grew from this activism. However. By the early twentieth century. Foremost among these leaders was Frances Willard. Working from (semi-public but still respected) spaces in religious organizations. women boldly addressed public issues – notably slavery. and domestic ideology was largely an example of maledominated religion gaining hegemony and limiting the life prospects of women. and marching for peace (some also pushed to make birth control legal and accessible. early feminists who urged women to reject Christianity – for example. their central task was to throw off the shackles of domestic ideology. the author of a critique called The Woman’s Bible – were the pioneers of twentieth-century feminism. they were the largest part. On the first two fronts their efforts led to Constitutional Amendments abolishing slavery and instituting Prohibition. Parts of the New Deal social safety net. who headed the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). this is only half the story. women supplied many of the movement’s foot soldiers and leaders. the nexus between Christian teaching. This allowed women to expand on their (semi-private and thus culturally accepted) religious roles and make them an avenue for self-assertion and empowerment. Recall how religion occupied a space midway between private and public and how women were considered guardians of morality. regulating industries like meat packing. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. temperance. and their work laid a foundation for later progress. in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
. provided the best route toward women’s power.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
Thus. From this perspective. aiding immigrants through settlement houses like Chicago’s Hull House.
Far more than Protestants. the behavior of immigrants.94 religion. attacked sexual double standards. chastity. and attempted to police. Suffragists complained that upstanding matrons like Willard were denied the right to vote while purportedly less civilized males from black and immigrant communities abused their voting rights. and obedience to become nuns. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Willard built the WCTU into a mass movement. the battle lines in the war for Prohibition were as much between the Protestant middle class and Catholic working class as between women and men. The WCTU fought for the vote. Largely for this reason. and educating Native Americans. sought prison reform. and the Populist movement. Few were as committed to socialism. built orphanages and kindergartens. This was taking the vows of poverty. the Knights of Labor. In this regard. most US nuns lived cloistered lives as contemplatives. especially economic dependency and lack of legal rights. vegetarianism.14 Not all WCTU activists were as progressive as Willard. we might compare it with recent campaigns against domestic violence and fathers who do not pay child support. parts of the suffrage campaign took a racist turn. and local organizations. and promoted causes like animal rights. Prohibition proved to be unenforceable and was repealed in 1933. and despite the roots of women’s reform in abolitionism and its continued activism against lynching. Its ‘do-everything policy’ approached temperance as just one plank in a comprehensive platform of reform. Before the mid-1800s. Catholics had an established role for women who opted not to become wives and mothers. twenty international affiliates. Temperance activists addressed the problem of alcoholic men who abused or neglected their families. and although many Catholic priests promoted temperance. Although the core motives of temperance were feminist. state. Willard was a socialist who strongly supported labor and tried to build bridges between the WCTU. The WCTU also addressed underlying issues that compounded the problems of women with abusive husbands. despite their temporary victory when the Eighteenth Amendment passed in 1919. Prohibition also represented a crusade in which middle-class Protestants looked down upon. backward-looking church ladies who refused to let modern urban dwellers have any fun. complete with an elaborate structure of national. Prohibitionists lost their war against alcohol in the long run. Since then the popular image of temperance has centered (rather misleadingly) on bluehaired.
. promoted women’s health. and a state-of-the-art Chicago skyscraper called the Woman’s Temple.
but they soon became leaders in their own right. The women who led large orders. through roles like Sunday School teacher and missionary.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
However.16 Mission work was a step toward women’s ordination. Of all the causes promoted by Protestant reformers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. either in foreign countries or in home missions to the frontier or inner city. the women’s group called Hadassah.15 Protestants had closed convents and forced nuns to marry during the Reformation. At first they went as wives of clergy or as ‘female assistant missionaries’ under male authority. In effect these were hostile male takeovers of autonomous women’s organizations. Although Dorothy Day was not a nun. this was the most popular.000 unmarried female missionaries – double the number of male missionaries. became the largest and most vibrant of all Zionist groups. even though they served under the formal authority of priests. many groups still resist some of these steps. In 1920 the leader of the northern Baptists’ missionary society was elected head of her denomination. Joseph.000 schools. Their adventures captured the imaginations of Protestant women. and these often rivaled the power of official denominational structures. (Of course. Most denominations had women’s mission societies.) After the mid-1800s many women volunteered as missionaries. became some of nation’s most powerful women. heads of orphanages. and eventually to full status as clergy. at the turn of the century 40. and they supported 5. for them the closest approximation to becoming a nun was becoming a missionary. In later years many nuns saw Day as a role model. (Judaism had a related dynamic. which was
. These societies became so wealthy that the leaders of several denominations merged them into their bureaucracies in the twentieth century.000 of them – four times the number of priests – ran 265 hospitals and 4. and related roles in orders such as the Sisters of Loretto.) During the revivals of the 1700s and 1800s. first formed to aid Jews in Palestine. nurses. it is hard to imagine her Catholic Worker Movement succeeding outside the context of earlier work by nuns and Protestant women’s reform. Three million women belonged to missionary societies. done in the name of efficiency. and many others – eventually 200 in all. Sisters of St. nuns soon organized themselves to work as teachers. which has tended to proceed in stages: from the right to speak in worship and vote on congregational policies. many women found callings to speak in public. As noted above. nuns were the backbone of Catholic institutions. such as Elizabeth Ann Seton of the Sisters of Charity.
pressure for ordination was building. and pushing to legalize contraceptives. and become lay preachers. Both changes also reflected a shift from an economy based on small-scale production on farms and in small towns – with their associated emphasis on thrift and hard work – toward an urban consumer
. but a third and equally important factor also accounts for fundamentalism – its opposition to emerging changes in gender roles. and in the early twentieth century most of the women who led churches – around three per cent of all clergy – were in this movement. establishment churches had ordained only a handful of women by the late nineteenth century. bobbing their hair. speak as exhorters at revivals. (Women commonly lost these roles as Holiness churches institutionalized and/or were influenced by fundamentalism. The decline of female Holiness ministers was just one manifestation of the gender politics of fundamentalists. Both of these changes – women winning public roles and the emergence of new women – undermined the ideal of a separate women’s sphere. The challenges also included the sexual mores of so-called ‘new women. Fundamentalists presupposed the nineteenth-century gender system. women began to give testimony in worship. culture and politics in the 20th-century us considered scandalous at the time. especially their growing access to higher education and paid work. These challenges included women’s progress in entering the public sphere. fundamentalism was an effort to maintain this system in the face of emerging challenges to it. mainly in liberal denominations such as Congregationalism which gave individual congregations autonomous power. The option of mission work siphoned off some pressure in the short run. Holiness and Pentecostal churches moved rapidly in this direction. Scholars often explain the rise of fundamentalism as resulting from two factors: cultural discomfort with a pluralist urban society and theological resistance to modern science and Biblical study. from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century. In large part. the percentage of women ministers in the Church of the Nazarene fell from twenty to one per cent.)17 Meanwhile. No doubt these factors were important. with its sharp public–private split and its glorification of women as mothers. However. approaching men in nightclubs. but it ratcheted up the pressure in the long run. After World War II the process bore fruit.96 religion. In settings where openness to the Holy Spirit took precedence over education and a call from God took precedence over the authority of husbands.’ symbolized by flappers who shocked conservatives by smoking cigarettes.
Fundamentalists spoke warmly about Catholic teachings on the family despite their overall hostility to Catholicism (at this time they routinely identified the Pope as the anti-Christ). As we will see. In sermons and journalistic writings. Sparkling personalities and consumer style began to eclipse the value of traditional moral character.18 Fundamentalist concerns about gender were not a mere afterthought.’19 An interesting question arises if we interpret fundamentalism largely
. Nevertheless. At the peak of fundamentalist mobilization in the 1920s. Our new map must continue to acknowledge these points. gender created surprising convergences. this complicates maps of US religion that draw their main boundary lines between Catholics. they stressed the breakdown of the family. concerns about the family were deeply integrated into fundamentalist arguments. Many of the arguments that conservatives currently use to condemn abortion rights and the civil rights of gays and lesbians are quite similar to arguments they used earlier against legalizing contraceptives and allowing women to attend universities. Leaders on all sides promoted a ‘muscular Christianity’ and felt that overly feminized churches should be ‘reclaimed for men. often to the point of shaping them. fundamentalists. Preachers railed against evolutionism partly because they saw it as undermining sexual morality. liberals were more open to certain changes and women’s reform had a larger place among liberals than fundamentalists. fundamentalist alarm about women’s equality remained important throughout the century. All of these groups were dominated by men who responded defensively to changes in the gender system. they often ranked the Christian home as equally important as the church. both agreed on the need to defend the Christian home. Also. If we interpret fundamentalism as a form of resistance to women’s empowerment. Since fundamentalists saw women as the guardians of morality. they often symbolized these challenges through the image of the faithful Christian wife versus the ungodly flapper. True. they were especially worried when women moved in these new directions. and Protestant liberals. liberal or fundamentalist) responded to women. When they spoke about the central institutions of faith.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
economy that emphasized spending and leisure entertainment. When believers searched their Bibles and newspapers for signs of the end-times. From this perspective we need another map that charts how clergy as a group (whether Catholic or Protestant. despite pitched battles between fundamentalist and modernist clergy in other arenas.
As we will see. Others felt that the family was under such stress that defending it should be their top priority. Missionaries often sided with Native Americans against settlers and traders.
Debates about War. and so on. the president of the mission board. Some women believed that the Bible demanded their submission and saw this as more important than seeking equality. support for US war efforts has not been unanimous.98 religion. and Foreign Relations
US Christians have largely supported the war efforts of their government. We have noted religious support for conquest in the colonial era. civil millennialism during the Revolutionary era. and similar justifications continued as US expansion moved from a national to an international stage after 1890. Conservative clergy. and many of them embraced the most conservative domestic ideologies. there were significant changes in evangelical gender practices as the century unfolded. as opposed to the pronouncements of clergy. the women who controlled the church kitchen. However. culture and politics in the 20th-century us as a male reaction to the success of feminism. There were at least as many fundamentalist women as Christian feminists like Willard. and claims by both North and South that God was on their side in the Civil War. learned that many of the constituents they most needed to please were women: the church secretary. Peace. behind a solid front of antifeminist language. the head of religious education. We must not underestimate how much of the day-to-day energy in congregations flows through such channels. Not surprisingly given the ugliness of war and the Bible’s many teachings about peacemaking. like their liberal counterparts. there were also subtle negotiations about gender inside conservative sub-cultures.20 Even people who generally supported specific wars – not to speak of those who questioned them – were capable of feeling uneasy about the bloodshed that accompanied battle. When US elites began to debate after 1890 whether they should build a navy and continue their expansion southward to Cuba and westward to China. regretting the corruption that accompanied conquest. Significant minorities opposed the Mexican War. and/or debating whether expansion risked weakening the nation’s unity and virtue. How did such women perceive these issues? There is no easy answer to this question. Women’s committees and informal social networks created semi-autonomous spaces in which women could support each other and address their concerns. it became difficult to sustain the hegemonic idea
. Manifest Destiny justified wars of conquest during the 1800s.
religious freedom. During these years. often mobilizing religious sentiments to oppose rather than promote US empire.
. Mark Twain imagined a stranger entering a church and praying as follows: ‘O Lord God. President McKinley told a group of clergy that he did not want to colonize the Philippines ‘when they came to us a gift from the gods. In 1954 the words ‘under God’ were added to the Pledge of Allegiance. After initial hesitancy (and despite a few hold-outs like the Jehovah’s Witnesses) most denominations supported World War I in the name of spreading democracy around the world.’ Nor could he allow Spain. During the bitter struggle to subdue resistance to the US takeover of the Philippines. and Christian values were seen by many people as tightly connected – although it is obvious in retrospect that these are independent variables that were often mutually contradictory. US military objectives. as our fellow men for whom Christ also died.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
that US behavior was a righteous (democratic. largely to underline a contrast with ‘godless’ Communism. and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them. France. and uplift and civilize and Christianize them. when the US fought first Germany and Japan in World War II and later the Soviet Union and China in the Cold War. US political goals. and religious virtue continued during World War I and II and the Cold War.’22 The tendency to conflate God’s will. issues as diverse as capitalism. ‘There was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and to educate [them]. A sizeable anti-imperialist movement developed. The tradition of fusing US global goals with a sense of Christian mission flowered into one of its classic expressions in the 1940s and 1950s.’ In this way he perceived that he could not give the Philippines independence since ‘they were unfit for self-government. help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead … help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire … We ask it in a spirit of love. the momentum of expansion and its associated religious justifications won the day. Although much of the world perceived the US building a neo-colonial empire. most people at home saw the issue as military defense against totalitarians – whether Hitler on the right or Stalin on the left. democracy. or Germany to control them. McKinley ‘went down on [his] knees and prayed Almighty God for light.’21 Despite such reservations about Manifest Destiny. God-ordained) alternative to the naked imperialism of Europeans.’ In an effort to discern what to do. help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells.
Billy Graham. who was both the Cardinal of New York and vicar of the US military. Francis Spellman. and because the common sense that emerged from this struggle eclipsed the social gospel as the dominant stance of establishment Protestants until the 1970s. a popular priest with a prime-time television show. Graham’s sermons (heavily promoted by the Hearst newspaper chain) built on fears that this escalation of the Cold War was part of prophetic scenarios about the end of history.100 religion. Such Catholics stressed themes like praying the rosary and using the eucharist as weapons in spiritual warfare.’23 In light of this longstanding tradition of Christian support for the US military that reached a crescendo around 1950. saw himself as a pious Catholic. it may seem surprising that mainline Protestant social thinkers – not just a few Quaker activists and Jehovah’s Witnesses but a wide spectrum of social gospel leaders – were deeply committed to peacemaking and anti-imperialism during the 1920s and 1930s. They saw themselves as responsible world leaders – supporting global co-operation through trade and the United Nations while restraining totalitarianism. Well-heeled establishment clergy took pains to deny that they were baptizing a crusade or a greedy power grab that they associated with European colonialism. the bestknown Protestant social thinker in the middle years of the century. Conservative religious leaders were less nuanced. Fulton Sheen. launched his career largely through a revival that began three days after the ‘Godless’ Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb.24
. right up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Religious leaders linked God and country with varying degrees of subtlety. Catholic groups such as the Militia of the Immaculata publicized lurid apocalyptic visions of the Virgin Mary in which she exhorted her children to battle Communism. became famous by arguing against pacifist forms of the social gospel and moving Protestants toward his so-called Christian realist support for US military policy. Reinhold Niebuhr. The leading evangelical preacher of the twentieth century. Meanwhile. both as a case study of intrareligious struggles for hegemony. Let us retell his story. called Communism ‘the Mystical body of Satan. Around this time. was a vocal supporter of US efforts in the Cold War and Vietnam. who led the effort to purge leftist influence from US national life in the 1950s. Graham’s father-in-law joined a group of leading conservative Protestants in calling for a nuclear attack on Russia. Many of these leaders opposed the US entry into World War II even after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Debates about World War II gained resonance because they built on these earlier challenges. and the collapse of the economy during the Great Depression. a
. and they redoubled their efforts to maintain their influence. As we have seen. However. it advocated various reforms and stressed God’s immanent presence in history. Questions about World War II arose in the wake of three earlier events that called social gospel idealism into question: the debacle of World War I. However. they felt they had made the proper adjustments to keep moving forward. Early in his career Niebuhr presupposed this background. the widespread flaunting and ultimate collapse of Prohibition – which reflected the power of immigrants. criticisms also emerged from within the social gospel world. and new women – has led scholars to speak about a second Protestant disestablishment. failures of Prohibition that symbolized a loss of Protestant hegemony. As we will discuss in Chapter 4. Social gospelers saw themselves making progress toward fulfilling God’s will on earth – a vision they described as building the kingdom of God.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
Niebuhr and his antagonists debated their response to Hitler near the end of a long-running dispute about whether changes were needed in the social gospel. which led many US intellectuals to repudiate the whole idea of US-led wars for democratic progress. as opposed to the earlier constitutional one that left an informal establishment intact. Social gospelers invested much energy in supporting World War I and Prohibition. many clergy refused to accept this second disestablishment as a settled issue. Prohibition symbolized Protestant efforts to maintain hegemony in a new urban context. although social gospelers emerged scarred and battered from the challenges of the early century. He became a parish pastor in Detroit.25 This was a cultural disestablishment. and this led to disillusionment when it became obvious that there was a huge gap between the results they hoped for and the actual experience on the ground. fundamentalists vilified this theology from the outside. he had become a pacifist after World War I. Like many of his colleagues. popular entertainment. It is hard to overstate the centrality of anti-war themes for social gospelers of the inter-war years. thus. and more by conceiving war as a form of backsliding on the road to progress. Social gospelers responded less by repudiating the idea of progress. Thus. Rather than abandoning hope for a democratic world. They responded similarly to the carnage and corruption of World War I. they recast this hope by making pacifism and international co-operation central to their vision of the kingdom of God. the social gospel was the activist wing of liberal Protestantism.
social gospel appeals to labor–management cooperation and progress toward socialism appeared increasingly illusory. In the face of bitter labor conflicts in the 1920s and 1930s.26 Could this suggestion – that progress toward a just society was only possible through class struggle – really be the route to the kingdom of God? For old-school social gospelers this was no better than cutting out the heart of Christianity. Niebuhr became famous for attacking the New Deal from the left.
. Nazism posed a decisive challenge to the social gospel. in which he became friends with many people who later rose to high positions in the Democratic Party. After 1928. Union Theological Seminary in New York. he granted that he had drastically lowered his expectations for progress. but only as the pursuit of lesser evils in a fallen world. his radiant passion would all have seemed a little ridiculous to Niebuhr … and with what relief he would have turned to the “cynical and realistic” Pilate as the man of the hour!’27 Although Niebuhr was outraged by this review. In a book called Moral Man and Immoral Society he dropped a bombshell on his social gospel comrades by proposing a model of class conflict and inevitable group self-interest. In the 1930s Niebuhr turned his attention toward a third challenge to Progressive optimism that proved harder to assimilate than World War I or the collapse of Prohibition. as opposed to a sentimental utopian. largely but not entirely as a joke.102 religion. A realist. culture and politics in the 20th-century us popular lecturer on college campuses. had to admit that political coercion – possibly including violence – would be needed to create change. If we compare shifts in worldviews to earthquakes. he taught at the flagship school of liberal Protestantism. In the mid-1930s some of his students flew the flag of the Soviet Union from the Union Seminary flagpole. and an activist involved with many groups including the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation and the New Deal-oriented Americans for Democratic Action. He stressed that moral idealism could not solve problems of class oppression. The upshot was complex: Christians should participate in political struggle. Niebuhr was not distinctive because he called for economic justice – other religious activists were also active on this front – but because he attacked social gospel ideas about peaceful progress toward justice. In the wake of such controversies. One reviewer wrote that ‘Jesus’s serene trust in human nature … his sunny optimism. This was the frustration of hopes for democratic socialism – both because of the general power of US capitalism and the shock of the Great Depression. which were rooted in deep-seated human sinfulness.
he now insisted that their hopes for peace blinded them to Hitler’s threat. In terms of our earthquake analogy. On one side the Century placed democratic socialists and anti-imperialists. imperialism. Rather it reflected their judgment that the most fundamental conflicts were internal to the US. Although the Century worried about Hitler. Wasn’t fascism a greater evil? Wasn’t a less-than-peaceful defense of a less-thanperfect society needed to combat it? Through such arguments. capitalism. it was the rise of Hitler that shook the foundations and rearranged the landscape. and militarism. To discredit the Century he started a competing magazine called
. it worried even more that US imperialism would lead to a long series of wars that would destroy US democracy. imperialism.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
we might say that the debacle of World War I created a fault line. Could Nazi conquests represent progress toward the kingdom of God? Appeals to a ‘serene trust in human nature’ seemed out of touch. However. the Century was trying to hold on to its inherited landscape as the ground shifted. As the power of fascism grew. democracy. the Century’s battle lines pitted Christianity. didn’t it make more sense to stress human capacities for evil? Peacemaking appeared as an irresponsible utopianism that – however well intentioned – caused more harm than good. The Century’s opposition to World War II was not based on sympathy for Nazism or lack of interest in global issues. democracy. and peacemaking against capitalism.’28 Thus. A leading religious magazine called the Christian Century refused to abandon the anti-militarist plank of its social gospel platform. Niebuhr shifted the form of sinful pride that was the focus of his critique. on the other side were military and industrial leaders who envisioned a post-war global order led by the US – a vision then being promoted in Time and Life magazines as the ‘American Century. Niebuhr perceived reshuffled battle lines: Christianity. Earlier he had mainly worried about economic injustice. it seemed absurd to argue that God was working through immanent processes of history. Now he focused on sin expressed in fascist tyranny. Cultural disestablishment and frustrated hopes for economic justice were ongoing sources of pressure. he had insisted that class struggle was a fact of life and that joining this struggle was a lesser evil. He said that the Century’s concerns were like redesigning one’s garden while a tornado threatened to destroy one’s house. Just as he had accused his colleagues of naiveté about class struggle. and the US military (‘the arsenal of democracy’) together against totalitarians on a global stage and irresponsible peace activists at home.
Moreover. rather than God’s immanent presence. but fortunately the US had checks and balances that accomplished this goal better than other countries. so that leftleaning activists should not get carried away with optimism.’ All nations needed to keep their sinful pride in check.104 religion. Theologically. First. Whereas the social gospel had stressed progress toward a more just society. he highlighted the inevitability of sin. In that sense God has chosen us in this fateful period. Four aspects of the Niebuhrian mindset came to dominate mainline Protestant social thought for decades to come. they concluded that tyrants cannot be stopped by idealistic pronouncements. Politically. Niebuhr called it international responsibility. and more as a weapon that unmasked the abuse of power.
. his way of framing questions stressed God’s transcendence. Sin implied that all political movements abused power. and better sooner than later. they must be stopped by force. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Christianity and Crisis. As the top sin targeted for prophetic critique changed from domestic inequality to foreign tyranny. Secondly. the Protestant mindset became more defensive. in which he wrote that ‘the sin of imperialism … may well be a less dangerous form of selfishness than an irresponsible attitude toward the task of organizing the human community. ‘only those who have no sense of the profundities of history would deny that various nations and classes. especially as a judgment on human pride. are at various times placed in such a position that a special measure of the divine mission in history falls upon them. Although critics called this stance an apology for US global empire. more and more they called all citizens to unite behind the New Deal and defeat foreign enemies and the naive idealists who closed their eyes to their threat.’29 For Niebuhr the principle of choosing lesser evils justified the use of force – including nuclear weapons – to uphold democracy and US postwar economic plans against totalitarians. they interpreted the Bible’s prophetic tradition less as a vision that called people toward a better society. various social groups and races. They should trust God to clean their dirty hands rather than try to save the world. they should review the Bible’s teachings about the fallen human condition. If people who claimed Jesus as a role model felt uneasy about such compromises. realists stressed defending the US status quo against an external evil. conceptualized as self-centered pride. Thirdly. Less and less they rallied democratic socialists to win greater economic justice. Niebuhrians drew two morals from the 1938 Munich Agreement that appeased Hitler.
and who decided? With only two additional changes the classic Christian realist worldview fell into place.
1 A short overview of US cultural and social history is Peter Carroll and David W. Edward Kirkland. anti-Communism. they qualified their earlier socialist commitments so heavily as to largely abandon them – or. and the Protestant Establishment (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Niebuhrians continued to promote social action for goals that they deemed realistic.
. 3 John Roach Stratton cited in Albert Schenkel. and bullish visions of international development associated with presidents like Harry Truman and John Kennedy. Meanwhile. more precisely. After the 1940s they portrayed unrepentant socialists – both at home and abroad – as naive and unrealistic. 1965). at the same time.. ed. Thus. and Robert Craig. his mindset encouraged a defensive posture. 5 Mary Hobgood. as well as optimism about the US as the standard-bearer for progress in the world. Liston Pope. (Cambridge. 1995). 176. 1991). and business leaders see Henry May. Rockefeller. Harper and Bros: 1949). Edward DeBerri et al. 4 On relations among clergy. 2003). 1962). Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret (Maryknoll: Orbis. MA: Harvard University Press. Catholic Social Teaching and Economic Theory (Philadelphia: Temple University Press. always on the lookout for Munich analogies and quick to use countervailing power against leaders whose sin led them to abuse power. Niebuhrians extended their arguments against Hitler’s fascism into arguments against all forms of totalitarianism. They used their arguments for Christian social action to support Cold War liberalism – the blend of New Deal economics. Millhands and Preachers: a Study of Gastonia (2nd edn) (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1992). The Rich Man and the Kingdom: John D. to transmute them into advocacy for the New Deal. 1988). the questions arose: what options were realistic. Protestant Churches and Industrial America (New York.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
as already noted. in practice this carried forward the tradition of religious support for US foreign policy. Religion and Radical Politics: an Alternative Christian Tradition in the United States (Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Fourthly. See also Howard Zinn. The Free and the Unfree: A New History of the United States (2nd edn) (New York: Penguin. workers. 1995). Despite the overtly defensive way that Niebuhrians framed their arguments. 1992). For more on the social gospel see Gary Dorrien. Jr. Soul in Society: the Making and Remaking of Social Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. A People’s History of the United States (revised edn) (New York: Harper Perennial. eds. soon they advanced such arguments mainly to support resistance to Communism through US military and economic power. The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays. 2 Carnegie. 26–7. 29. These actions simply needed to be self-critical and realistic. Noble.
1930– 1980 (Princeton: Princeton University Press. eds. The Politics of Domesticity: Women. Lawrence Wittner. 1969).’ American Quarterly vol. Religion and American Culture. The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order. and Temperance in Nineteenth Century America (Middleton: Wesleyan University Press. 18 Betty DeBerg. 22 Cited in Zinn. 1993). 10 See also Rosemary Ruether and Rosemary Shinner Keller. and 116. 1999). The World According to Eve (New York: Houghton Mifflin. Margaret Lamberts Bendroth.. 14 Carolyn DeSwarte Gifford. Evangelism. ‘Women’s history IS American religious history. 432–65. Mark Noll. Fundamentalism and Gender. 21 ‘The War Prayer.’ in Tweed. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.’ cited in Mark Twain’s Weapons of Satire: Anti-imperialist Writings on the Philippine–American War. ‘“The women have had charge of the church long enough”: the Men and Religion Forward Movement of 1911–1912 and the masculinization of middleclass Protestantism. eds. Writing My Heart Out: Selections from the Journal of Frances Willard (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 2004). Jim Zwick. 1875 to the Present (New Haven: Yale University Press. (New York: Oxford University Press. Men. 1999). Susan Lindley. no. Barbara Leslie Epstein. 3 (1989). 159–60. 1988) and Cullen Murphy. 87–107.’ in Bendroth and Brereton. Women and Twentieth-Century Protestantism. You Have Stept Out of Your Place: a History of Women and Religion in America (Louisville: Westminster. Rebels Against War: the American Peace Movement (New York: Columbia University Press. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
6 Smith cited in James Hennesey. and the Bible (2nd edn) (New York: Crossroad. 20 Ira Chernus. Father Coughlin. American Nonviolence: the History of an Idea (Maryknoll: Orbis. 8 Alan Brinkley.
. and Braude. Women Called to Witness: Evangelical Feminism in the Nineteenth Century (2nd edn) (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Re-Telling American Religious History. 19 Gail Bederman. ‘Saints but not subordinates: the Women’s Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention. 1996).’ 106. In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women’s Religious Writing (San Francisco: HarperCollins. ed. 4–24. 11 Braude. ‘Women’s history IS American religious history. 96. Patricia McNeal. 1983). 2002). 12 See Mark Carnes. 1992).106 religion. People’s History of the United States. 1995). Ungodly Women: Gender and the First Wave of American Fundamentalism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 317–26. 16 On Baptist resistance to such a takeover see Paul Harvey. 1989). ed. ed. Harder Than War: Catholic Peacemaking in Twentieth Century America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. eds. ‘Victorian fraternal rituals. Voices of Protest: Huey Long.’ in Hackett. 13 Entry points to these complex debates include Virginia Ramey Mollenkott. 1995). 1990).’ in Religion and American Politics. 86. 1984). 17 Nancy Hardesty. Women. 312–13. 1990). 41. 1992). ‘Roman Catholics and American politics. Margaret Bendroth and Virginia Brereton. Women and American Religion. Women and Twentieth-Century Protestantism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 15 Numerical estimates in this section from Braude. and the Great Depression (New York: Vintage. 7 Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle. 9 Nancy Roberts. Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker (Albany: SUNY Press. 1981). 311.
28 Henry Luce’s ‘American Century’ essay first appeared in Life in 1941 and is widely reprinted.. Ward and the Struggle for Social Justice (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. 1941–1993 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. including in William Appleman Williams et al. Spiritual Politics: Religion and America Since Word War II (New York: Simon and Schuster. Roads to Dominion: Right-wing Movements and Political Power in the United States (New York: Guilford Press. God’s New Israel. Entry points to this subject include Mark Silk. explores relationships between the Protestant establishment and key ‘outsiders. 325.’ 26 Reinhold Niebuhr. Niebuhr. Hutchison. 1995). Richard Fox. Soul in Society. Building a Protestant Left: Christianity and Crisis Magazine. Catholics in America. America’s Half-Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins. 2003). 1985). ‘Anglo-American destiny and responsibility. The Liberal Mind in a Conservative Age (New York: Harper and Row. In the Trenches with Jesus and Marx: Harry F. Between the Times. 27 John Haynes Holmes review cited in Fox.religion and social conflict: early 20th century
. The following section is adapted from pp. 304 (subsequent citations from Christianity and Crisis are abbreviated C&C). 1933). see Richard Pells. 152–3. 159–84.’ Christianity and Crisis. 1999).’ in Cherry. 1985). 12–22 of this book. Reinhold Niebuhr. Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York: Scribners. 303. 24 On Niebuhr see Dorrein. 22–8. 1985) 29 Niebuhr. See also David Nelson Duke. 1987) and Sara Diamond. 1989). Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography (New York: Pantheon. On ideas of secular intellectuals that paralleled the Niebuhrians. 6. America in Vietnam: a Documentary History (New York: Anchor. 2/24/41.
Still deserving more attention.c h ap t e r 4
Cultural Aspects of Religion in the Early Twentieth Century
As we explored cases of religion intersecting with political issues of the early twentieth century – wealth and poverty. yet at the same time wanted to maintain distinctive aspects of their heritage that set them apart. since there are so many ethnic groups and each one is internally divided. however. Nevertheless. This section explores the richness of immigrant religion and the textures of this push–pull dynamic. Complicating the picture is a push–pull dynamic created by the dual fact that immigrants wanted to be accepted by the mainstream and overcome biases that were used as weapons against them. is how religious culture shaped distinctive ways of life in ethnic communities and how this related to the process of entering the mainstream. Nor were we trying to distinguish sharply between politics and the cultural issues that we will highlight in this chapter. the cases we will explore in the ‘mid-day breaks’ and ‘evening stopovers’ of the current chapter – immigrant traditions and devotions. women’s rights. This is a tangled problem that we cannot map in detail.
Cultural Dimensions of Immigrant Religious Enclaves
In Chapter 2 we flagged the importance of ethnic traditions for Jewish and Catholic immigrants. Religious politics has a cultural dimension. commercial popular culture. the second generation runs away from 108
. Recall the pattern in which the first immigrant generation tries to maintain Old World traditions. religious culture has a political dimension. and our plan is to circle through related issues more than once to gain a multifaceted understanding. and foreign policy – our goal in Chapter 3 was not to be comprehensive. In Chapter 3 we discussed the struggles of immigrants to move from poverty to a relatively comfortable life in the middle class. using examples from the Jewish and Italian Catholic experience. and the fundamentalist-modernist controversy – tilt the balance toward culture. but rather concrete and evocative.
However. Anti-Catholic themes informed discourses about political corruption and the unworthy poor.2 Although Jews prospered in the US and entered the mainstream. with a larger role for socialist politics and a smaller role for formal social teachings – let us focus on Jews in our discussion of nativism. Nativism fueled political movements such as the Know-Nothing Party and the American Protective Association.’ Popular novels portrayed Irish as drunkards and convents as brothels for priests. In the 1920s universities such as Harvard feared that too many Jews were applying and limited Jewish enrollment
. the third generation experience – as extended by later generations – is what we most need to understand. Nevertheless. anti-Semitism was also widespread. immigrants faced resistance in which economic and cultural factors reinforced each other.’1 After 1840 this hostility spilled over into riots in which Catholic buildings (most famously a Boston convent) were burned and many people died. Hostility and misunderstanding from hegemonic groups could tempt immigrants to remain in a ‘first generation’ posture of resistance or continue a ‘second generation’ strategy of rejecting tradition to fit in. Either way. The 1884 Republican presidential candidate attacked Democrats as the party of ‘rum. one school primer in the colonial era instructed students to ‘abhor that arrant Whore of Rome and all her blasphemies. sometimes religious attitudes helped create economic differences. rather than adopting it as a total way of life. Sometimes economic tensions were expressed in religious terms. this did not happen without resistance. nativism had been a strong force in US culture. Romanism. and the third generation seeks to recover what the second generation rejected – but recover it selectively from a base closer to the mainstream. Ever since the influx of Irish in the 1840s. although we could tell a similar story about Catholics. Since we focused on Catholics when discussing the economic struggles of immigrants – although we could tell a broadly similar story about Jews. we must not underestimate the difficulty of arriving at a ‘third generation’ perspective in the first place. and it has deeper roots reaching back to the founding of Christianity. Anti-Semitism often took a back seat to anti-Catholicism among nativists because Catholics posed a greater threat to Protestant hegemony. and rebellion.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
these traditions. The breakthrough of immigrants to the middle class is hard to disentangle from their cultural acceptance by hegemonic groups. In the long run. Protestants had hated and feared Catholics since the earliest years of the Reformation.
110 religion. Some Populists focused a disproportionate amount of their hostility on Jews when attacking bankers and other corporate elites. We could easily misperceive what the KKK and kindred groups were like during the 1920s. More alarming was the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a nationwide group that gave equal time to demonizing blacks.3 This perception of marginality reflects a change in the character of these groups after World War II. As in the case of many lynched blacks. but in the 1920s a new set of leaders reinvented it. The KKK’s new emphasis was defending ‘100 per cent Americanism’ against immigrants who were seen as ‘mongrelizing’ US society. They recruited 2. when televangelist Pat Robertson published a book that echoed the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. for example. which could create a sense of scape-
. During the 1920s the most disturbing thing about the KKK from a Jewish perspective was less its extremism (as one might suspect from its later reputation) than how it tapped into a nativism that was widely shared in the mainstream. Catholics. culture and politics in the 20th-century us to 10 per cent. Mass followings melted away from groups seen as sympathetic to fascism. there was a flimsy charge that he had sexually abused an Anglo-Protestant woman. and ten per cent of all professors were Jewish). The original Klan had atrophied after the North stopped pressing the South for reconstruction. as fairly marginal even though they retained some influence that occasionally bubbled into the mainstream. Other groups chimed in with related ideas and open sympathy for European fascism. a document called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion – highly implausible at best and soon shown to be a fake – purported to prove this conspiracy. Jews often faced social and professional barriers. Conspiracy theories popular among such groups held that Jews controlled both the global banking system and world communism. they had difficulty getting jobs as university professors before mid-century. and Jews. ‘100 per cent Americanism’ was popular with leading politicians. The KKK had this fringe reputation when it revived in yet another form to fight the civil rights movement of the 1950s. because after the 1940s they were perceived as far-right extremists – that is.5 million members from throughout the country. In 1915 a group from this network lynched a Jewish businessman from Atlanta named Leo Frank. leaving only the most rigid and strident members. and many elite neighborhoods signed covenants against selling homes to Jews (by 1970 such covenants were outlawed or seen as embarrassing. for example. including middle-class professionals along with farmers and blue-collar workers. such quotas did not end until after mid-century.
Father Coughlin. In the face of such pressure. but one of Long’s top associates. and early in the decade he defended the New Deal against its conservative enemies using Catholic teachings on social justice. Henry Ford.4 The combined weight of the KKK. efforts to continue the incipient coalition without him self-destructed. In the years around 1920. K. it is easy to understand why Jews – and by extension other immigrants – were attracted to approaches such as Reform Judaism and the Americanist tendency in Catholicism. communities that had not yet switched from Old World
.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
goating and demonizing Jews as a group – although we should not overstress this point. Coughlin had begun to broadcast in response to the KKK burning a cross at his Detroit church. Before the 1936 election.) For his part. Ford. Long. did turn to the extreme right in the 1940s. This became increasingly disturbing as his sermons became more strident and his popularity grew. Long controlled Louisiana through ruthless suppression of his enemies and a Biblically infused rhetoric calling for heavy taxation of the rich to ‘Share Our Wealth. became a prominent anti-Semite in the 1930s. given that the core conflict for Populists was rich versus poor rather than Protestant versus Jewish. Coughlin. Some people worried that Long was anti-Semitic and that a Long– Coughlin alliance could develop into an American version of Hitler’s right-wing populism. promoted the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. his policies really did shift significant resources toward working people.’ Although his enemies denounced him as a mere demagogue. L. Probably these fears were overstated. many people saw an alliance between Coughlin and Louisiana Senator Huey Long as the strongest threat to Roosevelt’s re-election. Smith. They often went to great lengths to express their patriotism. a demagogic preacher named G. However. for example. and fascist extremists like Smith was more than enough to make Jews fear that quotas and social exclusion were only the tip of an iceberg of antiSemitism. the founder of Ford Motor Company. the radio preacher introduced above. The Populists’ upperclass enemies were equally guilty of anti-Semitism. he became obsessed with Roosevelt’s perceived betrayal of principle – which Coughlin called the ‘Jew Deal’ – and sympathetic to Hitler. (Roosevelt adopted many of the New Deal policies that most helped working people during the years that Long and Coughlin were cutting into his working-class support. We will never know what Long would have done if he had gained more power because he was assassinated in 1935.
In light of patriotic US rhetoric celebrating religious freedom. For example.112 religion. Only a small fraction of the community identified with nationalist political movements in Germany – a path that led toward far-right extremism by the 1940s. any German-American who publicly identified with German culture had heavy costs to pay. By no means were Jews the only immigrants who faced such issues. It also helps account for the importance of the Yiddish press and community arts movement in Jewish neighborhoods. It is also understandable that hostility from the dominant culture could lead immigrants – especially communities like Jews and Irish with long histories of being persecuted – to circle their wagons and hold tightly to their culture. Scholars argue that US religions have often thrived not so much by blending into the mainstream as by defining themselves in tension with the mainstream and insisting that this choice was part of their birthright as Americans. as discussed above. there were strong anti-war sentiments in German-American communities (especially those with a strong socialist presence) during the run-up to World War I. it was common for outsider groups to combine an insistence on freely practicing their religion with staking a claim to be true Americans. culture and politics in the 20th-century us vernacular languages to English did so on a large scale. As
. They changed for many reasons: the desires of second and third generation children. When religious groups switched to English. However. after the propaganda machine for World War I took hold. but more recent Jewish immigrants moving from Yiddish-speaking neighborhoods to suburban synagogues felt the impact keenly – as did families from every immigrant group making the switch at home. the impact of public schools. older generations often felt this as a wrenching break with tradition. A classic example is the rise of Zionism. but questions still remained about what language to use in other contexts.5 This dynamic helps explain why Conservative Judaism grew faster than Reform Judaism among third generation immigrants. Catholics were partly insulated from this shock at worship because all Catholics used the same Latin Mass. They could read their own newspapers such as the Jewish Daily Forward and attend local theater productions in which they dramatized issues of their own choice in their own words. Most Reform Jews had already made the linguistic switch. and the emergence of a shared multi-ethnic popular culture. a climate of repression during World War I. Immigrants did not have to depend for information solely on English language newspapers and Horatio Alger books checked out of Carnegie-endowed libraries.
and pious practices: lighting votive candles. Importantly. rituals. we were not referring solely to worship in Catholic churches. later the Bracero Program created a legal structure for annual migrations from Mexico to the US and back. worry about relatives in Germany. and critically examine a case for war that seemed unpersuasive to people ranging from the Socialist Party to Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan. Many Mexicans were deported in the 1930s. and celebrated Columbus Day with markedly more gusto than other groups (Columbus was from Italy even though he sailed for Spain). but also to a wider texture of life in homes and neighborhoods. They had a natural desire to maintain their language and customs. praying the rosary using special beads.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
an example of the push–pull dynamic in immigrant communities – the simultaneous motivation to remain distinct from mainstream culture and to merge with it – there are few cases more dramatic than the pressures faced by German-Americans between 1910 and 1920. meditating in front of (often bloody) pictures of saints. joining processions during holidays like Easter. based partly on choice and partly on US government policy. Nor were Zionists the only immigrants who identified with ethnicreligious compatriots in other parts of the world. these alliances inflamed tensions between Catholics and the US left. and many others. Likewise. building shrines. wearing crosses. and generally conforming to 100 per cent Americanism. speaking English. sympathized with Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini. When we spoke in Chapter 2 about the sacramental sensibility of Catholics. Irish tensions with Anglo-Protestants resonated with memories of Irish oppression by the English. Yet they also felt intense pressure to prove their patriotism by joining the army. Devotional Catholicism is the cultural expression of immigrant religious life that we most need to explore. many Italians and Mexicans came to the US as temporary migrants rather than permanent settlers. fasting. The term refers to a nexus of prayers. possibly changing their names. when we spoke in Chapter 3 about Catholic women’s experience. we were not
. More than half of all Italians who arrived after 1900 returned home. Catholic clergy sympathized with Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War and conservative factions in the Mexican revolution of 1910–20. Mexicans have a long history of two-way border crossings. Although Italian-Americans felt limited loyalty to elites in Italy – they came from the southern part of Italy which was historically exploited by the industrialized north – they followed the news from the old country.
devotional Catholicism is strongly informed by a version of domestic ideology.7 To understand this festival we must bear four factors in mind. One example of this complexity is the festa. Yet devotional practice did not solely express collective pride. This set the stage for many levels of experience – communal. patron saints (such as the Virgin of Guadalupe for Mexicans) or rituals of respect for community symbols (such as the US flag for 100 per cent Americans) can resonate deeply as symbols of an ethnic or national group.114 religion. At a communal level. Protestants favor more conceptual forms of spirituality. There was no ambiguity about the embodied quality of Catholic devotions: putting plaster-cast statues of saints in gardens. culture and politics in the 20th-century us referring solely to nuns. creating intraCatholic tensions somewhat comparable to debates between Reform and Orthodox Jews. If outsiders attack such practices. when Protestants insulted Irish culture or when Irish bishops were disrespectful to Polish culture. community members rally behind them. such as sentimental songs. not eating meat on Fridays. wearing scapulars (special pieces of cloth that fit around one’s neck). Moreover. (We could easily pursue the story of how its support for the radical
. dedicated to the Madonna del Carmine. since individuals have varying needs – for example. New York. A standard theme of Protestant preaching was to attack such practices as abnormal and foreign. some Catholics (such as Americanist priests) agreed with aspects of the Protestant critique. and spiritual imaginations. societies to decorate churches with flowers. although they did develop their own paler forms of devotion. Liberal Protestants added that it was irrational and superstitious. burning incense. semi-iconic paintings of Jesus. First is the economic struggle of the community. or community festival. personal. and so on. Complicating the situation. daily prayers. using holy water from places where the Blessed Virgin appeared. Evangelicals perceived devotional Catholicism as a distraction from true Christianity and an example of trust in external works instead of Christ’s saving grace. the patron saint of Italian-Americans from East Harlem. and generational – to come together in particular devotions. for example. they reflect different generations and genders – internal tensions arose within the multiple levels of devotional practice. Such was the response. coping strategies.6 Compared with Catholics. It was also near the heart of immigrant life because of its personal dimensions: the ways it structured people’s attitudes. and holiday traditions.
The ritual center of the festival – which also involved a week-long party in which families reunited. Priests tried to bring the festa. Such behavior did not match the image of decorum and progress that many priests sought to cultivate.8 Italian behavior at the festa threatened to reinforce an outside perception that they were racially exotic at best and perhaps just backward and superstitious. women asked family members to carry them up the aisle of the church to the Madonna’s altar as they dragged their tongues along the floor. They made candles in the same size and shape of body parts that needed healing and offered them to the Madonna. in Italy the bishops were more likely to be the oppressors. Although other ethnic groups organized similar processions. Not only did they stress devotions that were practiced at home. its domestic ideology made mothers the dominant power in the religious realm. One reason was the Italian reputation for anti-clericalism. They walked the hot streets barefoot. However. whether or not one attended mass regularly. under their control. Another was the Italians’ ambiguous place within the US racial system. Fiorello La Guardia. the reputation of Italians changed from racially ambiguous to just another white ethnic group. Unlike in Ireland and Poland where people rallied behind their bishops against foreign oppressors. At an extreme. Devotions focused on the relation between Mary and Jesus. they saw loyalty to the family as the heart of being a religious person. ate traditional foods. A third factor is how Italians centered their religion on the home. For years they made the Italians keep their statue of the Madonna in the
. some of the Italian practices were dramatic by Catholic standards.) Second is the tendency of Italian immigrants to mistrust priests. which mirrored the centrality of the mother and her eldest son within the Italian family. relates to our discussion of economics in Chapter 3. Although the culture excluded women from many public roles. Devotees made extravagant sacrifices as part of their prayers for blessings. midway between black and white and sharing the same skin tone with Puerto Ricans who increasingly moved into their neighborhood.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
politician. and generally had a good time – occurred when a statue of the Madonna was taken from the church and paraded through the neighborhood. which was organized by a church-related committee. early in the century this outcome was not yet clear. A final factor was the tendency of Irish priests and Anglo-Protestants to look down on Italian religion. carrying candles weighing up to 200 pounds on their heads. Just as other ethnic groups changed over time from being considered semi-American to 100 per cent American.
One scholar asks whether this form of power through sacrifice. we must not forget that mothers wielded this power within a society that confined them to the home. Another is the way that sacrifice functioned in a battle of generations. mothers exercised more power in Italian religion than any other group including priests. the response of women like Madonna (the pop star) makes it clear that gender roles are not always stable over time. albeit in complex and conflicted ways. Thus. such resistance increased the Italians’ expression of pride through the festa. into which mothers sought to initiate daughters. grew up in a such an Italian family. before spending much of her career rebelling against it. One is a venting of pent-up frustration at being confined at home through taking to the streets in the parade. for example. As we have noted.9 However we answer this question. culture and politics in the 20th-century us church basement rather than its sanctuary. Since the festa was one of the few times during the year when women played a public role. the festa tends to support the system. there were conflicts internal to the festival over women’s roles and generational behavior. It has similarities and differences with the festivals of other groups such as Polish-Americans and Mexican-Americans. the pop star. This festa is only one example of immigrant devotion. In addition to the straightforward ways that the festa expressed Italian pride. (We need only consider that Madonna. The Italian form of domestic ideology is
. who overturned the policy and recognized the church as a special shrine. it is clear that if we approach Italian gender roles as a hegemonic system.) When mothers at the festa modeled for their daughters how to give proper respect to the Madonna – and more pointedly when they undertook extreme sacrifices for the sake of their daughters – their sacrifices were potent ways to pressure upcoming generations to stay loyal. may be somewhat masochistic. that respect for the family included marrying the first person one dated. (This tactic backfired when the Italians appealed to higher-ups in Rome. However. By no means did all Italian daughters want to grow up just like their mothers in a culture that taught.) Predictably. At the some time. it makes sense that the ritual dramatized both sacrifice and power. it made sense for mothers to be the leaders in a ritual focusing on a divine mother – the Madonna – whose importance rivaled that of Jesus or God the Father. The most dramatic sacrifices like dragging one’s tongue along the floor were made by mothers. Scholars speculate that the festa expressed two more things. and that a key way that they exercised power in the home was through sacrificing for their families.116 religion.
minstrel shows. theater. New technologies like radio and film transformed it. Although little was entirely new in this field – entertainments including saloons. Protestant leaders had perceived a challenge from innovations such as cheap popular literature. baseball. organized educational programs
. and cultivating an attractive appearance and sparkling personality. by exploring this celebration’s levels of meaning we can begin to see the hidden complexities and cultural depth of immigrant religion. Popular culture benefited from all these changes and intensified them. and moral character – the classic building blocks of the Protestant work ethic – toward an economy based on consumer spending and its virtues of leisure. Best-selling works such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin taught hegemonic religious values. However.10 In contrast to the contemporary situation in which overtly religious forms of popular culture are often derivative versions of more respected forms – for example. dime novels. and the festa early in the twentieth century was not the same as the festa practiced today. although it is not clear whether individualism actually increased in a consumer society or simply took a distinctive form. Given that the total amount of time that immigrants spent studying theology was only a fraction of the time they spent on devotional practices. It was near the heart of changes associated with the shift from an economy based on production and its associated virtues of hard work. thrift. The diversity of a multi-ethnic working class and the energy of urban life enriched it. and had opted to ‘fight fire with fire’ by producing their own market offerings. pleasure-seeking. and clergy were cutting-edge innovators. New musical forms such as blues and jazz gave it great vitality. it is crucial to have maps that can focus on such practices and analyze them in depth.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
not the same as the Irish form. much Christian contemporary music is a pale imitation of the best popular music and most overtly Christian films are notably inferior to Hollywood films – evangelical themes were near the center of popular culture during the nineteenth century. and boxing had long been important – commercial culture grew rapidly in importance.
Religion and Popular Culture
Some of the most important cultural changes of the twentieth century happened in the field of popular culture and mass-mediated entertainment. The latter were building blocks of what came to be called consumerism and materialism – and sometimes also individualism. They wrote tracts and ‘true tales’ that were equally lurid as their secular competitors but with edifying morals.
It is only a small additional step to ask whether spending every weekend going to a nightclub. for example. Recall how we asked in the Introduction whether activities like following baseball or playing jazz could be considered religious if they became central enough to a person’s identity. culture and politics in the 20th-century us called Chautauquas. nor did they lose all their fights. we must pay attention when inherited religious practices – for example. for example. teaching values to children. Before turning to a case study of such change. or department store – and. religious leaders did not give up without a fight.11 We have seen that cultural change early in the century dovetailed with demographic trends to produce a second disestablishment of Protestantism – a cultural disestablishment that forced Protestant elites to share influence with immigrants and secular mass culture.118 religion. let us step back and reflect on how to approach the phenomenon of popular religion. Coughlin’s radio sermons and a widely-read novel called In His Steps that imagined the wonderful results from a group of Kansas Protestants vowing not to do anything for a year without asking ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Nevertheless. To be sure. theater. What difference does it make if people spend Sabbaths at amusement parks instead of churches and synagogues? What if children identify with rock musicians more than the heroes of Horatio Alger
. along with their ability to hold their market share of people who chose their books and weekend activities over secular alternatives. We have been assuming that religion is about the everyday life of ordinary people as well as the teachings of clergy – so that. the clergy’s power to set the standards for cultural taste was slipping. Although critics feared that they were watering down and sensationalizing religion by entering this market. setting aside one day each week for community rituals. gaining one’s sense of meaning and experience of community through such activities – should be considered ‘consumer religion. their success was part and parcel of their status as a cultural establishment.’12 We decided not to adopt a definition of religion so broad that our selective tour of religion ballooned into a survey of everything considered important by anyone in the country. They policed popular culture and continued to create influential religious market offerings. and so on. Nevertheless. and seeking aesthetic experiences that cultivate spiritual depth – either overlap with commercial culture or are forced into a zero-sum competition with it. more pointedly. the festa and the home are near the heart of Italian Catholicism. ballpark.
Johnny Cash. They limit themselves through an approach that overstresses commodification and secularization. such as attending church or reading the Bible. does this diminish the importance of worship? If radio becomes the main place people hear religious music. Somewhat surprisingly. consume it selectively. Rhythm and blues – and by extension rock and hip-hop – are built on a foundation of black gospel. does this change this music’s meaning? Nineteenth-century clergy opted to enter the entertainment market – to fight fire with fire – because they felt that they could not pass their values to upcoming generations without a strong presence in this realm. it can mean prevalent or pervasive practices. have become quite diverse and of higher quality compared with the years when they earned their reputation for mediocrity – dismissing religious forms of popular music is not a promising foundation for an argument against exploring popular religion. Nevertheless. However. we can see that religion changed in form and interpenetrated with commercial culture more than it lost importance. and Ruben Blades among others – weave religious themes deeply into their music. consider how many of the best US musicians – Bob Dylan. Whatever one thinks about evangelical record labels – which. Madonna.13 This analogy holds for other parts of popular culture. to be fair. American Studies scholars often assume that by the twentieth century. and create enclaves of partial shelter from it – this was a significant change. we could overestimate how thoroughly secular culture displaced popular religion and underestimate how much the two overlapped and converged. Secondly.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
books and learn Bible stories at the movies? If worship is no longer the main place that people hear music. John Coltrane. scholars in Religious Studies are almost as likely as American Studies scholars to underestimate the complexity of US popular religion. There is barely even a market niche for ‘Contemporary Christian Country Music’ because mainstream country is already so Christian.’ First. When many twentieth-century clergy came to feel that they lacked the firepower (or the stomach for crass commercialization) to compete with secular popular culture – so that at best they could try to guide it. If we use a broad definition of religion. religion had become culturally marginal and less interesting than higher priority subjects. Consider that there are at least four meanings of the term ‘popular religion. it can mean authentic traditions of the folk (as opposed
. In effect they assume that exploring religious aspects of popular culture is like listening to mediocre Christian rock when they could be listening to cutting-edge musicians.
120 religion. the price of admission is privatization. it is hard to imagine practices that are popular in all four senses at the same time. mass-mediated. Note how this second meaning can be nearly the opposite of the first. They may simply claim that religion is weakening because it is becoming a matter of private individual choice. such as certain activities of New Agers or a 1925 book called The Man Nobody Knows that presented Jesus as the world’s
. Politicians who say ‘God Bless America’ are both prevalent (sense one) and mass-mediated (sense three). or Native American ceremonies. Some anti-war music of the late 1960s was prevalent. popular religion can mean counter-hegemonic expressions of ‘the people’ versus hegemonic elites. if religion becomes a consumer choice. such as sermons by Father Coughlin or Hollywood films about Jesus. Dorothy Day’s religion as a challenge to the hegemony of capitalism. However. culture and politics in the 20th-century us to elites) such as Italian festas. and forcing it to compete with soap advertisements and amusement park rides as a commodity for sale. We can point to many examples that fit the approach. one might conclude that US religion is between a rock and hard place: if it fails to engage with popular culture it becomes culturally marginal. Analyses based on this approach are undoubtedly valuable – but also overstressed by scholars in US religion. Pursuing this line of thought. and the role of progressive black churches in the civil rights era. secularization wins. This fourth sense – the favorite one for cultural studies – means various things in practice depending on what kinds of hegemony are in focus. and counter-hegemonic at the same time. and how it is often defined in opposition to the third: religion in the form of mass-mediated entertainment. but examples include the festa as an expression of Italian pride versus Protestant hegemony. reducing it to tiny sound bites. They stress how such change trivializes religion by smoothing off its rough edges. Scholars who approach popular religion through a commodification paradigm focus on change – usually seen as decline – from the second of these senses (the authentic) to the third (the mass-mediated). Moreover. Fourthly. These four senses overlap. Either way. old-time Appalachian hymns. but if it enters the cultural market. Secularization theorists do not necessarily try to argue that religion is disappearing or belabor the point that religion and the state have largely separated in many countries. The festa is both a counter-hegemonic expression of ethnic pride (sense four) and an authentic tradition (sense two). it may also become an example of secularization.
also. True. Consider how many additional examples come into view if we draw on all four senses of popular religion rather than narrowing our attention to decline from sense two to three. or are counter-hegemonic alternatives to others. in a context where none of them escapes the logic of the market. Instead. sermons. the blend of white establishment disdain for Pentecostalism and white grassroots fascination with it. religious broadcasters accounted for a healthy share of radio stations. Or consider the rise of jazz and blues. In light of the inter-racial quality of early Pentecostalism that we discussed above. it is fascinating to compare two related dynamics in US race relations: on the one hand. major building blocks of popular culture have been part and parcel of popular religion. dramas with religious characters. we are quickly forced to abandon any lingering impression that religion and popular culture are divergent fields with limited overlap. with religious and non-religious dimensions tightly interwoven – than as a displacement of religious music by secular music. Religiously-inflected content – music. that expressing religion in popular forms – fighting fire with fire – does not always represent decline. and
. It is much better to understand jazz and blues simply as a new style of music – one attuned to African-American sensibilities. Consider. and clergy had a significant voice in discussions about regulating the airwaves. respectable white Protestants (as well as many black ministers) were scandalized by the music. consider the rise of radio. this is not the only useful approach. In both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
greatest advertising executive. which became part of the foundation for later styles. this music made its home in nightclubs and juke joints that some people considered the antithesis of religion. If we approach US culture within this framework. this music also made its home in churches in the form of gospel music. This is a promising approach for building bridges between religious studies and cultural studies. what is striking is how deeply they interpenetrate. For example. From the beginning. In many cases we are better off taking for granted that religion inevitably has commercial dimensions – so that the commodification of tradition is unsurprising or even uninteresting – and exploring why certain forms of popular religion are more prevalent than others. and what forms are most counterhegemonic. and at times it distracts from two important questions: what forms of religion are most prevalent. However.14 Nevertheless. and diverse moralistic discourses – helped fill the airtime of secular stations. True.
Hollywood’s power was centralized in a handful of studios that monopolized the production and distribution of films. major artistic texts. the blend of white establishment disdain for jazz and blues (a music largely created by blacks) and white grassroots fascination with it. the head of the studios’ unified bureaucracy. the music’s most famous white popularizer – learned to sing in Pentecostal churches. and consumers of popular culture. so that Will Hays. in 1930 the weekly attendance at films was 90 million out of a population of 120 million.122 religion. media corporations. and the relationships between art and historical trends such as transformations in the work ethic or gender system. Censorship boards built on a long tradition in which clergy and associated moral watchdogs – groups that by the twentieth century were typically part of Progressive reform networks – sought to safeguard public morals from corruption by undesirable forms of art and enter-
. Regulation by the Hays Office evolved through various stages. for that matter. even one form if we work in depth. These desires forced it into negotiation with religious reformers. We must narrow our attention to cases. It is also a significant case study since the Code helped to establish the ground rules for the content of popular film during an era when film and radio were the nation’s leading media. each was an important site for black innovation and inter-racial contact and communication. the interplay between artists and audiences. culture and politics in the 20th-century us on the other hand. could enforce standards for films. Hollywood either wanted no censorship at all – which was not in the cards – or a centralized form of censorship that matched its business needs. neither Pentecostalism nor the jazz subculture was an anti-racist utopia. Of course. We lack the space to address every important form of popular religion – or. Moreover. giving attention to new technologies. The mutual influence of religion and popular music suggested by this comparison goes beyond mere speculation in at least one sense: many singers at the heart of black popular music – as well as Elvis Presley. but the underlying issue was that film-makers did not want to fight a patchwork of local censorship boards that emerged as movies became the leading form of entertainment.15 Before mid-century. and in both cases there was eventually a rich blend of contributions from both sides of the racial divide. Nevertheless. movies had an impact comparable to television in later years. The rise and fall of the Hollywood Production Code and the censorship apparatus that enforced this code (best known as the Hays Office) is a fascinating case study for exploring the relations among religious reformers.
however. including information about birth control.16 Such watchdogs became especially worried about film because early movie houses. H. suggesting a need for free speech guarantees and encouragement to address controversial issues. Sunday closing laws outlawed many forms of weekend recreation. some people thought that films could develop on a model similar to journalism. built upon the so-called ‘low’ entertainment of vaudeville and were typically in working-class neighborhoods. dealing with a separate censorship board in each city was a nightmare. Moreover. The 1873 Comstock Act criminalized the circulation of any ‘obscene’ writing. film came to be defined as a commercial product that could be regulated for the public good and subjected to stronger censorship than journalism or the theater. Jack Johnson. producers did not want a rating system that would restrict their audience. In practice. L.17 Since regulation was inevitable. these laws were not overturned until 1930. and even in places without such laws churches often policed their members’ behavior. watchdogs became even more worried about the corrupting effects of films on youth as audiences grew. Reformers worked both through shaping public opinion and imposing laws. Their classic cause was Prohibition but there were many more. However. called nickelodeons. who scandalized whites by knocking out white challengers and sleeping with white women.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
tainment. Mencken’s American Mercury and acclaimed novels by D. There were conflicts over the use of parks and other public spaces. By the 1920s film-makers were upgrading their image by building opulent theaters and pressuring audiences to behave on a model of decorum more like attending church or the opera. Lawrence and Theodore Dreiser. as opposed to ‘mere entertainment’ – thus. Initially. Thus they developed internal guidelines and co-
. His fights were deemed too controversial for screening. Reformers worried about what young lovers did in dark theaters and how immigrants who built the film industry – who were largely Jewish – were using films to address issues such as labor struggles and changing gender roles. The New England Watch and Ward Society used similar laws to prevent the sale of books it judged immoral. A key case that established this precedent concerned a black prizefighter. Hollywood wanted a single standard for the whole country. They wanted the power to regulate their own films. after the society suppressed an article about prostitution in H. either in-house or working with a weak censorship board of their choice. as compared with the casual behavior in nickelodeons and saloons.
homosexuality. and US public authorities – as well as birth control. sex outside marriage. In response. It forbade all negative portrayals of religion. Priests publicized its lists of approved (A) and condemned (C) films. Their efforts led in 1933 to the Legion of Decency. law. miscegenation. who called Hollywood
. the classic version of the Production Code emerged and the Hays Office began to enforce it aggressively. It also proclaimed Hollywood’s responsibility to promote public morality. and a journalist named Joseph Breen – to press for tougher censorship. Such trends led a group of Catholic reformers – including clerics. Breen was hired to enforce the Code. During the 1930s Hollywood experimented with more controversial themes and bolder social criticism. as a matter of course. including leaders of the Federal Council of Churches.124 religion. and more risqué sexual plots featuring independent women such as Mae West. In 1934. that they deserved input into Hollywood policies. notably in gangster films. Although this raised questions about the reviewers’ independence. which operated under the umbrella of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. and nothing could be produced without his approval. a dual apparatus emerged – the Hays Office as the internal police for the industry. Together they mediated between those who desired less censorship (notably producers) and conservative church people. and to ensure that good was rewarded and evil punished. culture and politics in the 20th-century us operated first with a board of reviewers drawn from a Protestant social gospel network and later with a similar Catholic group. Local applications of this model varied – few bishops matched the zeal of the Cardinal of Philadelphia who ordered all Catholics in his city to stop attending theaters entirely – but the point to accent is that Hollywood faced a credible threat of large-scale boycotts. Thickening the plot was the fact that many film-makers were Jewish but several of the moral watchdogs were anti-Semitic – including Breen. plus a B category that later evolved into the PG and R ratings. divorce. The Legion’s influence reached into parishes throughout the country. and lustful kissing. which film-makers had earlier found fairly easy to evade. revenge. and the Legion of Decency monitoring the Hays Office for any sign of weakening resolve. Hays paid people involved with these boards. Thus. Every film was required both to portray unambiguous lines between good and evil. it reveals the stature of Christian elites who assumed. Hays agreed to put teeth into industry guidelines. the publishers of two Catholic journals and one film industry journal. Laypeople took solemn oaths not to watch condemned films.
During the production process. One scriptwriter. or that plots based on glamorizing sexual transgression ended in marriage or death. they forged a compromise that put conservative Catholic values at the heart of popular entertainment – not solely in the role of punishing films that transgressed religious sensibilities. Censors struggled with
.’18 This was not a case of seamless and harmonious co-operation between religious reformers and film producers! Nevertheless. after censors had viewed the film twenty times. The case of The Outlaw (1943) dragged on for six years as the producer flaunted censorship. films managed to glamorize sex and question authority despite censorship. these new preachers by another. In Biblical epics. Censors would not permit a Catholic missionary in Keys to the Kingdom (1944) to say ‘there are many gates to heaven. Eventually. Of course. However. Often Breen could only ensure that charismatic gangsters and renegades received pro forma punishments in the final reel. By the time censors finished with Black Fury (1935) it no longer portrayed coal miners striking against greedy owners and their hired thugs. released the film outside industry channels – a difficult move at the time – and focused his advertising campaign on his star’s breasts. after learning about the behavior required of heroes. These were films that made it to a stage of negotiation. scripts ping-ponged between Breen and the producers. If the producers accepted Breen’s demands. earnest Christian heroes appeared against a background of Roman debauchery that seemed more fun. we enter by one. sometimes the Legion still condemned the film and there were more rounds of negotiation.’19 He was only allowed to show Christ-like tolerance for people of other religions (in this case Methodists) even though he knew they were wrong. simply produced plots that exclusively featured villains. the producers cut enough from the film’s rape scenes and sexual dialogue for the Legion to lift its condemnation. for example. but near the center of decision-making and at the roots of Hollywood’s stated mission. Films could be altered in striking ways. the Legion of Decency usually followed with an A or B rating.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
Jews ‘the scum of the earth’ and ‘a rotten bunch of vile people with no respect for anything beyond the making of money. Instead a well-treated miner who resented his corrupt labor bosses foiled the plans of outside thugs whose violence was contrary to the wishes of the mine-owners. many projects were ruled out from the start. Sign of the Cross (1932) featured such lurid temptations for its pious heroes as a dance with lesbian overtones and a sensuous milk bath.
and the Code reinforced this tendency. which earned the nickname Lust in the Dust. sometimes they grudgingly accepted it. and heroes of faith like Joan of Arc.
We have discussed how Catholic and Jewish immigrants debated how to adapt to the dominant culture. Sometimes they resisted assimilation. In a curious way. given the interests of its audience and many of its producers. Dozens of films portrayed Biblical characters. model priests and nuns. The Code’s overt goal was to make every film religious in this latter sense. the list can expand indefinitely. Protestants who were by no means outside the cultural mainstream – who. we need to explore the diverse ways in which films – and by extension other forms of popular culture – interact with religious actors and how decisions about producing popular culture relate to struggles for hegemony. culture and politics in the 20th-century us producers over the ending of a Western called Duel in the Sun (1946). and sometimes they created new religious forms. If we identify values that are central to religion – sacrifice. mother’s love. we should not exaggerate how much of Hollywood’s creative effort pushed against the Code’s constraints. Hollywood would have produced many films with strong religious themes even without the Code. We cannot understand the blend of interests in this story about religion in Hollywood – especially if we bring the story down to cases of specific audiences responding to particular films – if we approach with the simple idea that religion is marginal to popular culture or that popular religion declined due to commodification. constituted the
.126 religion. but would their sins be adequately punished if they died in each other’s arms. Everyone agreed that its lovers must die in the final reel. indeed. Despite efforts by producers to stretch the boundaries of what could be screened. as opposed to flowing comfortably within the channels created by its ground rules and philosophy. and so on – and include films that champion such values. and so on. The list expands dramatically if we add films with overtly Christian heroes – several versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. or must the plot kill them before they reached each other’s arms? Although the film’s steamiest parts were cut and its opening credits coached viewers to watch for the supposed moral – that a ‘grim fate lay waiting for the transgressor of the laws of God and man’ – critics felt that such editing merely papered over deeper problems. courage. Rather. faith. hundreds of films about soldiers with God on their side.
In addition to the changing sociopolitical landscape.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
mainstream – faced analogous choices as the century opened. whether their goal was explaining a Biblical approach to women’s rights or the truth status of Trinitarian doctrine in an age of science? Broadly speaking. Enlightenment values. and Reform Jews that we have already discussed. obey your masters. political corruption. or at least changes that they could not ignore. Many Protestants feared for the future of cities full of labor conflict and cultural diversity. liberals approached such issues much like the Deists. When they traveled to the city from closeknit rural communities. Another was the way that polemics unfolded between abolitionists and people who quoted the Bible to support slavery. there were exceptions to this rule. Unitarians. Without moving to a foreign country. Protestants entered a new conceptual landscape – one increasingly shaped by science. In general. relatively few Protestants had been deeply concerned about harmonizing Enlightenment themes with orthodox traditions. the best modern intellectual work. Before the late 1800s. as background assumptions of social gospelers and evangelical anti-feminists – it will be useful to unpack these positions more fully. or at least consistent with. True. they might experience a culture shock as strong as an immigrant’s. compared with later years there was limited stress on such reasoning. This provoked bitter opposition from conservatives who were coming to call themselves fundamentalists.’ Nevertheless. Who spoke for Christianity? What sources could Christians use for authority. Abolitionists moved some distance toward liberal theology when they pointed to core Biblical themes such as equality before God and used these overarching themes to trump individual texts such as ‘Slaves. they developed a way of thinking about religion that made peace with these trends. and they focused their religious energies on ideas that were supported by. liberal Protestants judged that trends such as science and historical criticism were intellectual advances. They tested inherited teachings against Enlightenment reason and historical scholarship. and historical thinking. Some saw the emerging society as a modern-day Babylon and tried to remain aloof from it. and immoral entertainment as well as challenges to their hegemony. Although we have already touched on their responses to such challenges – for example. they worried about prostitution. One was a tendency to correlate mission with the progress of reason and democracy. they perceived a cultural context that felt foreign moving toward them. others embraced emerging trends and tried to Christianize them. By
In response to such challenges.128 religion. and they recast theological themes like sin and salvation in terms consistent with them. Earlier Protestants had accepted orthodox doctrines and assumed that they could defend them through direct appeals to the Bible. rather than questioning discoveries of historians on Biblical grounds. Like Deists they based their claims on rational thought about human experience. as distinguished from the changing forms that people had used to express such truths over the years. and secularists who abandoned religious belief on the other hand. as opposed to leaps of faith and special revelations. if not distortions of deeper truths. expressed truth in ways useful to pre-modern people – but that modern people must express their faith in modern ways. they often rejected orthodox dogmas as outmoded at best. liberal theological trends reached deep into mainstream seminary training. In the process of such sifting. popular Protestant magazines. somewhat like world travelers might translate the same story into different languages from place to place. and worship in downtown churches. Liberals felt that some prescientific language. culture and politics in the 20th-century us late in the century this was changing. such as stories of miracles.20 Modernists used such reasoning to defend several characteristic themes. Intellectuals increasingly believed that scientific reason made ‘dogmatic’ and ‘magical’ ideas inappropriate for a modern age. a method called higher criticism analyzed the Bible as a set of historical and literary texts. Although they had not always claimed that every Biblical passage was literally true. this made direct appeals to the Bible difficult by presenting it as a book written by humans – one that had changed over time and was self-contradictory even in its canonical version. liberals rethought theology within its horizon.
. they used historical methods to learn as much as they could about the Bible. For example. to say nothing of its many textual variations. They presupposed historical methods and scientific assumptions. liberal Protestants steered a middle course between fundamentalists who refused to accept modern arguments. They looked for the deep truths of faith. in harmony with truths discovered by scientific observation. Moreover. Now science seemed to contradict orthodox teachings – most famously in the clash between Darwinian theory and traditional readings of Genesis. they did assume that readers could discover the Bible’s common-sense meanings and use them as building blocks for a true understanding of the world. Making their home within modernity. on the one hand. The challenge to inherited teaching was formidable.
but centered on the conservative wings of mainstream denominations like Presbyterians and Baptists. that modernists taught a new and different religion. Gresham Machen. They began. engaged in militant struggles against modernism. They stressed Jesus’ life as role model and teacher more than his status as God and savior. as opposed to God’s transcendence. Not all evangelicals became fundamentalist militants. a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School. J. when interpreted historically.’ Matthews charged fundamentalists with ‘giv[ing] up intelligence … and forc[ing] men to choose between the universally accepted results of modern culture and diagrams from the book of Daniel. they stressed God’s immanent presence in nature and history. wrote a set of ‘affirmations’ – not creeds (which he rejected) but model claims for modernists. and so on. Fundamentalism became the name for people who. starting from such perceptions.
. but enough did so to define the movement’s dominant character early in the century. thus they continued to move (like both Deists and revivalists before them) away from Calvinist teachings about human depravity. Christianity and Liberalism.cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
More than Deists. Fundamentalists rallied behind doctrines that they refused to compromise. not a form of Christianity at all. as the product and trustworthy record of the progressive revelation of God’ and ‘I believe in the practicability of the teaching of Jesus in social life.’ Another liberal scholar added that ‘We shall not come nearer to the truth about God if we cut loose our idea of God from the highest human moral standards.’ If every Biblical text that recorded any belief of early Christians were taken as ‘the teaching of the Bible’ – and by extension as timeless truth – then moderns would be forced to believe ‘in a flat earth.’ Defending his focus on Jesus as a human role model. They included many Pentecostals and Holiness believers. ‘I believe in God. Shailer Matthews. One of their trademarks was to link these themes to the idea of progress: God was immanent in the progress of history. he attacked scholars who ‘exalt the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ and at the same time suggest that his teachings are relatively unimportant.’21 Traditionalists were appalled by such innovations. immanent in the forces and processes of nature. Jesus taught a moral life of progress toward the kingdom of God.’ Others included ‘I believe in the Bible. a professor at the Presbyterians’ flagship seminary. [and] submission to rulers like Nero. the perpetuation of slavery. They focused their spirituality on living a moral life. argued in his book.
people could simply pick and choose which parts to believe. Most fundamentalists felt that the Bible foretold a decline of history before Christ’s return. and that no one could be saved without a personal relationship with Christ based on this sacrifice.22 Above all. ridiculed ‘deodorized and disinfected sermons’ of preachers who tried ‘to make religion out of social service with Jesus Christ left out. which held that a human debt of sin was paid through a blood sacrifice by Christ. Whereas modernists were not troubled by the Bible’s running disagreements about issues such as slavery or Jewish–Gentile relations – they saw these debates enriching the Bible’s meaning – such disagreements appeared as outright contradictions if one approached the Bible as a set of timeless propositions
. They felt that such methods would start them down a slippery slope that ended in destroying the Bible’s authority. Confronted with undeniable evidence that the Bible has variant versions. Billy Sunday.’23 Fundamentalists smoothed out some of the Bible’s internal tensions through a theory called dispensationalism. Fundamentalists refused to consider even the most basic methods of higher criticism. fundamentalists stressed Biblical inerrancy. Given Protestantism’s stress on Biblical authority. They insisted on an interpretation of salvation called substitutionary atonement. such as comparing different versions of a text or studying how passages written later revise earlier ones. However. Often they took as settled truth the King James Version of the Bible (an English translation from the 1600s) as interpreted through their impression of its plain meaning. fundamentalists tried to dwell on such subtleties as little as possible. historical criticism raised a specter of relativism. literal resurrection. they made de facto concessions that qualified their commitment to inerrancy. fundamentalists read the Bible literally and claimed that it contained no errors. including an apostasy of liberal church leaders that they were currently witnessing. ‘you are salt for the earth’) they maintained that readers could discover the plain meaning of texts and take those meanings as literally true. and complaining about answers they found evasive. culture and politics in the 20th-century us notably beliefs about Jesus’ virgin birth. asking them to affirm the literal truth of these texts. Forced to grant that some passages are absurd unless taken as metaphors (as when Jesus told his disciples. and ability to perform miracles. Their best defense was a good offense – confronting liberals with favorite texts.130 religion. A top revivalist of the early twentieth century. To avoid this slide. they retreated to a claim that its ‘original autographs’ (before translation mistakes) had no errors. True.
cultural aspects of religion: early 20th century
that must all be literally true. that ye be not partakers in her sins and receive not of her plagues. Dispensationalists evaded this problem by teaching that history from the Garden of Eden to the Battle of Armageddon was divided into stages (dispensations) in which different rules applied. One example is William Bell Riley. my people. They called themselves ‘come-outers’ – an allusion to Revelation 18: 2–4. Pentecostals and Baptists debated whether speaking in tongues was solely for the dispensation of the early Church or for all true believers. leader of fundamentalism’s top national organization of the 1920s. and (more commonly) to a habit of quoting favorite verses while ignoring verses inconsistent with them. Treading on thinner ice.and anti-slavery texts both appear throughout the Bible (and since US Christians were willing to go to war over slavery) this second example suggests why dispensationalists did not fully succeed in ironing out conflicts among Biblical texts. Each fundamentalist group presented its dispensational theory as the timeless truth of an inerrant Bible. one can hold that they all apply literally. although he stressed its more conservative manifestations like Prohibition and charity
. They mainly moved interpretive conflicts to new places – to overt disagreements about which dispensational systems were correct. but some apply before Jesus’ lifetime and others afterward. and retreated to their own institutions. For example. Christians debated how to reconcile passages like ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ with endorsements of holy war and speculated ceaselessly about signs of the end-times. for example. which details the lurid sins of Babylon which have marked it for destruction and concludes ‘Come out of her. there are Bible passages that both require and forbid temple sacrifice. Shailer Matthews was president of both the Federal Council of Churches and the northern Baptists in the 1910s. Since pro. Riley began as the head of a Minneapolis church that sponsored ministries associated with the social gospel. Thus. one might teach that at some stage of history. owning slaves changed from a divine blessing to a sin. fundamentalists thrived in local and regional institutions. By the late 1920s fundamentalists had lost this fight. fundamentalists tried to purge modernist leaders from top denominations – for example. written off their former comrades as apostates. the leading fundamentalists formed breakaway denominations. Although they had many sympathizers in mainline denominations.’ Although liberals largely ignored fundamentalism from this point until the 1970s – they expected it to die with its older generation – in fact. In a campaign that peaked in the 1920s.
Northerners and Southerners all joined mainstream churches and heard sermons informed by liberal premises.132 religion. People near the conservative end of the continuum were equally diverse. and many more. Holiness churches were in the vanguard of ordaining women. to improvisational and nearly cacophonous among Pentecostals. mission societies. blacks and whites. Beginning from a Bible study program in his church. They became a seedbed for the return of fundamentalists to the public eye after the 1960s. touring faith healers. Billy Sunday had few rivals in drumming up support for World War I – ‘If
. Riley ruled his network like an empire through his charisma. Some fundamentalists voted and some boycotted elections – and if they did vote they were more likely than establishment Protestants to support Democrats. and Presbyterian had major liturgical and doctrinal differences. his radio network. Riley’s story is not unique. and control of the resources his school provided. Consider some of the differences among people who co-existed near the liberal end of this scale. whereas some Holiness preachers quoted the Bible from memory because they were illiterate. and Reinhold Niebuhr moved in some of the same ecumenical circles. yet fundamentalism as a whole was anti-feminist. Machen was an erudite scholar. In a typical Baptist pattern. radio ministries. Jr. By 1936 Riley controlled the Minnesota Baptist Convention. culture and politics in the 20th-century us as opposed to labor activism (by the 1930s Riley was a vocal anti-Semite who supported extreme right-wing politics). Riley built a Bible school – later a liberal arts college – which anchored a regional network of congregations. Liturgies ranged from formal and solemn among Presbyterians and Missouri Synod Lutherans. Dozens of Bible colleges sprang up around the country – Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and Bob Jones University in South Carolina are the best known – along with publishing houses. Men and women. He provided church members (and anyone else who would tune in) with radio stations that broadcast throughout the upper Midwest. Churches in his empire depended on educational curricula produced at his school and labor provided by his students. ability to make or break the careers of seminary students. Baptist.24 We will dangerously oversimplify our maps if we lump all Protestants into two clusters on a single continuum from modernism to fundamentalism. this led to conflict with the national denomination and multiple schisms – but his college. John D. Modernists who were Lutheran. and most of the churches associated with them remained standing in the end. Rockefeller. pacifists and soldiers.
you turn hell upside down,’ he stated, ‘you will find “Made in Germany” stamped on the bottom.’25 Yet other conservatives – including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Adventists, and many Pentecostals – took Biblical injunctions to separate from the world seriously enough to be pacifists. In a landmark case in 1943 on freedom of religious dissent, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to pledge allegiance to the flag. If we are charting stances toward war, we need a map that can place Billy Sunday near his liberal nemesis Reinhold Niebuhr, while placing Adventists (usually mapped as conservatives) near both Quakers (usually considered liberals) and Mennonites (who fit uneasily on either side of a liberal-conservative spectrum). One of the deepest divides within the conservative sub-culture fell between Pentecostals on one side, and more doctrinally-oriented Calvinist fundamentalists, including conservative Presbyterians and most Baptists, on the other. Pentecostals enraged the latter group (let’s call them Baptist-types for short) by suggesting that only tongue-speakers were true Christians; they also embarrassed respectable Baptist-types with their emotional style, impoverished constituents, and inter-racial character. One leading fundamentalist denounced Pentecostals as ‘the last vomit of Satan.’26 Skeptics felt that tongue-speaking was a shallow and self-deluded emotional technique unanchored by sound doctrine, rather than a genuine experience of being filled by God’s spirit. Whereas Pentecostals saw themselves following the Holy Spirit wherever it led, skeptics simply saw them as undisciplined and unprincipled. The most famous battle in the fundamentalist–modernist war, the Scopes Monkey Trial, dramatizes the internal complexity of Protestant religious conflict.27 This 1925 trial took place in a small Tennessee town, but it became a national media event – complete with trained monkeys, songs with monkey themes, editorial cartoons about monkeys who did not want to evolve into humans, and related diversions – when it was broadcast live on national radio and hyped by elite intellectuals such as H. L. Mencken. The trial concerned a teacher named John Scopes who broke Tennessee law by teaching Darwinian theory to a high school biology class. That is, he argued that different species did not come into existence through creation by God six thousand years ago (as Biblical literalists held), nor through God guiding an evolutionary process over millions of years (as some evangelicals held). Rather life developed through natural selection; species that successfully adapted to challenges passed their genes to upcoming generations, and this could explain how
134 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us they had filled every ecological niche without any appeal to God. In sharp contrast to Bible stories about God creating humans in God’s image, Scopes used a textbook with a diagram of evolution that did not even have a separate category for humans. They were simply lumped in a tiny circle labeled ‘mammals,’ amid larger circles for such groups as mollusks and insects. Although Christians had been disturbed by Darwin’s theory since he published Origin of Species in 1859, this became a hot button issue only after 1900, as liberal theologians stressed evolutionary themes and scientists stressed atheistic interpretations of evolution. Tennessee outlawed the teaching of evolution, and Scopes broke this law as part of a strategy to overturn it in the courts. When the renowned liberal lawyer Clarence Darrow agreed to argue the pro-evolution side, William Jennings Bryan signed up to defend the fundamentalists. Bryan had been a three-time Democratic presidential candidate and a major Populist leader; he had also been Secretary of State from 1913 to 1915, until he resigned in opposition to World War I. Given such star power, Scopes’ fate became a side issue (he was convicted and fined a few dollars, preparing the way for a legal appeal) compared with the radio debate between Darrow and Bryan. It seemed at first that their epic battle would be a bust because the judge did not allow pro-evolution witnesses to testify. However, Bryan allowed Darrow to cross-examine him as an expert witness on the Bible, and Darrow made him look foolish by exposing far-fetched ideas and contradictions in his position. Bryan expected to have the last word in his closing arguments, but a legal maneuver by Darrow denied him this chance, and then Bryan died five days later. This seemed to give evolutionists the last word; in popular mythology the Scopes Trial came to symbolize the last gasp of a sub-culture that irrationally resists modernity. In fact, this mythology masks several complexities. First, as already noted, fundamentalists thrived instead of dying. Secondly, although the trial was a public relations disaster for fundamentalists, they largely won their war to keep evolution out of schools until the early 1960s. They did so by pressuring textbook publishers not to include much about it. As we will see, they also won a long-term war for public opinion. Thirdly, the battle line pitting the Bible against science was only one among several conflicts in play at the trial. Fundamentalism was not solely about intellectual issues; it was also about upholding traditional gender roles and defending Protestant hegemony in the face of pluralism. Evolution was a
hot button issue for fundamentalists because it symbolized the amorality of modern cities and breakdown of the family. The Scopes Trial was also about urban–rural conflict and the legacy of the Civil War. Legal wrangling at the trial often returned to the charge that pro-evolution lawyers were northern liberal interlopers in Tennessee. How would Darrow feel, one of the anti-evolution lawyers asked, if Tennesseans came north and tried to overturn the laws of New York? Importantly, Social Darwinists like Andrew Carnegie and Theodore Roosevelt – supported by intellectuals like Mencken – used the idea of the survival of the fittest to argue that capitalism and imperialism were inevitable. If southern farmers and old-time Populists had been asked to rank their concerns about social Darwinism, Biblical authority, and scientific theory, their anxiety about science would have been well back in third place. The crucial point, however, is that for Bryan all three issues formed one fabric. Evolutionary theory eroded democracy; it strengthened militarism and Social Darwinism. Bryan worried as much about this as about the Bible – or, more precisely, when he worried about Biblical authority he was largely worrying about maintaining a foundation from which to fight Social Darwinism. He also saw himself upholding the rights of local communities to set their own educational goals and defending the dignity of rural folk against elites who called them ‘hicks’ and ‘hillbillies’ – or, as Mencken did on the occasion of Bryan’s death, compared them with ‘gaping primates from the upland valleys of the Cumberland’ and ‘cocks crowing on a dunghill.’28 For Bryan such considerations overshadowed debates about scientific explanation. In this sense the Scopes Trial was not primarily about science at all, and the trial’s popular image that has come down through the years is a fascinating example of how history is written by the victors.
1 Cited in David Bennett, ‘Nativist movement,’ in Oxford Companion to United States History, Paul Boyer, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 543. 2 General works on issues of this section (supplementing books already cited on labor and immigration) include David Bennett, The Party of Fear: from Nativist Movements to the New Religious Right (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988); Robert Bellah and Frederick Greenspahn, eds, Uncivil Religion: Interreligious Hostility in America (New York: Crossroad, 1987); John Higham, Send These to Me: Immigrants in Urban America (revised edn) (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984). 3 This book is discussed in Chapter 6. 4 Brinkley, Voices of Protest; Leo Ribuffo, The Old Christian Right: the Protestant Far
Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1983). A key statement is Moore, Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans. Colleen McDannell, Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), Robert Orsi, Between Heaven and Earth: the Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004). Robert Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Commitment in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950 (2nd edn) (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002). Entry points to this literature include Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York: Routledge, 1995); Mike Hill, ed., Whiteness: A Critical Reader (New York: New York University Press, 1997); Peter Kolchin, ‘Whiteness studies: the new history of race in America,’ Journal of American History vol. 89, no. 1 (2002), 154–73. Orsi, Madonna of 115th Street, 203. For an orientation see Jim Cullen, The Art of Democracy: a Concise History of Popular Culture in the United States (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1996). On how religion relates to this history see Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan, eds, Religion and Popular Culture in America (2nd edn) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), Diane Winston and John Giggie, eds, Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002); Stewart Hoover and Knut Lundby, eds, Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997). A classic analysis is R. Laurence Moore, Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); see also Jane Tompkins, Sensational Designs: the Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790–1860 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). See David Chidester, ‘The church of baseball, the fetish of Coca-Cola, and the potlatch of rock and roll,’ in Forbes and Mahan, Religion and Popular Culture in America, 219–37. Studies taking up aspects of this phenomenon include Michael Harris, The Rise of Gospel Blues: the Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), Anthony Pinn, ed., Noise and Spirit: the Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music (New York: New York University Press, 2003), and Cecelia Tichi, ed., Readin’ Country Music: Steel Guitars, Opry Stars, and Honky Tonk Bars (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995). On contemporary Christian music see Jay Howard and John Streck, Apostles of Rock: the Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999). Bruce Barton, The Man Nobody Knows (New York: Charter Books, 1962). Widely cited books that reflect the approach I have in mind include Moore, Selling God and Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York, Penguin, 1985). On the Code see Gregory Black, Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994) and Frank Walsh, Sin and Censorship: The Catholic Church and the Motion Picture Industry (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996). To place it in context see Steven Ross, ed., Movies and American Society (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), Lary May, The Big Tomorrow: Hollywood and the Politics of the American Way (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2000), and Mark Hulsether, ‘Sorting out the relationships among Christian values, U.S. popular religion, and Hollywood films,’ Religious Studies Review vol. 25, no. 1 (January 1999), 3–11. Some of the following paragraphs are adapted from this article. P.C. Kemeny, ‘Banned in Boston: commercial culture and the politics of moral reform in Boston during the 1920s,’ in Winston and Giggie, Faith in the Market, 133–52. To relate censorship to the everyday lives of working people, see Roy Rosenzweig, Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers and Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870–1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983). Lee Grieveson, Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early-Twentieth-Century America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004). Stephen Vaughn, ‘Morality and entertainment: the origins of the Motion Picture Production Code,’ Journal of American History no. 77 (1990), 62–3. Walsh, Sin and Censorship, 232–6. William Hutchison, The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976). Shailer Matthews, ‘The Faith of Modernism,’ in Documentary History of the Religion in America, Edwin Gaustad, ed. (Grand Rapdis: Eerdmans, 1983), 398; Matthews cited in Gaustad and Schmidt, Religious History of America, 308–9. John Bennett, ‘A changed liberal – but still a liberal,’ Christian Century, 2/8/39, 179. Nancy Ammerman, ‘North American Protestant fundamentalism,’ in Fundamentalisms Observed, Martin Marty and R. Scott Appleby, eds, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 1–66; George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), and Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991). Cited in Marsdsen, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism, 31. William Vance Trollinger, God’s Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991); C. Allyn Russell, Voices of American Fundamentalism (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976). Cited in Marsden, Religion and American Culture, 179. Ruben Archer Torrey, President of Moody Bible Institute (later dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles) quoted in Clyde Wilcox, Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics (2nd edn) (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000), 29. Jeffrey Moran, ed., The Scopes Trial: a Brief History with Documents (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002); Edward Larson, Summer for the Gods: the Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (New York: Basic Books, 1997). H. L. Mencken, ‘In Memoriam: W.J.B.’ in Laderman and León, Religion and American Cultures, 816; see also Michael Kazin, William Jennings Bryan: a Godly Hero (New York: Knopf, 2006).
Russia. The fastest-growing branches of religion bought heavily into the logic of consumerism. which led to a huge supply of religious brands to choose from. often using English as a lingua franca. Chile. but also to some homogenization of differences among them. Alternative religions (Mormons. Swedish Lutherans. Workers from throughout the world (Ireland. religious difference carried decreasing weight within the fabric of everyday life compared with practices shared by many citizens such as watching television. Dutch Reformed. Scottish Presbyterians. Spiritualists. and that this implied some pressure to redefine religion as individualized and disengaged from the public sphere. Buddhism. eating at chain restaurants. In some ways this diversity narrowed by the mid-twentieth century. Italy. (This is not to say that all healthy communities dissolved or that political aspects of religion disappeared. Islam. Christianity. More people spoke English. In the colonial era African-Americans practiced Islam. and embraced the hegemonic pattern in which religions ‘normally’ had to persuade people to join them on a voluntary and privatized basis. Judaism.) Catholics and Jews moved to the suburbs and organized their congregations in ways that looked less like their grandparents’ parishes and synagogues and more like Protestant churches. Japan. interacted with shared aspects of US culture. Rastafarianism.c h ap t e r 5
Shifts in the Religious Landscape from World War II to the Present
It should be clear that American religion has never lacked diversity. and traditional African religion. and German Amish. Native Americans – even those who accented resurgent cultural pride – increasingly became urban and pan-tribal. following professional 138
. Greece. but only that the state – and by extension other public actors such as the media – aspired to be neutral with respect to religious difference. China) brought their faiths (Christianity. and dozens of others) flourished. In short. Colonies like Pennsylvania and New York welcomed British Quakers. From the beginning Native Americans practiced hundreds of religions. Sephardic Jews. Shakers. Taoism) to the Americas. Syria.
the point to accent is a continuing – and in important ways increasing – diversity of religious life. who during the 1910s and 1920s had built the largest mass movement
. ethnicity. the growth of Asian and Latino/a religions was especially notable. At mid-century Christians could still think of themselves as a united front capable of teaching common moral-religious values to the society – however much this exaggerated their influence and discounted minorities. race. In addition. Those who nursed hopes for a society based on common Christian values assumed that they were fighting an uphill battle against secularism and moral anarchy. The civil rights movement brought politicized preachers such as Martin Luther King. Starting in the 1940s and peaking in the 1960s. Even more important was the increasing recognition of diversity that had long been important – especially differences based on race. more radical black religious leaders were active during the civil rights era. and strong oppositional identities – lost momentum compared with religions that found a comfortable niche in the dominant culture.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
sports. those who embraced pluralism assumed that the best-known Christian leaders opposed them. building on the separatist and culturally nationalist legacy of Marcus Garvey. blacks mobilized for equal rights both in the South. Jr. and Jesse Jackson into the national limelight. By the century’s end they were more likely to take sides in a culture war. and the fundamentalist–modernist conflict were at least as deep – but emergent conflict polarized local communities internally along lines of gender. ethnic enclaves with sharp group boundaries. Despite such trends. There was also growing conflict within mainstream Christianity that eroded its hegemony. The mere existence of such conflict was not new – earlier divisions such as Protestant–Catholic strife. or surfing the internet. especially after the 1960s. schisms over slavery. and a liberal–conservative culture war. Deeper forms of religious difference – distinctive rituals. and gender. where a largely rural population had suffered disenfranchisement and petty apartheid since the end of Reconstruction. and in northern cities where blacks increasingly migrated during the first part of the century.
A Changing Map of Dazzling Religious Diversity
The most important force driving the increased visibility and acceptance of pluralism after World War II was the mobilization of AfricanAmericans – as well as other racial minorities with similar struggles – for civil rights and an equal share of power. New players emerged to counterbalance processes of homogenization.
Among the many accomplishments of black activism was a growing visibility and respect for a range of African-American religious movements. Indian and pseudo-Indian artists. some of the overt legal suppression of native religion began to lift. There was a resurgence of Native American culture from a low point around 1900. partly following the model of the black freedom movement and partly forging their own paths. sparking debate within native communities about whether their activities were defensible.1 Native Americans and Latino/as who had long been oppressed along racial lines mobilized at the same time. Despite backlash in some quarters. healers. put treaty rights and the police harassment of native people in the headlines through flamboyant actions like a protracted gun battle with the FBI at the site of the Wounded Knee massacre. with the arrival of a so-called Indian New Deal that laid the foundations for tribal governments as they exist today. As the freedom movement radicalized. although mission schools continued their efforts at assimilation. for example.2 In 1978 Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA). but Muslims and Afro-Caribbean religions also benefited. By the 1970s the American Indian Movement (AIM). in the 1990 Employment Division v. Smith case. to tap into the benefits of such spiritual practices. in a belated effort to extend First Amendment rights to Native Americans. By the 1930s. which in earlier years had often been ignored or considered exotic and backward. with varying degrees of sensitivity. Sun Dances. the slain leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI) became an icon of black resistance. This law lacked teeth to protect religious practices in cases where native priorities conflicted with those of the mainstream. and prayer meetings of the Native American Church (in which devotees use a hallucinogenic cactus called peyote to seek visions) – all of which had existed throughout the century in semi-underground forms – came to be practiced more openly on a larger scale. especially in northern cities after the early 1960s. Malcolm X. Black Christians gained the most from this change. Practices such as sweat lodge ceremonies.140 religion. a broad spectrum of citizens came to appreciate distinctive aspects of black religion such as gospel music and the chanted sermon. culture and politics in the 20th-century us in African-American history. and writers made money responding to this demand. such voices become well known and sometimes dominant in the movement. the Supreme Court ruled that members of the Native American Church could be fired for failing a drug test that had nothing to do with working under the
. It became popular for white seekers to try.
. and loss of traditional languages. Mexican-American civil rights organizations and a Chicano Power movement organized in ways roughly parallel to movements for black civil rights and black power. Critics compared this with firing Catholics for using communion wine during the years when Prohibition was in effect. The Virgin of Guadalupe. Most importantly. became a symbolic focus of Mexican-American identity. By 2004 there was a National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. Cubans in Florida. both legal and illegal. the most revered saint in Mexican popular Catholicism largely because of her associations with pre-Christian tradition. As in the African-American case. Through AIRFA and related initiatives. the head of the United Farm Workers. nevertheless a range of communal religious practices (both traditional and Christian) thrived and a new generation of artists and activists made important contributions to the larger US culture. Latino/a parishes and clergy pushed for greater power and recognition. many native communities were rebounding. AIRFA did reflect a growing sense that traditional native practices were a respected form of religion. Early in the twentyfirst century they account for nearly fifteen per cent of the population. Despite ongoing problems of unemployment.3 Deep differences existed beneath the umbrella of Latino/a identity. Latino/as were divided by national origin and lived in many parts of the country. it has become impossible to relegate Latino/a religion – for example. Due to large-scale immigration. and scholars expect this percentage to rise well over twenty per cent by 2050. Nevertheless. as well as their level of assimilation and appetite for oppositional politics. they simply had ingested peyote at prayer meetings on their own time. Latino/as varied in their degree of blending with African-American and Native American culture. DC – with a profile comparable with that of the Holocaust Museum and major war memorials – under native control.4 In light of their rising influence. Puerto Ricans in the Northeast.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
influence of drugs. Within US Catholicism. Indians won significant battles for control of sacred sites and forced the repatriation of many skeletons and artifacts that anthropologists and art collectors had stolen from native cemeteries. and Mexicans and Central Americans in the Southwest were especially important. their population increased rapidly. with considerable success. Cesar Chavez. politicized religious leaders played significant roles. Cuban Catholic parishes.
given that Hindus traditionally are not members of temples in ways comparable to Christian church membership. However. China. Turning to another example.142 religion. distracting from the cultural blending that makes the case interesting. now Asians outnumbered Europeans two to one and the majority of newcomers were from Latin America. and Afro-Caribbean religion who came to the US from places like India. and Haiti after US immigration law was liberalized in 1965. new players also emerged in the second half of the century. Many are highly secularized. Hinduism. and it is not clear how – if at all – we should distinguish between religious and cultural Hindus. count most Iranian immigrants as Muslim.6 Because we have no standard way of counting adherents to US religions. before 1965 only 15. or the popularity of Mexican cultural practices such as honoring ancestors on el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) – to the margins of US religion. Vietnam.5 In addition to the rising power and recognition of such groups that had long been key players on the landscape (however underappreciated). For example. In many cases sizeable communities grew from almost nothing in one generation. we might be tempted to count most of the 1. and given the overlap between Hindu ideas and Western psychologies associated with the New Age. at what point – if at all – should we count a suburban Jew who attends yoga classes as part of Hinduism? Even to frame a question this way – as a problem to quantify in order to place such a person in the proper slice of demographic pie – seems to miss the point. for example. some of these immigrants are Muslim. Pakistan. it is hard to assess the numerical trends caused by this immigration. Buddhism. Christian. Fully ten per cent of the population was foreign born by the year 2000. Kenya. Approaching the same problem from another direction. However. if we compare the larger group
.7 million South Asians as Hindu. but by the year 2000 the community grew to 1.000 people from South Asia (mainly Sikhs) had entered the US. we could spin the data to suggest that there are twice as many US Muslims as Presbyterians if we compare the official membership rolls of Presbyterian churches to the highest published estimates by Muslim spokespeople – estimates that might. since eighty per cent of Indians are Hindu at least in a broad cultural sense.7 million. or Sikh. if we count their native-born children the number rises higher. Unlike earlier waves of immigrants who were overwhelmingly European. culture and politics in the 20th-century us rapidly growing Latino/a Pentecostal community. For example. The most visible were immigrant practitioners of Islam.
through the impact of Latino/as on Catholicism and Pentecostalism. According to one estimate. For example. it represents traditional
. similarly the growth of Asian religion attracts much attention today. The key religious trend related to recent immigration is ‘not the de-Christianization of American society but the de-Europeanization of American Christianity’ – above all. and Sikhs accounts for less than five per cent of the population – not much higher than the percentage of Jews alone a century ago. is the growth of African-Caribbean religions like Santería and Vodou.7 By drawing selectively on such flexible numbers.8 This low estimate makes sense despite massive immigration because two-thirds of new immigrants are Christian – including majorities of Latin Americans and Koreans. Buddhists. Consider how the rise of heterodox Mormons and nonEnglish-speaking Catholics was a greater shock to nineteenth century society than the mere creation of another Protestant denomination. the total number of Jews. Moreover.9 Nevertheless. However we map the trend. Moreover. but which deserves mention in this inventory of key trends. It is clear that immigration does not yet account for a slice of demographic pie large enough to make a significant dent in Christian numerical dominance. many immigrants are prosperous professionals who are easily visible to the general public. Muslims. these religions blend with Catholicism and involve both AfricanAmericans and Latino/as. the numbers of Muslims and Jews are now about the same and the numbers of Buddhists are comparable with Presbyterians. and significant numbers even from places like the Middle East. sizeable minorities of Chinese and Vietnamese.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
of people who tell pollsters they consider themselves Presbyterian to the lower estimates of Muslims discovered by scholars who count people connected with mosques. many commentators – some of whom celebrate diversity and others who are alarmed by it – overestimate the impact of non-Christian immigration. We could equally well treat them under the rubric of new immigration or as a revival of tradition among some of our longest-established key players. both the surging raw numbers and the rapid per centage growth of non-Christians are highly significant. One development which we will discuss more fully below. we must remember them when treating all of these groups. and some immigrant religions are strikingly different from Christianity. even if we lump all non-Christians into one group. we could claim more than three times more Presbyterians than Muslims. Hindus.
Russia. Islam has been the most successful of the new immigrant groups as measured by numbers. ability to gain converts. Pakistan. Another sizeable group includes people who live in the US on temporary work visas or as students. culture and politics in the 20th-century us African practices – suppressed under US slavery. the tradition within Islam that stresses mysticism. or at least circumscribed and forced underground – returning to the US from places where these traditions were better able to survive. on one side. and Orthodox Christians. male-dominated. which run as deep as the differences among Christians from England. Fully a third of US Muslims are converts. One is between the Sunni majority and the Shi’a tradition centered on present-day Iran. Islam has longstanding institutional and doctrinal divides somewhat comparable to those among Protestant. As a universal faith stressing the equality of all people before an allpowerful and compassionate God – a religion founded by the Prophet
. Indonesia (the world’s most populous Muslim country). drawn largely from among African-Americans. Africa. The largest group consists of people who have arrived since 1965 and their children and grandchildren. but also from Iran. and relatively centralized traditions of Islamic scholars.144 religion.10 Beyond its geographical differences. Egypt. Korea. Yet in some US cities all of these groups coexist in the same mosques. contemplation. This latter bloc is diverse since US Islam is in many ways a microcosm of world Islam. A tendency in many places is Sufism. In many parts of the world. Catholic. including women. and Nigeria. India. such a community in Iowa built the oldest US mosque in 1934. but in any case with more scope for the innovations of ordinary people. Another is a tension between the elite. perhaps in dialogue with Hindu influences in Pakistan or African traditions in Nigeria. versus local practices that have developed in various places. Immigrants came not only from the historical cradle of Islam in the Arab world. A small number are descendants of immigrants who arrived between 1880 and 1920 from places like Syria and Lebanon. US universities are centers for international dialogue about the future of Islam because they attract Muslims from around the world. We must not underestimate the differences among these cultures. Muslims stress learning from Sufi teachers and worshipping at shrines of local saints. Mexico. and the Philippines – with the largest contingents from the Middle East and especially South Asia. and overall cultural weight. and direct experience of the divine. Other places (importantly including Saudi Arabia) stress purifying perceived abuses introduced by such practices.
shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
Muhammad in the seventh century and built on a base shared with Judaism and Christianity – Islam is in a good position to unite such a diverse group in a community called the ummah. All Muslims agree on practicing five pillars of their faith: (1) professing that there is only one God (known in Arabic as Allah) and that Muhammad is his prophet. Even when immigrants and converts enter the same mosques as believers in the same doctrines.11 At least as important as immigrant–convert tensions are generational differences. who often devote much effort to studying Arabic and reciting Qur’anic texts. family structure. since they teach that the Qur’an cannot be fully translated from its original Arabic. One divide is between immigrants with long traditions of Islamic practice. during much of the time between the founding of Islam and the modern era. These constitute something like an Islamic version of debates about liberalization and assimilation that earlier raged between Reform and Orthodox Jews or traditionalist and Americanist Catholics – but with a higher profile for issues of race. they bring diverse cultural baggage (food. this language is used in worship and is a lingua franca for educated Muslims. Within this common ground. All Muslims accept the authority of a book of revelations to Muhammad called the Qur’an. music. or Shariah. (2) praying five times daily. and (5) making a pilgrimage to the center of world Islam in Mecca at least once in their lifetime. including the Moorish Science Temple founded by Noble Drew Ali and the Nation of Islam (NOI) long led by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and made famous by Malcolm X before he converted to orthodox Islam. such that one can imagine
. There are complex traditions of interpreting Islamic law. (3) fasting as a spiritual discipline during the month of Ramadan. the Islamic empire (not Christendom) was the center of Western civilization. knowledge of US history) and ideas about adapting Islam to US society. especially needy people within it. Muslims are proud of their history and tradition. there are significant tensions in US Islam. Who is the expert on adapting Islam to the US – someone whose ancestors have a millennium of experience practicing Islam or three centuries of experience dealing with white Protestants? Compounding such tensions is the fact that some converts earlier belonged to groups considered heretical by orthodox Muslims. and converts who have a shorter history practicing Islam but a longer history in the Americas. (4) contributing generously to support the needs of the community. that developed out of the Qur’an and later traditions.
who share common roots and core sensibilities with Christians and Jews. and both traditions are now deeply divided between new immigrants and native-born converts. Ideas from these traditions have sparked the interest of US intellectuals since the nineteenth century. Buddhists and Hindus have traditionally approached the basic categories and purposes of religion quite differently. and rebirths known as samsara. and that many forms of Muslim thought and practice are thriving. to white converts who focus on aspects of Sufism (comparable with New Age fascination with Jewish mysticism. however. through a more conservative and pious practice that we might compare with Orthodox Judaism. or the principle that one’s actions have later consequences.12 These range from a secularized ‘cultural’ Islam that we might compare with Reform Judaism.14 One’s station in any given lifetime was determined by karma. that Islamic centers are growing throughout the country – one study found more than a thousand of them – that Muslim Student Associations are strong on many college campuses. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Muslims entering the US mainstream as smoothly as Reform Jews did in earlier years or on a rockier path suggested by resistance to the empowerment of blacks and Latino/as. largely due to post-1965 immigration.13 In contrast to Muslims. However. both Hinduism and Buddhism grew rapidly after 1965 through immigration and conversion. or Kabbalah). Although new generational voices are emerging. Buddhism and Hinduism have also become key players. Although we cannot do justice to this subject – embedding a micro-survey of world religion inside this book is out of the question – we should note that Buddhism and Hinduism both originated in India with a similar background assumption that the human condition was a series of births. Just as contemporary Christians and Jews debate how to interpret their traditional teachings in light of modern science. it is hard to predict the pace and outcome of change. It is clear. dating back to the Theosophical Society and Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson. Hindus
. deaths.146 religion. although both have longer histories in the US. Religion was partly about performing the duties and rituals appropriate to one’s station in life – thus creating positive karma for the future – but ultimately it aimed toward release from the sufferings and disappointments caused by being bound to the wheel of samsara. Before 1965 there was sizeable Buddhist immigration from China and Japan as well as considerable mainstream interest in Zen Buddhism. through scattered sympathizers with radical Islamists (in some ways comparable with ultra-Orthodox Zionists).
and Islam combined (imagine lumping all three together as ‘Middle-Easternism’). Buddhism complicates this picture even further. monistic. In light of such teaching.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
and Buddhists do the same with these ideas. Hindus recognize three paths to release from samsara – doing one’s duty in the world. They teach that with the proper insight and training. Hindus are polytheistic. one can recognize that there is ultimately no difference between the Absolute and the depths of the individual human soul. and Muslims do – the existence of a single personal God conceived as the creator and judge of the universe. on a different plane of existence from sinful mortals and communicating with them through prophets. therapeutic. one of their leaders has called for a ‘Buddhism without beliefs’ that promotes an ‘existential. Many Buddhists feel they can harmonize such insights with Christian mysticism and postmodern science. Christians. since this family of traditions has as much internal diversity as Judaism. some branches stress that all beings share in a perfect Buddha-nature. For Hindus the distinction between gods and humans – especially between gods and human teachers known as gurus – is more a continuum than an unbridgeable gulf. Vishnu. Let us consider Hindus further.’15 Yet major parts of the Buddhist tradition focus on celestial Buddhas who are loosely comparable with Hindu gods. It can be misleading even to speak of a unified entity called Hinduism. Even this oversimplified presentation hints at the great diversity represented by Asian religions. but we are still only scratching the surface. they teach that there are 330 million gods – or in other words that the universe has an infinite number of divine manifestations – and they practice devotion (bhakti) toward particular deities such as Shiva. it is equally possible to describe Hindus as monotheistic. performing devotion to particular gods. Many Buddhist converts are strongly anti-supernaturalist. Buddhists also have subtle teachings somewhat akin to Hindu ideas about the divine being manifest in all existence. and gaining wisdom through
. Although this religion began as an offshoot of Hinduism. Hindu philosophers speak of a single impersonal Absolute (Brahman) encompassing all reality. Sometimes even this continuum dissolves. with similar understandings of karma and samsara. and liberating agnosticism. its classic forms deny the existence of God. and forms of the Goddess. Neither Hindus nor Buddhists assume – as Jews. Christianity. Meditation and other rituals (whether these presuppose atheism or ask for help from celestial Buddhas) stress perceiving this underlying perfection and the connections among all beings. or polytheistic.
and its philosophical ideas. culture and politics in the 20th-century us contemplative disciplines called yoga. the leading organization has been the Vedanta Society. The founder of the Vedanta Society. sometimes these temples blend devotion to multiple gods in the same building. who became famous in the 1960s for chanting hymns to Krishna. Other small groups led by Indian gurus and populated by middle-class youth also gained attention. Hindus undertake elaborate rituals to prepare such statues and the temples that house them. recruiting priests (and deciding how much priests should adjust their roles to become like Christian ministers). they have been able to build impressive temples throughout the US.16 Devotional Hinduism has sparked the interest of a few white converts – notably members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. soliciting donations in airports. A key practice in Hindu temples is seeing and being seen by statues in which gods are understood to be embodied. especially as their children enter the mainstream? How should they transplant their devotional practices? Challenges include building temples and home altars. celebrating holidays. This 1893 gathering. How should they adapt the duties and customs of Indian culture – its famed caste system that still informs much of Hindu culture despite changes due to urbanization and secular law – to conditions in the Americas. the main attractions of Hinduism for US whites have been the selective use of yoga in aerobics classes. most Hindus pay more attention to the other two paths. which centers on a network of meeting rooms for study and meditation. Sometimes they parade statues through the streets in festivals that are interesting to compare with the Italian-American celebrations discussed above. and forming counter-cultural communes.148 religion. part of a world’s fair in Chicago. or Hare Krishnas. The Parliament had decisive limitations as a global dialogue. which would not happen in India. For the small subset of their readers who have desired to explore Hindu ideas in a communal context. Most Muslims and many Christians boycotted the meeting. However. and teaching children about gods like Krishna. no one thought
. became famous largely through speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions. watered-down versions of its meditation techniques. Since many Hindus are affluent professionals. brought Asian religious leaders to the US for the first time. Influential authors from Emerson through novelist Aldous Huxley to New Age guru Deepak Chopra have popularized selected Hindu philosophies. the missionary and reformer Swami Vivekananda. Although popular images of Hinduism stress the path of yoga.
to invite Native Americans, African-Americans and women of all races were under-represented, and in general the participants represented the most educated and Westernized parts of their traditions. Many of the Parliament’s organizers expected that liberal Christianity – something in the ballpark of Unitarianism – would emerge as a framework within which the deep truths of all the gathered traditions could be harmonized and purified. Despite these limitations the meeting became a landmark in the history of US pluralism because of the unprecedented range of voices that the organizers did invite. Vivekananda shared the organizers’ goal of harmonizing religions but added a twist. For him it was not that the wisdom of Asia should be purified and taken up into a higher truth framed by Unitarians. Rather all religions (including parts of Christianity that needed purification) should be taken up into the universal truths of the Hindu philosophy called Vedanta. This teaching assumed that the divine was manifest in millions of forms as discussed above, but stressed the existence of an impersonal monistic Absolute that encompassed all these forms. For Vivekananda, all religions are ‘a coming up of different men and women … to the same goal. Every religion is only evolving a God out of the material man … In the heart of everything the same truth reigns … the Lord has declared to the Hindu in his incarnation as Krishna, I am in every religion as the thread through a string of pearls.’17 To a large extent, the diverse manifestations of US Hinduism – Vivekananda’s cerebral world of religious dialogue, yoga exercises at the gym, counter-cultural communes led by gurus, and devotions to specific gods and goddesses at temples and home altars – exist in separate worlds. However, the point to accent is that devotional practices at the center of South Asian Hinduism have grown rapidly through post-1965 immigration. So far there has been limited cross-pollination between convert and immigrant Hindus, although white converts sometimes visit temples and immigrants sometimes find their way to Hare Krishna meetings or Vedanta Centers. Such exchanges are likely to increase as the children of immigrants decide what forms their tradition will take in the US. Buddhism entered the mainstream faster than either Islam or Hinduism, measured by its ability to gain sympathetic media coverage and attract famous converts such as novelist Jack Kerouac, basketball coach Phil Jackson, rock singer Tina Turner, and movie star Richard Gere. Zen Buddhism has sparked wide interest, and the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, is a celebrity rivaling the Pope in the popular
150 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us respect he commands. There is a long-established Japanese-American Buddhist community, and since 1965 immigration from China, Korea, and Southeast Asia has increased rapidly. Thus, on many levels US Buddhism is well rooted and growing. As in the case of Hinduism, there is a gap between immigrant Buddhists – based in ethnic communities, often concerned with venerating ancestors, standoffish toward women’s rights, and relatively uninterested in meditation or the counterculture – and native-born converts who practice Zen meditation or Tibetan visualization during weekend retreats and approach religion with a counter-cultural sensibility, often insisting on equal participation by women at all levels of the community. In general, it is hard to generalize about US Buddhism because it mirrors and intensifies the decentered nature of Buddhism worldwide.18 We will return to the question of who speaks for Buddhism in Chapter 7. For now let us simply note that Buddhist converts have built a strong network of meditation centers, rural retreats, activist groups, publishing houses, and other institutions informed by many forms of world Buddhism. Meanwhile, immigrant Buddhists are establishing temples throughout the country, from the opulent Hsai Lai Temple built by Taiwanese in Los Angeles to small home-based centers built by refugees from Southeast Asia. By the 1990s Cambodian Buddhists alone had built forty-one temples; there were 300 Buddhist temples in Los Angeles and 1,500 nationwide.19 Along with issues that face other immigrants – adapting customs, learning English, celebrating holidays that are out of sync with Christianity, and so on – a key question for Buddhists is how to adapt their traditional emphasis on male monasticism to a society that largely assumes women’s equality and lacks the infrastructure that undergirds Asian monasticism – both historic endowed institutions and everyday customs through which monks and laity support each other.
Collapse and Restructuring in the Old Protestant Establishment
Amid the diversity of US religion, white Protestants remained by far the largest bloc. They accounted for half the population by themselves, and they helped to establish patterns that influenced other Christians: black and Latino/a Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Asian immigrant churches, and so on. They also remained deeply divided. This section explores trends in the Protestant mainstream; later we will return to distinctive developments among Catholics and expand on the
Protestant story. Let us begin by considering how a liberal–conservative culture war emerged after the 1960s. Culture war analysis is not a onesize-fits-all map; it does not always fit the experience of non-whites and it can divert attention from class and gender since rich and poor people, as well as women and men, fall on both sides of its battle lines. Nevertheless, as a framework for exploring the white mainstream, it is a good place to start. Culture war polarization took place against a dual baseline of suburbanization and a perception of post-war consensus. After 1945 Protestants joined the exodus of Jews and white Catholics from inner city neighborhoods – as well as from rural areas that dwindled as a percentage of the population – to the suburbs. These suburbs were created largely by tax breaks for homeowners and government decisions to subsidize expressways for automobile commuters. They were overwhelmingly white, fueled by a dynamic of white flight from inner cities that resulted in the US making virtually no progress in de facto residential integration between 1950 and the present.20 In the 1950s there was a huge wave of spending on suburban churches. Not unlike in the Jewish case discussed above, building congregations became a key way that Christians organized their communities in new suburban neighborhoods. Religious membership surged to the highest levels in US history, in the fifty to sixty per cent range. Week-to-week socializing, volunteer work, and charitable giving were channeled through congregations. Although churches and synagogues competed for people’s energies with schools, lodges, social service agencies, and other civic organizations, there was often co-operation among these groups and overlap in their leaders. The community functions of congregations were especially important for women, who often did not hold paying jobs during these years. Although the overall curve of women’s paid labor was upward throughout the century, and although the industrial mobilization for World War II was a step forward in women’s quest for equal access to good jobs, in the 1950s middle-class women were pressured to stay at home and locked out of most professions. Intellectuals of the 1950s perceived the US entering an era of liberal consensus, as opposed to conflict between labor and capital or cultural strife between liberals and conservatives. Their idea was not that everyone had become liberal in the sense of supporting the New Deal or voting for Democrats, but rather that a social contract had been hammered out in the 1930s and 1940s – enforced by the purges and blacklists of the 1950s
152 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us that set limits to dissent – such that there was little disagreement about the legitimacy of electoral democracy and a regulated capitalist economy.21 Scholars who promoted this vision spoke about a moral responsibility to defend democracy through fighting the Cold War and promoting a US-led global market; they believed that socialism threatened greater evils because it was naively optimistic and did not provide checks against the abuse of power. On the home front, liberals upheld what they called a vital center against people to their left and right. They portrayed unrepentant social gospelers as dupes of left-wing extremists, labeled fundamentalists as backward-looking proto-fascists, and imagined both groups to have been neutralized and replaced by an emerging consensus. The commanding US position in the global economy offered unprecedented material prosperity, making it possible to buy off much dissent and imagine that an affluent middle-class society was the wave of the future. Some people even dared to hope that zero-sum conflicts over distributing wealth could be finessed indefinitely through technocratic management and endless economic growth. Culture war analyses highlight two changes from this baseline; both unfolded amid a wider breakdown of consensus as the perception of stable centrism gave way to conflict over race, gender, the Vietnam War, and the future of the New Deal. First, in the suburbs differences among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews carried less weight for determining the make-up of workplaces and neighborhoods, patterns of friendship and marriage, and forms of identity. As inherited cultural distinctions weakened, tensions loomed larger between people from all three groups – Protestants, Catholics, and Jews – who responded to emerging social conflicts as conservatives versus liberals. Each denomination had its own distinctive character and center of gravity, but in general this polarization pitted liberal members of large denominations against conservatives from the same denominations. Thus, although we can still draw denominational pie charts with lines that represent important nuances of theology and ritual, increasingly the lines that mattered – especially for charting divides among white Christians – were between people who clustered at the poles of a spectrum that cut across denominations.22 Conservatives (whether Baptist, Catholic, or Lutheran) taught what they called traditional family values and complained about vacuous liberals (also Baptist, Catholic, and Lutheran) whom they perceived as failing to preach the gospel and accommodating to secular relativism. Many conservatives enjoyed reading apocalyptic novels that imagined the gruesome
deaths of such liberal church-going neighbors whom God punishes for their foolish choices. Meanwhile, secularists and liberal churchgoers embraced multiculturalism and sexual equality; they complained about conservative neighbors whom they saw as shockingly anti-intellectual, and marveled that such people could stand to be associated with televangelists and Republican politicians. Secondly, this realignment occurred at the same time that centrist religious leaders – people who took their influence for granted at midcentury, such as Methodist bishops who oversaw suburban churchbuilding campaigns and ecumenical activists who championed the New Deal – declined in power due to falling memberships and the loss of allies in elite circles. There was a drop-off in loyalty among the children and grandchildren of people who founded the mainline churches of the 1950s. Between 1965 and 1985, evangelicals continued to grow steadily – indeed spectacularly in the case of the fastest growing groups such as Pentecostals – while the mainline lost members at a striking rate: twenty-eight per cent for Presbyterians, seventeen per cent for Methodists, and so on. The ratio of liberal versus conservative congregations shifted between the early 1970s and late 1990s from fifty-seven per cent versus forty-three per cent in favor of liberals to forty-seven per cent versus fifty-three per cent in favor of evangelicals.23 The drop in liberal demographic strength is better understood as a long-term slide that reached a critical stage in the 1970s than as an overnight collapse. Mainline Protestants had long been a minority; their mid-century sense of being an establishment that could speak for the whole society was ripe for unmasking, since this discounted blacks, Catholics, and evangelicals among others. Moreover, their trend of losing market share to evangelicals and immigrants had been underway since 1800, with the 1950s church-building boom as a partial exception to this rule. The percentage difference between the growth rates of evangelicals and liberals was smaller in the 1970s, when journalists began to trumpet the gap, than it had been earlier in the century.24 Nevertheless, the cumulative impact of long-term trends was important, and two associated changes made the trends stand out starkly during the 1970s. One was the vocal alienation of mainline youth, linked to interest in the counter-culture and a sense that churches were boring and complacent. The other was the contrast between the travails of liberals and the rising power of evangelicals. At mid-century, mainline clergy had dared to hope that they were rebounding from their cultural disestablishment of
By the 1980s this vision seemed out of touch with reality. in effect. the newly ascendant Republicans discounted them as irrelevant while Democrats fretted about how to attract evangelicals. but they embraced theories of
. starting in the 1950s with civil rights activism and continuing in the 1960s and 1970s with liberation theologies. its de facto understanding narrows to hegemonic conservative religion. and so on. the student left. At the rightward end of a culture war spectrum. Its momentum was part of a wider constellation of forces that challenged the 1950s status quo: the black freedom movement. Old-time fundamentalists like Riley held fast to militant separatism and Biblical literalism. and ecumenical bureaucracies were drastically downsized. culture and politics in the 20th-century us the 1920s and assuming a role as senior partners in an ecumenical establishment alongside liberal Catholics and Jews. In this context. Whereas earlier politicians had courted liberal Protestants. On the left flank of Christianity an impulse akin to the social gospel revived in both Protestant and Catholic forms. Some culture war maps leave an impression that a left-to-right spectrum is really. It is important to underline the religious dimensions of left-liberal movements since midcentury. and schools like Wheaton College and Fuller Seminary. it is a mere transitional stage on a slippery slope from authentic Christianity through religious privatization to institutional death – we will see that this is a dubious reading of liberal fortunes. Neo-evangelicals continued to stress born-again conversion. We will return to this development in Chapter 6. Denominational budgets dwindled. Christianity Today magazine. at root.154 religion. a secular-to-religious spectrum. green politics. evangelicals – whom we last met building come-outer institutions such as William Bell Riley’s network of churches and radio stations – re-emerged between the 1950s and 1970s from years of neglect by scholars and journalists. liberal seminaries struggled to survive. mainline leaders who traditionally aspired to speak for a society-wide consensus saw movements to their left and right seize the initiative in the realm of public religion. More influential was an emerging group known as neo-evangelicals led by Billy Graham. since scholars often stress these movements’ secular aspects more than their religious ones. feminism. If we frame the issue this way. This was spearheaded by leading clergy and often sparked conflict between centrists and radicals in church networks. Although this view gains plausibility if we interpret the demographic trends as showing liberal Christianity in a process of terminal decline – so that. the term ‘religion’ is effectively captured by the right.
neo-evangelicals often claim the term ‘evangelical’ solely for themselves. The NCR played a major role in Ronald Reagan’s election and by the turn of the new century it constituted the base of George W. or Pentecostals. they built a powerful network of organizations focused on a wide range of issues. and pundits often use ‘fundamentalist’ as their umbrella term. Many people underestimate how many evangelicals oppose the NCR. such as Baptist minister Jerry Falwell and televangelist Pat Robertson came to stress redeeming this world alongside otherworldly and individual concerns. Although the evangelical center of gravity does tilt to the right. the numbers run as high as fortyseven per cent of the population. Inside white Christianity. and their stance toward the cultural mainstream was more open. many people do not see themselves taking sides in a war. In light of evangelicals’ growth and elite alliances.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
Biblical authority that did not insist on the literal truth of every word. Scholars are especially prone to underplay the power of moderate evangelicals and the ongoing strength of mainline Protestants. we must not exaggerate its prevalence. it became increasingly difficult for pundits to interpret them as marginal or apolitical. after the 1960s their political mobilization became more self-conscious and emphatic. It is better to imagine the culture war spectrum as a bell curve with most people in the middle rather than as a battlefield where two armies shoot at each other across a free-fire zone. the sub-culture includes many political moderates and liberals. which we will explore in more detail below.) Although evangelicals played a significant cultural-political role throughout the century. Although culture war polarization is important both on its own terms and as an analytical framework that focuses attention on certain issues over others. There is no clear-cut way to measure evangelicals. and various religious differences that are not easily reduced to a culture war calculus. Many people from outside white Christianity do not see this war’s hot button issues as priorities compared with economic justice. the middle range of the culture war continuum is not an empty space. We are using ‘evangelical’ as an umbrella term for born-again believers who are strict fundamentalists.25 (Unfortunately there is no standard terminology for discussing these groups. When pollsters simply ask people whether they consider themselves born-again. neo-evangelicals. Leaders of the New Christian Right (NCR).
. racism. However. vacant because everyone has moved to extreme positions. Bush’s electoral support. or three-quarters of all US Protestants.
if we count only members of conservative denominations like the Southern Baptists. the environment. likes to claim that he is neither liberal nor conservative – rather that he is equally opposed to secular liberals and religious conservatives – but on most issues his ideas dovetail with progressive Democrats. The political instincts of black evangelicals are largely liberal – with a partial exception for their stances toward sexuality and gender – and an influential minority of white evangelicals are strong critics of militarism and advocates of justice for working people. culture war analysts stressed that the vote for George W. A rough estimate of people who support a full range of NCR positions is also twenty per cent – enough to dominate the Republican Party. in which the official popular vote was essentially a tie. Important evangelical leaders speak out about global warming and Third World poverty. or not. and center-left parts of a culture war spectrum. Although pundits stressed that abortion and gay marriage were concerns for ‘values’ voters. However. and Clinton. culture and politics in the 20th-century us However. they are quick to point out that both Carter and Clinton are evangelicals. center-right. twice as many people considered war as their top moral concern compared with abortion and same-sex marriage combined. Nixon. although few evangelicals are leftist by the standards of American Studies scholars. it is also true that the majority of Democratic voters were Christian and many of these were evangelicals. or a third of Protestants. Many neo-evangelicals followed a trajectory of voting for Presidents Eisenhower. Carter. we find numbers around twenty per cent. the alliance between Republicans and evangelicals is far from monolithic. a solid minority of evangelicals – perhaps a third or more depending on how we count – is liberal on most cultural-political issues. After the 2004 election. As noted
. Their best-known leader. this distorts the real situation in which evangelicals range across the far right.26 We could spin these numbers up or down by counting black and Latino/a evangelicals in a separate category. and war. Scholars and journalists also underestimate the ongoing strength of moderate to liberal Protestants in mainline denominations. Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine.156 religion. In fact it is vulnerable on issues of the economy. In any case.27 In other words. Bush was highly skewed toward evangelicals while the secular vote was skewed toward the Democrats. but a distinct minority of the overall population.28 Insofar as a culture war paradigm leads us to imagine evangelicals as monolithically conservative. In the 2006 election. a third of white evangelicals voted Democratic.
. it distorts the current situation. especially if we count its Catholic and evangelical variants along with its mainline Protestant center of gravity. that they have swung the pendulum to the opposite extreme and overstress mainline weakness. Highlighting such a gap leads people to feel that the mainline has fallen further than it really has. Notwithstanding evangelical growth. second-wave feminism. some scholars frame the core conflict as religious conservatism versus secular liberalism. The center of gravity for them. Golden Rule Christianity is the leading form of suburban religion. in effect they have no category for religious liberals except as an anomaly. Their leaders have largely supported moderate civil rights activism.29 Such Christians interpret the Bible using historical methods and are fairly uninterested in doctrinal disputes. Liberals focus on a related gap – except it is between their current struggles and the exaggerated influence that they imagined wielding in the 1950s. at least outside of Washington. they tilt toward peacemaking. lost market share to evangelicals? Some scholars argue that liberal clergy have steered too far to the left.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
above. and cultural inclusivity.30 Alongside programs for youth they often sponsor community arts events and social services for needy people. as well as a smaller group of activist churches to their left. In Chapter 6 we will discuss how NCR leaders imagine themselves to be more persecuted than they really are because they focus on the gap between their power today and the inflated power they hope to wield in the future. Although they tend to be apolitical compared with the NCR and left-wing activists. as well as liberal Catholics and many moderate evangelicals. Although such a perception may deflate morale and create self-fulfilling prophecies. Why have Golden Rule Protestants. Rather than born-again conversion and conservative values they stress building communities that nurture compassionate and loving everyday lives. It is not merely a watered-down form of evangelicalism. thus alienating core constituents. Others see liberal churches declining toward irrelevance. and so on. but a distinctive practice that has solid future prospects and needs to be understood on its own terms. mainline Protestants maintain enough historical momentum and ongoing strength that they still enjoy a rough parity of power with evangelicals. Golden Rule Christians are broadly pluralistic. such scholars have so deeply internalized the story of a complacent establishment losing members and being unmasked for exaggerating its power. compassion for the poor. is a tolerant style that scholars call Golden Rule Christianity.
(To understand this dynamic.34 The best political analogy is not switching from Democratic to Republican. around eighty per cent of the difference between liberal and conservative growth is a result of lower liberal birthrates. Enough do to create the half-truth effect mentioned above.’ According to this line of thought. but rather from conservative evangelicalism toward more moderate evangelicalism. but most drift toward the left or into a half-engaged religious limbo.) Most of the remaining difference is due to evangelicals retaining a higher percentage of youth. while half drifted toward an apathetic or hostile stance. evangelical growth results from mainline laity voting with their feet and shifting to congregations that are more conservative politically. with the most liberal people being the most likely to leave. but joining the ranks of Democrats who do not vote because they see no candidates for whom they care to vote. In one study. as well as stronger institutionally because they demand higher commitments. each family needs four children to maintain a steady number of church members in the next generation. imagine that half of all babies born to church-going parents join churches when they grow up. only six per cent of Presbyterians confirmed in the 1960s converted to fundamentalism.31 However. rather than switching to more upscale Methodist churches as often happened in earlier years. most likely because evangelicals are defining themselves more loosely. most people who leave mainline churches do not join conservative churches. at best this explanation is a half-truth. thus attracting half-committed ‘free riders. For example. thus retaining more people who earlier might have moved toward the mainline. Meanwhile. If so.33 In other words. a couple with two children will only provide one member in the next generation for a fifty per cent decline. This might be explained partly by the free rider dynamic. it is now easier for upwardly mobile Pentecostals to remain in the same denomination. but it also raises the question of what motivates people to leave – and brings us to the interesting point that (counter-intuitively given the growth trends) the long-term historical pattern is for more evangelicals to switch toward mainline churches than vice versa. some evangelical growth reflects ‘voting with one’s feet’ not by shifting toward the right.158 religion. These are among the country’s fastest growing churches – and the ones that recruit free riders most aggressively. Mainline denominations are between a rock and a hard place because
. Switchers often join evangelical megachurches with programs that cater to many lifestyle niches. culture and politics in the 20th-century us in the name of inclusivity.32 This pattern is becoming less pronounced.
and equal rights for racial and sexual minorities. The explosive growth of Mormons and Pentecostals is worth recalling in this connection. in this era each achieved an unambiguous status as a national and international player. engaging with creative parts of popular culture. we might compare questions about the future of liberal Christianity to questions about the future of the Democratic Party. Should disaffected liberals reconsider the virtues of Golden Rule churches? Should they leave their churches to atrophy. Thus. and (for the activistminded) providing opportunities to work for peace. it became culturally acceptable to claim no significant religious interest. if they continue backpedaling to avoid alienating the right. economic justice. Although the number of people
. women. they will lose many of their brightest youth. However. but whether such practices can thrive in mainline networks.
Trends among Other Key Players
None of the groups introduced above disappeared in the second half of the century. If mainline leaders continue a least common denominator approach that tries not to alienate conservatives – the religious version of centrist Democrats wooing political moderates – this is likely to sustain Golden Rule churches in many places but it seems unlikely to change the demographic trends of low birthrates and high apathy among upcoming generations. but whether pockets within the party can work effectively with more radical movements. The question is not whether this is possible – it clearly is – nor whether any given congregation will do so. can we imagine spaces in mainline denominations that capture the energies of left-liberal youth? This would require presupposing women’s equality. and racial minorities? The issue is not whether any given Democratic politician will do so. Can Democrats become a vehicle for addressing concerns of working people. Although neither group was new. Nor did they remain static. Similarly. somewhat like political radicals write off Democrats? Should they build activist churches as a counterweight to the NCR? Such are the debates among left-liberal Christians at the beginning of the twenty-first century.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
anything they do alienates either their right or left wing. Forthright secularists also emerged as an increasingly important player within the overall map. If they move in any direction except to the right – even if they follow a middle-ofthe-road Golden Rule path – conservatives will question their Christian credentials and they will alienate members who donate disproportionate amounts of money. To a greater extent than any time since the 1700s.
this line becomes blurry when we consider how religion has historically defined Jewish identity. There were two key sources of Orthodox strength. observing Sabbath rituals at home. but by 1990 it had risen above fifty per cent. However. people from Jewish families who participate in certain forms of Jewish community life. especially in the national media and large cities. Some scholars believe that the fastest growing parts of the Jewish community are secular and Orthodox Jews. or following the dietary laws. both gaining at the expense of centrist groups. the numbers seemed to be creeping upward. but fourteen per cent did by 2000. although this depends on where one sets a minimal threshold to qualify as a religious Jew.160 religion. but continued to thrive into the twenty-first century. Only three per cent of the population told pollsters that their ‘religious preference’ was ‘none’ in 1957.35 After World War II. in the long run this distinction also enabled the growth of ‘secular Jews’ – that is. Weekly church attendance (which is notoriously hard to estimate because people often exaggerate it) probably dropped from the forty per cent to twenty per cent range. since it created a religious Judaism that one could abstract from a larger Jewish culture. The original purpose of this distinction for Reform Jews was to hold fast to essential Jewish religious practices amid an overall desire to assimilate. studying Jewish scriptures. As late as the mid-1960s the intermarriage rate stood around ten per cent. from this perspective we might compare how – for both Jews and Native Americans – it can be hard to distinguish religious heritage from a larger way of life. A growing concern among Jewish leaders was intermarriage with Gentiles. Nevertheless. Also. distinguished between Jewishness (the general culture) and Judaism (the focused religious commitment). but with limited interest in such things as attending worship at synagogues. True.36 Orthodox Jews remained a minority compared with Reform and Conservative Jews. Jews continued to blend into the suburban middle class. One was continuing immigration after World War II. and to a lesser degree also Conservatives. This secular group may now be the largest one in the Jewish community. such a distinction did become important in Judaism. culture and politics in the 20th-century us who claimed no religious preference remained low compared with other industrialized societies – somewhere in the ten to twenty per cent range depending on how questions are framed – by late in the century there was little stigma attached to such a stance. with sizeable new communities developing in Los Angeles and Miami. We have seen that Reform Jews. largely from
took a sharp right turn by the 1970s. The other was the growth of a ‘Modern Orthodox’ group that lived relatively assimilated suburban lives but remained ritually observant. and asserting conservative moral values against what they considered the excessive individualism and divisiveness of the post-1960s left. They maintained emphases that we have already noted:
. and the ‘global war on terror’) and the break-up of the historic black–Jewish alliance on issues of civil rights for minorities – an alliance that became strained in the late 1960s as blacks turned toward separatist strategies while Jews remained committed to integration and questioned affirmative action. What Amish and Old Order Mennonites represent for Christians – a pious separatist community with distinctive dress and strong resistance to many aspects of modernity – the Hasidim represent for Jews. By the 1980s neo-conservative Jews had become partners in many conservative coalitions with two groups that Jews historically opposed and still mistrusted: traditional business conservatives and the NCR. that continued to feed ethnic enclaves. Probably this shift was due partly to affluent Jews voting their pocketbooks. Undoubtedly two factors were tensions with people who criticized Israeli policies toward Palestinians (since neo-conservatives stressed a convergence between support for Israel.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
Russia. However. they voted for Democrats or groups further left and were pillars of support for left-liberal causes.38 We have seen how suburban Catholics became part of Golden Rule Christianity and how Catholics engaged in a culture war somewhat like the Protestant one. This still tends to hold true. defending Israel against its enemies. However. the Cold War. Ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews who have maintained close-knit ethnic enclaves over many generations comprise a small percentage of the Orthodox. They put special emphasis on fighting the Cold War. Key Jewish leaders such as the intellectuals associated with Commentary magazine. one postwar development was the growth of neo-conservative Jews. Despite their small numbers they are the best-known Orthodox group because of novels like Chaim Potok’s The Chosen and their tensions with African-American neighbors in Brooklyn which boiled over into a riot in the summer of 1991. who had begun as anti-Stalinist socialists and/or New Dealers before World War II.37 Until the 1970s most US Jews were solidly left-liberal in politics. key aspects of Catholic experience were distinctive. Although by no means all neo-conservatives were Jewish and it bears repeating that most Jews remained liberal. Jews did have disproportionate influence among neoconservative leaders.
39 In general Catholic relations with Protestants in the NCR are tense given the historic tendency of fundamentalists to deny that Catholics are Christian. On this analogy. Catholics tend to be more interested in Latin America than Protestants. and there are also Catholics from Vietnam and the Philippines. as opposed to Protestant appeals to revelation (from God to specific believers) and the Bible. militarism. and more likely to approach social issues with a communitarian as opposed to individualist sensibility. The Pope spoke
. Latino/a popular devotions remain very important. (On this issue Jews emphasize civil liberties. more conflicted about abortion.162 religion. However. with water mounting behind the dam and people working from within to open a channel. in the leftward parts of the culture war. Catholics are more likely to emphasize ‘seamless garment’ approaches that oppose abortion.) In center-left parts of the spectrum. At mid-century they were more working-class compared to Protestants or Jews – today they are similar to Protestants – and white Catholics were slower to move from close-knit urban neighborhoods toward the suburbs. and defensiveness toward Protestant hegemony. or Vatican II. US Catholic leaders carried forward the defensive posture that they inherited from the defeat of Americanist bishops. they are distinctive because nearly half their members are Latino/as. the moment when the floodgates opened was the Second Vatican Council. Thus. This was a 1962–5 meeting convened by Pope John XXIII that brought together church leaders from throughout the world. they continue to engage with concerns of impoverished recent immigrants whose first language is not English. ethnic traditions. Near the rightward pole of a culture war spectrum. Catholics tend to base their arguments more on natural law (ultimately ordained by God but accessible to all) and church authority. stress on Catholic education. a paradigmatic approach among Protestants is to transmute earlier missionary sensibilities into global famine relief. interested in dialogue with neo-conservative intellectuals rather than fundamentalists. and the death penalty in similar terms. conservative Catholics put more stress on fighting abortion and less on celebrating free market capitalism. culture and politics in the 20th-century us sacramental and communal sensibilities. Compared with Protestants. We might imagine the situation as a dammedup stream. pressure for change was building both from laity and inside church leadership ranks. Above all. Until the 1950s. Meanwhile. as well as the institutional racism that confronts long-established Latino/a communities. Protestants swing both ways. Their leaders are more highbrow.
those who expected a democratic church to ordain women and give married Catholics a voice in its policy toward contraception – and conservatives who immediately began to worry about the flood raging out of control. John Paul II. was a harsher critic of capitalism and militarism than most US Democrats – but partly due to his experience in Poland under Communist rule he was even more hostile to socialism. Nuns tried out new roles and began to dress like the laity rather than wearing severe black outfits called habits. but returning to the Latin Mass while blasting liturgical reform as a slippery slope toward Protestantism. Teachers put less stress on rote memorization and more on discerning the signs of the times – thus making the church seem less monolithic and more open to diverse spiritual paths. Most importantly. and democratic sense of how to be Catholic – as opposed to a clergy-centered. they moved to a more lay-centered. They moved toward a greater sense of co-operation and dialogue with people of other religions – especially Protestants and Jews – as opposed to judging and trying to convert them. encouraging lay participation. Others simply felt that excessive openness to modern individualism was eroding core Catholic identities and that clear lines of authority that had helped the Church survive for centuries were becoming blurred. participatory.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
about opening the windows to let in some fresh air on the question of how Catholics should relate to modernity. Catholics had to endure much mediocre folk music and priests who were too quick to dismiss deeply rooted devotional practices. For example. and top-down sense. When Latin American bishops (especially from Brazil and Central America) rethought their traditional alliance with conservative elites and joined popular anti-imperialist movements – thus threatening
. who was Pope from 1977 to 2005. Vatican II brought major changes both in church policies and underlying conceptions of what it meant to be Catholic. and playing folk music on guitars. The most vivid symbol was switching the language of the mass from Latin to local vernaculars – along with other changes in worship such as seating people in the round. authoritarian. for traditionalists the remedy was not finding better music and more thoughtful priests. Bishops came around to adopting the classic Americanist position on the permissibility – indeed desirability – of decoupling Catholics from the state and embracing religious freedom. They encouraged Catholic schools to engage more deeply with modern secular thought. Since 1965 Catholic history has been a tug of war between people who moved eagerly through the floodgates opened at Vatican II – for example.
But bishops have been able to fire (or otherwise punish) Catholics who question their teachings about reproduction and to maintain a hard line on ordination policy. headed the Vatican’s office for enforcing orthodoxy during John Paul’s papacy. with an accent on its more conservative side. The current Pope.40 In 1968 the encyclical Humanae Vitae decreed on the basis of natural law that Catholics could not use contraceptives under any circumstances – sex was only permitted between married people who were open to conceiving a child (bishops have rejected the use of condoms even by couples in which one partner has HIV). culture and politics in the 20th-century us not merely to align Catholics with socialists but even to promote class struggle inside the Church – the Pope moved to block them and systematically replaced radical bishops with conservatives. Moreover. Likewise they can experiment with new roles for nuns and laywomen in their parishes. True. but they had less room to maneuver when the Vatican took similar hard lines against ordaining women. According to
. especially inside the Church – on such issues he was more conservative than most US Republicans. or seeking ordination in other branches of Christianity. and rethinking the teaching that any abortion under any circumstance after conception constitutes murder – and thus should be criminalized as a matter of state policy even for people who deny that it is murder. others renounced their vows and left the Church. just as Catholic women can buy contraceptives. making celibacy optional for priests. Many young church leaders who poured through the floodgates of Vatican II and pursued liberal reforms – only to hear the hierarchy calling them back – kept on going rather than heeding the call to return. This power struggle spilled over into the US. becoming Catholic lay professionals. The problem of recruiting priests recently went from bad to worse as people learned about pervasive sexual abuse by priests. and many orders of nuns are unlikely to survive because women who formerly might have joined them are choosing secular careers.164 religion. Laity in the US were incredulous toward this rule and largely ignored it. So far he has largely followed in John Paul’s footsteps. Some gravitated toward the Catholic left and exist today in various degrees of revolt against conservative bishops. Benedict XVI. they can still (as I write) obtain legal abortions if they judge this to be a lesser evil in light of their personal circumstances and the difference between a zygote and a late-term fetus. Pope John Paul had little sympathy for women’s equality. They can – and do – lobby to change church teachings about these matters. Today there is a severe shortage of priests.
on one side. Subsequently it evolved in many directions. or trying to spark wider cultural change through expanding the consciousness of a few New Age elites – are defining aspects of the movement or merely optional themes within it. and trumpeting a policy of keeping gays out of seminaries (a risky strategy since a substantial proportion of priests in the past have been gay).000 priests – four per cent of the total – were accused of sexually molesting minors (largely teenaged boys) between 1950 and 2000. and Western theories like Jungian psychology and quantum physics on the other. There are various spins on whether common New Age practices – for example. Searching for the movement’s intellectual heart. It is hard to identify a center of gravity for the New Age. where it was often linked to experiments with psychedelic drugs. In part.41 It will be difficult for the priesthood to recover from this blow to its reputation. shifting responsibilities to lay professionals (often liberal women). Debunkers paint it as the mere commercialization and trivialization of the 1960s counter-culture. channeling spirit guides from other dimensions of reality. Given its huge numbers. New Agers revitalized and extended nineteenth-century religions like Spiritualism and New Thought. Catholicism will no doubt remain a major player for a long time to come. one scholar defines it as the popular name for ‘a constellation of ideas …
. seeking esoteric wisdom that was taught by Theosophists and other occult groups in earlier generations. mainly among white and middle-class people. The search for alternative spiritualities was especially prevalent in the 1960s counter-culture. the resulting lawsuits had cost the Church more than a billion dollars by 2005. A religious tendency that grew from older roots to become a key player after mid-century was the New Age movement. and global strength. Some scholars stress how it updates specific metaphysical movements such as Theosophy and/or promotes ‘harmonial’ correspondence between various levels of reality. assuming that the depths of the self encompass all reality. However. Equally damning were revelations of systematic cover-ups by leading bishops. seeking spiritual healing. Others stress its dialogue between Asian philosophies of the self. 4. historical momentum.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
a church-commissioned study. In part they experimented with Asian and Native American spirituality as an alternative or supplement to Christian and Jewish religion that they found boring and/or oppressive. Currently the top strategies are importing foreign priests (often conservative). it enters the new century with deep internal conflicts and a leadership crisis.
We could point to many groups which are sometimes mapped outside it. Also near the boundaries of the New Age – but shading off toward the suburban mainstream instead of the radicalism of UFO religions – are people who seek spiritual depth through communing with nature. and sometimes treated as sub-groups under its umbrella.’ These changes include ‘the resacralization of the cosmos.166 religion. Among these groups the most important is Wicca. and the reintegration of such dualisms as spirit and matter. but simply to associate the term ‘New Age’ with a reasonable number of the above themes coming together. with their own distinct identities. and science and religion. Many Wiccans practice individually while others form small groups called covens.) Other groups often considered New Agers include several organized around belief in UFOs. if we are clear that their witchcraft has nothing to do with stereotypes about casting evil spells or worshipping Satan and that Wicca is only one approach within a wider category of neo-paganism. change or process. rather than statis. (Wiccans may also be called witches or neo-pagans. and do-it-yourself nature mystics – may take offense at being associated with the other two
. In the long run we may need new terminology. since one of the most common traits of New Agers as we have defined them is to disavow the New Age label. culture and politics in the 20th-century us related to paradigmatic cultural changes in the last third of the twentieth century. sometimes in dialogue with aspects of Native American religion. the interconnectedness of all things. Since New Agers do not worry much about finding agreement among these overlapping approaches. as the nature of reality. the Heaven’s Gate group which committed mass suicide in the expectation that they would rescued by a spaceship and then the earth would be recycled. and the Ashtar Command which expects Jesus to return alongside Commander Ashtar and Lady Athena leading a fleet of UFOs. including the Raelians who promote the teachings of a four-foot tall extra-terrestrial named Yahweh and are actively trying to clone a human. It is no easier to identify an outside boundary for the New Age than to find its center. some stress the complementarity of men and women while others form women-only covens focused on worshipping the Goddess. the emergence of a planetary culture.’42 A sense of breaking with the past and moving toward a new stage of history is reflected both in the term ‘New Age’ and the related term ‘Age of Aquarius’ that was popular in the 1960s. Each of these three groups – Wiccans. it is best not to seek one rigid definition. emotion and reason. UFO believers. which seeks to revive pre-Christian nature religions of Europe.
and its extreme right-wing politics expressed partly through its control of a major US newspaper. Christian and indigenous religion in Hawaii. the racist forms of Christianity associated with right-wing militias. communication with supernatural beings. aspects of Latino/a religion. channeling. Indeed. Vodou. we could extend our list indefinitely if we lowered our threshold for what counts as a key player. and channeling are all complementary sources of wisdom. In general. the Washington Times. we could explore the Unification Church. the movement appears both as a key player in its own right and a diffuse trend that inflects the experience of other groups. Studying Moon might draw our attention to an evangelical movement that kidnaps members of so-called ‘cults’ (Moon’s and many others) and tries to ‘deprogram’ them from what the kidnappers consider brainwashing. and self-help businesses associated with the movement.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
groups and/or consider suburban New Age spirituality to be shallow and over-commercialized. they have overlapping interests in spiritual healing. we might explore the Rastafarian beliefs of Jamaican immigrants. the indigenous practices of Hmong refugees from Laos. its rituals in which hundreds of devotees are married en masse to partners selected by Moon. or the interplay of Buddhist. and so on. UFOs. spending $10 billion dollars a year on alternative healing. or Christianity – share selected New Age behavior such as using holistic medicine. direct experience of the divine. many people whose core religious practice is centered outside the New Age – perhaps in Buddhism. if we adopt an inclusive definition of the New Age. Moreover.44
. There are hundreds of alternative religions in the US today. angels. even though New Agers and evangelicals are often mapped as polar opposites. Anyone who is open to the New Age claim that a global shift in consciousness is underway might well ask whether the parallel growth of the counter-culture and Pentecostalism are the left and right wings of such a shift.43 This is by no means an exhaustive list of significant players within post-war religion. and prophecies about the world as we know it coming to an end. emerging Christian movements. Alternatively. or entertaining the hypothesis that bodhisattvas. the South Asian religion of Sikhs. In fact. African spirits. One scholar estimates that twelve million people participate in New Age activities. identifying gods and goddesses within. We could offer more examples in any category mentioned above – movements led by Hindu gurus. with its claim that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the second coming of Christ. For example.
3 (1999). 1945–1982 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. or a Satanist gang commits serial murder – even if we cannot predict which group will gain its fifteen minutes of fame. ed.’ in Maddox. no. Black Church in the African American Experience. The State of Native America (Boston: South End Press. See also citations in Chapter 6. Hindus. Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior. Orthodox). Native Americans in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois. let us bring this chapter to a close by recalling the key players that we have met so far: the foundational set introduced in Chapter 1 (with its many varieties of red. 4 Figures cited by Manuel Vasquez on National Public Radio. see Maffly-Kipp. symposium on Latino/a religion in Journal of the American Academy of Religion vol. 1997). Speaking of Faith. 541–635. ‘Eastward ho.’ ‘Of Gods. and New Agers.’ Mormons). and black). 1996). David Badillo. Afro-Caribbean religions. Catholic. ‘Community. Ramón Gutiérrez. Vine Deloria. Annette Jaimes. white. Cesar Chavez: a Biography with Documents (New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Like a Hurricane: the Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee (New York: New Press. Therefore.
1 Overviews include Manning Marable. 1/19/06. Religion and American Cultures. and Rebellion: the Second Reconstruction in Black America. and a growing set of others (nineteenth-century new religions. 2002). immigrants (Jewish. 1969). the whole idea of identifying key players requires us to stop before we are overwhelmed by diversity and lose our ability to keep patterns in perspective. let us agree that we could put an exclamation point on the dazzling diversity of US religion by gathering an additional set of religions with enough combined weight to count as another key player. Thomas Tweed. patriarchy and individualism: the politics of Chicano history and the dream of equality.’ Ronald Takaki. 5 Laderman and León. Reform.. 1984) and Lincoln and Mamiya. 1984). 2006).) Then. or a movie star hypes a psycho-religious therapy like Scientology. 1992). Muslims. Custer Died for Your Sins (New York: Macmillan. 177–204. Buddhists. It is safe to predict that at least one such group will gain media attention every year – perhaps because a stockpile of guns at an apocalyptic commune leads to a standoff with police.168 religion. 2 James Olson and Raymond Wilson.
. 1993). culture and politics in the 20th-century us However. Brown. 67. 3 Richard Etulain. Race. Manuel Vasquez and Marie Marquardt. emerging Protestant groups (‘Of Christs. Locating American Studies. 2003). A Different Mirror: a History of Multicultural America (Boston: Little. Our Lady of the Exile: Diasporic Religion at a Cuban Catholic Shrine in Miami (New York: Oxford University Press. Globalizing the Sacred: Religion Across the Americas (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Latinos and the New Immigrant Church (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. On how Latino/a history fits in wider historical narratives. positive thinkers. secularists. M.
R. Islam in America (New York: Columbia University Press. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics (Philadephia: Temple University Press. 1955–1970. See also Mann et al. Stephen Batchelor cited in Richard Hughes Seager. 22–44. 148–218. 2002) and Jacob Neusner. Janice Radway.. 2/3 (2000). Robyn Wiegman and Donald Pease. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. 2000). Buddhism in America (New York: Columbia University Press.’ 21. Fraser and Gerstle. 2000). 4 (2000). Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order. 2000). Melani McAlister. Encountering God: a Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Benares (Boston: Beacon Press. ‘Searching for Norman Rockwell. Gaustad and Schmidt. no. 8. 2004). On these issues see Eck. Jenkins. Hindus. 64–6. ‘Coming to America. World Religions in America (2nd edn) (Louisville: Westminster Press.’ First Things (August 2002). Hindus. no. ‘One black Allah: the Middle East in the cultural politics of African American liberation. Thomas Tweed. 234. Culture Wars: the Struggle to Define America (New York: Basic Books.’ 25–8. ‘Moorish science: the secret history of African American Islam. 420.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
353–84. Jane Smith. 2002). 45–75. 33. 51. 415–16.’ Piety and Politics. 622–56. Gaustad and Schmidt. Mark Chaves. Wuthnow. Warner. For more citations see Chapter 7. Mann et al. Walter Conser and Sumner Twiss. Philip Jenkins. 794–800. ‘New religious America. 3 (1999). 22. ‘Coming to America. and Sikhs and citations in Chapter 7. see also James Davison Hunter. 218–61. Buddhists. and Sikhs in America. See also Diana Eck. Buddhism in America. ‘New religious America.. ed. 2001).. Gurinder Singh Mann et al. ‘Make room for the Muslims?’ in Religious Diversity and American Religious History: Studies in Traditions and Cultures. Religious History of America.’ Transition vol. 76–7..’ American Quarterly vol. Restructuring of American Religion. Stephen Warner. Congregations in America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. David Wills.’ Christian Century.’ American Studies vol. ‘Religion and new (post-1965) immigrants: some principles drawn from field research. 267–86. Religion and American Cultures. 41 . and Todd Lewis. 1998) Godfrey Hodgson. (Durham: Duke University Press. Grant Wacker. ‘What’s in a name?’ in Futures of American Studies. eds (Athens: University of Georgia Press. Surveys that mesh well with this book are John Esposito. Darrell Fasching. 1992). Diana Eck. America in Our Time (New York: Vintage. no. Warner.’ in Laderman and León. 25–8. 1993). eds (Lanham: Ethics and Public
. Swami Vivekanada. For an overview of US Buddhism see Seager. 2005). eds. 100–19. 1997). The American Encounter with Buddhism 1844–1912 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. World Religions Today (New York: Oxford University Press. 1999). Buddhists. 1976). Religious History of America. New Religious America. 1991). A New Religious America (San Francisco: HarperCollins. and Sikhs in America (New York: Oxford University Press. Buddhists. 2/10/04. Moustafa Bayoumi. ‘Remarks at the World’s Parliament of Religions. George Lipsitz. Hindus. Richard John Neuhaus and Michael Cromartie. Christianity in the United States: a Historical Survey and Interpretation (South Bend: Notre Dame University.
2003).’ in The Mainstream Protestant ‘Decline’. ‘Losing faith in the GOP. 196–216. Alan Cooperman. html. A07. 21. 2003).com. Congregations in America. or in ‘none of the above’ categories that unwary scholars use as evidence of Protestant decline. Pillars of Faith. and Donald Luidens. On counting evangelicals see the website of the Institute for the Study of Evangelicals at Wheaton College. Marcus Baram. 1993). due partly to a long-term historic alliance with Republicans and partly to voting their pocketbooks.’ ABC News. ‘Liberal Christians challenge “Values Vote”. For more on megachurches see Chapter 7. Jason Bivins. ‘The new religion gap. 1994). A more ambitious study supporting these conclusions is Ammerman. John Mulder. 33.edu/isae/defining_evangelicalism. Typically they put little pressure on so-called seekers. Vanishing Boundaries: the Religion of Mainline Protestant Baby Boomers (Louisville: Westminster Press. eds (Louisville: Westminster Press. Why Conservative Churches are Growing (New York: Harper and Row. pollsters may count them as evangelical. 1990). They address the free rider issue in various ways. on the NCR’s core constituents vis-à-vis its target constituencies see Wilcox. Chaves. Most are evangelical but some are in mainline denominations and their politics range from conservative to centrist. William Hutchison. Onward Christian Soldiers. March 2005). as Christian but neither Protestant nor Catholic. Hugh Heclo and Wilfred McClay. accessed at http://abcnews go. and Louis Weeks. the converse is also true – evangelical laypeople vote Democratic more than their leaders. see also Finke and Stark. 102–22. On both sides. Inspired to Serve: Today’s Faith Activists (Bloomington: Indiana
. p. Kirk Hadaway and David Roozen. ‘Faith in politics. eds (New York: Pilgrim Press. Kirk Hadaway.. also due partly to voting their pocketbooks. Revive Us Again: the Reawakening of American Fundamentalism (New York: Oxford University Press.170 religion. Church and Denominational Growth: What Does (and What Does Not) Cause Growth and Decline (Nashville: Abingdon Press. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
Policy Center. 1987). (Princeton: Princeton University Press. Churching of America. 11/7/06. 1997). Robert Michaelsen and Wade Clark Roof. since they vote Republican more than their clergy do. See also Mark Massé. 184 Dean Kelley. Benton Johnson.’ Religious Studies News.’ in Liberal Protestantism: Realities and Possibilities. If we include mainline laity the picture is murkier. ‘Golden Rule Christianity: lived religion in the American mainstream. See Joel Carpenter. 65–84. However. They make a distinctive contribution to muddled statistics on US religion because they often advertise themselves as independent and non-denominational. 1997) and books by George Marsden cited above. Milton Coalter.’ in Religion Returns to the Public Square: Faith and Policy in America. eds (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ‘Past imperfect: history and the prospect for liberalism. it is hard to weigh religious versus non-religious motives. although some demand tithes and/or small group participation. 8.’ in Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice. See James Reichley. Dean Hoge. Nancy Ammerman. 1972). 10/10/04. ‘Denominational defection: recent research on religious disaffiliation in America. 330–1. The Fracture of Good Order: Christian Anti-Liberalism and the Challenge to American Politics (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.wheaton. 1986). David Hall.’ Washington Post.
John Saliba. Associated Press. To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L. (New York: Free Press. 2003). VT: Ashgate. 1979). 2004). See also Mary Jo Weaver and Scott Appleby. 37 Chaim Potok. A People Adrift: the Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America (New York: Simon and Schuster.’ accessed 6/11/06 at Oxford Companion to US History. and Apocalypse in America (New York University Press. in addition to books cited above. 2005). Religion and Immigration. and Catherine Albanese. Daniel Wojcik. and Adam Possamai. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches. Jonathan Sarna. Subversives. Margot Adler. 1967). ‘New Age. New Age and Neopagan Religions in America (New York: Columbia University Press. Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration (Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Druids. ‘4392 priests accused on sex abuse.’ in Haddad.com. 1997). Perspectives on the New Age (Albany: SUNY Press.’ in Williams. See also James Lewis and Gordon Melton. 42 Mary Farrell Bednarowski. Religion and American Cultures.html. and Weaver.shifts in the religious landscape: wwii to present
University Press. 3.A. Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics.com/news/wire/2004/02/26/priests/index. Stephen Bloom. On issues of this section see. 1989).’ in Boyer. Sarah Pike. 36 Riv-Ellen Prell. The Neoconservative Mind (Philadephia: Temple University Press.’ in Laderman and León. 41 Rachel Zoll. 2000). Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today (Boston: Beacon.’ New Yorker 5/16/05. ed. ‘New Age Movement. Living in the Lap of the Goddess (Boston: Beacon. Congregations in America. 2004). Religion and American Cultures and R. eds. 2 (2006). 2004). See also Laderman and León. 1995). 1998). 54–65. and Journalists 1955–1993 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 117–27. Being Right: Conservative Catholics in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1992).’ Nova Religio vol. Deborah Dash Moore. Peter Steinfels. ‘American Jews in the new millennium. 233. 1985). ‘A hard faith: how the new Pope and his predecessor redefined Vatican II.
. ‘The study of UFO religions. 1999). Holy Days: the World of a Hasidic Family (New York: Summit. 40 Peter Boyer. Stephen Warner and Judith Wittner. On issues of this paragraph see Cynthia Eller. The End of the World as We Know It: Faith. Lis Harris.) 44 On Moon and deprogrammers see Sean McCloud. 1993). 10. 39 An example is Richard John Neuhaus of First Things magazine. 1994). 35 Chaves. What’s Left: Liberal American Catholics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 38 Gary Dorrien. 154–68.’ Associated Press report accessed 2/27/2004 at ). Fatalism. ‘American Catholics in the twentieth century. Nature Religion in America From the Algonkian Indians to the New Age (Chicago: University of Chicago. eds. The Chosen: a Novel (New York: Simon and Schuster. Perspectives on American Religion and Culture. Postville: a Clash of Cultures in Heartland America (New York: Harcourt. Mary Jo Weaver. no. 127–59. 103–23. Prayer and Community: the Havurah in American Judaism (Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 43 Sarah Pike. ‘Catholic Church’s costs pass $1 billion in abuse cases. 545. 1990.
white. Many observations that we made in passing would be worth expanding in this evening stopover devoted to 172
. Nor will Chapter 7 attempt to treat every significant aspect of religion and culture. and black. Especially in the 1800s. our goal in this chapter is not to survey every important dimension of religion and post-1945 sociopolitical conflict. we must not forget that blacks have been present all along as part of the foundation. Of course. They took over and/or trashed most parts of the house that Native Americans had built – including parts that were still inhabited by the remnant of Native people who had not died in epidemics. On the contrary. although white people have taken center stage during much of our study. as in Chapters 3 and 4. Rather we will select a few cases – midday breaks and evening stopovers on our whirlwind tour – that provide texture to our overview chapters while rounding out our trip in a reasonably representative way. Immigrants built such large additions on the house that we might imagine them changing the contours of the foundation. whites seized by far the most power as the three groups built on this foundation. founders of denominations.
Faces of African-American Religion and Politics
Chapter 1 stressed that whites did not simply displace disappearing Native Americans nor exploit the labor of a black population that we can treat as marginal. They confined blacks to the servant quarters while relying heavily on black labor. Even if we have not highlighted the point. waves of immigration were overlain on this foundation. producers of popular culture. Nevertheless. they have been actors in strikes. so that divides among European-Americans became the main activities in much of the house. and so on. the foundation of US history was constituted by the interplay of red.c h ap t e r 6
Religion and Evolving Social Conflicts from World War II to the Present
neither during the Harlem Renaissance when artists like Langston Hughes and Louis Armstrong spearheaded a flowering of black urban culture. nor in later years when works like James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. and it is interesting to explore how blacks divided over the Scopes Trial. etc. or the interplay of blacks. For example. We noted how black Baptist and Methodist churches entered the century
. but we could spend this entire section expanding on issues like William Seymour’s career. feminism. Social Darwinism justified white supremacy.) have black minorities and most social issues (consumerism. John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple had a huge impact on the nation’s religious discourse.2 In general. The Jazz Singer (a celebration of minstrelsy and Jewish assimilation that was the first talking film) and Gone With the Wind (a nostalgic look at slavery that was the most popular film in Hollywood’s classic era) – plus hundreds of Westerns based on whites subjugating darkskinned savages. we have not given African-American art the attention it would reward. we noted the black contribution to Pentecostalism. war. etc. unsure whether they had more to fear from southern fundamentalists or northern Darwinists. we discussed how Tennessee’s white Baptists attacked evolution without considering how its black Baptists perceived the issue. let us concentrate on the role of religion in the civil rights movement and the diversity of African-American religion. We discussed film censorship – but it is difficult to overestimate the centrality of race to Hollywood in light of films such as Birth of a Nation (a celebration of the KKK that was the paradigmatic feature-length film).1 At least we were able to touch on the above points. and New Deal (all of which largely excluded them) and how black women’s clubs in some ways mirrored organizations like the WCTU while working with a different context and set of priorities. For the rest of this section. Both issues would be worth exploring further. and Asians in global Pentecostalism. We touched on how blacks related to the labor movement.3 Most of the groups we have discussed (missionaries. social gospel. For example. Pentecostal contributions to popular music. in other cases we simply left out observations about race in the interest of brevity. Buddhists. Latino/as.) affected blacks in distinctive ways. We treated the KKK in relation to nativism and the push-pull dynamic of immigrants who debated whether to assimilate or maintain a more defensive posture – but obviously the anti-black aspects of the KKK and black forms of this dynamic are no less important.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
African-American religion. Populists.
emerging as a leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott or the Birmingham police turning fire-hoses and attack dogs on non-violent protesters. joined by Holiness and Pentecostal churches that often operated out of urban storefronts. and this provided an opening for blacks to win changes that had earlier been beaten back.4 It is hard to overstress the centrality of the black freedom movement to post-war cultural politics. such as Adam Clayton Powell. they played key roles in the urban networks that formed the cultural matrix for the left. blacks suffered from poverty and discrimination that they found increasingly intolerable in light of New Deal reforms and economic growth that were lifting other groups into the middle class.. Jr. Jr. L. knew that he was risking his life when stepped forward as leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott – and indeed. who led Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church and was a long-time Congressman. but organizational weakness has often made rebellion risky if not suicidal. Blacks had a toehold in the New Deal coalition. Whether in the North or South. and (at least in the North) their votes counted. although they were junior partners they reaped some benefit from its policies.174 religion. They moved to cities like Chicago and Detroit with African-Americans during the Great Migration of the early twentieth century. we could spend this entire section discussing figures in this story. Franklin who led Detroit’s New Hope Baptist Church and was the father of singer Aretha Franklin. or C. his house was
. leaders based in churches helped to spearhead the push for equal rights. and the insurgent consciousness to imagine change and provide the morale to pursue it.6 Of course blacks have never lacked a sense of grievance. and that lynching and other forms of violent intimidation were widespread. culture and politics in the 20th-century us as major social institutions of their communities.. Although we should not imagine that all churches were politically engaged – some were otherworldly and/or complacent – nevertheless. We could retell famous episodes such as Martin Luther King. that blacks lacked voting rights in the South. Such ‘ironies’ (as pundits described them) became a headache for US elites because they were an embarrassment for Cold War propaganda in Africa and Asia.5 Three components must come together for a social movement to succeed: grievances that provide a motive to mobilize. enough organizational strength to give a reasonable chance of success. During World War II they appealed to the stated US war goals – defending a society that respected democratic rights from a racist enemy – and pointed out that the army fighting for these goals was segregated. Jr. Martin Luther King. Once again.
black and liberal preachers). and so on. not equal rights for all under the law) and deplored the politicization of preachers (that is. funerals. The civil rights movement was led by predominantly black organizations – politically active churches. backing up black activists on the front lines of the struggle. Northern working-class Catholics resisted desegregating their neighborhoods and schools on the grounds that this would destroy their communities and property values. blacks built autonomous urban organizations (such as King’s church) and forged alliances in the New Deal coalition (such as King’s relationships with northern clergy and the White House) at the same time that the southern cotton economy was becoming less important. This was a key to the electoral strategy that brought Richard Nixon. grassroots organizations. unions. Much of the effort that grew into the current network of private evangelical schools began as an alternative to the desegregation of public schools. It must be said. King’s network of support is a good example of how black organizational strength was growing.
. White clergy played significant roles in the protests and political bargaining that led to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
firebombed and he was later murdered. top leaders of the National Baptist Convention saw King as too radical and he had to form a splinter organization – progressive churches were usually in the mix when all three components came together. Although the Democratic Party was always uncertain whether to tilt toward southern whites or blacks and their white liberal allies. however. education. Ronald Reagan. and pressure groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – in a sometimes tense alliance with white liberal groups that were often led by Jews and mainline Protestant clergy. However. even given both a motive to mobilize and the strength to succeed. Although churches were not always pillars of strength and not every strong church nurtured insurgent consciousness – for instance. the status quo order. music. a movement cannot get off the ground without insurgent consciousness – especially when sticking one’s neck out is risky. White Southerners rallied behind the ‘southern way of life’ and ‘law and order’ (that is. George Bush. that church-based resistance to civil rights was also strong. Progressive churches were keys to black mobilization both as organizational resources in their own right and as spaces to nurture counter-hegemonic visions – expressed broadly through sermons. white Southerners increasingly voted Republican.7 Largely in response to the Democrats’ support for civil rights. Still. increasingly it supported a moderate civil rights agenda.
blacks do not appreciate being told (overtly or subtly) that they are unwelcome in white churches. (Catholics are the most important. positive thinkers. We have seen that there was a related dynamic in mainstream churches. fewer scholars were writing about African-American religion (meaning Christianity) as opposed to varieties of AfricanAmerican religion – including various forms of Christianity. most are happy with their own churches and have no desire to give up their autonomy. Bush to power. Democratic politicians such as Bill Clinton have assumed that to succeed they must lean toward the right to co-opt swing voters. By the 1960s black leaders in mainstream denominations. Although they do not stress Biblical literalism as much as white evangelicals. Theologically and denominationally. and so on – have a few black members and are trying to recruit more. they often have conservative instincts about doctrine and social mores – especially on issues of feminism
. Most majority-white denominations – Lutherans. and George W. especially in places like New Orleans where entire black neighborhoods were historically organized into Catholic parishes. moderates put the brakes on social activists to avoid alienating conservatives. the result was decreasing anti-racist commitment. and secularists. and others including lodges. however. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Sr. this has allowed Republicans to move the political center steadily rightward.. Presbyterians. they often retain distinctive styles and priorities.8 Black Christianity by itself is diverse. played key strategic roles in educating and organizing whites on racial issues – as well as popularizing music and theology that originated in black churches. By the 1990s.) Although black members of such denominations share in these groups’ standard practices. However. Afro-Caribbean religion. Of course. orthodox and heterodox Islam. Pundits often note that few blacks worship with whites and lament that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. most blacks are evangelicals. alternative communities like Father Divine’s Peace Mission. there can be a disturbing undertone to such comments – as if separate black churches are like ‘separate but equal’ public schools that can be upgraded through consolidation with ‘normal’ churches. nor do they have the same tradition of splitting spiritual and social equality into separate compartments. although small in number. Activists were seen as especially divisive if they pursued black nationalist strategies that stressed autonomous self-organization in light of the limitations of civil rights approaches. Ever since Nixon’s 1972 victory. In both political and religious circles.176 religion.
complete with one of King’s nieces singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ for a national audience watching via satellite. not least through offering them funding through the Faith-Based Initiatives program. and the Nation of Islam (NOI). the question arises whether such a person fits on a conventional culture war spectrum at all. Jr. and taught unorthodox doctrines that were politically provocative – notably a NOI mythology which held that whites were a race of devils. has any right to oppose their activism. just as we stressed that white evangelicals are largely conservative but include a spectrum of positions. Since the same black Christian might stress born-again conversion. thus inverting Christian claims that blacks were cursed by God to be ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ (Joshua 9:21). although most black churches are standoffish toward the NCR because of its alliance with the Republicans and history of opposing civil rights. However. Therefore. As we have seen. and redistributing wealth. Jakes and Creflo Dollar have cast their lot with the NCR. Today most African-American Muslims are affiliated with orthodox mosques that have organized since the 1960s. who became Malcolm X’s teacher.. which was founded by W. something similar is true of black churches. black religion has included an Islamic presence since slavery days.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
and homosexuality. fighting racism. conservative gender roles. Both made claims that outraged orthodox Muslims. D. a black church in Philadelphia hosted a NCR rally called Justice Sunday. It remains fair to map them as largely liberal – especially in their voting patterns and stance toward race and class issues – but a minority is conservative. Fard in the 1930s and built by Elijah Muhammad. NCR leaders commonly claim that no one who supported Martin Luther King.) Neither Moorish Science nor the NOI was politicized in the sense of
. when the NCR was lobbying for Samuel Alito’s appointment to the Supreme Court.9 Therefore. (One might compare how orthodox Christians responded when Sun Myung Moon declared himself the second coming of Christ. J. some high-profile black clergy such as T. such Muslims build on earlier movements that sought to recover or reinvent Islamic practice in twentieth-century US cities – notably the Moorish Science Temple which was founded by Noble Drew Ali in the 1910s. Republicans have actively recruited black conservatives. such as the NOI’s teaching that Fard was Allah incarnate. Both groups stressed the African Muslim roots of the black community. organized along lines of strict racial separation. or whether we should reserve this map for white religion. In 2006.
Complicating this picture is the fact that the NOI still exists. the NOI. Louis Farrakhan. (In recent years.) In 1995 Farrakhan organized a demonstration called the Million Man March in co-operation with a wide spectrum of black leaders. revived the original NOI in response to Warith Deen Muhammad’s reforms. let us recall.’10 It is instructive to imagine the NOI as a black variation on Zionism: how would attacks on Malcolm X’s self-defense sound if transposed into criticisms of Jewish self-defense. however. Farrakhan has sometimes appeared to be leading his followers toward orthodoxy. it may have been the largest African-American protest rally in US history. culture and politics in the 20th-century us promoting activist causes. Although most
. Important hip-hop musicians have been associated with the NOI and/or an offshoot called the Five Percenters. his son Warith Deen Muhammad led the NOI on a path toward orthodox Islam somewhat like Malcolm X had earlier traveled. However. starting with immigration from Puerto Rico after World War II and Cuba after its 1960 revolution. following the path blazed by Malcolm X. repudiated its separatism. Indeed. due largely to Malcolm X and his most famous convert – Muhammad Ali. a long-time follower of Elijah Muhammad.11 Due to immigration and increasing respect for African and Latino/a cultures. and encouraged its members to join local mosques. and self-defense ‘by any means necessary. Although most marchers were not NOI members and the rally’s goals were vague – a show of strength linked to a call for grassroots community-building and antiracist organizing – such efforts kept the separatist traditions of Malcolm X. and kindred groups near the center of African-American religious dialogues. after Elijah Muhammad died in 1975. the world heavyweight boxing champion and outspoken critic of the Vietnam War (when Ali was drafted.178 religion. brought its ritual practice in line with orthodoxy. the US denied his claim to conscientious objector status because it was based not on pacifism. account for a third of US Muslims. Farrakhan continues to give mixed signals. it garners more attention than the far larger group of orthodox AfricanAmerican Muslims – who. how would calls for Jewish self-determination sound if transposed into X’s voice calling for black power? The NOI became the best-known US group claiming Islamic identity. Afro-Caribbean religions such as Santería and Vodou have also grown since mid-century. but rather on Ali’s refusal to fight unjust wars). black pride. but at the level of culture they had significant political effects through their teaching of economic self-reliance. conversely. He largely dissolved the NOI’s organization.
the spirits communicate with devotees in the most dramatic way – by taking over their bodies as they enter ecstatic trances.13
. For example. and searches for healing and wisdom that are stressed by other religions. In 1993 the Supreme Court overturned a Florida law that forbade Santeros to sacrifice animals in a ritual context. Communities that practice Santería and Vodou are often structured like extended families. as well as whites who explored alternatives to Christianity and/or religious dimensions of music from New Orleans. Near the center of the religion. They gather around priests or priestesses who build reputations for spiritual knowledge and the ability to lead powerful ceremonies. animal sacrifice. They also shade off in two directions from place to place: toward veneration of ancestor spirits and toward devotions that merge with popular Christianity (orishas and loa are often considered the African forms of the same spiritual powers that Christians call saints). Although medicines and spells in Vodou (like its less systematized cousin. returned to the US from places where African traditions had remained stronger. The main focus of Afro-Caribbean religion is on similar kinds of communitybuilding. Devotees form relationships with supernatural beings known as orishas in Santería and loa in Vodou. and Jamaica. These beings take standard forms such as (in Vodou) the snake Danbala. the trickster Papa Gede and the mother Ezili Danto. other gifts to the spirits. or at best forced underground and practiced in fragmented ways. horror films popularize sensationalistic misinformation about its dark side. after all. Cuba. Individuals may approach priests or priestesses for divination or healing. many of them also brought a relatively unbroken extension of traditional African religions. blended with Christianity to a greater or lesser degree.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
Caribbean immigrants have been Christian (mainly Catholic). who then speaks in Gede’s voice to other people in attendance. conjure) can in fact be used for negative goals. and ceremonial drumming. In the context of feasting. These were mainly practiced by immigrants – especially Cubans and Haitians – but also attracted some interest from longer-established AfricanAmericans. however. respect for spiritual mysteries. are communal ceremonies.12 Vodou has a reputation as exotic and dangerous. Papa Gede might possess a priestess. invoke death on one’s enemies by praying for victory in a war – than unlike it. Religious practices that were largely stamped out by the US slave system. its blend of the positive and negative is more like Christianity – in which one might.
even though (as a visitor from the North) he did not even realize he was doing anything considered inappropriate. The racial discourse inherited from slavery and extended by Jim Crow segregation stressed rigid hierarchical separation of the races. there were powerful taboos against inter-racial sex (with an exception for master–slave ‘breeding’). and many whites who give lip service to respecting black culture actually treat it as irrelevant to their lives in white suburban enclaves. One reason was rising religious diversity. For example. culture and politics in the 20th-century us By the century’s end. In 1955. Any racial ambiguity was polarized into two separate and unequal categories. People of mixed-race parentage were lumped into the category of blackness. Although the popular image of lynching presents it as small-scale and spontaneous vigilante justice – perhaps to save a white virgin from violation – lynchings were often public events complete with newspaper advertising. Perhaps most important.180 religion. whites lynched black men accused of transgressing these taboos. and spectators who rode excursion trains to the spectacle. another was post-1965 immigration and an increase in mixed-race marriages that made it increasingly misleading to approach US race relations as a binary black–white system. Nevertheless. After emancipation and continuing far into the twentieth century. the mindset that enjoyed watching blackface films or found Emmett Till’s murder logical now
. because masters sought to maintain the children of slaves in servitude even if one parent (typically the master himself) was free. related to the rise of a discourse celebrating racial inclusivity and the success of the civil rights movement in removing barriers to blacks rising into professions and middle-class enclaves. however.14 By the 1980s there was change on this front. fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi because he whistled at a white woman. many whites associate black behavior with moral decline rather than positive and enriching pluralism. although the lightest-skinned among them could illegally pass as white. True. To maintain an ideology of racial purity and to discourage sexual attraction from eroding racial boundaries. some conservatives maintained overtly degrading and segregationist ideas. laws declared that even one drop of African blood in a person’s genealogy made him/her legally black. aspects of white supremacist common sense remained embedded in subtler parts of the culture. was a change in discourses about race after the breakthrough of the civil rights movement. souvenir postcards. it was harder to identify the central actors in black religion and their political priorities than it had been at mid-century. More importantly.
peace” when there is no peace’ (Jeremiah 6:14). even if many entertainers still engage in neo-minstrelsy and the prison system carries forward many aspects of institutional racism. it is helpful to introduce the concept of racial formations – the idea that race (or more precisely racialization. we find that the major form of US racism since the 1960s has not been the maintenance of strict racial hierarchies – such that pursuing race-blind integration is the main challenge – but rather a racial formation that discounts the ongoing structuring of society in racialized ways. saying “Peace. If we do so. However.
.15 At its best. for example. this vision is less satisfying insofar as black people experience US society more as a nightmare than a dream. Either Christians or non-Christians can sound this theme. Thus. a vision of religious–racial equality – King’s American Dream – was an insurgent consciousness well matched to overcoming segregation and barriers to upward mobility for middle-class blacks. without justice there cannot be peace. Likewise. the projection of largely arbitrary racial categories onto reality) is not static. and their strategy may be engagement with mainstream society or autonomous self-organization. To understand why. and in this regard King’s approach can be a form of false consciousness – looking at a nightmare through rose-colored classes and seeing a utopian dream. While this is a real gain. it brings new problems into view. their stress may be demanding equality or respecting diversity. as long as racialized injustices persist in the US – and they show every sign of being an ongoing structural component – variations on this theme will remain a basic feature of US religion. we must clarify how particular hegemonic discourses – racial formations – function to maintain unjust power relations between racialized groups. no peace’ – that is. before we can identify the key forms of racism to attack. through residential segregation or differential enforcement of laws. In this perspective. The prophet Jeremiah complained of people who ‘heal the wound of my people lightly. but takes fluid forms in different contexts.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
seems significantly outdated. some people suggest that a better motto for anti-racism is ‘No justice. The hegemonic idea can mislead people into believing that the US is steadily achieving multicultural equity. liberal multiculturalism heals ongoing legacies of racism too lightly. Who is scandalized today because a film screens an inter-racial kiss or Elvis Presley’s music seems ‘too black?’ A liberal paradigm that accents how all people are the same under the skin and celebrates cultural blending has become hegemonic. In any case.
the revivals that launched Graham’s career fused concerns about saving souls and fighting Communists. it would be useful to introduce many activists from the NCR and the religious left and to treat their projects in depth. Jr. Certain aspects of evangelicalism reinforced this interpretation. although their tactics backfired and scholars often cite this episode – perhaps somewhat wishfully – as the last gasp of antiCatholicism in mainstream US politics. was famous for socializing with Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon and preaching televised sermons with understated but unmistakable political overtones. when Falwell preached a 1965 sermon that accused Martin Luther King. At best we can speak briefly about trends. starting on the rightward parts of a culture war spectrum and moving to the left. his sermon had
. Graham invited Nixon to speak at one of his televised revivals on the campus of the University of Tennessee shortly after the National Guard killed anti-war protestors at Kent State University. of meddling in politics and failing to proclaim the gospel. For example. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
There were worlds within the world of mainstream religious politics in the post-war era. As noted above. The revitalized NCR that became a pillar of the Republican coalition did not emerge from nowhere in the 1970s. despite the otherworldly self-understanding of conservative Protestants. evangelicals lobbied against John Kennedy. Before the 1970s scholars and pundits discounted such activities as marginal and fading. In the 1960 election. In support of Nixon’s claim to represent a silent majority. Anyone who bothered to look could have found evangelicals making significant culturalpolitical interventions all along. scholars exaggerate the political disengagement of even the most uncompromising fundamentalists before the 1970s. and somewhat less common but still significant among neo-evangelicals aligned with Graham.182 religion. Evangelicals nursed a sense of marginality that led them to stress otherworldly themes and teach that the fallen world of politics was no place for serious Christians. and it would take far longer than one evening stopover to introduce them all with the texture that we are aiming for. Nevertheless. Billy Graham. If we had more time. This was especially true of oldtime separatist fundamentalists. which had made it nearly impossible for Nixon to appear on college campuses without massive counter-demonstrations.16 Their top leader from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the 1970s Graham preached at the White House and sponsored a national rally called Honor America Day.
this was a more autonomous organization with greater grassroots strength. the NCR leadership shifted to the Christian Coalition organized by televangelist Pat Robertson and his lieutenant Ralph Reed. He played a key role in prodding fundamentalists toward overt activism.18 As one NCR leader said. ‘I
. and the abortionists. However. The world of the NCR became diverse. even though some of them supported far-right groups like the KKK and the John Birch Society. neo-conservatives in Protestant circles. teaching creationism. Falwell was the NCR’s most visible leader. ‘We’ve gone way beyond the point where we need a seat at the table … We’re in a position to offer others a seat at the table. and foreign policy – evangelicals played an implicit political role simply through stressing personal spirituality and obedience to authority.’19 In the 1970s and 1980s. By 2002 the NCR dominated the Republican organizations of eighteen states and controlled at least a quarter of Republican committees in forty-four states. the Moral Majority. and the gays and the lesbians … [and groups like the ACLU] who have tried to secularize America’ were partly responsible for the attacks. Others press for a multi-issue agenda in alliance with secular politicians or simply attempt to take over the Republican Party. or promoting sexual abstinence. Falwell revealed core NCR assumptions two days after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The most powerful and visible NCR power brokers are fundamentalists – so much so that some people use ‘NCR’ as a shorthand term for such people alone. and conservative evangelicals in mainline denominations.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
a clear political thrust. Christians who are highly politicized and allied with Republicans include conservative Catholics. In the late 1980s and 1990s.17 Given the strong overlap between hegemonic practices and evangelical mores – not only their stances toward race but also toward gender. policing Hollywood. His organization. when he stated on Robertson’s television show that ‘the pagans. Some people in this group focus on single issues such as criminalizing abortion. worked with secular operatives of the Reagan Administration. because we really are the heart of the party. building fundamentalist schools. In this sense most evangelicals formed part of the post-war liberal consensus. Evangelical political mobilization moved to a higher level of selfconsciousness and intensity after the mid-1970s. wealth and poverty. In recent years the top NCR power brokers have included James Dobson’s radio empire called Focus on the Family (which has its own zip code in Colorado Springs) and its allied lobbying arm. He said. and the feminists. the Family Research Council.
However. After an NCR faction took over the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in the 1980s and carried out such a purge – which included rolling back support for women’s ordination – conservatives in other denominations attempted related strategies. he expressed regret that he had included only liberals on his list of sinners. culture and politics in the 20th-century us point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen. Falwell’s supposed apology for his comments was premised on such gap. some focused on strengthening and policing the boundaries of their communities. No doubt the idea remained pervasive. and claimed that his comment would have been unobjectionable ‘if I had added the church as one of the offenders – a sleeping church that is not praying enough. with generous funding from neo-conservative foundations. but if not. moderate Baptists unhappy with the SBC purges built alternative institutions such as the Cooperate Baptist Fellowship. it made sense for evangelicals to feel defensive in cultural niches such as university English departments or parts of Hollywood.”’ This was so because they undermined the essential nature of the US as a Christian nation. with Republicans controlling all three branches of government by 2004 and
.’ The NCR perceives a huge gap between its current influence and the power it needs to uphold this covenant. this was enough to block many liberal goals in these denominations. which had prospered due to a covenant with God that could be traced back to the Puritans. so that the two main options on the national stage became the hard-right policies of the NCR and a center-left but largely paralyzed mainstream.’21 The claim that evangelicals are persecuted outsiders fighting for seats at tables of power. As we have seen. one turning point in their efforts to gain support was the SBC’s 1998 policy declaration that ‘A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. made less and less sense as the years passed. a growing group of evangelicals fell between these poles. Granted. NCR leaders exhorted their followers to see themselves as underdogs battling for survival against secular elites who dominated the media. For example. God would protect the nation if it fulfilled its mission.’20 Not all NCR projects involved pressing for changes in public policy.184 religion. ‘God will be not mocked. Especially important in this regard were Christian schools and media. and (non-military) government agencies. universities. as well as efforts to purge liberals from churches. The result in denominations like the Presbyterians and Lutherans was a stalemate rather than an NCR victory. However. carried forward as standard rhetoric since the 1920s.
religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
conservatives dominating the news media. it became difficult to give evangelicals the benefit of doubt when they claimed to feel like underdogs. most NCR people felt misunderstood and insulted if liberals accused them of such goals. they did carry forward commitments from the social gospel era. The point is not that the NCR sought a total monopoly of power or a theocracy that ended the separation of church and state. and radical members of an NCR movement called Reconstructionism hoped to replace the Constitution with Biblical laws. NCR leaders expected to exercise hegemony. Still deserving more attention. end-times novels did imagine such a monopoly as a long-term utopian vision. What they actually sought was less dramatic. We have seen that Golden Rule Christians remained strong (if sometimes neglected) during the years when the NCR mobilized on its right. However. If sincere. Without plotting to take over the state. Recall how liberals entered the 1950s presupposing Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realist approach. it was to posit that the NCR ‘normally’ expected not only to control huge slices of demographic pie. Or was the claim a mere debating tactic of cynical NCR leaders? The best way to give the NCR the benefit of doubt for sincerity was disturbing to most other people. True. akin to the rich executive posited in our Introduction who felt oppressed because he was shy and left-handed. and cultural influence (as it already did) but to control preponderant power across the society. the claim seemed to be a gross misperception of their situation. they felt entitled to a routine overlap between their priorities and the decisions of politicians. although nearly as ambitious: it was to undo the damage they perceived as arising from the moral anarchy of the 1960s and their cultural disestablishment earlier in the century. They enthusiastically supported social goals that they deemed realistic. In short. is a network of loosely allied movements on its left. NCR leaders hoped to convert most opponents in the long run – and meanwhile to block them from corrupting a faithful Christian majority. however. and when they did not do so they felt oppressed even when they constituted one of the nation’s strongest power blocs. including stoning for adultery. whether through turning back the clock or moving into a new era. political muscle. Without envisioning bloody purges of secularists and religious minorities. which in practice meant those that dovetailed with the New Deal and
. Although the Niebuhrians’ stress on God’s prophets keeping pride in check made them suspicious of activists whom they considered too socialist or pacifist.
They organized a peace group called Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam. Many white activists joined blacks who were jailed. Often they worked with liberal rabbis to forge Protestant–Catholic–Jewish alliances. Asia. as well as widespread support for activism to slow down Reagan’s arms build-up. or even killed in the struggle. and Africa.23 In the mid-1960s liberal clergy broke with a Cold War mindset and joined older pacifist groups like the Catholic Worker Movement in opposing the Vietnam War. people from the rising generation in Niebuhr’s tradition – professors. whenever greater space for ‘responsible’ cultural–political critique opened in mainstream public opinion. especially before the 1970s when such alliances became strained over the Israel– Palestine conflict. clergy. After the mid-1950s. good friends. They qualified their support for capitalist development strategies and came to insist that it was ideological mystification to use free
. their changes from a 1940s Niebuhrian baseline were not trivial. which was a key bridge between the radical student left and middle America. beaten. Increasingly they forged alliances with anti-imperialist movements in Latin America. They were increasingly joined by Catholics who carried forward traditions of Catholic social thought in relation to the spirit of Vatican II. Although not all liberal clergy supported all forms of civil rights activism – King’s famed ‘Letter from Birmingham City Jail’ was a response to liberal clergy who used Niebuhrian-style logic to question his methods – nevertheless. by the 1960s they strongly supported the movement. they remained New Dealers who broadly supported John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Around 1960 they began to rethink their justification of US nuclear policy. and by the 1980s such questions ripened into major statements against the arms race by Catholic and Methodist bishops. Still.’25 As people in this network moved toward radical critiques of US Vietnam policy. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Cold War. their wider thinking about foreign relations moved in related directions.24 Meanwhile a Jesuit priest named Daniel Berrigan caused a furor by breaking into a selective service office and burning draft files with homemade napalm. At his trial he uttered the famous words ‘Apologies. especially if they knew colleagues from these places through missionary and ecumenical networks. and ecumenical leaders – moved into this space. for this fracture of good order. or CALCAV. King gave a major speech in 1967 against the war under CALCAV’s umbrella.22 Such activists were not radically opposed to government polices before the mid-1960s.186 religion. the burning of paper instead of children.
26 Let us pause to consider how this dramatizes an abstract point from our Introduction – that religion takes both hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forms. On the contrary. which included strong grassroots religious participation. was created to support US efforts in World War II and US post-war global planning. In many places this network was the backbone of organizing against US Central America policy. Recall how the journal. He was born into an upper-class family (his uncle was the
. labor law. (At this time the US government refused asylum to such refugees because it denied that it supported human rights abuses. it was enough of a brake on Reagan’s plans that he ordered extensive illegal surveillance of churches.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
market theory to posit equal relationships of trade in which former colonies could freely chose strategies of comparative economic advantage. when Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated and four US nuns were raped and murdered in El Salvador – this had a powerful galvanizing impact. anti-imperialist activism flowered within the same institutions and theological traditions that had earlier sponsored colonial missions and justified scenarios for nuclear war as a lesser evil. so when their friends began to be tortured and killed by soldiers whom the US government had armed – for example. A network of US Christians smuggled refugees from these wars into their communities. corporate welfare. offering them sanctuary in their churches. These movements. in which strong parties took advantage of weak ones through various means. Christianity and Crisis. By the 1970s this journal had evolved into a forum for anti-imperialist solidarity activists and an alternative source of news about Latin America to countervail against the spin of mainstream news sources. Global economics involved unequal relationships of dependency. and government investment in road-building and arms production. In this case. By the 1970s left church networks strongly supported revolutionary coalitions in Central America. Many US church people (both white clergy and Latino/a immigrants) had personal friends among the revolutionaries. William Slone Coffin was among the best-known leaders in this network.) Such civil disobedience personalized the transnational religious solidarities that were being forged. from pillage and slavery in the colonial era to neo-colonial arrangements like the politics of international debt in the present. overthrew a US-backed dictator in Nicaragua and began prolonged class struggles against US-backed fascist elites in Guatemala and El Salvador. market choices in every nation were shaped by political factors such as tax incentives.
and acted boldly in the public sphere. However.188 religion. one of Jerry Falwell’s daughters is a surgeon – although they still held up domesticity as an ideal. and president of the anti-nuclear group SANE/Freeze thereafter. as well as the ongoing female majority of church members who were coming to expect equal opportunities in the non-religious parts of their lives. dealt skillfully with the media. (By the 1990s even NCR leaders had cut back on their talk about women’s place being in the home because their wives and daughters were pursuing careers – for example. feminist versions were the slowest to pick up momentum. the head of New York’s influential Riverside Church in the 1970s and 1980s. This was true largely because (unlike calls for solidarity with Nicaragua) they harnessed the self-interest of a large group of young clergy. with a few women pursuing degrees in religious education. visited US hostages in Iran. mainstream churches increasingly took for granted a moderate commitment to women’s equality. but they sustained the most power by century’s end. and supported the push for gay and lesbian equality that embroiled churches late in the century. now male/female ratios approached parity and
. culture and politics in the 20th-century us head of Union Theological Seminary and friend of many New York elites) and his youth included adventures working for the Central Intelligence Agency during the 1940s and 1950s.28) Recall that before the 1950s only a handful of women had been ordained outside the Holiness–Pentecostal tradition. This set the stage for women to be ordained on a large scale for the first time in the 1970s. While at Yale he risked his life as a Freedom Rider (that is. and helped to lead the draft resistance movement. In 1974 dissident Episcopal bishops ordained eleven women. Student bodies at seminaries of liberal Protestantism and mainstream Judaism were rapidly transformed.27 Among the many forms of left religious activism that rose between the 1950s and 1970s. No longer were they overwhelmingly male. arguing that the authority of the Holy Spirit allowed them to do so even though the denomination had prohibited it. Methodists and Presbyterians dropped barriers to ordination in 1956 and Lutherans did so in 1970 (Reform and Conservative Jews followed in 1972 and 1985). traveled to Vietnam with a CALCAV group. He became the chaplain of Yale University in the 1960s. as part of an inter-racial group that desegregated interstate buses through direct action). after the breakthrough of second-wave feminism. At Riverside Church he sponsored an influential disarmament program. Coffin crafted sermons informed by a prophetic liberal theology.
Mary Daly began her career in the 1960s advocating women’s equality in Catholicism. most religious feminists built on traditions of nineteenth-century activism (purged of Victorian assumptions and expanded through multiculturalism and feminist theory) to build spaces in mainstream congregations that presupposed women’s equality and functioned as networks for change. most moderate-to-liberal Christians agreed that women’s ordination was a good idea. along lines that included advocates of radical change versus moderate reform. Moreover. of course’. Along with increased women’s leadership came feminist approaches to issues of gender and sexuality. Radical feminists raised in Christian and Jewish circles repudiated their traditions entirely. those who incorporated concerns about race and class versus those who were mainly worried about opportunities for middle-class women. and women did not always have access to the best jobs.’31 In 1971 when she was invited to give the first sermon by a woman at Harvard’s Memorial Church.
. one satire imagined a liturgy focusing not on God the Father and the brotherhood of Man. she used the opportunity to exhort women to abandon Christianity and led a ‘women’s exodus’ out of the door. (To dramatize the need for such changes. however. Protestants enacted it directly and Catholics experimented with new roles for nuns and female church professionals while lobbying for change at higher levels of the Church. the overall percentage of female clergy remained in the twenty-five to thirty per cent range at the end of the century. Nevertheless. Some religious feminists embraced Daly’s philosophical critiques and/or experimented with female Wiccan groups. Religious feminists divided in complex ways. many mainline churches resisted changes taken for granted in liberal seminaries. she soon concluded that a woman seeking gender equality in the Church was ‘comparable to a black person’s demanding equality in the Ku Klux Klan.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
women pursued the same careers as men. but rather on God the Mother and the sisterhood of Woman – a sisterhood ‘which includes men. For example. and those who stressed issues of pornography and sexual abuse (with a default assumption that explicit sexual images were associated with objectification and rape) versus those who were more ‘sex-positive’ and interested in unleashing erotic energies repressed by patriarchal culture. However.30) Because many denominations resisted women’s ordination. these were not settled issues for evangelicals or Catholics.29 To say the least. such as creating gender-inclusive translations of the Bible.
Dorothee Soelle responded that neoconservatives would do better to ask why people were turning toward radical positions. This was the heart of religion as she understood it. culture and politics in the 20th-century us By the 1970s.190 religion. rather. During the 1970s.
Thinking about the End of the World with Conservative Protestants
At least three things are clear about evangelical end-times speculation. making it the top-selling non-fiction book of the decade – yet its success was dwarfed by the twelve-volume. religion was not false consciousness. ‘Wouldn’t it be thinkable that this has do with some major events in this century – say Auschwitz?’ asked Soelle. When neo-conservatives objected to this theology and exhorted churches to stand in judgment on all ideologies. As Soelle confronted the defeats of the left after the 1960s. activist clergy like Coffin and theologians rooted in the feminist and black freedom movements joined Third World leaders like El Salvador’s Romero and South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu in developing liberation theologies that correlated radical activism with Christian discipleship and hegemonic policies with sin and oppression. written by Jerry Jenkins and NCR leader Tim LaHaye. while others circulate through churches and Christian bookstores. the practice of faith was a struggle against cynicism. novels. losing sight of utopian dimensions of religion was just what capitalism wanted people to do. this leaves aside people who are concerned about the end-times as just one interest among others within a broad
. even in the seeming absence of objective foundations for it. multi-media juggernaut of the Left Behind series. exploitation. he found eight million prophecy believers out of an evangelical sub-culture of fifty million. Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth sold twenty-eight million copies. becomes bloodless. Contrary to classic Marxian analysis.’ By this definition.32 Such ideas became staples in liberal seminary curricula and sermons. One is that it is a major phenomenon. and Bible study tapes. ‘place [this] at the center’ of their worldview. sermons. and believe that God has ‘a specific. Dozens of variations on the same plot are available as films.’33 For Soelle. some of these break through to mainstream theaters and marketing behemoths like Wal-Mart. and the flattening of human relationships into commodities. or any desire. her writing represented an effort to sustain hope. ‘A spirituality that is stripped of human need. One scholar tried to estimate the number of Christians who are ‘deeply preoccupied’ with the end-times. plan for history’s last days. detailed.34 However.
certain basics about the tradition are straightforward. and a birthmark on the face of Soviet leader Mikhail
. Adolph Hitler.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
evangelical worldview. John Kennedy. Sun Myung Moon. Henry Kissinger. Where does it end when twenty-five per cent of US citizens think that the Bible predicted the attacks of 9/11. the blue eagle logo of the National Recovery Administration in the New Deal era. Christians have commented on these texts throughout history. and eighty-five per cent accept the Bible as divinely inspired? Can interest in films like Matrix Revolutions (2003) and End of Days (1999) – both with apocalyptic scenarios and heroes who are crucified somewhat like Christ – be disentangled from end-times prophecy belief? Second. for example. It stands in a long tradition of interpreting apocalyptic texts of the Hebrew Bible like the book of Daniel and similar Christian texts such as the book of Revelation and the thirteenth chapter of Mark. Whereas most scholars see apocalyptic texts as comments on struggles during the years when they were written – especially persecution of Jews and Christians by Greeks and Romans – end-times believers see these texts as predicting the future and seek one-to-one correspondences with current political events. the rapture of believers and rise of an anti-Christ with marks like the number 666 – onto current events. For example. several Popes. End-times believers map standard plot elements from apocalyptic texts – for example. and one Biblical literalist managed to translate the Hebrew word for ‘bow and arrow’ as ‘missile launcher. We might define prophecy belief so that it blends seamlessly into US culture at large. writers like Cyrus Scofield (author of the Scofield Reference Bible) reworked the tradition into the theory of dispensational premillennialism. and Ronald Reagan. a mysterious enemy called Gog in the book of Ezekiel became associated with scenarios of the Soviet Union attacking Israel. Marks of the Beast include the Stamp Act during the Revolutionary War. In the nineteenth century. including current and future stages that they see as foretold in prophecy. sixty-two per cent have no doubt that Jesus will return. which they expect to begin soon in the context of a global crisis. dispensationalists interpret the Bible by breaking it into stages. Puritans drew on this tradition when they spoke about building a Kingdom of God in America. As discussed above.’35 All of the following people have been identified as the anti-Christ in end-times discourse: King George III. Premillennialists believe that Jesus will return before a thousand-year period at the end of time called the millennium. Endtimes belief is part of the evangelical sub-culture.
rather than against the northern elites and local blacks who were often targets of kindred politicians. Since 1948 they have often voiced concern about Israel – both support for Israeli policy and the expectation that most Jews will be punished for rejecting Christ.36 Through such methods. one read the book of Daniel backward and counted every seventh letter. he was a successful Louisiana politician during an era when there was no route to power that did not involve corruption and ruthless political tactics. However. Even the elite authors of end-times novels are examples of this phenomenon when their fears of the anti-Christ merge with fears of corporate globalization or domination by secular liberals. One evangelist used a computer analysis of the Bible to discern that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was in league with the anti-Christ.192 religion. he felt that this revealed the futility of peace negotiations that were underway at the time. However. after all. Rastafarian musician Bob Marley might be considered an end-times prophecy believer.37 A third feature of end-times discourse is implicit in what we have already said – it includes a sense of embattlement or persecution that focuses the discontent of ordinary people against people they perceive as enemies. In every generation since the book of Daniel was written. and much hip-hop is bursting with apocalyptic images. Long deserves some of his reputation as anti-democratic. In this context.38 More important for US evangelicals is the blend of end-times ideas and populism. For example. for example. Coded messages could be uncovered if. Through such a method. As discussed above. The 1995 film Kingfish captures some of the complexities. prophecy writers have piled up evidence that their interpretive scenarios have flawlessly predicted all events up the moment when they are writing – then concluded with an appeal to readers to trust them about the future. Long used Biblical rhetoric to focus the anger of his working-class supporters against southern elites. Overall. we can discover a wider range of dissent if we expand the discussion. this film reflects the common interpretation of Long as little more than a proto-fascist demagogue. in one scene he presents his plan to increase taxes on the rich as an example of ‘God’s law’ and denounces his enemies by
. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Gorbachev during the Cold War. let us return to Huey Long. they currently worry that the anti-Christ is planning a global system to control people using implanted computer bar codes. the preacher discovered the words ‘Arafat shake hands’. For example. believers comment on current events and express their hopes and fears about the future. It can mobilize dissent toward many political ends.
like a flashlight held close to a page. Premillennialists tend to be downbeat about the prospects for humans doing God’s will on earth. In this view. confident.’40 Either way. at least compared with those who expect progress toward the millennium within history. many scholars overstress this fatalistic interpretation. even classic forms of premillennialism have optimistic aspects. ‘Occupy Until I Come. Earlier heroes were often passive victims awaiting rescue by God. The rise of Dominion theology dramatizes the worldliness of many prophecy believers. and premillennial optimism that concentrates its utopian hopes on a vision of heaven. Moreover. What does make sense is to flee. There is no contradiction – in fact there are logical affinities – between actively working toward one’s goals and believing that God is fighting on one’s side to guarantee an inevitable victory. listen: “Go to now.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
quoting a prophetic text: ‘Break up the concentration of wealth in this country and redistribute it according to the Lord’s plan. Radical Dominionists want to reconstruct US law along strict Biblical lines (thus their other name. Scholars disagree whether the discourse encourages fatalism. Jesus needs to come back and clean up the mess made by humans before the kingdom of God can come. Reconstructionists). and technologically savvy. Many argue that it breeds cynicism and complacency about efforts at social reform. For if you do not. Suppose that a passenger sitting next
. preferably to a place with a nice view of God destroying one’s enemies. the point to underscore is the ambiguity of end-times politics. One scholar speaks of a contrast between liberal Protestant optimism that is like a flashlight dimly illuminating a future landscape. they feel that modern society is more like a Babylon to shun than a kingdom of God to build. some of them literally stockpile arms that they expect to use in a coming war with the anti-Christ. Trying to reform Babylon makes no sense. Weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you”!’39 With these three points to orient our discussion. Moderate Dominionists (including many NCR leaders) shift their stress away from a goal of separating from Babylon toward a goal of redeeming it. one of their mottos is the Bible verse. ye rich men. whereas today’s heroes (such as the fighters in Left Behind’s Tribulation Force) are bold. their political impact remains fluid. they attack premillennialists for timidity and otherworldliness. One measure of their growing strength is the behavior of heroes in endtimes novels since the 1970s. However.41 Whether end-times beliefs focus dissent in fatalistic or optimistic ways.
the Christian terrorist who bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The heroes execute ‘pulpit prostitutes’ who compromise with Republican leaders. ‘The Bible teaches that we must fight God’s enemies – don’t you agree?’ What does she mean? Clearly there is room for alarm about what this question might imply for people in the network of militias. Such support is anathema for the splinter of the far right called the Christian Identity movement.’ That is.’42 The Turner Diaries takes its vision of establishing order and rolling back gains of the civil rights movement to cartooonish extremes. the book opens with an attack that at first seems to be an example of this threat. they complain that ‘the Jewish takeover of the Christian churches … [is] virtually complete. One preacher saw a rise in overdue library books as a sign of Christ’s imminent return. It describes how a disciplined group can (as McVeigh did) blow up a building with a truck bomb using agricultural fertilizer. it is equally clear that other forms of end-times belief are fairly innocuous. city-bred.’ 43 Almost everyone would consider such ideas noxious. brainwashed. However. This is among the milder episodes in the book.’ which assures them that ‘We are truly the instruments of God in the fulfillment of His Grand Design.000 race traitors. The rest died. including many identified as ‘faculty members from the nearby UCLA campus. paramilitary cells. Consider
. Often it returns to images of black rapists who threaten white sexual purity.’ In their liberated zone they lynch 55. although it turns out to be a government goon squad confiscating white people’s guns (in this version of reality blacks collude with the police and are never harassed by them). Whites gradually began reclaiming their manhood. Suppose she notices you reading this book and says to you conspiratorially. the clean-up operations after the nuclear attack] wore on. culture and politics in the 20th-century us to you on a plane is reading Left Behind.’ The hero comments: ‘As the war of extermination [that is. millions of soft. and churches of the far right. which teaches that the true identity of the Bible’s chosen people is Anglo-Saxon and that Jews are the ‘spawn of Satan. which reads as a how-to manual for starting your own terrorist cell. they condemn NCR leaders for inadequate commitment to Dominion theology and excessive support for Israel. Their plans are guided by ‘The Book. Its heroes escalate the conflict to nuclear war using bombs they obtain by taking over a military base.194 religion. Your airline companion may be reading Left Behind with no more political agenda than passengers who are reading Stephen King novels or watching The X-Files as their in-flight movie. The Turner Diaries was a favorite book of Timothy McVeigh.
Bakker pushed this model so hard that the lines blurred between asking viewers to support a program they valued (as National Public Radio does during pledge drives). Start Making Lemonade. and their empire included an amusement park called Heritage USA that was a Christian version of Disneyland. In effect. He gained control of PTL by presenting himself as a father figure who could put its house in order. Bakker used a seed-faith fundraising approach. inviting viewers to invest in PTL through seed-faith gifts. The point we must grasp is that both Tammy Faye and Timothy McVeigh are part of end-times discourse. However. That is. Jim and Tammy were raised in a Pentecostal sub-culture that taught them to shun ‘the world’ – not attend movies. Like many other evangelists.’ The Bakkers’ show was a Christian version of Oprah. We might compare his vision to the promises of future growth made – on a larger scale – by Enron Corporation. but to tell God the exact color it should be. a television show hosted by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in the 1980s. PTL stands for ‘Praise the Lord’ and ‘People That Love. he taught that anyone who made a gift to God could expect this seed to grow into a yield of material blessings. Jim told his viewers not simply to ask God for a Cadillac. by their heyday they modeled for their viewers how to use Pentecostal teachings about God’s blessing to blend seamlessly into a world of middle-class consumerism. Like many of their viewers. and so on. ‘When Life Gives You a Lemon. They represent a classic case of what we earlier called Pentecostal pragmatism as opposed to primitivism. not to use make-up. but also like investing in a lucrative stock. so did PTL’s. a yacht. Just as Enron’s financial house of cards collapsed. Jim Bakker wound up in jail. and today Tammy Faye is better known among college students for appearing on an MTV reality show than for her work on PTL. One of the few people who benefited from PTL’s debacle was Falwell. and wound up appropriating its communications satellite. and the question arose whose fault it was – the company’s for making promises it could not keep or investors’ for believing these promises. When Tammy appeared on television after PTL’s collapse and sang. donating to PTL was partly like offering a hopeful prayer.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
the end-times believers who watched The PTL Club. and a pet giraffe – that it provoked a backlash. using donations to buy an air-conditioned doghouse.’ her song included a line about ‘being pruned by
.44 Unfortunately PTL took this to such extremes – for example. and making fraudulent guarantees of future vacations at Heritage USA in apartments that PTL promised to build with the donations.
Robertson’s book. But in this case. other than a sense that they were not yet as comfortable as Tammy in the world of consumerism? If an evangelical sub-culture is supposed to be defined by its distance from and embattlement with dominant culture.’45 Fans could recognize this line as Biblical prophetic motif and recall how PTL had talked about Christ’s return along with vacations at Heritage USA. Written shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union when George Bush.’ For his part. albeit with fewer Jews and more New Agers in its conspiracy. NCR leaders worked hard to distance themselves from it. although only insofar as government leaders are seen as Biblically sound. and the Illuminati.196 religion. anti-family. Robertson stated that Bush’s participation in the Trilateral Commission and his co-operation with the United Nations in the Persian Gulf War were part of a Satanic conspiracy to institute ‘an occult-inspired world socialist dictatorship. spoke about building a new world order. This does not mean that The Turner Diaries reveals the pure essence of prophecy that will naturally ripen into action for serious believers. he blames ruling ‘educrats’ controlled by a web that includes the National Endowment for the Humanities.
. culture and politics in the 20th-century us God’s blade. and how do ordinary readers in pews and airplanes interpret them? To begin. In books like Left Behind.46 It is also clear that prophetic scenarios reinforce isolationism and unilateralism – as well as nationalism. the Trilateral Commission. if end-times theology is supposed to be otherworldly and defined by a sense of fighting God’s enemies – then exactly what did PTL viewers fight. and anti-American’. recycled key arguments from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The New World Order. doesn’t the boundary of the PTL sub-culture appear less like the perimeter of a paramilitary compound and more like a wave that ripples off and disappears somewhere near a shopping mall? In light of this range of meanings.. the question arises: where do the heavy-hitters of end-times discourse like LaHaye and Robertson fall on this continuum. it is clear that some sectors of the NCR shade into the less radical parts of the extreme right. anti-free enterprise. Sr. LaHaye is a major NCR leader who has stated that public schools teach youth to be ‘anti-God. Approaching from the NCR establishment looking right. anti-moral. Nevertheless – approaching this question from the far right looking toward the center – the same far-right network that produced McVeigh also produced the former KKK leader David Duke. who won the Republican nomination and fifty-five per cent of the white vote for governor of Louisiana in the 1990s.
he battles a world government headquartered in Iraq that worships the Hindu ‘demon’ Shiva. even to the extent of treason and armed resistance. he tries to kill everyone who will not worship him.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
when US leaders capitulate to the anti-Christ. Bush has made many religiously inflected comments about the Iraq war. and he continues to speak about a global war between good and evil in a way that implies a contrast between Western Christian values and much of the Muslim world. either by turning the tide in a war fought by Christians or fighting the war himself. Clearly it plays some role in shaping public attitudes. In most versions of the plot. within end-times discourse ‘treaties. Reagan’s end-times beliefs were a factor in his ideas about the Cold War and the support he garnered from the NCR. believers escape the tribulation by being raptured before it starts. At a minimum it inflects the climate of discussion and helps to block roads not taken. alliances. and participation in the UN all pave the way for the coming of the anti-Christ … [who] unites the world to form a One World Government.47 End-times books teach that cosmic history depends on faithful disciples – especially. At times it has been part of high-level discussions. However. which I did’ (either this report or Bush’s denial of it is a lie) he made it clear to advisors that he felt ‘God put me here’ to pursue his Middle East policies. although not exclusively from the US – refusing to co-operate with the United Nations.49 Bush’s comments are in dialogue with the sixty per cent per cent of
. Robertson is prominent in Republican politics. George W. especially in US policies toward Israel. the duty of believers is to disobey them. Left Behind is an exception to this rule. The plot always ends with Jesus returning to win a cosmic battle. It is difficult to assess the political impact of end-times prophecy compared with other factors.’48 He promises peace – thus duping ignorant people like the head of a seminary portrayed in End of the Age who says that the anti-Christ represents everything that liberal Christians had expected in the Messiah. He spoke of a crusade against radical Islam after the attacks of 11 September 2001. Whether or not Bush actually stated that ‘God told me to strike at al-Qaeda and I struck them. As one scholar summarizes. With God’s help. and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam. and we have seen how believers debate whether to stockpile arms for fighting in the tribulation. However. In Robertson’s End of the Age – a book that restated the themes of New World Order in a novel with a similar plot – a heroic Christian general lies to the President and secedes from the US with several nuclear bases. once the anti-Christ gains power.
it ran it alongside another story about an asteroid that (according to the tabloid’s ‘reporter’) was the literal location of hell and would probably crash into the earth in the year 2000. To what extent does imagining oneself fighting God’s enemies represent a utopian critique of
. fade into the mix of other concerns. Moreover.198 religion. end-times belief – with its nationalism. self-righteousness. however. Nor is it merely a reflection of deeper processes in US policies. or become diluted. dualism. what issue could be more weighty? – we might also notice that by the 1980s the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News published a story about Graham’s end-times book. Another article in the same issue.’51 The point I am trying to accent is that end-times believers fight God’s enemies in many ways. Frozen Chicken Down Her Bra … Then Passes Out from the Cold. A key interpretive problem. neither caused the other.50 Recall how we discussed the relation between the Puritan ethic and the rise of capitalism. but the two reinforced each other. What we don’t know. We have noted that apocalyptic theology dovetailed with anti-Communism in Billy Graham’s sermons. Approaching Hoofbeats. was entitled ‘Shoplifter Stuffs 4–lb. for example. in the anti-Christs it targets in any given year. from the chillingly political to the utterly trivial and many points in between. is that the continuum of endtimes belief does not simply run from McVeigh through Robertson to Bush – it keeps running to the center and all the way through Huey Long to Bob Marley on the left. The point is that together they form a mutually reinforcing worldview that powerfully motivates believers and is difficult to refute in conventional rational terms. receiving equal billing with Graham. culture and politics in the 20th-century us US citizens who say that they expect Biblical prophecies to come true and the twenty-five per cent who say that the Bible predicted the attacks of 9/11. especially by the time that they filter down to supermarket lines. At the same time as we take Graham’s melding of the Cold War and the Bible with the utmost seriousness – if Graham made people more fatalistic about the question of whether nuclear war was inevitable. is how this plays out in the interplay between authors like LaHaye and his readers. Likewise. Most evangelical sermons are closer to Tammy Faye than to Timothy McVeigh. people traveling this route can get sidetracked at the mall with Tammy Faye anywhere along the way. and possible fatalism – does not shape US foreign policy by itself. and can’t know without case-by-case investigation. Although this story was full of easily corroborated facts about the book. End-times beliefs can be compartmentalized.
took offense when her pastor said that her Pakistani co-worker was going to hell. 1996). Varieties of Black Religious Experience (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2 Jeffrey Moran. James Baldwin. Righteous Discontent: the Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church. 3 George Hutchinson.M. 1998). was sexually harassed. We need to inquire further about this issue. Michael Friedland. ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it. science. worked at a minimum wage job. Parish Boundaries: the Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth Century Urban North (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1984). 3 (2003). 1930–1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 6 Doug McAdam. 1954–63 (New York: Simon and Schuster. John Hope Franklin and August Meier. A Love Supreme (Impulse Records 1964). 1997).religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
1 Ralph Luker. Tom Engelhardt. John McGreevy. Window on Freedom: Race. Anthony Pinn. 1982). 5 Brenda Gayle Plummer. 891–911. and fundamentalism. Black Religion and Black Radicalism (2nd edn) (Maryknoll: Orbis. Blackface. eds. 1996). Alice Walker. 7 Charles Marsh. 1982). The Social Gospel in Black and White (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2003). Civil Rights. talked to her lesbian cousin. Taylor Branch. and I feel fine’? How would this all fit together. to what extent a distraction from social issues. 90. 1945–1988 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ed. 4 In addition to texts already cited see Gayraud Wilmore. the Movie and Other Episodes in Political Demonology (Berkeley: University of California Press. and Foreign Affairs. Michael Rogin. God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (Princeton: Princeton University Press. MA: Harvard University Press.’ Journal of American History vol. or co-exist in separate compartments? We do not have good answers to such questions. MA: Harvard University Press.E. White Noise: Jewish Immigrants in the Hollywood Melting Pot (Berkeley: University of California Press. ‘Reading race into the Scopes Trial: African American elites. 1992). 1987). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years. Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. no. 1996). 1998). 1880–1920 (Cambridge. pull apart. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White (Cambridge. 1964). and to what extent a death wish? What would it mean to someone who watched Left Behind during the same week that she also watched The Matrix. 1998). Lift Up Your Voice Like a Trumpet: White Clergy and the Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. John Coltrane. 8 Hans Baer and Merrill Singer. 1993). 1982). The Fire Next Time (New York: Dell. 1991). Ronald Reagan. 1988). The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation (2nd edn) (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Michael Rogin. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. The Color Purple (New York: Simon and Schuster. and danced to R.
.’s song. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. African-American Religion in the Twentieth Century: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press..
14 Hilton Als et al. With God on Their Side: George W. C1. 2003). Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Ballantine. 20 Cited in Bruce Lincoln. Onward Christian Soldiers and Linda Kintz and Julia Lesage. Possessive Investment in Whiteness. 1992). 2005). Racial Formation in the United States from the 1960s to the 1980s (2nd edn) (New York: Routledge. ‘Farrakhan speaks: a conversation with Louis Farrakhan. George Marsden. 11 Henry Louis Gates. 1960). ed. 12 Murphy. ‘Falwell: I misspoke’ Knoxville News Sentinel. ‘Sacrificial practices in Santería.. and the Religious Right (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 13 This ruling established a weak precedent because it held that laws restricting religious freedom were permissible if they applied equally to all citizens. 1992). since the purpose of anti-drug laws was not to target religion. 2005). the court permitted the firing of Native Americans who failed a drug test after they used peyote in prayer ceremonies.com/news/feature/2006/01/09/justice_sunday/. Mama Lola: a Vodou Priestess in New York (Berkeley: University of California Press. On the evangelical political spectrum see Robert Booth Fowler. Malcolm X in Our Own Image (New York: St. 11/24/01. ‘We shall overcome … liberals. Roads to Dominion. For context
9 Michelle Goldberg. 73. 1998). With God on Our Side. Five Percenter Rap: God Hop’s Music. 6/1/7/98. 119–47. Message. ‘Religious freedom and the Oregon v. ed. 18 Figures from Esther Kaplan. 1965–1975 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. In a related decision noted above. 70 (1996). 1966– 1976 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2004). Carpenter. 19 Gary Bauer speaking on religious television in 2003. thus a new law could criminalize any slaughter of animals except in licensed facilities. 1999).. Lipsitz. 1991). 602. cited in Kaplan. Bush and the Christian Right (New York: New Press. Evangelicalism and Modern America (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. William Van Deburg. and Black Muslim Mission (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Smith and Hialeah cases. The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 17 Discussed in Susan Harding.’ in Holloway. 104–7. A New Engagement: Evangelical Political Thought. Santería: Karen McCarthy Brown. Billy Graham: Revivalist in a Secular Age (New York: Ronald Press. 75. Peter Carlson. Joe Wood.200 religion. 1984). 2000) – a book that nevertheless is an example of overplaying the contrast between evangelical political engagement before and after the 1970s. George Brandon. Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America (Santa Fe: Twin Palms Publishers. On the NCR see Wilcox. See Robert Drinan and Jennifer Huffman. Jr. Little X: Growing Up in the Nation of Islam (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. 10 Malcolm X with Alex Haley. 140–67.. Africanisms in American Culture. 15 Michael Omi and Howard Winant. 1982). at http:// salon.. eds. 35 (1993). Holy Terrors: Thinking About Religion After September 11 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press.’ Journal of Church and State no. 1992). 19–35. 2000). Felicia Miyakawa. Sonsyrea Tate.’ Transition. Revive Us Again. 21 ‘SBC approves family statement’ Christian Century. Culture. William McLoughlin. 16 Diamond. Media. New Day in Babylon: the Black Power Movement and American Culture.’ accessed 1/9/06.
Religion. Some of the evangelical stress on male headship in the family functions as a fig leaf covering male egos as they make a de facto retreat to presupposing rough gender equity in economic power and decision-making. See also Sally Gallagher. ‘Letter from Birmingham City Jail. Marie Griffith.. eds (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. William Sloane Coffin: a Holy Impatience (New Haven: Yale University Press. (November/December 1995). On later developments see Cornel West and Michael Lerner. 135–40.’ Ms.S. Jackson Carroll et al.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
see Nancy Ammerman. 2006). ‘CALCAV and religious opposition to the Vietnam War. 64–71 and Dane Claussen. 2003). James Washington. Fighting the Lamb’s War: Skirmishes with the American Empire (Monroe: Common Courage Press. 289–302.’ in Religion in the Contemporary South. Melvin Small and William Hoover. eds (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. eds (Boston: Beacon Press. Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. see William Van Etten Casey. and Phillip Berrigan. ed. R. ed. 1996). Hurrying Toward Zion: Univer-
. (New York: Harper and Row. Conrad Cherry. Building a Protestant Left.. 1992). Among many worthy ‘evening stopover’ topics that did not make it into our tour.’ in Give Peace a Chance: Exploring the Vietnam Antiwar Movement.’ in Testament of Hope: the Essential Writings of Martin Luther King. Jr. Standing on the Promises: the Promise Keepers and the Revival of Manhood (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press. 1996). 35–52. Hulsether.. God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (Berkeley: University of California Press. 2000) and Judith Stacey and Susan Elizabeth Gerard. 1981). Mitchell Hall. The Berrigans (New York: Avon. ‘In the name of the Father. Lerner. The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country From the Religious Right (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. 1993). 2005). 1996). 75–88. ‘We are not doormats: the influence of feminism on contemporary Evangelicals. and Culture in America (New York: Plume Books. Resisting Reagan: The U. thus symbolically beating swords into plowshares. Evangelical Identity and Gendered Family Life (New Brunswick: Rutgers Universty Press. Faye Ginsburg and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. 2000). A classic locus for analyzing this issue is the men’s movement called Promise Keepers. Jews and Blacks: a Dialogue of Race. Church People in the Struggle: the National Council of Churches and the Black Freedom Movement (New York: Oxford University Press.. 1990) and Bill Leonard. Christian Smith. ‘A crumbling empire. Laura Levitt. Women of the Cloth: a New Opportunity for Churches (San Francisco: Harper and Row. Later Berrigan entered a nuclear weapons plant and damaged a missile’s nose cone with a sledgehammer. see Donna Minkowitz. 1986). who cites the poem. Central America Peace Movement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. one of the most interesting is gender contestation among evangelicals in recent years. Jews and Feminism: the Ambivalent Search for Home (New York: Routledge. He considered this act analogous to sabotaging a Nazi death camp and tried to use his trial as a forum to declare the arms race criminal under international law. Corrie Norman and Don Armentrout. ed.’ in Uncertain Terms: Negotiating Gender in American Culture. 60. Warren Goldstein. 1997). 2004). 1990). Berrigan often worked with his brother Phillip on such projects. 1971). King. 98–117. See also James Findlay.
Good introductions are Cornel West.202 religion.’ Boyer. 6. 1995). A concise introduction to Daly’s work is her ‘Sin Big. 1990). Divinity Schools. 1995. of course. 71.’ New Yorker. the New Revised Standard Version translates it as ‘Do business with these until I come back. 1978. 4/23/90. Marc Ellis and Otto Maduro. 143–82 and Wojcik. When Time Shall Be No More. Tennessee cable television.’ photocopy in author’s possession. End of the World as We Know It. ‘Jim and Tammy. and American Protestantism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. WV. ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it. Voices of the Religious Left: A Contemporary Sourcebook (Philadephia: Temple University Press. 160–1. ‘Jubilating: or. 1980. 1997). When Time Shall Be No More. Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 3/19/79. eds. ed. 1992). 1990). and Norms (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Boyer. MacDonald. 1997). Some paragraphs in this section are adapted from my review essay on Boyer. 1980). The context for these words is a story about a master – typically interpreted as Jesus – who gives his servants money and a command with a disputed meaning. The Church and the Second Sex (2nd edn) (New York: Harper and Row. 1977). 3/16/97. Andrew MacDonald. Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism (New York: Penguin.’ New Yorker. Paul Boyer.’ American Quarterly vol. On alternative uses of apocalyptic see Peter Linebaugh. 319. The text quoted is Luke 19:13 (King James Version). Turner Diaries. 2000). 2004). ix. 45–87. no. 133. For a range of approaches see Rebecca Alpert. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
. with some success. Expanding the View: Gustavo Gutierrez and the Future of Liberation Theology (Maryknoll: Orbis. When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Share Our Wealth (Indian Mills. Kingfish: the Story of Huey Long (Turner Pictures Worldwide. Rapture. 51–2. Tradition. ‘Continuing the discussion: a politicized Christ’ C&C. The Turner Diaries (2nd edn) (copyright William Pierce. Religion and the Racist Right (revised edn) (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. see his 1934 pamphlet.’ Radical History Review no. 11/26/96. Armageddon Now! The Premillennarian Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House. Heather Hendershott. Dwight Wilson. 1975). Daly. Boyer. eds. Theodora Wells. Revelation and the End Times (New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 250–3. how the Atlantic working class used the Biblical jubilee against capitalism. 76–88. 375–84. Local religious broadcast on channel 99. Soelle. Roads to Dominion. Hillsboro. 1995). 48. Thinking About God (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International. 2004) and Dorothee Soelle. 2004). Rebecca Chopp and Sheila Greeve Davaney. Horizons in Feminist Theology: Identity. See also Bruce Forbes and Jeanne Kilde eds. When Time Shall Be No More. WV: National Vanguard Books. 64.. Frances Fitzgerald. 207. 2 (1996). ca.) For Long’s own words. Diamond. For more on these issues see Michael Barkun. 50.
1984). Tammy Faye Messner (her name after remarriage) on The Shirley Show. With God on Their Side. Approaching Hoofbeats: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (New York: Avon. since it worked at cross-purposes with a stress on universal values of freedom that can be shared by Muslims who support global capitalism and Western-style democracy. His conflation of Muslims and Hindus. 8–9. and 21. Graham. n/d. 1994. 169. Rapture. Amy Johnson Frykholm. Media. Politics. Penguin: 1988) and Rogin. for a critique see Michael Lind. Seymour Hersh. Redemptorama: Culture. Fracture of Good Order.beliefnet. 92. ‘Rev.html. Bush quote reported by Mahmoud Abbas and cited in Kaplan. 43. 95. the Movie. in Forbes and Kilde. 1991). Pat Robertson. video recording in author’s possession. Weekly World News. 21–5. The End of the Age: a Novel (Dallas: Word Publishing. Bush later distanced himself from the crusade remark. Pat Robertson. 1985).
. is an extreme example of the evangelical tendency to divide the world into two basic camps – Christians versus everyone else.’ accessed at http://www. Robertson’s Grand International Conspiracy Theory. and the New Evangelicalism (New York: Penguin. See also Garry Wills. 2–3. 2002 Time/CNN poll cited in Bill Moyers. like a related conflation of New Agers and secular rationalists in New World Order. Ronald Reagan. Melani McAlister. LaHaye quoted in Bivins. and US Interests in the Middle East. The New World Order (Dallas: Word Publishing. 2001). 1996). Epic Encounters: Culture. ‘Environmental Armageddon. ‘Up in the Air. 4/15/79. ca.religion and social conflicts: wwii to present
this vein see Carol Flake.com/story/161/story_16143_1. 1945–2000 (Berkeley: University of California Press. Reagan’s America (New York.’ New York Review of Books (2/2/95). 9.’ New Yorker 12/5/05. Revelation and the End Times.
We begin with two cases of Christians responding to changes of the late twentieth century.
Creationism and the Emergence of a Postmodern Evangelicalism
Evangelicals wrestled with change in many ways besides their political activities discussed above. This truce depended on creationists teaching that each ‘day’ in the Genesis story referred to a long age of biological change (day-age creationism) or that there was a gap between the beginning of time and the creation of Adam and Eve.c h ap t e r 7
Cultural Aspects of Religion from World War II to the Present
As we near the end of our trip. Yet these ‘primates from the upland valleys of the Cumberland’ largely won their war with evolutionists – or at least negotiated a truce they could live with – by pressuring textbook publishers to touch lightly on evolution. mutating strains of the flu. cruel choices among many worthwhile issues we could explore in our last mid-day breaks. and culture war. fundamentalists did not have to reject all evidence about the earth’s age. they could grant that evolutionary theories made sense of evidence such as fossils. Moreover. and Christians – responding to consumer culture. racial issues. If so. or the idea that God works through the evolutionary process. We have loose ends to tie up from earlier discussions. a fascinating example is their ongoing debate with evolutionists. there were actually three camps in this 204
. and a need for closure. or changes within species such as dogs. Accordingly. fundamentalists were widely seen as having lost this battle at the Scopes Trial. then continue with cases that touch on several groups – including Buddhists.2 If we count theistic evolution. this chapter is divided into short sections so that we can address more issues before running out of space. many goals compete for a dwindling amount of time. New Agers. Native Americans. many neo-evangelicals came to agree with their modernist adversaries about theistic evolution. Muslims.1 When we last left this story.
Insofar as people think about God in ways consistent with evolution – for example. and Pennsylvania (2005) among others. and a third of citizens tell pollsters that they want it taught instead of evolution in science classes. Consider how science can make true statements describing human bodies in terms of DNA while artists can make true statements in a language of poetry. that the fossil record could be explained by the story of Noah and the flood. and people in the middle who defend forms of religion that are consistent with science. think thanks. the truce with Darwinism fell apart in the 1960s and war resumed. and secularism in NCR complaints about public education. Bush has called on schools to teach creationism. YEC is widely taught in evangelical schools and has given rise to a network of touring speakers. George W. YEC has been utterly unconvincing to scientists and judges. if they understand ‘God’ as a term for creative forces immanent within natural processes – and do not attempt to replace evolution with theology in science classrooms.000 years ago was literally true. For creationists who rejected this compromise as too liberal. scientists who deny the validity of creationism. Today forty-five per cent of citizens believe that ‘God created man pretty much in his present form at one time during the past 10. the intelligent design (ID) movement arose as a more sophisticated form
.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
war: strict creationists who deny the validity of evolutionary theory. and creationist museums. Louisiana (1987). In West Virginia one conflict about teaching evolution rose to the level of armed resistance. who have struck down a succession of efforts to teach it in public schools – in Arkansas (1968). The point is not that they describe different phenomena – science treating bodies and religion treating supernatural phenomena – but that they approach the same embodied life in complementary ways. desegregation. Kansas (1999). Only thirteen per cent embrace natural selection without any role for God. Likewise.000 years. many fundamentalists repudiated day-age creationism and adopted a strict theory of young earth creationism (YEC) which held that the Genesis account of God creating the earth less than 10. In an attempt to move beyond YEC’s political and intellectual impasse. and that Noah carried baby dinosaurs on the ark.’ and forty per cent more believe that God guided an evolutionary process. Creationists amazed and infuriated scientists by winning the battle for public opinion. religions can do so with languages of theology and ritual. Textbooks began to present evolution forthrightly – thus ensuring a prominent place for science alongside school prayer. Meanwhile.3 However. the war between religion and evolution dissolves.
but its scholarly credibility depends on breaking unambiguously with YEC and highlighting the parts of ID theory that overlap with sophisticated forms of theistic evolution. Thus. or philosophy of science might be a different matter. rather than God creating Adam from dust) and the need to oppose evolutionary models of thinking (since ID combs the scientific literature in an effort to find chinks in its armor. Most proponents of ID are evangelicals who assume that this designer is the Christian God. The ID movement faces a dilemma: its political muscle comes from people who value it as a Trojan horse for YEC. cultural history. highlights limits to the forms of knowledge that science can find. Many perceive ID as a Trojan horse to smuggle YEC into classrooms. Thus. ID unsettles the stereotype of evangelicals as backwardlooking anti-modernists who refuse to engage with emerging trends. However. they have major differences as religious stances. such classes would probably become de facto evangelical catechism sessions in many schools. Introducing ID’s philosophical arguments alongside other approaches in classes on comparative religion.
. they propose to remain agnostic about the identity of the designer in school curricula. However. and holds that certain forms of life cannot be explained by evolution. but also that ID fails as an explanation for scientific evidence. with the result that it presupposes much of the scientific common wisdom). sometimes shading off toward theistic evolution. courts have so far rejected the teaching of both YEC and ID in biology and anthropology classes. Either way. ID revisits classic philosophical arguments for God’s existence. culture and politics in the 20th-century us of creationism. Although both YEC and ID are equally unsuitable for science classrooms. their theories are quite abstract. but only by hypothesizing an intelligent designer. and if so they will face constitutional challenges. even at its most sophisticated. To maintain this supposed neutrality and some academic plausibility.206 religion. it is both surprising and revealing that the friction between YEC and ID has been limited so far. ID rejects two of the doctrines that Bryan was most concerned to defend at the Scopes Trial – the literal truth of Genesis (since ID assumes an ancient earth and focuses on things like God designing a bacterial flagellum early in the evolutionary process. Scientists overwhelmingly agree not only that YEC is bankrupt as a theory to account for biological and geological evidence. they would be outraged if their children were taught Raelian theories of creation by extra-terrestrials or NOI theories of an evil scientist breeding a race of white devils.
After all. from discredited theories of bloodletting to sophisticated theories of acupuncture. Proponents of ID use postmodern theory to question the adequacy of modern universalism and expand the range of valid scientific paradigms.’ but it has explanatory power comparable to the theory of gravity.’ It ‘seemed willfully amateurish. we have a different theory. throw away surplus embryonic stem cells that are urgently needed for research. At first the museum stuck her as an ‘oxymoronic beast with the body of the fossil record and the head of the Book of Genesis. on the one hand. defund research on HIV. Note that one could accept this general framework of thinking but still refuse to grant that ID mounts persuasive arguments within the framework. NCR activists in the Bush administration have worked – with considerable success – not only to block environmental initiatives but also to promote abstinence-only sex education. They propose that different discourses – including fundamentalist ones – can be equally valid for different communities that work with different sets of evidence. and the NCR responds. many NCR leaders deny the evidence of global warming. We might compare how alternative systems of medicine challenge orthodox doctors’ monopoly on knowledge about the body. ‘Well.’ To the alarm of scientists. For example. this was before Harding noticed a display that parodied scientific arguments of all kinds – both mainstream and creationist – with such items as a ‘bird’s
.’ but at least it left ‘the impression that creation scientists literally believe what they say they believe. whereas ID has been unproductive as a paradigm to generate new scientific knowledge. Ethnographer Susan Harding’s visit to a creationist museum at Falwell’s Liberty University dramatizes the transformation. Scientists point to a mountain of evidence about a crisis that can hardly be underestimated.’ However. they assume that many valid theories of healing can coexist. creationists now presuppose the teaching of evolution and seek equal time for alternative theories.4 Whatever the fate of ID. Evolution may be ‘just a theory. there are many forms of alternative medicine.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
Whereas the Scopes Trial involved creationists who criminalized the teaching of evolution outright. it’s only a theory. and manipulate decisions of science advisory boards. One ramification of the push to teach creationism on an equal basis with evolution is to erode an already embattled distinction between facts in a so-called reality-based community. evangelicals have come a long way since the Scopes Trial. restrict access to emergency contraception. as opposed to ‘facts’ that are fabricated for political reasons on the other hand.
Although these denominations exhibited more than enough inertia to frustrate feminists – especially when they spent more effort placating neo-conservatives than moving forward with liberal agendas – they largely embraced women’s ordination and moved toward other forms of gender equality. Whereas these were becoming settled patterns by the turn of the century. Harding alluded to a famous anthropologist who pondered how an observer could tell whether someone is twitching. or parodying a wink. winking. combat hate crimes. such as muting their opposition to women entering the paid workforce. culture and politics in the 20th-century us nest containing a fragment of Noah’s diary (Birdis Nestialis Noahinsis)’ and bones sticking out of plaster of paris which purported to show two dinosaurs. However far-fetched his ideas seemed to secularists. She wrote: ‘Midway through [the display] about animals “trampled on the way to the ark. God forbid. liberal churches and synagogues increasingly took the gains of second-wave feminism for granted. Even in denominations that had long ordained women. Or did it blink? Or. code-switching … playful. issues related to equal treatment of gays. and other creatures being trampled in a rush to board Noah’s ark. practicing a wink. NCR leaders typically resisted these changes or made only the minimal adjustments that they could not avoid.208 religion. A vague awareness of closeted gay people had lurked near the margins of mainstream consciousness for years.” the museum winked at me. but the movement to bring GLBT issues unapologetically out of the closet. and transgendered (GLBT) people – both in the larger society and within religious institutions – remained unsettled. and repeal discriminatory laws brought much homophobic discomfort to the surface. he persuaded his followers to enter a discursive world that was less anti-modern than post-modern: ‘multistoried. Often the NCR became obsessed with blocking female ordination. efforts to ordain openly gay people or support
. an eel. a chicken. Meanwhile. lesbians. and confident. a human. was it a parody of a wink? … I was no longer absolutely certain that these fundamentalists simply believed what they said they believed. resisting feminists.’5
Debates about Accepting Gay and Lesbian People
We have discussed how religious people debated about gender as they came to terms with the growing equality of women. and promoting ‘Biblical values’ that they saw as requiring heterosexual nuclear families with male heads. bisexuals.’ Harding relates this insight to a larger analysis of how Falwell’s rhetoric drew people into his worldview.
Let us consider how the magazine Christianity and Crisis (C&C ) treated these issues. through ‘ex-gay’ ministries that used prayer and psychological therapy to ‘heal’ gays (or at least help them keep their temptations in check like alcoholics use Alcoholics Anonymous). The NCR seized upon GLBT issues as a wedge issue to split blacks and Catholics from Democrats – it trumpeted the idea that anti-discrimination laws (framed as ‘special rights’ for gays) and gay marriage represented an assault on the family and collapse of moral standards.6 At the end of the century. It did not seem to matter whether liberals were blasé or militant about the issue – either response enraged the NCR. Positions ranged all the way from calls to institute a death penalty for gays. since it was a key arena for emerging discussions on the religious left and since it was more open to GLBT and feminist concerns than most kindred journals – the evangelical left Sojourners and
. GLBT issues split mainline denominations down the middle and became a major topic of discussion. religious liberals were tired of debating these issues. Lutherans.’ The latter approach. popular among moderates. that marriage required heterosexuality because God ordained it to produce children. even overshadowing the Iraq war and the gap between the rich and the poor. not vice versa. However. welcomed GLBT people on the sole condition of acknowledging that their queer sins were on a par with straight sins like sloth. and Episcopalians were near schism over the appointment of an openly gay bishop. Neo-conservatives and most evangelicals held that the Bible condemned homosexuality as impure. they felt that Christians must keep their teaching clear – the Bible must judge human moral codes and theories about ‘normal’ sexuality. Whether such sin involved a willful choice to indulge a perverse form of lust or was more like being born with a chronic disease. greed. and that only heterosexuality was natural while all other forms of sexual desire were sinful.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
gay marriage led to firestorms of controversy. They perceived that arguments against ordaining gays paralleled earlier arguments against ordaining women (because the Bible was seen to demand a subordinate place for both in a patriarchal system) and divorced people (because the Bible condemns divorce more clearly than homosexuality and both were seen as unsuitable role models). and Presbyterians were mired in seemingly insoluble negotiations about gay marriage and ordination. They were also tired of GLBT controversies crowding out other priorities. to the gentler stance of ‘hating the sin but loving the sinner. and heterosexual lust. Early in the new century Methodists. conservatives remained agitated.
and life-affirming ways. This guideline seemed to apply equally to straights and gays. people broke with established churches because of discrimination. C&C writers did say this. One writer compared the founding of a gay denomination called the Metropolitan Community Church to the founding of independent black churches in the nineteenth century.’7 This reframed sex from mainly being a sin unless it produced children to mainly being a gift from God unless it was destructive or exploitative. Eventually they concluded that youth would ignore church teachings that were too legalistic and that it no longer made sense to insist that all sexual acts between puberty (when many people married in Biblical times) and the end of higher education (seen as a typical time for contemporary marriages) were sinful. One example is the status of GLBT issues in a 1960s debate about the so-called ‘new morality’ – that is.8 Scholars defended GLBT relationships in various ways. A common argument was that natural law ethics should support GLBT rights: God had created many people gay. C&C was writing about GLBT movements in roughly the same terms as black power and feminism. responsible. class. however. with more discomfort. By the mid-1970s. and homophobia often lurked below the surface. Until the 1970s C&C rarely addressed GLBT issues overtly. and ‘for homosexuals it is entirely
. culture and politics in the 20th-century us the liberal Catholic Commonweal were both less supportive on this front despite similar perspectives on race. Along with other liberal clergy. Before the 1970s C&C was typically silent about homosexuality or treated it like a disease – one that was not too debilitating and should inspire compassion rather than quarantine. In both cases. and in both cases they felt Jesus was in solidarity with them. Although the guideline for permissible sex did not dissolve into ‘anything goes. The test of whether a sex act was moral was not the presence of a wedding ring: sex inside marriage could be coercive or alienating while sex outside it could (at its best) build up relationships in creative. and empire.210 religion. but they talked far less about gay sex than straight sex. C&C editors engaged in a tug-of-war between their inherited logic of prophets judging sinful license and an emerging logic of celebrating embodied sexuality.’ it did become rather vague: the issue was whether sex would ‘express and encourage the responsible behavior of the whole person’ or conversely whether it ‘involved exploitation. changing stances toward premarital sex in light of the sexual revolution and its associated changes such as easier access to contraceptives and co-educational dormitories.
10 Because such ideas were so embattled in the churches. (If it were about heterosexual rape. We live in them. Theologian Carter Heyward addressed this tension explicitly. including the categories ‘gay’ and ‘straight. somewhat like contemporary pro-lifers view abortions. and lesbian feminism in particular. either that some people had fixed same-sex orientations or that both male sperm and female eggs contributed to procreation. The assumption that all gay sex was promiscuous dissolved. Being forced into a straight box short-circuited the creative power of passion and its associated drive for mutuality. which refused to flow in the directions where hegemonic sex/gender roles tried to channel it. to identify as lesbian feminists. ‘These categories – boxes – are real. nor Biblical prohibitions against eating shellfish.9 There was a tension in Nelson’s article between his appeal to fixed GLBT orientations that he took as givens and his appeal to changing cultural constructions of sexuality – continually being reshaped by the ‘Protestant principle’ in his formulation.’ Ethicist James Nelson argued that the actual sin in the Bible’s leading proof-text for condemning gays – the story of Sodom and Gomorrah – was inhospitality to strangers and homosexual rape. was a creative place for Heyward to situate herself as a Christian because of the way it destabilized sexism and maximized mutuality. or capable of being performed in many ways as explained by queer theorists.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
natural to love and to act homosexually. if one presupposed the best contemporary understandings. C&C often reported on GLBT ordination battles. at least for some people including herself. would people use it to condemn all straight people?) Nelson also argued that Biblical writers had no concept. Biblical writers may have seen themselves condemning willful promiscuity by people who were basically straight and rejecting all forms of non-procreative sex – including male masturbation – because they saw the waste of sperm as the murder of fully developed human seeds. because the ‘Protestant principle’ of reforming traditions had led Christians to change other teachings: they had not maintained a Biblical assumption that the sun moved around the earth. Consider the implication: whereas conservatives saw the Bible rejecting homosexuality in a sweeping way.’ She argued that it made sense.’ Yet she insisted. There was no obstacle to revising these understandings. She highlighted the constructedness of the ‘boxes’ in which people perform sex/gender roles. continued Nelson. nor Biblical justifications of polygamy. along with the assumption that masturbation was akin to murder. Feminism in general. John Cobb attacked Methodist
’ said the writer. Did their rule reflect a lingering assumption that sex is sinful except for procreation? Did they really want a policy that could ‘make no distinction between long-term faithful relationships and utter promiscuity?’11 For liberal Christians by the 1970s. culture and politics in the 20th-century us pretensions to be upholding Biblical values with a rule (mainly designed to exclude gays) that required clergy to promise ‘fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness.’ Cobb asked Methodist bishops if they were sure they wanted to condemn pre-marital sex for engaged couples – which many Methodists accepted as a normal practice – and if not. In some ways this trend reduced diversity. if they wished. For example. a neo-pagan who felt isolated in a conservative part of the country (or who wished to remain anonymous) could participate in on-line Wiccan communities. to bypass mainstream sources. Products were segmented into brands catering to every market niche. with decisions about which ideas to promote and which to suppress shaped by corporate conglomerates. let the sucker burn me. ‘I am an atheist to the God he feared.’ One writer described a friend who was dying of AIDS but could not find a sense of peace because he believed that God hated him.’ Cobb reviewed the Bible’s many models for sexuality.12
Religion in an Age of Consumerism
Few forms of religion were untouched as late twentieth-century US culture placed ever-higher emphasis on consumer choice and electronic communication. ‘I believe that kind of a God is a fraud [but] if that God turns out to be real.’ However. if not most US churches. had compassion for GLBT people. whether they wanted a double standard for clergy. However.
. ‘the real theological problem … [was not] reconciling acceptance of homosexuality with the scriptural passages that appear to condemn it. ‘from the multiple wives and concubines of the patriarchs and kings of Israel to the lifelong chastity that seems to have been favored by Jesus and Paul. in other ways the situation became more decentralized and responsive to consumer desires.’ He could not find where ‘the exact pattern now being proposed [including tolerance of divorce] is reflected. his friend saw angels at the foot of his bed – a signal that at least God. there were enough on-line sources of news and music that people with computers could largely choose.212 religion. since information became more centralized and homogenized. Similarly. but rather how to reconcile the condemnation of homosexuals with the criteria of morality that are truly central to the Christian message.
but rather a field tilted toward corporate elites. They fulminated against the decadence and narcissism of baby boomers. Such critics could easily be tempted to despair. and individualistic lifestyles. any critique that gained widespread attention would be dead on arrival. Critics noted that this way of determining priorities did not take place on a level playing field. Popular books described journeys with feminist shamans or more generic hippie-style shamans. sheltering their children from television. In the world of New Age channeling. According to the logic of their own arguments. A scholar who surveyed the rise of commercialized religion declared New Agers ‘the reigning champions of religious salesmanship. and a Vermont woman declared herself the ‘keeper of the sacred Cherokee crystals’ – crystals that originated on Atlantis and now have healing powers. since they had little hope of reaching their audience except through bookstores and media outlets that entangled them in the net of commercialization they feared. or did the very idea of consumer democracy presuppose a consumer mentality that undermined democracy? Both religious critics of consumerism on the right (who stressed the market’s secular and hedonist logic) and the left (who stressed its corporate.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
According to some critics. Leftist critics did a better job of diagnosing the problem and (sometimes) creating pockets of community that countervailed against it though teaching simple living and working for the common good. became famous as the medium for an enlightened being named Ramtha (who incidentally was MacLaine’s brother in Atlantis in a past life). and racist logic) faced versions of this problem. Critics on the right were at least as vehement. which was that too many cultural priorities were being determined through the logic of consumerism. Knight. the teacher of actress Shirley MacLaine and star of the film What the Bleep Do We Know? (2004). already fatally compromised at the moment it reached an audience. However. the idea that growing consumer choice creates greater diversity was actually a symptom of a deeper problem. Z. Could there be any such thing as counter-hegemonic consumer democracy. they were less willing to consider that the free market capitalism they loved was at the root of the problem. and so on. consider the lucrative market for products that promise authentic Native American wisdom.’ For example. white majorities. J. and they also (sometimes) made efforts to countervail against it through home schooling. A judge once asked Knight to channel Ramtha in a divorce
. individualistic.
214 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us court to determine whether Ramtha was ‘a god, a spirit, or a fake.’13 Meanwhile, in the world of Hindu gurus with counter-cultural disciples, Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh became famous for his fleet of Rolls-Royces and the permissive conception of what it meant to be a ‘renouncer’ in his movement. He formed an ashram in rural Oregon and tried to take over the local government before legal troubles forced him out of the country. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught a form of yogic trance called Transcendental Meditation (TM), became the guru of the worldfamous musicians, The Beatles. TM built on the less commercialized Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in the 1920s, which pioneered the teaching of yoga in the US through a blend of minimal Hindu devotionalism and maximal emphasis on yoga’s scientific benefits. Yogananda met with President Calvin Coolidge at the White House and still has influential followers such as the head of Def Jam Records. Whatever insight and health that these gurus brought and whatever the sincerity of their disciples – matters that we should not prejudge or trivialize – their practices largely conformed to an individualized model that was more in line with personal self-actualization than with forming communities that worked against the grain of a consumer society.14 If Christians wanted to nominate a contender to wrest the religious salesmanship title from New Agers, one possibility is the PTL Club. ‘We have a better product than soap or automobiles,’ Jim Bakker stated. ‘We have eternal life.’ There are, however, many worthy challengers; as one scholar puts it, ‘religion is everywhere’ but it ‘has become an ordinary commodity … Jim Bakker is Velveeta; Norman Vincent Peale is sliced Swiss in plastic wrap; Reinhold Niebuhr is Brie.’15 Evangelical megachurches offer programs catering to every lifestyle niche: childcare centers, schools, bookstores, aerobics classes, coffeehouses, health clinics, sports leagues, television studios, soccer fields, tattoo parlors, retirement homes, and mortuaries. In Houston, a predominantly black megachurch has its own McDonald’s restaurant, complete with a drive-through window and golden arches; meanwhile a white televangelist bought an auditorium formerly used by Houston’s professional basketball team and spent $95 million to renovate it for his 30,000 weekly worshippers (more than the membership of the second largest branch of US Buddhism).16 A pioneering Chicago megachurch called Willow Creek has 7,500 associated churches in twenty-five countries; if this loose network organized as a denomination it would be as large as the Episcopal Church.
Evangelicals often express themselves through such products as Tshirts based on the Coca-Cola logo that say, ‘Christ, the Real Thing’ or prayers that sing ‘Thank You, Thank You, Jesus’ to the tune of the heavy-metal anthem ‘We Will Rock You.’ One disaffected former evangelical set himself the challenge of creating a jingle that would be considered too over-the-top to use for such a purpose, but without being overtly crass and disrespectful in the manner of certain heavy metal songs or the satirical website that markets thong underwear with the logo ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ He finally settled on a lyric sung to the tune of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ entitled ‘Jesus, My Lord, Come Reign Here’ – but, even so, he wondered if people would take the spoof seriously. If a rapper can market $50,000 diamond-encrusted pendants in the shape of Jesus’s head, why not put Jesus in a song about Santa’s reindeer?17 Such examples return us to a question posed in Chapter 4: is there anything more to this trend than religion being swallowed up by secularism in the form of religious individualism? Can religious leaders fight fire with fire in consumer markets, or do they face a lose–lose choice between trivialization (if they engage with consumerism) and irrelevance (if they do not engage with it)? Let us reflect on this question by tying up the loose ends of our story about Hollywood censorship. The system described above unraveled in the 1960s. One factor was the rise of television; another was increased free speech protection for films. Inside the censorship apparatus, priests influenced by Vatican II took over the reins at the Legion of Decency and introduced new rating categories for adults. Mainly the system collapsed under its own weight as lightweight trash based on sexual innuendo was approved while acclaimed films tackling social problems such as The Bicycle Thief (1948) and The Pawnbroker (1965) were condemned for trivial reasons. In 1966 the system was scrapped for the current rating system. This happened at the same time that Hollywood’s classic studio system gave way to a decentralized distribution network and became more open to independent producers. Later, the rise of home video further decentralized the system and made effective censorship hard to imagine. According to one study of blockbusters from 1946 to 1990, the demise of censorship had a negative effect on treatments of religion.18 Hollywood’s portrayal of religion became less sympathetic and there were fewer plots in which religious characters successfully achieved their goals. However, it is not entirely clear whether we should interpret such
216 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us trends as a defeat for religion and a gain for secularization. Because the early films in this study’s sample were produced under the Code, they banned unfavorable portrayals of religion outright. Thus, the ratio of positive clergy to negative ones was a perfect 100 per cent to zero per cent. Should clergy really be alarmed that after 1976 they were heroes only fifty per cent of the time? Perhaps they should be pleased that they remained heroes or mixed characters two-thirds of the time – about the same as other characters – without help from censors. Religious characters remained more likely to be good guys than other characters, and nearly as likely to succeed. Moreover, the criteria used to generate this data were none too subtle. Some declines in religious prestige were straightforward, such as a change from The Bells of St. Mary (1946) featuring Bing Crosby as a saintly priest to The Witches of Eastwick (1987) featuring Jack Nicholson as a glamorous Satan. However, Samson and Delilah (1949), a dubious artistic success with a notably sexist plot, was counted as a positive portrayal of religion because it supposedly promoted Biblical literacy and taught that success comes from obeying God’s will. Despite the mixed messages of The Exorcist (1974) – it features priests who not only help a demon-possessed girl after secular professionals fail, but even sacrifice their lives in a battle for her soul – it was counted as an unambiguously negative portrayal. Implicit in such judgments is a conservative moral: if evil is shown as getting out of control, or if good is mixed with evil, this is a step backward for ‘religion.’ The Code’s demise opened the way for a wider range of ideas about good and evil to be screened. It also opened space for films that questioned authority. To some degree we might interpret this story as support for the commodification approach to popular religion introduced in Chapter 4. Amid the range of films produced in any period, we could easily select examples (such as Bells of St. Mary and Witches of Eastwick) that fit this paradigm. Armed with such selections, the NCR carries forward an ideal of censorship, albeit without much power to enforce its recommendations. NCR leaders complain about Hollywood’s hostility to religion and wax nostalgic for an era when Hollywood’s religious characters were invariably good and usually successful.19 However, on balance it is more illuminating to adopt an approach that showcases how films interact with religion in diverse ways and how changing standards of morality relate to struggles for hegemony. In every period some films have challenged hegemonic religious values while others have reinforced them: for
example, both Duel in the Sun and Keys to the Kingdom in the 1940s, and both Kinsey and The Passion of the Christ in 2004. Importantly, the Code was a mixed blessing for the filmed portrayal of religion in the long run. Its legacy helps to explain a backlash against religion by many films since the 1960s, the tendency of filmmakers to be cool toward religion, and the gap between Hollywood’s sophisticated skills at evoking romance compared with its underdeveloped traditions for conveying spirituality. The flat-footed behavior required of religious characters under the Code still haunts the screening of religion, so that films that portray complex religious characters such as The Apostle (1997) and Little Buddha (1993) remain less influential than satires like Life of Brian (1979). Clergy are often portrayed as repressed killjoys, and films that paint a picture of ordinary citizens often pay more attention to schools, workplaces, and nightclubs than to churches that are equally important in real life. No doubt there are various reasons for this, but Hollywood’s history of conflict with religious pressure groups is surely one of them. At the same time, momentum remains from Hollywood’s tradition of dramatizing sharp lines between good and evil and assuming that religion is on the side of the good. Such momentum is easy to see if we focus on underlying themes that many films take for granted. Star Wars (1977) and its invocation of ‘the Force’ is a classic example. We might also note the complexities of a film that conservatives loved to hate, Leap of Faith (1993). Although this film lampoons a corrupt faith healer, it judges him against standards of Christian virtue and true faith healing that are the film’s core presuppositions. Although it teaches skepticism about televangelists, it assumes that sincere religion is a good thing, echoes arguments from the Bible’s prophetic tradition, and redeems most of its characters. All of this suggests the value of understanding the fate of religion in Hollywood – and by extension in other forms of entertainment – less as a story of religion being swallowed by secularization, and more as story of ongoing negotiation between many people, all of whom used media to promote their values with results that we must explore case by case. If we had more time we could introduce other cases, including examples that dramatize how counter-hegemonic religious ideas can circulate through the media. As one socially-conscious rapper comments, ‘I’ve heard it said the revolution won’t be televised/But in this land of milk and honey there’s a date you’ve got to sell it by.’ He also notes that ‘I speak in
218 religion, culture and politics in the 20th-century us schools a lot because they say that I’m intelligent/No, it’s ’cause I’m dope/If I was wack I’d be irrelevant.’20 Without giving up on communicating through the media, popular musicians of the early twenty-first century have made strong contributions to debates about politics and spirituality; their best interventions are among the most probing and critical available anywhere in the culture.
Faces of the Buddhist Sangha in America
We have noted the difficulty of generalizing about US Buddhists, given the complexity of world Buddhism and the divisions between immigrant Buddhists and converts who are largely middle -class whites.21 Buddhism began as an offshoot of Hinduism and evolved in complex ways as it spread throughout Asia. Its Mahayana branch, which became dominant in China and Japan, introduced innovations that distinguish it from the Theravada branch that dominates in Southeast Asia. There is also a third branch (sometimes mapped as part of Mahayana) called Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism. It is famous for its charismatic leader, the Dalai Lama, its meditation practices that include visualization of celestial Buddhas, and its tradition of tantric yoga that includes sexual positions. Although all three branches are present in the US, two forms of Japanese Mahayana (Pure Land and Zen) arrived first and have special historic importance.22 The upshot is a tug-of-war between three root images for ‘normal’ US Buddhism: immigrant forms of Pure Land; convert forms of Zen; and classic forms of Theravada monasticism that are stressed in religion textbooks but not practiced much in the US. If we combine all three into one composite image the likely result is confusion, like throwing together a classical violinist, jazz drummer, and accordionist who plays polkas. Such a threesome might jell as a group if they are all skilled musicians, but the first step is to sort out their differences. Siddhartha Gautama, the original Buddha or enlightened one, gave a sermon summarizing the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. He taught that life in samsara (the cycle of deaths and rebirths) is inevitably tinged by suffering and dissatisfaction, and that this suffering is caused by a craving or grasping that makes people try to hold onto things that are impermanent. Release from samsara into a state of transcendent bliss called nirvana is possible through extinguishing such craving, and Buddhist practice shows the way to accomplish this. This requires moving beyond a false sense of self, in ways somewhat similar to the Hindu goal of realizing that the Absolute is ultimately the same as the
and all speak of taking refuge in the Buddha. All Buddhists trace their history to Siddhartha’s enlightenment. they taught that Siddartha did not leave the wheel of samsara after one lifetime. However. the Dharma (Buddhist teaching). If all beings already have the Buddha-nature and ordinary people can call on bodhisattvas for help. When he was enlightened he became identified with deeper reality. in their view. and its ideal of solitary meditating monks (supported by local laity) anchors popular images of Buddhism. This is the classic form of the sangha. in some ways comparable to Jesus’s role in atoning for sins in Christianity or to Hindu gods whose devotees call on them for help in bhakti. The new ideal was the vow of a bodhisattva.’ The world is a giant web of interconnections in which everything is related and nothing stays the same. Thus.
. the deep truth about all beings – not only humans but even grasses and trees – is that they already have a perfect Buddha-nature. or Buddha-to-be. who sought to follow in the Buddha’s footsteps and become monks who achieve nirvana – either in this lifetime or a later rebirth. rather than one historical Buddha. This expands the meaning of taking refuge in the Sangha beyond its classic meaning of becoming a monk. sometimes called Buddha-nature. Anyone can be (and in a sense already is) a Buddha. Thus. Buddhists stress that no permanent immutable soul or stable divine Absolute exists.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
individual soul. they saw themselves drawing out the implications of earlier dharma and improving Buddhism. celestial bodhisattvas such as Amida Buddha can become Godlike saviors. this creates a sangha that is far more open to laity. to help all beings achieve enlightenment. in the process they build up huge stores of merit that they can use to help people who ask for assistance. all existence is marked by change. With respect to taking refuge in the dharma. there are many Buddhas. With respect to taking refuge in the Buddha. Seeking nirvana on an individual basis was. He did not really die. and a sense of ‘no-self’ or ‘emptiness. Great bodhisattvas fulfill such vows over many lifetimes without (selfishly) leaving samsara. Moreover. Mayahana proposed a different ideal role model. impermanence. and the Sangha (the community of those who follow the dharma). Mahayana Buddhists made large changes in these ideals. too selfish to be consistent with the Buddha’s teachings about compassion and the interdependence of all beings. and devotees have continuing access to his power and insight. Theravada Buddhism grew from the monastic community formed by Siddhartha’s disciples. both men and women. They only need to wake up to this truth.
Above all. Naturally being imprisoned made people rally behind their community and question their place in US culture. other Buddhists. Amida had vowed to create a beautiful heaven in which spiritual progress was easier than on earth. Somewhat like Luther taught that Christians could not be saved through their own works but had to rely on God’s grace. supposedly because of doubts about their loyalty (although German and Italian immigrants did not suffer such treatment). In particular. it stressed faith. The camps also raised the push–pull dynamic of immigration to an extreme. and Christians – to co-operate in ways that otherwise might not have happened. They provided places not only for worship but also education and social events. and Pure Land developed congregational forms of worship. often temples sponsored programs such as sports leagues and Young Men’s Buddhist Associations. Thus. the Japanese Pure Land Buddhists who arrived in Hawaii and California between the late 1800s and the 1920s. simply by asking Amida for help. but rather with their
. The first Japanese arrested were Pure Land priests because of their role as community leaders. This reached a peak during World War II. In time the tradition came to stress funerals and ceremonies at the graves of ancestors. Pure Land temples were major community institutions for Japanese immigrants who had been recruited to provide cheap agricultural labor.23 Pure Land traces its roots to the thirteenth-century reformer. Shinran taught Buddhists to call on the ‘other-power’ of celestial Buddhas. the distinction between monks and laity largely dropped away. no matter how bad their karma. who felt that history had entered a stage of decline in which human self-power was inadequate for attaining nirvana. culture and politics in the 20th-century us These were the central teachings of the first large group of Buddhists who came to the US on a permanent basis. People could be reborn there. It disrupted traditions of generational deference because the US government did not negotiate with elders from the first immigrant generation. The camps pressured diverse Japanese religious groups – Pure Land. Shinran left the monastery and married a former nun. gratitude to Amida. such temples also faced severe racism. Along with typical concerns of first generation immigrants. when Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. and recitation of the nembutsu. but it also increased pressure for assimilation.220 religion. Shinran. and/or their homes and temples were vandalized. All it took was saying a prayer called the nembutsu. Often people were forced to sell their businesses and other property on short notice for a fraction of its value.
atheistic.’ The BCA maintains links to its founding institutions in Japan. In recent years it has experienced membership declines somewhat like those in mainline Protestantism. whereas Pure Land stressed the other-power of bodhisattvas. This I Know. with a stress on lineages of mind-to-mind transmission of wisdom from teachers (or roshis) to students. it sponsors activities like Taiko drumming and traditional festivals like Obon to honor ancestors. In general. However. it has largely assimilated into US suburban life.25 These precursors of the 1960s counter-culture used selected Zen ideas to critique middle-class conformity.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
sons who had been offered citizenship (unlike their parents). especially Jack Kerouac. One branch stressed wrestling with conceptual puzzles called koans. and focused on meditation. its temples in Japan often stress funeral rites). A Zen monk spoke at the World’s Parliament of Religion and one of his students named D. and were more open to assimilation. spontaneity. T. Other writers also popularized Zen ideas. whites flocked to another form of Japanese Buddhism called Zen. and forms of concentration beyond ordinary consciousness that Zen calls ‘no-mind’ and athletes and musicians call ‘being in a zone. Pure Land leaders decided to change their name to the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA). Although Zen evolved in multifaceted ways (like Pure Land.24 The roots of Zen are entwined with the rise of samurai warriors and their associated military disciplines during the Kamakura Period that corresponds loosely to the era of European feudalism. homilies. such as ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’ Another branch stressed seated meditation. monastic practice was near its heart. They stressed affinities between Zen and jazz – especially insofar as both stress creativity.’ One beat poet imagined a bodhisattva taking the form of Smokey the
. to call their priests reverend. The BCA holds little appeal for whites who are interested in Buddhism because they want an alternative to Christianity that is exotic. Nevertheless. Monasteries were male-dominated. In the camps. and to move toward a worship style modeled on Protestantism. Zen monasteries stressed courage and self-discipline. and there are Zen arts of swordsmanship and archery. Zen focused on harnessing self-power toward the goal of breaking through a false sense of self and reaching a state of satori. Suzuki wrote influential books that placed Zen ideas in dialogue with Western philosophy. spoke better English. complete with pews. and hymns such as ‘Buddha Loves Me. the most famous (albeit with the least claim to authority in Zen institutions) were the Beat Poets of the 1950s.
television. air pollution. in contrast to the quasi-military discipline and veneration for ancestors in Japanese institutions. Its students are eclectic: they may dabble in yoga. including many leaders of major Zen centers. So he started a catering business. given the lack of endowed institutions and day-to-day support from laity that Asian monks rely upon. Other innovations of US Zen also push the envelope of what Buddhism can be. His students helped staff the bakery on the model of work commitments in Asian monasteries. the US Zen community includes many women. to make his center selfsufficient. A benefactor gave his center a mansion near the Hudson River. and other organizations mentioned above. in 1979 a former aerospace engineer named Bernard Glassman. formed much of the leadership cadre that built the network of Buddhist centers. They were surprised to discover that. and eventually many other places.222 religion. became the head of the Zen Center of New York. and later these students’ own dharma heirs. Importantly. We could tell related stories about Buddhist traditions besides Zen. and people expected Glassman to lead weekend retreats there. or the police’ and ensure that people ‘will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at. and shamanism along with Zen. Students of these teachers. journals.27 In some cases this has led to contentious sexual politics when teachers and students became lovers. For example. primarily to work with Japanese-Americans. while few Asian immigrants were interested in meditation or monastic practice. and later a commercial bakery. By the 1950s a handful of Zen monks had come to the US as missionaries. This is a typical way that US Buddhist leaders sustain themselves. However.’26 Such writing set the stage for Zen to become a key interest of countercultural and ecological movements after the 1960s. They founded Zen centers in Los Angeles. San Francisco. Glassman chafed at this lifestyle. whereas Japanese Zen is largely a male world. He wanted full-time monastic practice. Later he started a homeless shelter
. The Zen of white converts is quite different from Japanese Zen. growing numbers of whites wanted to move beyond reading about Zen to practicing meditation under their guidance. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Bear and promoting a consciousness that would ‘save the planet Earth from total oil slick. and he wanted to shatter preconceptions about how Zen relates to US culture.’ protect anyone ‘threatened by advertising. a dharma heir of the founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. It builds on the improvisational and jazz-inflected sensibility of the Beats. depth psychology.
these interactions also include complex forms of sharing. and so on – involve straightforward institutional racism and cultural disrespect from the white side. Italians found an unexpected ally in Haitian immigrants from Brooklyn. and cultural cross-pollination. In any case. Muslims. In general. reflect decisions by the duly empowered leaders of major US Buddhist organizations.
Many of the interactions between mainstream US culture and racialized groups – Latino/as. which has held retreats on the streets with homeless people and sponsored rituals at Auschwitz. with its full-time monks seeking nirvana in a symbiotic relationship with supportive laity. They have the right to tell non-Buddhists what ‘real US Buddhists’ are like.’28 Who speaks for US Buddhism? What are the models for going for refuge to the Buddha. such as Glassman’s Zen bakery or JapaneseAmericans who do not meditate but do sing ‘Buddha Loves Me. is a valid form of Buddhism. However. he founded the Zen Peacemaker Order. and the sangha in the US? How can we tell if someone is stretching these models so far that they are not ‘truly Buddhist’ anymore? Obviously the classic Theravada sangha. In this conflict. After mid-century. he told an interviewer. Haitians traveled across New York
. Italians struggled to sustain their festa as people moved out of their old neighborhood. we could extend this exploration in many directions. although more among Southeast Asian immigrants than followers of Japanese traditions. Native Americans. Still later. This model is also taking root in the US. coupled with attempts by minorities to defend themselves against attacks or break through barriers to grow and thrive. the dharma. Although we must not ignore factors of power when thinking about these issues. There was much hostility – expressed partly through the festa – between Italians and the Puerto Ricans who replaced them in East Harlem. One example returns us to the Italian-American festa in Harlem. This I Know’ in Protestant-style churches. not every case reduces to a simple power struggle between racial blocs. forms of Buddhism very different from this model. If we had more space. dialogue.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
and employed some of its residents at the bakery. rather than vice versa. the diversity of US Buddhism dramatizes the dynamism and fluidity of Asian religions in the US. ‘All the things that people say are not Zen are the things that I want to get involved with. However. Questions about racial dialogue and hybridity appear in many forms.
and the Christian defeat of the Islamic empire. is the nexus between modernity. NCR leaders often make inflammatory anti-Muslim statements. One such pattern is combating stereotypes about fanatical Muslims.’30 When Muslims – as well as other Asian immigrants – seek to build mosques and temples. and Christians about the proper form of Islamic practice in the US. the use of zoning laws to block their plans. Italians disparaged Puerto Ricans as members of an inferior dark race who were not good Christians – even though the Puerto Ricans’ skin tone and loyalty to Catholicism were the same as the Italians’ – while simultaneously claiming that the Haitians were not really black (since they spoke a French dialect) and were not practicing Vodou at the festa. in ways that would be almost impossible to explain through an appeal to fixed racial essences. Another pattern is aligning Muslims
. fluid racial–religious boundaries simultaneously increased and decreased group conflict. Muslim responses to such hostility unfold in complex patterns. called Islam ‘evil and wicked’. many Haitians blend prayers to saints and loa. viewed from Muslim perspectives. a demon-possessed pedophile … Jehovah’s not going to turn you into a terrorist. but rather struggling to do God’s will (one might compare how Christians talk of ‘fighting the good fight’ despite their overall principles of seeking peace and justifying war only as a last resort). In a striking example of the plasticity of US racial discourse.29 Another example of cross-pollination is the dialogue among immigrant Muslims. including torture and the desecration of the Qur’an. the son and heir-apparent of Billy Graham. they bring incense and offerings for Ezili Danto to the festa. As we have seen. Both Muslims and their non-Muslim allies stress that Islam promotes peace and that the term ‘jihad’ does not ordinarily imply engaging in war. African-American Muslims.224 religion. culture and politics in the 20th-century us to their church because it is dedicated to the same form of Mary that is venerated in Haiti – where it is also associated with the Vodou goddess Ezili Danto. considering them manifestations of the same spiritual powers. some of which lead Muslims to work with white Christian allies. imprisoned US Muslim citizens under the Patriot Act. A basic aspect of the contemporary world. Islam was founded by Muhammad. George W. In other words. they often face protests. colonialism. and subjected Muslims to interrogation that is illegal under international law. and vandalism. Jesus Christ. Franklin Graham. Thus. racism. a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention stated that ‘Christianity was founded by the virgin-born son of God. Bush escalated such concerns when he spoke of his policies as a crusade.
They wonder if they can voice principled critiques of bin Laden without appearing to endorse US foreign policy.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
behind US traditions of religious freedom and civil liberty. especially for women? How standoffish should they be toward US popular culture? Is it appropriate to promote Muslim popular music. or should they join forces with the NCR to defend patriarchal power and resist sexual liberation? Should they carry forward traditions such as men receiving larger inheritances and enjoying advantages over women in cases of divorce.) Of course. this does not prevent Muslims from lobbying alongside other citizens against US policies that they see tilting dangerously toward Israel. In part this is simply a variation on standard defensive responses of first-generation immigrants. however. who is condemned by almost all US Muslims both because he attacked their country and because they see his targeting of non-combatants as an affront to Muslim values. Another understandable response to anti-Islamic pressures is for Muslims to rally behind their racial–religious communities in ways that carry forward certain anti-Western aspects of world Islam and/or the separatism of groups like the NOI. Muslims are not always sure whether they can embrace aspects of the modern world such as women’s rights and consumer capitalism without falling prey to individualism. maintain Friday as a day of prayer. and imperial conquest. injustice. this is not a difficult stretch since many Muslims came to the US to escape religious persecution in their homelands. (We might compare how mainstream Christians responded to the Christian terrorists who bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building. or should they
. Should Muslims support interfaith dialogue and the separation of mosque and state. Some disputed questions concern cultural style. roughly analogous to contemporary Christian music? Other questions concern ritual practice. both in the US and in countries where the US wields influence? Should they organize their own schools? Should they enforce traditional prohibitions of alcohol and lending money at interest? Should they expand on Islamic traditions that support women’s equality (Muslim women originally had more rights than in most other religions including Christianity) to forge alliances with Christian feminists. Can Muslims harmonize mainstream lifestyles with a commitment to pray five times daily. and observe Islamic holidays? Should they embrace the US pattern of ending gender-segregated worship? Still other questions are political or legal. Beyond this. Should Muslims have distinctive forms of dress. Yet another pattern is sharing in opposition to Islamists like Osama bin Laden.
Few Indian people were impressed. men and women. centuries of intermarriage and cultural cross-pollination led to a situation in which the majority religion of contemporary Native America is Christianity. This dynamic allows people who are complicit in ongoing conquest to transform their guilty consciences into self-congratulation about their liberal sensitivity. and the overall Muslim community and the Christian mainstream. culture and politics in the 20th-century us use their tradition of prenuptial contracts to create forms of marriage similar to mainstream ones?31 Variations on these debates are ongoing in forms that defy easy mapping – between converts and immigrants.’33 Further complicating this situation. ‘any of you who are prompted by Dances With Wolves [a pro-Indian Western film of 1990] to make a trip out to Indian country to get in touch with the earth should go soon. steeped in English-language sources or a sense of personal calling. The future of US Islam hinges on how upcoming generations address such issues. and so on – another factor was the flood of white seekers who approached Native people with their hunger for Cherokee crystals. diverse attitudes toward AIM activism and tribal governments. Insofar as their books and museums taught young Indians about their culture. and authentic healing ceremonies. New Age shamans. immigrants from different countries and generations. In addition to factors we have already introduced – urbanization. whites inserted themselves within the transmission of tradition across generations. In effect they declared themselves elders and hijacked native traditions for their own purposes. before your destination of choice is contaminated by a tribally-owned toxic waste dump.34 Although this disappoints whites who prefer exotic Indians who go down in flames and nobly
. but at other times their romanticized spirituality threatened to push the religious ideas and political priorities of native people to the margins. historic differences among tribes. Such whites often focused on the noble but doomed ways of disappearing Indians.32 Things were equally complicated in Native American communities. Sometimes such seekers were mere sources of amusement in Indian country. they could focus on past defeats (lamented as tragic) rather than ongoing resistance (treated as irrelevant to their spiritual concerns).226 religion. especially if they assumed that true native culture was part of the past. thus enabling themselves to discuss victims of colonialism without paying much attention to colonialism – or if questions about it did arise. felt entitled to speak for native culture. White artists and scholars. As one commented.
) People at both poles assume a zero-sum choice between Christianity and tribal tradition. Indian intellectuals vigorously deny the premise (hidden in much Western thought) that embodied relationships between communities and sacred landscapes are less important than (purportedly universal) conceptual abstractions. in fact a Hopi becoming Catholic or a Cherokee becoming Baptist makes as much sense as an African-American becoming Baptist. Other people reject this approach. just as one could develop a musical style that blends jazz and country. At another pole are Indians who turn away from tradition and embrace forms of Christianity that they consider superior to the pagan ways of their ancestors. they may attend sweat lodge ceremonies on Saturday and mass on Sunday.35 Other times they fuse traditions. they see themselves exploring an overlap between two equally powerful traditions or grounding Christianity in deeper forms of wisdom. Some clergy promote such blending based on their belief that Christianity is a universal truth that can perfect and harmonize local traditions. They both embrace Christianity – Catholics.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
disappear. That is. Thus. somewhat like Christians see themselves completing Jewish teachings or Vivekananda saw himself taking up Christian truths into a higher Hindu synthesis. and Mormons are all strong – and continue at least limited traditional practices. Most native people fall between such extremes. At one pole are traditionalists who maintain older languages and rituals relatively unchanged and keep them secret. (Here we might recall the people who feel that ‘real Norwegian religion’ can advance beyond its Viking stage. and blend the Sun Dance’s rituals of sacrifice with Christian theology. Most native communities include a spectrum of debate about such matters. treat native spiritual powers as equivalent to angels or saints. Thus. Protestants. pray to Jesus in sweat lodges. they will fall into the role of New Agers who hijack native tradition and generally get in the way – yet if they do not pursue such interests they risk
. it may or may not make sense (given that people were conquered in the name of a Christian God) depending on whether native Christians can control their own institutions and use them to address their needs. they may bring sacred pipes into churches. Often they do this on parallel tracks.36 Some whites fear that if they take too much interest in native culture. somewhat like one could play both jazz music and basketball but not at the same time. as well as AIM activists (often urban and pan-tribal) who argue somewhat like Malcolm X about the need for autonomy and separation from white society.
Moreover. then learning more is usually better than knowing less – even if one is not contributing to the community. ‘That’s it! You’ve done an Indian ceremony!’ The point is that one cannot ‘prepare to participate in a ceremony … other than by becoming a member of the community enacting the ceremony. and then repeat the process three more times. yet risked military annihilation if they stayed aloof from it. One must start somewhere. One Mohawk gave these instructions to seekers who asked to participate in a ceremony: invite people to a feast you prepare. listen to their problems and advice. such relationships determine which aspects of native culture are worth learning and which should be kept secret – seeking additional knowledge ‘for its own sake’ is pointless and borderline racist. but essential for anyone who claims to speak for Native Americans. In some ways this is a lose–lose proposition for whites – a mild inversion of the lose–lose choice historically faced by Indians. culture and politics in the 20th-century us complicity in racist traditions that neither grasp the importance of native culture nor address ongoing power dynamics between the two communities. US culture continues to stereotype Indian people. At this level everyone who lives in the US is part of a dialogue – implict or explicit – with native culture. it is also a win–win proposition for whites who are serious about becoming informed allies of Indian people. However. they can find native allies. who risked losing their culture if they fell into a melting pot that sought to remake them.’37 There is no simple recipe for becoming a trusted ally of a community. but one rule of thumb is to notice how much of US society remains constituted by the interplay of red and white.228 religion. and as long as a seeker is not damaging a native group. Not all attempts at solidarity are equally constructive. The issue shifts to choosing allies wisely in particular cases. and to contribute to the community’s health and survival. From a native standpoint. However. Another rule of thumb is to uphold the integrity of native traditions as they interact with emerging challenges. because whichever horn of the dilemma they select. if the top priority on
. and many books about native issues do more harm than good. For example. anyone who remains grounded in an individualistic mindset and uninvolved in native communities is likely to misunderstand these communities. like procuring a powerful Hopi kachina doll and letting it gather dust on a shelf. Either horn of this dilemma may be decisive from case to case. in the long run establishing relationships with a community and contributing to its well-being are not merely desirable on their own terms.
as opposed to fundamentalist or ‘tribalist. some liberals feared that the US might lose the minimal cohesiveness it needed to thrive if it tolerated too much activism by feminists and racial minorities. had long made peace with the modern world. as opposed to appealing to many forms of religious revelation and tradition. as well as too much raw cultural difference from unassimilated immigrants and incompatible religions.38
For Protestants who nursed hopes of rebounding from their disestablishment of the 1920s.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
a given reservation is blocking a toxic waste dump. liberals were pressuring minorities not to rock the boat and to accept a hegemonic system that retained a Protestant flavor. Nevertheless. a
. For example. since its leaders treated diversity more as a nightmare than as something to take in stride. AIM activists. According to such critics. Thus. However. liberals and conservatives approached the issue differently. but rather a field tilted to their own advantage. diversity posed a smaller threat to the status quo if religious values were defined as private and kept off the table of public negotiation. There was limited friction between such ground-rules and the longstanding liberal practice of using Enlightenment yardsticks to test what parts of its own traditions to keep. Liberals took pluralism more or less in stride. since they supported civil rights and moderate feminism. This is not merely hypothetical: such a ‘Cowboy and Indian Alliance’ blocked the testing of missiles in the Black Hills in the 1980s. this may require an alliance of traditionalists. native churches. Liberals worried less about maintaining overt hegemony – a goal they presupposed in the 1950s and had largely abandoned by the 1990s – than about maintaining the expectation that minorities should be moderate and civil. and were interested in comparing insights with other religions. and they literally perceived much of the nation’s religious diversity as demonic. New Age environmentalists. This picture becomes murkier if we add the NCR to the mix. critics charged that liberals were not really promoting a level playing field for consensus building. They rarely supported minority rights unless they could benefit from claiming to be a persecuted minority. all citizens should agree that religious commitment is a private matter and accept the ground-rules of a public sphere that made decisions within a framework of Enlightenment reason.’39 According to such liberals. the flowering of diversity after 1965 was a challenge at best and a nightmare at worst. and nearby Lutheran ranchers. Moreover.
Often the result was confusion as the NCR complained about bias in groundrules that were designed to keep everyone’s ‘table manners’ unbiased. it often had enough votes to pass the law over liberal objections. Moreover. and a Pentecostal minister in Guatemala stated that ‘the army does not massacre Indians. Given such attitudes. if the NCR desired a law based on the Bible. it mobilized to gain more votes by presenting itself as a persecuted victim of liberal bias.’40 NCR leaders commonly compared feminists with Nazis. the liberal ground-rules expected them either to offer a rationale for this law that could be widely accepted. The NCR’s underlying goal was to combat the notion that it was only one minority at the table – or. it massacres demons. liberals had dismissed fundamentalists as a prime example of people who disqualified themselves from seats at a table of public deliberation. However. the main outlines of the situation remained clear. The liberal playing field was tilted as much against fundamentalists who appealed to Biblical literalism as it was against Muslims or Wiccans. the situation was complex. for example by comparing gender-inclusive liturgies to pro-Nazi theologies of the 1930s or treating abortion as genocide comparable with the Holocaust.230 religion. If Muslims desired a law based on the Qur’an. that its disestablishment was a settled matter. Alternatively. if the NCR lacked such votes or a judge struck down one of its laws on First Amendment grounds. after gaining seats in the name of equal rights. Nevertheless. the NCR often used their seats to promote policies that denied equal rights to their opponents. evangelicals were loudly demanding seats at this table. the NCR’s goal was less to foster dialogue toward consensus in a neutral public space and more to build hegemony – which often led non-Christians to worry less about bias in the liberal Christians approach than about working with such liberals to build alliances against the NCR. By the 1980s at the latest. culture and politics in the 20th-century us popular evangelical novel portrayed New Age channeling as satanic possession. and the Indians are demon possessed. After the 1920s. they are communists. such struggles showed no sign of fading: neither side had enough power to defeat the other and powerful interests
. or to be content to follow the Qur’an on a private voluntary basis. Early in the new century. This led the NCR to complain about bias in working assumptions about the arguments and evidence that could be used in public debates (disputes about creationism are a classic example). in other words. Although such ambiguities often took center stage in the culture war.
‘Devolution: intelligent design versus Darwin. practice witchcraft. 66–79. In this context. postmodern science. Jr. Vote to make our country strong again. See John Cobb.’ in Bellah and Greenspahn. Uncivil Religion..’41 Importantly. Some of the key theistic evolutionists process theologians who extend theories about divine immanence in dialogue with the metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead. although it is obvious that bureaucrats. 132–55. and become lesbians. 2005). kill their children. pundits. pragmatism. 40–52.’ New Yorker 5/30/05. Thomas Frank described the dynamic: ‘Vote to stop abortion. receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. The more that critics attacked the right and demanded respect for diversity. receive deindustrialization.
1 Eugenie Scott. receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetime. destroy capitalism. 2 George Marsden.’42 Although critics like Frank argued that corporate priorities weakened the society and blighted the futures of working people. Postmodernism and Public Policy (Albany: SUNY Press. Republicans perfected techniques of channelling the frustration of working-class voters away from economic elites (read: the ‘old class’) toward a ‘new class’ of government bureaucrats and cultural elites – a group that Republicans tried to portray as overwhelmingly liberal and secular. accessed at
. ‘Darwin in the dock: intelligent design goes to school. 2002). Culture warriors built entire careers on battling people on the opposing side of the war. 3 Data from Gallup Polls cited by National Center for Science Education. Allen Orr. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors. Often they mobilized support through provocative quotations about their enemies. Evolution Versus Creationism (Berkeley: University of California Press. and later in efforts to raise money to fight him – that feminism is ‘a socialist anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands. it remained unclear how much such critics could dent the hegemony of conservative populist discourse. the authoritarian aspect of conservative theology – its stress on obedience to divine power and authority – strongly reinforced a hegemonic discourse. such as Pat Robertson’s claim – first used in one of his fundraising letters. Margaret Talbot. ‘The case of the excluded middle: creation versus evolution in America. and celebrities can equally well be conservative.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
found it useful to prolong their strife.’ New Yorker 12/5/05. the more conservatives fed off the energy of their critiques to portray themselves as persecuted defenders of beleaguered moral traditions – a virtuous remnant struggling to survive a liberal onslaught. and Buddhism. H. receive energy deregulation … Vote to strike a blow against elitism.
223–4. National Public Radio. Religion and American Cultures. Patrica Brown. culture and politics in the 20th-century us
http://www. Ethics in the Present Tense. ‘Coming out: a journey without maps. Laderman. 262. and the Transformation of Christian Ethics (Boston: Beacon. ‘Shamanism in the New Age. Moore. Cities on a Hill: A Journey Through Contemporary American Cultures (New York: Simon and Schuster. 50. Leon Howell and Vivian Lindermayer. Autobiography of a Yogi (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship. 1998). On global warming see Elizabeth Kolbert’s three-part article. 116.000 members in sixty churches according to Steve Prothero.’ C&C. Harding. The Buddhist Churches of America. 3/2/93.’ C&C. 178–81. Pillars of Faith.org/resources/news/2004/US/724_public_view_of_creationism _and_11_19_2004. 256.’ C&C.’ C&C. Norman Pittenger. have around 20. Vine Deloria. All Things Considered 7/18/2005. 175–80.ncseweb.’ New Yorker 4/25/05. 268–83. 5/14/84. Frances Fitzgerald. 114–42. 183. For the thongs see http://landoverbaptist. Ammerman. 5/30/77. 63–8. she alludes to Clifford Geertz. 10/14/63.’ in Laderman and León. Stranger at the Gate (New York: Penguin.’ in McDannell. 2003). 1995). ‘Megachurches as minitowns. 227. Statement by British Quakers summarized in Tom Driver.’ in Ethics in the Present Tense: Significant Writings from Christianity and Crisis Magazine. 5/2/2005. 1973). Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press. Selling God. 182–7. Religion and American Cultures. 1989. ‘Debate on homosexuality. ‘Is the Church ready to legislate on sex?. Book of Jerry Falwell. 2006). Sex and the Church: Gender.asp/.’ C&C.’ in Laderman and León. ‘On taking sex seriously. Shirley MacLaine. Jr. Louie Crew. Carter Heyward.’ in Howell and Lindermayer. 91–128. James McGraw. 1999). Shaking the World for Jesus. Some paragraphs in this section are adapted from Hulsether. Selling God. 249. John Cobb. the United Church of Christ is especially important because its local congregations have autonomy.232 religion. 256..’ lecture at Carleton College. For more on this issue see Hendershot. ‘Excerpt from Dancing in the Light. Kaplan. ‘Buddhism in America. Theologically liberal GLBT people often gravitate to gay-friendly niches in mainline denominations. 6. 4/16/73. Tanya Erzen. Nelson. 1991).’ C&C. Paramahansa Yogananda. ‘The Climate of Man. Moore. 247–302. pendants discussed in ‘VH-I celebrity
. Religions of the United States in Practice. ‘Barry and me. and 5/9/05. Editors. With God On Their Side. Janet Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini. 918–25. For more on gay evangelicals see Mel White. The Metropolitan Community Church was founded by Troy Perry in the 1970s and grew into the top denomination for GLBT people who want an evangelical worship style. Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books. 1986).org. 8/5/74. Homosexuality. ‘Bush’s Indian Policy. Jeff Sharlet profiles an NCR megachurch in ‘Soldiers of Christ. 107. p. ca. and the angels. 168–82. ‘Homosexuality and the Church. ‘Scandal of peculiarity.’ Harper’s (May 2005). discussed below. Kathy Rudy. Building a Protestant Left. 52–3. eds (New York: Association Press. 176. videotape in author’s possession.’ New York Times 5/9/02. ‘Homosexuality and the Christian tradition. Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance (New York: New York University Press.
19 According to Walsh.’ Religions in Asian America. Prebish and Martin Baumann. 1996).’ Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies no. ‘Jack Kerouac in Berkeley: Reading The Dharma Bums as the work of a Buddhist writer. 639–45. 2005. Soka Gakkai stresses humanistic and this-worldly benefits from chanting the Lotus Sutra. 2006). 29 Robert Orsi.’ accessed online at http://www marigold.’ in McDannell. Hollywood’s America: Social and Political Themes in Motion Pictures (Boulder: Westview Press. Sin and Censorship. eds. no date. 22 In addition to citations in Chapter 5. eds. 24 Recently the Tibetan Buddhism of the Dalai Lama and the politicized ‘engaged Buddhism’ of people such as the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh have gained on Zen as the Buddhism of choice for white seekers.’ in Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. It is also the largest US Buddhist group due to energetic missionary activities. Rosemary Skinner Keller and Rosemary Ruether. 1992). bringing a religion influenced by Buddhism. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (San Francisco: HarperCollins. ‘Religious History of Japanese Americans in California. 1998). 1994). a branch of Nichiren Buddhism. ‘Women and Zen Buddhisms.’ American
. most Chinese were single men and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act cut off immigration. 6 (2004).. and David Rothman. The Beautiful Struggle (Rawkus Records. See Richard Hughes Seager. 18 Stephen Powers. 112–20. and Confucianism. I am grateful to my colleagues Rachelle Scott and especially Miriam Levering for much of my understanding of Buddhism reflected in this section. 20 Talib Kweli. 1920–1990. See David Yoo. 330. Hollywood vs. ‘Buddhist chanting in Soka Gakkai International. is among the most racially diverse of US religions. eds (Walnut Creek: Altamira Press. 23 We could mention Chinese as an earlier group. but it is hard to imagine their popularity without the foundation built by Zen. 7–26. com/rt88/bear. Taoism.’ videotape in author’s possession. ‘The religious boundaries of an in-between people: street feste and the problem of the dark-skinned other in Italian Harlem. 1976). The Dharma Bums (1958: New York: Penguin. Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia (Berkeley: University of California Press. Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from the Western Frontier (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. and Latino/a members. Zen in America: Five Teachers and the Search for an American Buddhism (New York: Kodansha. 121–42. 2004). ed. See also Marianne Dresser. However. thus the Japanese became the largest US Asian group. 1996). 25 Jack Kerouac. African-American. 28 Quoted in Helen Tworkov. 21 Not all converts are white. ca. 151. Doubtfire (1994) because the Bible states that men should not wear women’s clothes. ‘Smokey the Bear sutra. Soka Gakkai International. Stanley Rothman. 27 Miriam Levering and Grace Jill Schireson. A critique often cited by the NCR – although too tendentious to have scholarly value – is Michael Medved. Pyong Gap Min and Jun Ha Kim. 2002). plus a rating system that urged ‘extreme caution’ in watching Schindler’s List (1994) because of nudity and obscenity and condemned Mrs.cultural aspects of religion: wwii to present
religion. with many JapaneseAmerican. eds (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. since they came to California in large numbers after 1850.html. Faces of Buddhism in America (Berkeley: University of California Press. 2002). Miriam Levering. see Charles Prebish and Kenneth Tanaka. 26 Gary Synder. Religions of the United States in Practice. one watchdog group has oaths similar to the Legion’s.
and remembering the difficulty of disentangling native religions from whole ways of life. 313–47. 2000) and Paul Steinmetz. Fear of Falling: the Inner Life of the Middle Class (New York: Pantheon.. 1 (1994). Roads to Dominion. 7. no. 1990). 238. 36 Vine Deloria. and the overall picture (especially for urban Indians) sometimes tends toward privatization. 42 Thomas Frank. 32 In addition to sources already cited see Bruce Lawrence. Note that this section deals primarily with people north of Mexico.. ‘The great pretenders: further reflections on whiteshamanism. Native and Christian? Indigenous Voices on Religious Identity in the United States and Canada (New York: Routledge. 18. and Peyote Among the Oglala Lakota (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. 403–21. ‘Dancing with wastes. no. 2004) a famous book adapted from the oral testimony of a Lakota holy man by a white poet.’ American Indian Quarterly vol. Judith Tucker. 39 For more discussion see the Conclusion. 1995). 37 Christopher Ronwanien:te Jocks. This is the best context in which to approach John Neihardt. no.’ Transition vol. 1999). Islam and the Challenge of Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press. For This Land: Writings on Religion and America. 34 In addition to sources already cited. ed. Khaled Abou el Fadl. others are waning. 2 (2003). The Black Elk Reader (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. see Clyde Holler. (New York: Routledge. This Present Darkness (Wheaton: Crossway. 10. 415–31. ‘The women of Islam. 355–89. New Agers. 20. New Faiths.
. 1989). 1994). AIM activists. 33 Robert Allen Warrior.’ in Jaimes. 3 (2000). American Jihad: Islam after Malcolm X (New York: Doubleday. no. State of Native America. Sun Dancing. and Catholic priests all claim that his book supports them. 30 Deborah Caldwell. ‘Cowboy and Indian alliances in the northern plains. the pan-tribal religion of Ghost Dancing. 2002).234 religion. Pipe. 1986). James Treat. Bible. 4 (2003).’ C&C 7/15/91. He infused this combination with a calling to struggle against conquest and help his people thrive. Little X.. 1993). Using this analogy. 2004). ed. thus it brackets the major issue of Latin American mestizo culture. See also Barbara Ehrenreich. 216. and Steven Barboza. 9. 77. we can appreciate how the meaning of native tradition is changing. 27. 41 Cited in ‘Roundtable discussion: backlash. 78–97. Frank Peretti. Religious Studies News vol. What’s the Matter With Kansas? (New York: Henry Holt. Gender and Islamic History (Washington: American Historical Association. and Leila Ahmed. 40 Diamond. ‘Spirituality for sale: sacred knowledge in the consumer age.’ Agricultural History vol. Black Elk fused his personal vision (received in Lakota language and cosmology). 35 We might also imagine someone who is both an urban dweller and wilderness camper. 3/4 (1996). Certain ceremonies have grown more important. 91. Jr. Old Fears: Muslims and Other Asian Immigrants in American Religious Life (New York: Columbia University Press. see James Treat. 2004). culture and politics in the 20th-century us
Quarterly 44 (1992). and long-time work as a Catholic catechist. ed. Black Elk Speaks (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 31 On gender discourses in Islam see Tate. no. 13. ‘How Islam-bashing got cool’. 38 Zoltan Grossman. A key statement on this issue is Wendy Rose.’ Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion vol.
Pluralism. or race – and exploring how a range of religious people interact with such issues. we can also take stock of cases we have already explored and reflect on how they fit together. and our maps of US culture will be incomplete unless we grasp how religion informs everyday life and wider political processes. Thus.Conclusion: Consensus. Each group we have discussed is important on its own terms. we selected a few inquiries to pursue during our mid-day breaks and evening stopovers. larger reasons for mapping their interactions. and Hegemony in US Religion
Now that we have explored some of the key names and themes in US religion. class. to stop at this point – with a sense that being aware of many religions is important for its own sake – is not fully satisfying. Hopefully readers are now in a better position to extrapolate from these cases and make informed choices among the many topics worth further exploration. or especially useful ways to approach them? A second possible way to use this book (especially its more detailed case studies) is as a model for focusing on specific issues – for example. Three frameworks for such reflection are common both among religious people and scholars who study them. questions arise as our tour draws to a close: are there patterns in how our players relate to each other. We have promoted awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of various lenses that we can use to analyze them. can we say anything in closing to contextualize and orient such choices? Beyond these two ways of looking forward. From the beginning we have stressed how religions have many dimensions and can be mapped differently from place to place. consumerism. gender. By clarifying the strengths and 235
. Since it would take a lifetime to relate a full list of issues to a complete set of religious players. Still. It would be possible to use this book (especially its chapters that introduce key players) simply as an inventory of people to know about for further study. Different readers will choose to expand upon different issues – but. let us step back to consider some overall patterns in their interaction. once again.
and racial and/or sexual sub-cultures in the role of fomenting sectarian strife. of course. historic precedents for laws
. ranging from bald proposals for replacing the Constitution with a theocracy based on Biblical law to subtle arguments that start from a premise that societies need common values and proceed to a conclusion that the only viable candidate for such values is Christianity. such scholars argue that trying to build a society without common values is like building a house on sand. Both propose to safeguard appropriate minority rights – although. It responds to the diversity of US culture – as well as related concerns about secularization and individualism – by worrying about a loss of purpose for the society as a whole. Conservatives tend to present the US as a Christian nation.1 The first approach is a consensus model. the Bible. Others merely fear that such scenarios could develop in the future. they may also appeal to natural law.’ However nuanced. liberal bureaucrats in the role of the vacuum-filling tyrant. Catholics stress natural law while Protestants stress a covenant with God reaching back to the Puritans. with secular relativism playing the role of the sandy foundation. but it also has supporters among Catholics and the Protestant establishment. a lack of moral consensus could create a vacuum that a tyrant could fill or start the US down a road of sectarian strife similar to processes that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. Consensus scholars are often informed by sociological theory in the tradition of Emile Durkheim. Conservative evangelicals are the most vocal advocates of this model. Thus.236 religion. their goal is to revitalize a Christian (or ‘Judaeo-Christian’) consensus that they perceive to have been slipping away at least since the 1960s. we can walk away from this study with three rough-and-ready tools to help us thrive in debates that we will encounter in future travels. They do so with various levels of stridency. and in some respects since the nineteenth century. or the Qur’an. culture and politics in the 20th-century us weaknesses of these frames. Some scholars fear that such scenarios are already unfolding. In a worst-case scenario. and that meanwhile the nation is weakening. one might ask what they mean by ‘appropriate.2 However they buttress their case. If we bear these frames in mind and learn to translate among their ways of seeing. their maps of US religion pay much attention to – and in the process often exaggerate – Christian aspects of the Deism that underpins the Constitution. One of its background assumptions is that healthy societies need moral cohesiveness on basic values. we can move a long way toward grasping the underlying logic of ongoing debates.3 We can distinguish between conservative and moderate versions.
establishing religion. Its goal is a social framework that is neutral enough to allow creative differences to be fully expressed. and partly on the quasi-deification of heroes like George Washington. and symbols like the flag. they see themselves safeguarding democracy from tyranny or chaos. This model begins less from fear that the center will not hold. but for 1950s liberal consensus and 1960s civil rights coalitions. they feel that groups outside the consensus they promote should thank them for their vigilance and toleration. pilgrimage sites like Mount Rushmore. a shared commitment to the harmonious mingling of God and country. Advocates of this model perceive no necessary conflict between consensus and religious freedom. documents like the Constitution. and ways that Protestants established a cultural core to which other groups assimilated. theistic defenders of this model assume that God speaks to different people in different ways and that every form of religion (including their own) is imperfect. more precisely. subject to critique from the perspective of divine transcendence. or (more precisely) to shared values underpinning religion and democracy at their best. Although the NCR paints this approach as amoral and relativistic – and although certain pluralists may even encourage this perception – there is a longstanding tradition of defending this approach on explicitly theological grounds. Such civil religion builds partly on traditions like singing ‘God Bless America’ and celebrating Thanksgiving. the form of consensus it promotes is a relatively thin agreement to live and let live in religious matters and to celebrate diversity. On the contrary.4 The second broad model is pluralist. Its heroes are Deists like Jefferson and its nostalgia is not for Protestant hegemony in the nineteenth century. Although this approach assumes an overlap between patriotism and Christianity. Moderate versions of this consensus model seek to strengthen a sense of the common good against individualism that they see running rampant on both the right and left. All should stand on equal ground. through Buddhists sponsoring Boy Scout troops or rabbis praying at interfaith Thanksgiving services.5
. Both moderate and conservative consensus models share the goal of strengthening common values and a fear of excessive individualism and pluralism. It stresses respecting diversity as opposed to building consensus – or. Their classic proposal is to strengthen civil religion – that is. and more from fear that people will suffer discrimination based on cultural difference. That is. as a polity well matched to spiritual humility. it rejects overt ‘Christian nation’ rhetoric and invites non-Christians to share in the overlap – for example.
We can easily recast calls for consensus as attempts to build forms of cultural hegemony. as is deciding which players are legitimate or which referees are fair.8 A hegemony model can encompass the other two frames and clarify their strengths and weaknesses. does a society that valorizes postmodern pluralism reflect the hegemony of consumerism and dogeat-dog corporate values? Insofar as this is the core problem in some
. returning us full circle to our Introduction. but theories of postmodernity and cultural difference that attack Enlightenment universals as illusory. We have noted that hegemony is not necessarily a bad thing.6 As we have seen. because less energy would be wasted on unnecessary conflict? Would it be better – especially for minorities but also for majorities – to live in a land where a live-and-let-live approach is hegemonic? Conversely. If everyone agrees on minimal rules of the game. civil religion can function as an open public space for all religions – a level playing field on which all comers can hammer out agreements on basic issues. determining what constitutes a level playing field is easier said than done. and politics come together in terms of the hegemonic and counter-hegemonic goals that are in play. their priority is empowering alternative communities to disrupt and renegotiate forms of harmony that exclude or devalue them. culture. People who feel that a liberal field is tilted against them – and who (unlike the NCR) harbor little hope of taking over as referees – often embrace more radical versions of the pluralist model that exist in tension with civil religion. but that underdogs who are disadvantaged by particular forms of hegemony may wish to consider alternative approaches. Both defend forms of liberal civil religion – thicker and more substantive versions for the consensusminded and thinner versions stressing religious freedom for pluralists – as a framework within which diverse sub-cultures can interact harmoniously. Such people are concerned to assert and celebrate the distinctive strengths of groups from beyond the mainstream that have been neglected or disdained in the past. Rather than working for social harmony. Their underlying framework is not Durkheimian sociology. with enough shared values and agreement on ground-rules to provide a healthy degree of social cohesiveness.238 religion. is to analyze cases where religion. moderate versions of consensus and pluralist approaches overlap.7 A third approach. culture and politics in the 20th-century us Despite starting from different root concerns. To what extent is it a given that US society requires a common morality based on the Bible? Might the society be stronger if no one pushed for this.
However. In this regard. a lack of cultural recognition is not always the form of hegemony that underdogs are most worried about. but a debate about what forms of shared morality should be priorities and how diverse groups can work together toward such priorities. It might be useful to explore and translate between divergent understandings of what constitutes sexual
. Especially in cases where suffering or oppression is acute. It might be useful in the long run to build a moral consensus about the barbarity of torture. including women. a pluralistic approach may itself function as a form of hegemony to mask other forms of power imbalance. as opposed to beginning from concerns with building consensus or celebrating diversity. Adopting pluralist approaches (for example. pluralist models may be counter-hegemonic. and their way of framing issues may be crucial for people who need to establish minimal levels of recognition and equal opportunity. Feminists may be pleased that they won the right to vote and to sit at tables of power. Therefore – although there is often much value in consensus and pluralist models – at times it is better to focus directly on the hegemonies and counter-hegemonies involved in specific cases of lived religion. shared by both torturers and victims. the top priority may not be to celebrate diversity. but rather to strengthen counter-hegemonic movements that critique corporate values in the name of the common good – whether they advance this critique using religious values of justice and compassion. suppose that people are being tortured or raped. The issue becomes not a straight up or down vote for common values.’ and that the specific woman at the table is Condoleezza Rice. one vote. For example. and they may be quick to fight anyone who tries to roll back these rights on religious grounds – but their top concern may be that decisions at this table are made on the principle of ‘one dollar. and Buddhists in our maps) can uproot consensus models that mask the internal complexities and multiple levels of conflict in US religion. Enlightenment values of equal rights and citizenship. blacks.conclusion
contexts. one vote’ rather than ‘one person. They may be more concerned about how ideologies of color-blindness and multiculturalism distract from institutional racism. African-Americans may be pleased that slave spirituals and black women’s quilts receive equal respect alongside white male theologies in textbooks that celebrate a pluralist mosaic – yet still dissatisfied if the relations between blacks and whites are primarily conceived as harmonious and pluralistic rather than as violent and oppressive. the task is to address the top priority problem. In short. or some combination of the two.
and perhaps even wiser. Border Regions of Faith (Maryknoll: Orbis. culture and politics in the 20th-century us consent in different cultures. Rather than opening a discussion of scholars whose work cuts across more than one of these types. 1987). and Kenneth Aman. at least in the short run – and possibly in the long run as well – these approaches are perverse. Religion Returns to the Public Square.
1 This three-way distinction represents a set of ideal types. it is even conceivable that rape and torture victims might want to reflect – informed by theologies that stress how both oppressors and oppressed are equal in God’s eyes – about whether they share common ground with their victimizers or whether they made mistakes that played some part in their suffering (some people consider this theologically profound. others see it as an example of hegemony at its most disturbing). When does it make sense to stress equal recognition for all groups? When it is better to distinguish between larger and smaller groups or divergent visions of the future? Which forms of hegemony are trivial and which are foundational? Insofar as we have assumed that there is not just one cut-and-dried route through the US religious landscape. ReTelling US Religious History. eds. readers will have to think for themselves about such matters. both diversity and power imbalance.240 religion. we have also assumed that there are no simple answers to such questions. In the long run.. Analyses of hegemony only provide a framework for thinking. The Power of Religious Publics: Staking Claims in American Society (Westport: Greenwood Press. Mary Douglas and Steven Tipton. nor just one set of landmarks on any given route. Heclo and McClay. By extension. ed. The task becomes learning to think wisely – in concrete cases – about both harmonious pluralism and intractable conflict. it does not fully reflect the nuance of every scholar. Although it is not always easy to discern what forms of hegemony are emergencies of this kind – recall our executive who feels victimized because he is left-handed – this is often a compelling way to understand what religions do. As our tour comes to a close and we take our leave. there are many places on the US religious landscape where the priority is to focus on acute oppression and on how religion can help underdogs survive and overcome it. not a substitute for it. 1999). For additional exploration see William Swatos and James Wellman. 1983). Hopefully we have learned enough about key religious players and their interactions to do so in ways that are at least better informed. this section is a synthetic reflection on books already cited. nor one single kind of map to guide a trip. Tweed.
. The priority problem is to focus on the violence and how to stop it. eds. Religion in America: Spirituality in a Secular Age (Boston: Beacon Press. However.
The One and the Many: America’s Struggle for the Common Good (Cambridge. 8 Many texts cited above reflect this approach. Hulsether. 489–508. Godless Constitution. Building a Protestant Left. One Nation Under God?: Religion and American Culture (New York: Routledge. Hulsether. Justice Interruptus. Jr. 1987). 5 Hutchison. Public Religions in the Modern World. Community in America: the Challenge of Habits of the Heart (Berkeley: University of California Press. and feminist theology.conclusion
2 On sociological theory underlying this section see Anthony Giddens. and Max Weber (New York: Cambridge University Press. Bellah. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley: University of California. examples that use hegemony theory explicitly include Rhys Williams. Charles Reynolds and Ralph Norman. Power of Religious Publics. 4 Russell Richey and Donald Jones. Postcolonial America (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ed. 53–68. Brian Morris. and Rebecca Chopp. 1993). Democracy Matters. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: an Analysis of the Writing of Marx. ‘Religion and culture. Religious Pluralism in America. democracy. 1974).. eds. John Rajchman.. 1985). 1995).’ in Swatos and Wellman.’ in Swatos and Wellman. 3 Good examples include Neuhaus and Cromartie. ‘Is there a common American culture?. Moore. 1971).. Richard King. John Witte. C. Marjorie Garber and Rebecca Walkowitz. eds. 1997). 169–86. 7 Fraser. 1988). 2000). The Identity in Question (New York: Routledge. Anthropological Studies of Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ‘Public religion and hegemony: contesting the language of the common good. and Nancy Fraser. see also citations above on neo-conservatives and evangelicals. Durkheim. 111–29. 1999). 6 Martin Marty. Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion. eds. ed.. West.’ in Hinnells. Casanova.’ in Christianity and Democracy in Global Context. Robert Bellah et al. ‘Christianity. ed. Power of Religious Publics. 1997). Piety and Politics. Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the “Postsocialist” Condition’ (New York: Routledge.
172–81 Christianity. 97. James. 24. 125 Blades. 61. 29. 30. 72 blues see popular music Bob Jones University. 216 Benevolent Empire. 26. see also social gospel Berrigan. 186. 127 abortion. Osama. 109–10. see also al-Qaeda birth control see contraception Birth of a Nation. 68 Bakker. 36. 14. 62. Daniel. 134–5. see also Mennonite. 224 Bush. 176. 36. 144. 87. 43 anti-Catholicism. 121–2. see also Pentecostalism Auschwitz. 175. 146–7. 207. 35. 201n Bible interpretation. 220 Calvinists. 62. Joseph. 26 Beecher. 32 African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion. 91–3. 119. 215 bin Laden. 81–2. Puritans Carnegie. 5–7. 58.. 36–40. 1. 143. 30–2. see also Vodou. Ruben. 89 Bells of St. Amish Anglicans. 191. 223 Aztecs. 196 apocalyptic theologies see end-times prophecy Apostle (1997). 26–32. 35 Azusa Street Revival. 156 Americans for Democratic Action. 57–8. 190 African Methodist Episcopal Church. 217 Ashtar Command. 102 Amish. 140. 162. 149–50. 65–6. 129–33. 214 Baldwin. Henry Ward. 196 California. 97. 234n American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA). 6. 224. 205–7. 182 anti-Communism see Cold War anti-Semitism. 164. 28–9. Mary (1946). 119 Blavatsky. 236 Bicycle Thief (1948). 190. 30–2. 211. 173 Black Elk Speaks. 205. 72. Jim and Tammy Faye. 144–5. 195–8. George W. 132 bracero program. 128–31. 218–23 Buddhist Churches of America. 32 African-American religion. 186. 21. Santería AIDS and/or HIV. 7. 39–42. 234n Black Fury (1935). 156. 34. 31. 194. 178–9. 206 Buddhism. multiculturalism. 173 Baptists. 5. 140–1 American Revolution. 6.. 67–8. 197. Sr. 230–1 Africa. 113. 57. 83. 225. 33. 143–4. 227. 85 American Indian Movement (AIM). 221. 173–7 Islam. 135
. 166 Assemblies of God. see also Presbyterians. 28–9. 183. 174. William Jennings. civil rights. 209.Index
abolitionism. 68. 156. 133. 212 al-Qaeda. 124–5 Bryan. see also Episcopalians Ann Lee. 114. 109–12. race and/or racial formations Afro-Caribbean religion. 31. 66. 67–8. 176–8 see also Afro-Caribbean religion. 34 Anabaptists. 197 Alger. 232n Bush. 8–10. 112 American Federation of Labor (AFL). 61–5. 27. 113 Breen. 164. 34. 95. 44. 134. 64. 173–4. 34–7. Horatio. George. 155–6. 229. 82. Helena. Andrew. 40–2. 73–4. 168. 191 American Studies. 113. 62. 214. 227 Barbados.
183. 98. Clarence. 170n. 186 Coltrane. 194 Christian Nation. 151. 187. 71–2 Christianity and Crisis magazine. 7–8. see also dominion theology Christian rock see Contemporary Christian Music Christian Science. 188 Clinton. 185. 173–6. 57. 71. William Sloane. 230–1 Dalai Lama. 191. 215. 236–7 consumer culture. 65 disestablishment of religion. African-American Christianity Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints see Mormons Church of the Nazarene. 218. 93. 51. Charles see evolution Day. 204–8. 40–1. 148 Día de los Muertos. 65. 105. 187–8. 186. see also Pentecostalism. 170n. 38. 119. 211–12 Coffin. 120 Deists. 98. 109. 174. Mary. 14. 210 Communist Party. 197–8 Cold War liberalism. 93. 152. 221–2 Cowboy and Indian Alliance. 96–7. 161. 41–2. 9–13. 40–2. 193
. 101. 182–6. 96. 36. 229 dispensationalism. 189 Dances With Wolves (1990). 207. 190 Cold War. 158. 153. 184. 225 contraception. see also Unitarians Democratic Party. 63. 50. 193. see also free market theory Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV). 30. 223–9 cultural studies. 116. 141 Cherokees. 172. 102. 42. 205 deprogramming. 73. 227 Chinese-Americans. 90. Hernando. 96 Churches of Christ. 87–8. 230 Cuba and/or Cuban-Americans. 151–5. 225. 120–1 culture war. 176 Cobb. 149. 210 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. 236–7 Christian Reconstructionists. 178–9 cultural hybridity. John. 163. 212–15. 175–6. 73. ideal of. 68. 165.index
Carter. 156. 187 Chavez. 186. 163–4. 86. 26. 139–40. Cesar. 152. Creflo. 183 Christian Identity movement. 156. Christopher. 191 Dobson. 160. 153–4. 229 creationism. 209–11 Christianity (general characteristics). 113 Commonweal magazine. 61. 161. 87–8. 134–5 Darwin. 213. 236–7. 61. 184 Cortez. 35. 95. 177 domesticity. 233n Daly. 229–30. 117–18. 35 Coughlin. 15. 237–8 Civil Rights Act. 188. 173 Columbus. 65 civil millennialism. James. Jimmy. 64. 236–7 Constitution of the United States. 5–7. 74. 154. 85–7. 123–4. 167 devotional Hinduism. 28. 209 demographic data. 238 Contemporary Christian Music. 61 civil religion. Charles. 33–4. 183 Dollar. Bill. 86
Congregationalists. 44–5. 104–5. 186. 163. 25–6. 90. 128–9. 142 Disciples of Christ. 1. see also particular groups and issues Christianity Today magazine. 96. 58. Deepak. 148 Christian Century magazine. 154 Church of God in Christ. 154–9. 20. 188 dominion theology. 39 consensus framework for approaching religion. 153. 111 counter-culture. 57. see also United Church of Christ Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). 105. 233n Chopra. Dorothy.185. 24. 43. 70. 143. 156 Catholic Worker Movement. 99–100. 135 class see economic class. 237 Civil War. 83 conjure. 93. 186. 87. see also Dorothy Day Catholics see Roman Catholics Central America. John. 141–3. 139. 138. 130–1. 192. 175 civil rights movement. 89–90. 119. 141–2. 96–7. 185. 226 Darrow. 21. 103–4 Christian Coalition.
186 Emerson. 92. 96–7. 69 Hadassah. 204–8. 97. Aretha. 15. 208–12. 239 German-Americans. 196 Durkheim. 179. 215 clarifying definitions. 92–3. 97. 43–4. 185. 229. 151. see also gender issues and religion Farrakhan. 239. 190–9 engaged Buddhism. see also National Council of Churches Fellowship of Reconciliation.. Billy. 66. 41. 6–7. 156. 173 Hasidic Judaism. 184. 64–5. 51–2. 185 Gone With the Wind. 97. 59. lesbian. 213. 177 Falwell. 208–11. 231 Franklin. 112–13 Gibbons. 157–9. 84. 177. 31. 57–8. 23. Thomas. 70. 201n. 183 Frank. 173. see also Deism. North Carolina. 189. Bernard. Bob. 80–1. 174 free market theory. 170n fundamentalism. 35 Garvey. 155. end-times prophecy. 66. see also gender issues and religion
. 120. C. Marcus. 34. 97–8. and transgendered) people. 161 Hawaii. 223. 231. Reform Judaism. 139 Gastonia. 8–9. 146 empire and anti-imperialism. 188. 167. 183. Ralph Waldo. 84. L. 215–18 Focus on the Family. 127–35 fur trade. 158. 133–4. 224 Great Awakenings. 5. 154. 119. 207. 176 Federal Council of Churches. 64. 208–12. 155 historical roots. fundamentalism. New Christian Right fundamentalist–modernist conflict. 186–7. see also Anglicans evangelicals and gender. 102 feminisms. 100. 167. 115–16. 225. 174 Franklin.244
Duel in the Sun (1946). 209. 207 Family Research Council. Smith. Louis. 211 festa of the Madonna del Carmine. 177. 178 Father Divine Peace Mission. 224. 216 Duke. 180. see also working class culture and politics ecumenism. textile strike. 232n GLBT ordination. 126. 225. 44. 182. 220 Hays Office see film censorship
ecological issues. 188. 156. 190–9. 204–8 ex-gay ministries. 236 Dylan. Jerry. Stuart. 97. 222. 119
feminist theologies and spiritualities. 203n end-times prophecy. 224 Hall. 198. liberal Christian thought Episcopalians. 74. 223–4 film censorship. 39 Greek Orthodox Church. 84. 197. 128. 62. 12. 222. 110 Frank. 173 gospel of wealth. 124. Emile. 212 Golden Rule Christianity. 127–35. bisexual. 39–40 moderate forms. 140. 76n. 12. 165. 186–7. 30–2. 131. 85 Glassman. 201n. 154–5. 208–9. 154.182. Franklin. 182–4. 183. 56. 183 family values. 238 free-riders. 9 Hare Krishnas see International Society for Krishna Consciousness Harlem Renaissance. 91. 188. 216 Faith-Based Initiatives. Cardinal James. 35–6. 238–9. 155–6. 183–4. 233n Enlightenment reason. 51. New Christian Right. 62–3. 201n. 127. 201n and popular culture. 95 Haiti and/or Haitian-Americans. 226 Employment Division V. David. revivalism evolution. 229–30. 27. 103–5. Leo. 204–5 see also African-American Christianity. 188. 114–17. 84 gay men see GLBT people gender issues and religion. 200n End of the Age. 224 Graham. 4. 195. 209 Exorcist (1974). see also evangelicals. 64. 98–9. 229–31. 23. 222–3 GLBT (gay. 122–6. 81–2 Graham. 88–98. 70. 229 economic class see free market theory.
214 hip-hop see popular music Hitler. 161. 207.
. 83 industrialization. 230. 112. 238–40 cases of ambiguity about identifying hegemonies. 175 and immigration. 164 Hutchinson. Jr. 43–4. 175 and Hollywood. Sally. 73. 15. 160–2. 181. 224–5 In His Steps. 160–1 Reform and Conservative Judaism. 238 cases of religion as counter-hegemonic. 148–9 invisible institution. 85 Ku Klux Klan. see also festa of Madonna del Carmine Jackson. 173. 112 Jewish Theological Seminary. 191. 218–23. 56. 84 International Society for Krishna Consciousness. 31–2 Iraq. 63–4. 133 Jewish Daily Forward. 146–9. J. 66–7. 141–50 relations between immigrants and hegemonic groups. 123–6. 225–6 immigration generational patterns. 116. 221. 183. 10–12 as framework for studying religion. 221. 87. Carter. 108–17. 145–6. 181–2. 15. 11. 52–3. 120. Anne. 132. 182. 55–6 Heyward. 149–50. 84. 85. 51. 115 labor organizing and/or labor radicalism. 196. 12–13. 168 Keys to the Kingdom (1944). 26. 189 see also Israel. J. 182 Kerouac. 51. 165. 105. 142–3. 187. Jesse. 150 Humanae Vitae. 123 Kennedy. 197. 13. 139 Jakes. 237 Jehovah’s Witnesses. 160 women in Judaism. 186. 41. 15–16. 174 Hollywood. 37 Hutchison. 143. 17. 196 La Guardia. 173 Jefferson. 179 Japanese-Americans. 55 Jews. 54–5. 215–18 Hollywood Production Code see film censorship Hsai Lai Temple. Fiorello. Will. 100–5. 225 Italian-Americans. 27. 145. 231. William. 95. 226 Heaven’s Gate. Zionism Johnson. 173. 110–11.. 96. 112. 192–4. 58. 68–9. 125. 50–6. see also African-American Islam Israel and/or Israel-Palestine conflict.. 135. Theodore. 150. Adolph. 230 cases of religion as conservative hegemony. 167. 192. 29. 108–9. 186. 142–6. John. 45. 45–6. 185. 148–50. 201n. 145. 186 Kingfish (1995). 30. 113–15 Islam. 239–40 Hemings. 224–6 post-1965 immigration. 233n jazz see popular music Jazz Singer. 28. 166 hegemony as defined in cultural studies. 111. 54. 56. 122–4 healing. Z. 192 Knight. 54. Martin Luther. 51–4. 223–4. T. 3. 154. 27 Herzl. 78 insurgent consciousness. 118 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). 91–3. 58–9. 216 King. 181 intelligent design see creationism
Interchurch World Movement. 56–7. 217. convert forms of Asian religion. 42 immigrant vs. 173. Thomas.. 190–1. 160 Orthodox Judaism. 109. 213–14 Knights of Labor. 198. 72. 43. 174–5. 129. 36. 221–2. 211 Hinduism. 55–6. 90. 51. 146. 196–7. 177 Jamaica. 139. 63–4. 5. Jack. 123. 220 religion in immigrant communities. 224–6. 218. 27. 209 Irish-Americans. Jack. 191 Kent State University. 174–7. 149. 65–7. 213.index
Hays. 112. 139. see also Nazism Holiness Movement. 99–100. 123–6. 175. 113–16. 221–2 key players in US religion summarized.
194–5. 21 modernist theology see liberal Christian thought Montgomery Bus Boycott. 145. 120 Manifest Destiny. 110. Golden Rule Christianity. 176. 153. 161 Meso-American religion. 40. 69 by Spain 23. 198 Madonna. 98–9. Shirley. 95–6 Mississippian culture. 240 Marley. 205 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 156–60. 9. 45. 129. Shailer. 93. 214 Mahayana Buddhism. 190. 98 and Protestant women. 29. 150–4. 33. 210–11 Life of Brian (1979). 140. 47n. 178 mission and colonization by France. 36 Matrix (1999) and Matrix Revolutions (2003). 183. liberal Christian thought. 71–2. 43. 30 and Mormons. 209–10. 153. and specific groups and issues Man Nobody Knows. 213–14 McVeigh. 34–5. Zen Buddhism mainline Protestant establishment. see also Pure Land Buddhism. 22. 35–6. 113 middle ground. 29. 65. 214–15 Mencken. 23. 2–8. 124–5. H. 40. 4. 91. 135 Mennonites. 16 Little Buddha (1993). 100 Million Man March. 217 lodges. 232n Mexican-Americans. 195–6 Lakota culture and religion. 116. 177–8. 6. 190 Latino/a religion in twentieth century. 45. 71–3. 132. 113–14. and specific national groups Leap of Faith (1993). 176 Long. Martin. 188. 90–1. Roman Catholics. William. 133. 156. 188. 24–5.. 15. 23–4. Sun Myung. 181. 211 liberal consensus. 35–6. see also Afro-Caribbean religion. 190. 99 MacLaine. 69. 111. 217 Lincoln. 127–9. 94. 191. 71 and Native Americans. 25. 85. 132 McKinley. Elijah. 186. 131–2. 235. Timothy. 226 mapping (as metaphor for analyzing US religion). Edward. see also ecumenism. 145. 141–2 Mexico. 154. 218–19. 184. 97 Muslims see Islam Nation of Islam (NOI). 209 lynching. 57–8 missions and African American slavery. 85. 97. 192. 183 Moravians. 211–12 Metropolitan Community Church. 36 Luther. 129. 215 lesbians see GLBT people liberal Christian thought. 45 Lippy. 178 multiculturalism. 177 moral consensus see consensus framework for approaching religion Moral Majority. Charles. 184. 23–4. 29. 170n. 188. Gresham. 30 Mormons. 63–4. 24–5 Militia of the Immaculata. 141 LaHaye. 84. 210. 123. Warith Deen. Joseph. J. 63. 30–2. 5–6. 62. Abraham. 209. 180 McCarthy. 159 Muhammad. 35–6 by Russia.246
thinkers. 139. 70–1. 175
81. 57. 192–3 Louisiana Purchase. 77. 141–2. 102. 45. L. 5–7. 199 Matthews. 100 McGlynn. 17. 174 Moody Bible Institute. 177 Muhammad. 234n Late Great Planet Earth. 220 Lutherans. 132 Moon. see also Positive
. 177. 36 Masonic Lodges see lodges Massachusetts. 193. 151–2. 34. 190. 131 megachurches. 119 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Huey. 239 muscular Christianity. 34–5. 21–2 Methodists. Bob. 158. Pentecostals. Timothy. 61–5. 83. 186–90. New Thought Maryland. 133. 32. 150. 199 Legion of Decency. 164. 43. 198 Mary Baker Eddy. 217 Left Behind. 98. 229 liberation theologies. 85 Machen. 167. see also Unification Church Moorish Science.
. 51. 176. 231n. 232n peyote church see Native American Church Philippines. see also Wicca New Age. 60. Joel. 84 Pope Pius X. 203n Niebuhr. 214 Pueblo Revolt. 112 Parham. 155. 165–6. 29. 72. 140–1. 165–7. 56. 210. 156. 217 Pawnbroker (1965). 32 Pentecostals. 121–2. 142. 158. Adam Clayton. 237–9. 15. 40. 110. neo-conservatives New Deal. 88. 158. 215 Peale. 63–5. 86–7. Richard. 196–7. 62–63. 43 Orthodox Christianity. 234n Nixon. 121–2. 237–9 stages of religious pluralism in US history. see also New World Order PTL Club. 182 nuns. 163–4 Pope John XXIII. 174–5. 142–3. 214 Pennsylvania. 115. 99. 142–3. 188. 13. 98. 94–5. 110. 33–4. 226–8 pluralism vs. 238 Powell. 60 popular music. 72. see also temperance Promise Keepers. 177.index
National Baptist Convention. 226–9 and Christianity. 207–8. see also endtimes prophecy Presbyterians. see also Adolph Hitler neo-conservatives. 101–2. 73. see also anti-Catholicism. 179 New Thought. 164 Pope John Paul II. 15. 166. 216. 99 pluralism as framework for studying religion. see also particular groups and issues Protocols of the Elders of Zion. 37–8 Protestant–Catholic–Jewish triple establishment. 227. 118–19. 111. 16–17 see also missions. specific native groups nativism. 192. 69–71 Orthodox Church of America. 147. 14. 24–5. 68 Passion of the Christ (2004). 234n and New Age. 186 Protestantism. 93. 178–9. 222 popular religion. 212 New Orleans. Charles. Jr. 113 Oneida Community. 36. 148. 227–9 New Christian Right (NCR). 165 new women. 185–6. 144. see also Roman Catholicism 100 per cent Americanism. 111. 188. see also consumer culture. 29. see also evangelicals. 190–9. 72. 185–6 New England Watch and Ward Society. 96 New World Order. 138. 66–8. 71–2 postmodern theories. 96. hegemony as a framework for analysis. 141–2. 191. 25. 192 Positive Thinkers. 162–3 Pope Leo XIII. 73–4. specific media and issues Populists. 218–20. 182–5. 125
pacifism. Norman Vincent. John. 140 Native American culture and religion. 34. Elvis. 229–31. 124 National Council of Churches (NCC). 57. 152. 134. 161. 59. 181 Prohibition. 200n. 102–5. 167 Nazism. 229–31. 32. 132–3. 6. 15–17. 230. 132–3. 209 Presley. 236 nature religions. 214 Niehardt. 72 Outlaw (1943). 42 Pope Benedict XVI. 173. 195. 196. 94. 123. 122. 129. 175 National Catholic Welfare Conference. 129. 178 Pure Land Buddhism. 209. 231 neo-evangelicals see evangelicals neo-pagans. 175–6. 201n Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. 100–5. 213–14. 193. 195 Perry. 154–5. 123 new morality. 101–3. 84. 20–5. Reinhold. 133. 100–5. 69. 213. 196. 35 Puerto Rican-Americans. 163. 162 Pledge of Allegiance. 217–18. 117–22. anti-Semitism natural law.. 69 Osteen. 167. see also Federal Council of Churches Native American Church. 174 premillennialism. 151–3. 162. 209. Troy. 36. 183. 209–10.
82–4. 120. 161 Ryan. 59–60. 141–2. 200n Scofield Reference Bible. 91 Sheen.. 224–5. 56. 195 Self-Realization Fellowship. 209 Romero. 115. 173 Shakers. 3. problem of defining. 132. 209 Soka Gakkai International. 125 Sikhs. 179. Elizabeth Ann. 214 September 11. 69. L. 85–6 Smith. see also liberation theologies socialism. 100–3. 151–2. 165 Stanton. 6. 100. 227 Sunday. 183–4. 205. John D. 61. 2001. 221–3
Japanese-Americans. 83. 111 Roots (television series). 178–9. 231 Rerum Novarum. 11. 82. Pat. 44. 82–3 Reagan. 112. 154–6.248
Russian immigration. 3. 151. Ralph. 45. 51. 180–1. 117–18. 86. 140. 86–7. 73–4. 215–17 seed-faith giving. 67. 162–3. 138. 224–5 immigrant communities. 79. 111 Smith. 109. 166. 87 Salvation Army. 142–3 Sisters of Charity. 218–19 Sign of the Cross (1932). 197–8 serpent-handling churches. 85. 175. 70. 233n South. 33. 224–5 Latin American. 190 Sojourners magazine. 81–2. 45 religious or spiritual healing see healing religious privatization see secularization Republican Party. 65. 190 Roosevelt. 189. 224 Spellman. 185 Soelle. 110. 140. 115. 7. 15. 43. 132–3 Supreme Court cases. Cardinal Francis. 25. 173 social gospel. 186 stances toward gender and sexuality. 191 Scopes Trial. 57–58. 175. 175–7. 61. Oral. 5. 173. 93–4. William. 27–8. 155. 179 Spiritualism. John. 143. 66 Seton. 54–5. 130. 195–6.. 95 slavery. 88. 163–4. 73. Bhagwan Sri. 186–7 Latino/a presence in US. 100 Shinran. 34–9. 200n Suzuki. 84. K. 187 Roberts. 87. 84–8. 60. 100 spirit possession. 187 Santería. 184. 84. 154. as distinctive region. 31. 58–9. 84 Restorationists. 44–5 suburbanization. Oscar. Ronald. 16–17. 184. 65–8. Billy. 235 Religion of the Lost Cause. 13–17. 186 social teachings on the economy and war. 72 Robertson. 204–8 secularity and/or secularization. 161–5 Americanist tendency.. 6. 6. 80. 239 Riley. 113–17. 131–2. 220. 228. 141–3. 73 Southern Baptist Convention. 220 Siddhartha Gautama. 130. 156. 37. 163. G. Buddhist Churches of America Puritans. 162–5. T. 65 Samson and Delilah (1949). 70. 95 sexual revolution see new morality Seymour. 187. 111. 86. 164. Fulton. 105. William Bell. Elizabeth Cady. 40. Franklin Delano. 68. Walter. 205 Rajneesh. see also Disciples of Christ revivalism. 29. D. 163 devotional Catholicism. 70 Social Darwinism. 43. 156. 133 race and/or racial formations. 191. 56–61. Condoleeza. 93 Stowe. 118–19. Harriet Beecher. 5. 236 Second Vatican Council. 187. 182 Rice. 183 religion. Joseph. 133. 183 Raelians. 132 Roman Catholics. 231 Rockefeller. 39–40. Dorothee. 90. 26–8 Smith. 144 Sun Dance. 121. 28
. 239 racial hybridity see cultural hybridity. 162. Al. 155. 94. 43–4. 214 Rauschenbusch. 162. 159–60. 154 Riverside Church. 196–7. 133–5. 114. 191 Quakers. 35. 68. 190. 62. 170n. 157 Sufism. 135. 191 Reed. 216 sanctuary movement. 182–4. 38. see also race and/or racial formations radio.
221–3 Zen Peacemaker Order. see also Prohibition Texas. feminisms women’s suffrage. 37–9. 220 Wounded Knee. Swami. 178–9. 145. Jim. see also Deist United Church of Christ. 141 Virginia. Max see Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism What the Bleep Do We Know? (2004). 117. 102. 112. 223 Zionism. 99 UFO religions. Emmett. 188 Virgin of Guadalupe. 36. Alice. 167 Union Theological Seminary (New York). 35. 9 Willow Creek. Paramahansa. 204–6. 126 Unification Church. see also Congregationalists United Nations. 93–4. 166. 149–50. 151. 178. see also creationism. 214 Wise. 237
Weber. 62 Zen Buddhism. 218–19. 218. 178
. 41. 212. 57 The Chosen (Chaim Potok). 224 Voting Rights Act. 146. 214 true womanhood see domesticity Turner Diaries. 100. 53 witches (as perceived by outsiders) 12. 173 Wallis. 140 X. see also Dalai Lama Till. Isaac Meyer. Mark. 166. 95–6. immigration World Council of Churches (WCC). 209. 233n. 173 women’s ordination. 232n. 12. 41–2. E. P. 44. 10. 177–8 yoga. 161 theistic evolution. 56. 184. 112.. 194–5 Twain. 62–3. 55. 132. 173. see also social gospel. 188–9. see also labor organizing. 143–4. 55–6. 72. 214 Yogi. 195–7 US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Maharishi Mahesh see Maharishi Mahesh Yogi young earth creationism see creationism Young Men’s Buddhist Association. 84. 101. 154 Wicca. 44–5. 84. 143. 93 women religious. 149. Malcolm. 189. Second Vatican Council Vedanta Society. 41–2 Vivekananda. 222 Yogananda. 186. see also National Catholic Welfare Conference Vatican II see Roman Catholics. 148–9. 188 Unitarians. 205 Uncle Tom’s Cabin. see nuns Women’s Christian Temperance Union. 152. 29. Raymond. 230 Willard. 140. 30. liberal Christian thought Theosophy. 99. 93–4 Williams. 149. 218. 13. 156 Washington. 99–103. see also Wicca Woman’s Bible. 88. 231. 94 working class culture and politics. 213 Wheaton College. 146. 162. 187. 148 Vietnam. 93–4.113–17. 62. 134 World War II. 165 Theravada Buddhism. 211–12 women’s social reform. 166. 93–4.index
temperance. 69 World War I. 142. 214. Frances. 5. 218–19. 175 Walker. 23. 223 Thompson. 174. George. 180 Transcendental Meditation. 9 Tibetan Buddhism. 227 Vodou. 114. 148–9. 82. 164. 78– 88. 220 Young Men’s Christian Association. 7. |
The allegedly uncoordinated Clinton campaign
in Books and literature, History, Politics
But Hillary still struggled with the question of whether she was running for Bill Clinton’s third term, Obama’s third term, or her own first term. “How do you take credit for eight years of Democratic progress but also get that things haven’t gone far enough?” said one aide who wrestled with the conundrum. “She hired […]
Hugh Segal on the British election
in Canada, Politics
Like most knowledgeable commenters on Canadian politics, it seems that Master of Massey College Hugh Segal is skeptical about Canada’s (and Britain’s) first past the post (FPTP) electoral system, as well as sympathetic to the case that minority governments might function better. In a recent article on the British election he argues: In fact, minority […]
Canada’s deadly residential school system
in Canada, History, Politics
The worst damage the residential schools inflicted directly on Aboriginal children resulted from the schools’ deplorable physical conditions and the cruelty of their custodians. Persistent underfunding produced terrible overcrowding, poor sanitation, and grossly inadequate diets. For many children, this meant death. In 1907 Dr. P.H. Bryce, the Indian Affairs Department’s medical inspector, reported that the […]
Canada’s history of oppressive Indigenous policies
in Canada, History, Law, Politics
Almost every year the Indian Act was amended to add new measures of control, many of them requested by the government’s agents in the field. In twenty-five pages of its report, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples laid out in detail the “oppressive measures” that were added to the act right up until 1951. They […]
Contradictory thinking in Canadian treaty-making
In the two decades between the [1857] Gradual Civilization Act and the [1876] Indian Act, only one Indian opted for enfranchisement, and the Indian peoples did not disappear. The Government of Canada continued to negotiate treaties with Indian nations while at the same time appointing Ottawa bureaucrats to run their societies. There was no logic […]
Agreement under duress
These land cession treaties were flawed by the fundamental inequality of the parties. The Indians no longer had the option of walking away from the negotiations and threatening to resume military hostilities. Their bargaining position was further weakened by their desperate material circumstances and their lack of knowledge of the white man’s legal culture. No […]
Burkean constitutionalism in Canada
In a word, Canada’s constitution has been profoundly evolutionary, and so the constitutional theory of aother British political philosopher, Edmund Burke, is much more appropriate than that of John Locke. According to Burke the contract that best ensures good government is an intergenerational contract in which a generation inherits arrangements that have worked tolerably well […]
Potential roots of reconciliation
As we saw in the previous chapter, the Aboriginal peoples’ foundational agreement for sharing the country with the settlers was with the British Crown. The rights and freedoms of Aboriginal peoples recognized in that agreement are now inscribed in the Charter. Since that agreement, Canada has become a self-governing democracy. Some might say this means […]
Canada’s illegitimate origins
After the War of 1812, Britain, no longer in need of Indigenous allies, began to treat the Indian nations as subjects of the Crown. The colonial administrators paid lip service to the 1763 Royal Proclamation by continuing to acquire land for settlement through treaties with their native owners. But the purpose of making treaties was […]
Lots of significant climate news
in Economics, Politics, Science, The environment
CPSA is keeping me busy, but there have been some interesting news stories in the last few days: ‘Mark my words’: Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion will proceed, Alberta premier vows Trump Advisers Wage Tug of War Before Decision on Climate Deal Financial firms lead shareholder rebellion against ExxonMobil climate change policies Trump pulling U.S. out […] |
What tools and techniques should be used for evaluating a decision? There is an array of decision making techniques used to develop practical solutions to any problem. Personally I like using the listing technique. Listing allows the decision maker to evaluate criteria in order to develop possible solutions. Various solutions can be categorizes and further evaluated to choose the appropriate course of action. This week’s text provided an example of a decision evaluation matrix used to prioritize a list of options based on weighted criteria. Each option is compared to weighted criteria to identify the correct solution.
What standards would you set for evaluating the outcomes of a decision? Outcome evaluation requires the decision-maker to collect evidence to determine if a decision was successful. Data must be recorded before and after a decision or solution is implemented. The decision-maker can then compare and contrast the effects and outcomes of their decision. Techniques such as case studies, observations, interviews, surveys, and questionnaires can be used to measure success. Organizations develop metric systems used to evaluate the overall success of decision implementation. A metric can be any defined as any standard used to measure performance. How do these tools and techniques equate to increased organizational effectiveness?
Organizational effectiveness is increased by implementing change. Using standards to measure success ensures that all decisions meet organizational objectives. Actively evaluating decisions ensures competitive advantages are met by aligning business strategies. Companies can add value to their decision making abilities by developing standards that measure overall success. Solution Description |
Hands-on Activity: DNA Forensics and Color Pigments
DNA Forensics and Color Pigments
Expendable Cost/Grp Although no charge or fee is required for using TeachEngineering curricular materials in your classroom, the lessons and activities often require material supplies.
The expendable cost is the estimated cost of supplies needed for each group of students involved in the activity.
Any reusable equipment that is necessary to teach the activity is not included in this estimate; see the Materials List/Supplies for details.
Activity Dependency Activity dependency indicates that this activity relies upon the contents of the TeachEngineering document(s) listed.
Restriction Enzymes and DNA Fingerprinting
Print this activity Related Curriculum Most curricular materials in TeachEngineering are hierarchically organized;
Engineering Nature: DNA Visualization and Manipulation
Imaging DNA Structure
Inside the DNA
restriction enzyme Summary
DNA analysis as an alternate "fingerprint."copyrightCopyright © Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Students perform DNA forensics using food coloring to enhance their understanding of DNA fingerprinting, restriction enzymes, genotyping and DNA gel electrophoresis. They place small drops of different food coloring ("water-based paint") on strips of filter paper and then place one paper strip end in water. As water travels along the paper strips, students observe the pigments that compose the paint decompose into their color components. This is an example of the chromatography concept applied to DNA forensics, with the pigments in the paint that define the color being analogous to DNA fragments of different lengths.
Microfluidics concepts and devices used to study colloidal particle flow are also employed by biologist to study and filter biomolecules. Gel electrophoresis is one example of the many and creative engineering applications that are used by biologists to compare fragments of DNA samples.
Basic knowledge about genetics: DNA, the four nucleotide bases and the base pairing rules, DNA double helix structure, restriction enzymes, gel electrophoresis.
After this activity, students should be able to:
Describe the basic steps involved in DNA fingerprinting.
Explain the function of restriction enzymes and the role of restriction sites along the DNA.
Explain how DNA fragments are charged molecules.
Explain that the distance traveled by DNA fragments inside a gel tray depends on fragment.
Explain that the DNA (genetic code) from related organisms contain similar restriction sites and related DNA are cut into similar fragments by the same restrictions enzymes.
Students focus on restriction enzymes and their applications to DNA analysis and DNA fingerprinting. They use this lesson and its associated activity in conjunction with biology lessons on DNA analysis and DNA replication. Restriction Enzymes and DNA Fingerprinting
Students are introduced to the latest imaging methods used to visualize molecular structures and the method of electrophoresis that is used to identify and compare genetic code (DNA). Students should already have basic knowledge of genetics, DNA (DNA structure, nucleotide bases), proteins and enzyme... Imaging DNA Structure
Students conduct their own research to discover and understand the methods designed by engineers and used by scientists to analyze or validate the molecular structure of DNA, proteins and enzymes, as well as basic information about gel electrophoresis and DNA identification. Inside the DNA
Introduction to Genetic Engineering and Its Applications
Students learn how engineers apply their understanding of DNA to manipulate specific genes to produce desired traits, and how engineers have used this practice to address current problems facing humanity. Students fill out a flow chart to list the methods to modify genes to create GMOs and example a... Introduction to Genetic Engineering and Its Applications
The sciences of biochemistry and molecular biology have made it possible to manipulate the genetic information found in living creatures.
(Grades 9 - 12)
Technological progress promotes the advancement of science and mathematics.
Texas: Science
know that hypotheses are tentative and testable statements that must be capable of being supported or not supported by observational evidence. Hypotheses of durable explanatory power which have been tested over a wide variety of conditions are incorporated into theories;
know scientific theories are based on natural and physical phenomena and are capable of being tested by multiple independent researchers. Unlike hypotheses, scientific theories are well-established and highly-reliable explanations, but they may be subject to change as new areas of science and new technologies are developed;
distinguish between scientific hypotheses and scientific theories;
plan and implement descriptive, comparative, and experimental investigations, including asking questions, formulating testable hypotheses, and selecting equipment and technology;
analyze the levels of organization in biological systems and relate the levels to each other and to the whole system.
Each group needs:
access to a box of liquid food coloring dye that contains five or six different colors, for use as mock DNA solutions (the box can be shared among the class or several teams because each team only needs a drop of each color)
coffee filters or paper towels
water containers, such as beakers or cups
(optional) paper clips, may be helpful to secure the paper strips while they dry and while positioned in the beaker
Have you ever watched a TV crime show that has a laboratory conducting DNA analysis? The typical DNA analysis used in genetic studies or for forensics purposes, like in those TV shows, is based on a technology called gel electrophoresis that was created by engineers.
(As was presented during the associated lesson, Restriction Enzymes and DNA Fingerprinting...) A DNA molecule is composed of nucleotide bases that are arranged in a particular order called the DNA sequence. One relatively easy method to find the sequence of a DNA fragment is to compare it with DNA fragments of known sequences and identify which parts or sequences they have in common. During the gel electrophoresis process, DNA fragments move at different rates based on the total molecular weight of the nucleotide bases that make up the DNA fragment. That means that DNA fragments containing the same sequence are expected to travel at the same rates. This enables the comparison of longer DNA fragments to identify the common nucleotide base sequences.
Nucleotide bases are the basic ingredients of DNA, somewhat similar to how pigments are the basic ingredients for colors. Based on this statement, is it possible for different color paints to have common pigments? For example, do red and blue paint both contain green pigments? You'll be able to answer that question after conducting today's activity, which consists of comparing different food coloring solutions and breaking down the solutions to their basic components.
crystalline structure: A unique arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline liquid or solid.
DNA: Acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid. A self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes.
electrophoresis: A method used in biochemistry to separate macromolecules by their charge and/or size.
protein: Any of a group of complex organic macromolecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and usually sulfur, and are composed of one or more chains of amino acids.
restriction enzyme: An enzyme that cuts DNA at specific recognition nucleotide sequences called restriction sites.
Chromatography can be used to decompose mixtures into their respective components. In a similar manner, water-based paint, or food coloring, can be segregated into the pigments that were added together to obtain a particular color shade.
During this activity, students analyze the components of liquid food coloring by performing chromatography using strips of filter paper. This procedure is analogous to the gel electrophoresis used in comparing DNA fragments (see Figure 1).
With the Students
Divide the class into teams of two students each. Hand out the materials and worksheets.
Cut coffee filters into five strips, each about 1cm wide and 8cm long.
Using a toothpick, transfer a drop of one food coloring solution to one of the strips. Place the drop in the middle of the paper strip, about 2 cm above the lower edge. Let the solution dry.
Repeat Step 3, using a different strip of filter paper for each of the coloring solutions (DNA mimicking solution).
Pour water into a beaker—1 cm height from the bottom.
Place the paper strips in the beaker with the lower edge touching the bottom of the beaker. Make sure the wall of the beaker is dry.
After 15 minutes, examine the strips. Compare your strips with other samples.
Have students clean up the lab materials and complete the worksheet. |
The hippos that time forgot ... in Leeds
Hippos used to roam the 'streets' of Leeds. Does that statement sound far-fetched? Guest blogger
Martin Hickes says it's not so fantastical after all - and they could one day come back...
Phil Murphy, from the University of Leeds' School of Earth and Environment, says the climate of Yorkshire was very different years ago Photograph: Martin Hickes
Suggest to the average Yorkshireman that hippos and other exotic creatures perhaps more suited to a Doug McClure film once roamed the streets of Leeds, albeit thousands of years before the likes of Harvey Nichols and Marks and Spencer flanked such, and your sanity might be politely called into question.
But perhaps astonishingly, just over 150 years ago, in 1851, workmen digging clay in a brick field in Wortley, Leeds, discovered several huge bones, so large that it was thought they 'could not be Christians' bones'. As a result, the finds were brought to the attention of Henry Denny, curator of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society Museum.
Denny identified them as the bones, quite remarkably, of the Great Northern Hippopotamus, which flourished over 100,000 years ago.
Roaming near Armley Gyratory
Quite how creatures more suited to far more temperate climes came to be in proto-Leeds has been the passionate quest of many Yorkshire scientists, geologists and botanists since that early discovery. Although a number of small bones were destroyed before the unearthing of the massive thigh bones, Henry Denny gathered numerous bones and teeth which enabled him to identify the animals. Closer examination proved them to be the part remains of three hippopotami - an aged individual and two adults - an elephant and an auroch (extinct wild ox).
Later research identified the animals as Hippopotamus amphibius, Elephas primigenius and Bos primigenius.
It's thought they once roamed in the area close to Armley Gyratory, one of the busiest road intersections on the outskirts of the present day city.
The bones were scientifically dated using a sample from a molar tooth. The 'Leeds Hippo' was found to date from around 113,000-130,000 years ago, at the time of the last 'interglacial', the warmer periods between the cycle of ice ages.
How could Leeds support such creatures?
Phil Murphy: "There have always been concerns about the dating of these bones" Photograph: Martin Hickes
But how and why could the climate of now-chilly Yorkshire have supported creatures more suited to warmer climes?
Phil Murphy, from the University of Leeds' School of Earth and Environment, says the climate of Yorkshire was very different years ago.
"There have always been concerns about the dating of these bones. Denny recorded that they were all discovered within a small area and that some were still articulated. He concluded that the bodies had not travelled far after death.
"A workman told T. P. Teale, who went to the site with Denny, that querns had been found in an adjoining field at about the same level. He wrote a paper suggesting that the animals were alive after the last glaciation and possibly during roman times.
"To resolve these queries, an adult femur was selected for dating at the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre in 1975. Three methods were used and gave similar results of around 30,000 BP (radiocarbon years before present).
"These results were completely unexpected as the dates fell within the Middle Devensian. Pollen and insect remains had shown that at this time the environment in England was tundra conditions in which the hippopotamus could not live.
"It was suggested that, at the time of the discovery, it was the practice to coat bones with gelatine. Gelatine, being carbon-based, would introduce contamination of younger radioactive carbon into the sample, thus giving an erroneous result.
"An attempt to resolve this problem was made using a molar tooth. It was hoped that material from the centre would not be contaminated. "An age of greater than 40,000 BP (radiocarbon years before present) was determined - so it is older than the maximum date you can get with that radiocarbon dating can pinpoint for bone.
"The Hippo was thus shown to belong to the last (Ipswichian) interglacial (130,000 - 117,000 BP) when we are almost certain there would have been no humans around in this area."
A different Leeds
Murphy said Leeds would have been very different during those times. He added:
"Leeds would have been just like Africa in those days – and the climate would have been exactly the same as hippos enjoy in that continent today, in the so-called Ipswichian interglacial.
"Hyenas were also around at the time and hyena dens have been found in Victoria Cave near Settle in Yorkshire and Kirkdale Cave on the N Yorkshire Moors. "But it is important to remember that during the last glacial period, the glaciers did not reach Leeds. "The earth has experienced some 24 periods of cooling and warming over the last 2.5m years.
DNA analysis has shown that modern humans arrived in Britain before the last glacial period but retreated to Southern Europe when much of Britain was ice covered, with the remainder being tundra.
Closest living relatives 'are cetaceans' Until 1985, naturalists grouped hippos with pigs, based on molar patterns. However, several lines of evidence, first from blood proteins, then from molecular systematics and DNA (and the fossil record), show that their closest living relatives are cetaceans – whales, dolphins and porpoises.
The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls [camels, cows, pigs etc] around 60 million years ago. This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.
One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation.
The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.
Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains. Hippos were also well-known to the ancient Egyptians, where the hippo was recognized as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
In Egyptian mythology, the hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young |
News Men Needed on Campus Last Updated: October 31, 2009 9:31 AM
Not long ago, college administrators worried themselves sick about gender disparities on their campuses. Young men got the lion's share of scholarships. Men scored better on standardized tests. They dominated science classes, graduate schools, business schools, and law schools. Men's sports hogged most of the athletic budget.
Enlightenment on these issues, plus government programs that mandated equal treatment of the sexes, gradually narrowed that gap, and educators' attention turned elsewhere.
Now, the gender disparity is back -- with a vengeance. Only this time, academicians are worried about young men! Suddenly, it seems, men make up only 43 percent of the U.S. college population. And some prestigious universities find they are admitting two women for every man in their freshman classes. As family therapist Michael Gurian wondered in a recent Washington Post article, "Where Have All the Men Gone?"
First Lady Laura Bush wonders, too. "I feel like, in the United States, that we've sort of shifted our gaze away from boys for the last several decades, and that we've neglected boys," she has said.
Diverted by sports and video games and a culture of the streets that mocks education, boys are increasingly bored by school and drop out. Frazzled single parents and working couples don't always have the time or patience to nurture academic success in their restless sons. Scientists say girls' brains are better suited, physiologically, to traditional classroom lecture techniques. And schoolboys' needs are overlooked with the rationale that men run the world, so everything must be OK.
Suggestions for rekindling boys' interest in schoolwork have been hard to come by. Package Shakespeare and trigonometry as video games, perhaps! |
11.4.2011 Stopping The Next Bubble: The Time To Reform Student Loan Debt Is Now By
Chad Bell, Associate
In The News, You Should Know, For Consumers
Student loans have been on the forefront of the news recently. Protestors involved in the nationwide “Occupy Wall Street” movement (many of whom are unemployed recent college graduates) have made student loan reforms or forgiveness a centerpiece of their movement. Congressman Hansen Clarke (D – Michigan) is pushing a student loan forgiveness bill, which is getting support via an online petition by MoveOn.org. It has received over 640,000 signatures. And in late October, President Obama announced two plans (via executive orders designed to by-pass an obstructionist Congress) to help around 7 million student loan debtors by (1) allowing certain federal and private loans to be consolidated at lower interest rates, and (2) accelerate and expand a program that puts an income-based limit on what lower-income debtors have to pay in student loans.
The flurry of activity concerning student loans is hardly surprising — student loan debt is approaching dangerous bubble levels and getting worse. While exact figures are hard to determine, the Economist reports that experts believe total student loan indebtedness will soon pass $1 trillion total, with the average college graduate today carrying nearly $27,000 in student loan debt. In fact, current student loan debt has surpassed total consumer credit card debt. State governments faced with budget problems have cut funding to state universities, leading to sharp increases in tuition and thus greater loan burdens. And with unemployment still high and wages stagnant throughout the economy (real wages for college graduates fell 8.6% from 2000 to 2010), greater and greater shares of income of recent college graduates are going to student loan debt repayment, and an increasing number of debtors are defaulting on their debt — the Department of Education reports that the default rate on student loans reached 8.8% in 2009.
The long-term trend for our economy is certainly dispiriting. Student loan debts continue to increase, debtors are increasingly in default, and today’s college graduates (the would-be entrepreneurs and innovators of our economy) are saddled with debt loads that reduce their tolerance to take the risks necessary to create new businesses and/or support our economy through consumption spending and investment.
While recent efforts by the Obama administration to aid student loan debtors are a start, he needs the cooperation of Congress to achieve reform of the entire student loan industry; the President cannot do it alone.
Student loan debt remains an exception to other forms of debt in America in a myriad of ways: (a) student loan debt is extended almost without regard to the credit viability of the debtors; (b) student loans cannot be discharged via bankruptcy; (c) private student loans have are no limits on interest rates, penalty fees, or late fees; and (d) student loan debtors can have their wages directly taken out debtors’ paychecks by the government (a la child support payments). Some of these exceptions are practical: unlike homes or consumer goods, the benefits of an education provided via student loans cannot be repossessed to benefit creditors, and asking lending institutions to write-off $1 trillion would create a crisis equivalent or exceeding the housing crisis. Like it or not, as the Washington Post noted, “banks get bailouts, they don’t give them.”
But while outright student loan forgiveness is a non-starter both politically and practically, there are practical reforms that could benefit distressed debtors, reduce student loan payments generally, and thereby improve the economy for today’s as well as tomorrow’s student loan debtors.
First, public and private student loan lenders should be given a choice between keeping student loans non-dischargeable via bankruptcy, or else accepting strict reductions on interest rates, and penalty and late fees. If lenders choose to keep their loans non-dischargeable via bankruptcy, then they must accept interest rates/penalty fees/late fees that are regulated and limited to protect consumers and reduce overall payments for debtors. On the other hand, if lenders choose to retain their independence to set interest rates, penalty fees, and late fees, then they must take the risk that may lose the funds they loaned to consumers in bankruptcy. The current system, which allows lenders complete control over interest rates as well as the security offered by the inability to discharge student loans via bankruptcy, is quite simply a handout to large lenders. And to fully even the playing field, consumers should be allowed to re-finance their student loans or find other banking institutions to serve as their creditor (thereby allowing the consumer themselves to choose between lower interest rates or the ability to discharge student loan debts via bankruptcy).
Second, the process by which student loan credit is extended to students needs to be more heavily regulated. Banks should extend credit on student loans in ways more similar to the way they extend consumer credit currently, looking at the likelihood that a student might repay the debt in their career. Likewise, for-profit colleges need to be more fully regulated, as many of the most prominent abuses of the student loan industry have coincided with the rise of for-profit institutions. For-profit institutions generally need to generate just 10% of their revenue from private sources — meaning many institutions have abused the federal student loan system to generate revenue, thereby hurting student lenders. From 1998 to 2008, for-profit university enrollment grew by 225%; not coincidentally, from 2001 to 2011, annual student loan debt doubled from around $50 billion to more than $110 billion a year.
Third, alternatives to the traditional financial-institution model of student lending need to be developed. One example, the $10 million Gen Y Fund launched with the support of President Obama, encourages young students to think about launching start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures at a relatively young age, and in exchange, the students get a number of nice perks: housing expenses covered, three years of debt forgiveness when they graduate, and mentoring as they go about launching new companies, and a nice chunk of equity (ranging between $15,000 and $50,000) to get things started. Large companies themselves that are hungry for qualified employees should be encouraged (through tax breaks or other financial benefits) to help ensure the next generation of educated workers can join the workforce without being saddled with large student loan obligations.
Finally, going forward, the price of education needs to be reigned in by both the market and the government. Over the past decade, tuition and fees at public colleges have increased by an average of 5.6% per year above the rate of inflation, and reports suggest that private college rates have increased beyond that rate. The government needs to develop policies to stem the rampant and irrational inflation in university tuition, or at minimum demand that universities accepting federal research funds (nearly every university in the United States does so) provide public transparency as to why their costs are skyrocketing. Consumers also need to be more cautious, accepting that the education of a lower-cost but still excellent university may be a better long-term investment over a more expensive but allegedly “prestigious” alternative.
Practicable solutions exist to prevent the student loan bubble from bursting. Let’s hope Congress ends its intransigence and, together with the business community, musters the courage to seek them before student loan debt permanently hijacks our economy for the worse. Regardless of his efforts to address the problem through the use of executive orders, President Obama simply cannot solve this by himself. |
cnidoblast
n. A cell in the epidermis of coelenterates in which a nematocyst is developed.
n. A cell in the epidermis of cnidarians in which the nematocyst develops
n. One of the cells which, in the Cœlenterata, develop into cnidæ.
n. In zoology, the bud of a thread-cell; a budding thread-cell, from the contents of which a nematocyst is developed. |
Home » Groups » The Chang DNA Project mtDNA is used to test your mother's mother's ... mother's maternal ancestry. It is difficult to use for genealogy, as the surname is changing every generation, but there are scattered reports of paper trail connections being made with mtDNA. Most Surname DNA Projects welcome mtDNA test takers into the project, to include them in the research and to keep them updated on the project. However, mtDNA test results are not posted on the project's website, as mtDNA traces the maternal line and does not follow the surname. For information, see our mtDNA page. We encourage everyone who has been mtDNA tested to join their mtDNA haplogroup project. See our mtDNA Haplogroup Projects page for more information. If you are seeking information on your deep ancestry (1000s and 10,000s of years ago) the standard mtDNA test should be sufficient. (This test is sometimes called HVR1)
If you wish to use your mtDNA result to confirm a maternal ancestry (you and another person share a common maternal ancestor) then you will gain by taking the mtDNA Plus test. (This test is sometimes called HVR1 + HVR2)
If you wish to test your entire mtDNA sequence, then you’ll want the mtDNA Full Sequence test. (FTDNA calls this test “Mega”) FTDNA suggests this for anyone who doesn’t wish to be upgrading when they need more info – as this will give you the entire sequence. |
Why does one child succeed in life, and another one 'fail'?
In How Children Succeed, Paul Tough writes that what matters most is character skills.
These are skills such as self confidence, optimism, perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, and self-control.
In other words, emotional intelligence, as taught by good parents, good mentors and good private schools, is what matters.
Both rich children and poor children can lack emotional intelligence.
"Suniya Luthar, a psychologist at Columbia University found significant psychological problems at the high end of the income spectrum... These problems arise most often in those high-income homes where children feel simultaneously a great pressure to achieve and an emotional distance from their parents..."
'How Children Succeed' — Q&A with Paul Tough
"Apparently medical reasons explain why children who grow up in abusive or dysfunctional environments generally find it harder to concentrate, sit still and rebound from disappointments.
"The part of the brain most affected by early stress is the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for regulating thoughts and mediating behaviour.
"When this region is damaged - a common condition for children living amid the pressures of poverty - it is tougher to suppress unproductive instincts."
School reform: Stay focused | The Economist
Website for this image...
Children who do not have good parents need good mentors and tutors, according to Paul Tough.
"Studies show that early nurturing from parents or caregivers helps combat the biochemical effects of stress.
"And educators can push better habits and self control.
"The 'prefrontal cortex is more responsive to intervention than other parts of the brain,' writes Mr Tough.
"It stays malleable well into early adulthood.
"Character can be taught."
The problem is - how does a child from a problem family find a good mentor?
The best mentors are often grandparents.
"The distress of young girls is clearly visible in the rising rates of mental health problems, binge drinking, eating disorders and the rampant growth of bullying..."
By theirhistory
Psychologist Steve Biddulph has written "Raising Girls".
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article
Prostitutes are not happy.
"Why?
"Because ordinary 17-year-old girls are dressing just like prostitutes."
Children are being heavily sexualised.
This means some "girls having sex with numerous boys while still at school - not because they want to, but because they feel that they should."
Thirty years ago, 4% of girls aged 17 and under had sex with three or more boys.
Today, the figure is 20%.
"About ten years ago... we began to see a sudden and marked plunge in girls’ mental health.
"Problems such as eating disorders, binge drinking and self-harm were soon to be found in every classroom....
"The eight-year-olds who are already worried about their figures;
"The ‘too-sexy too-soon’ 12-year-olds who won’t go out without make-up;
"The magazines aimed at 10 to14-year-olds that discuss oral sex..."
"Never before has girlhood been under such a sustained assault - from ads, alcohol marketing, girls’ magazines, sexually explicit TV programmes and the hard pornography that’s regularly accessed in so many teenagers’ bedrooms."
Girls in mental hospitals.
Girls in police stations.
Girls with sexualy transmitted diseases.
Girls with mouth and throat cancers.
In a recent survey, 53% of girls under 13 reported that they had watched or seen porn.
By the age of 16, that figure was 97%.
"Facebook is plastered with porn.
"So is Google Images...
Google is the world's largest promoter of porn, including child porn.
"The current generation of girls is also the first to grow up seeing images of sexual violence before they’ve had sex...
"Even 10-year-old children are now sending sexual images of themselves on their phones."
Psychologist Deborah Tolman discovered that "the way girls talk about sex is overwhelmingly negative.
"Their sexual encounters were most often described in weak and passive terms.
"‘It just happened,’ was a frequent remark...
Google searches for the phrases "God" and "free gay porn ... - Mlkshk...
"Left to themselves, sexual feelings develop slowly...
In general, girls "go from barely tolerating boys in their pre-teens, to finding them interesting but annoying in the mid-teens, to gradually discovering one or two boys they can relate to after that.
"In our own youth, sexual relationships tended to develop cautiously at first. Young love was all about exploration and the gradual growth of intimacy and trust.
"This should be one of the sweetest times of life, when you feel intensely alive and the world seems a wonderful place..."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article
Labels: character, Child abuse, child porn, Education, emotional intelligence, How Children Succeed, mentor, Paul Tough, Raising Girls, Steve Biddulph
i think there is a diference between normal sex and some of the stuff being promoted now, my next door neighbour is a teacher in east london and she said they are teaching girls that if they dont want intercourse to give oral sex, her class is 13 year olds, they also get taught about homosexual poofery which we felt was wrong. |
Stop the Appalachian Health Crisis Caused by Mountain Top Removal
In April of 2012, four leading scientists briefed Congress on the environmental and health impacts of mountain top removal (MTR) mining in Appalachia. Their findings were damning: mountain top removal, the practice of clearing mountain tops of trees and topsoil and then blasting them with explosives to reveal the coal seams underneath, is polluting the Appalachian watershed, decreasing organism diversity, increasing flooding and contaminating ground water. Meanwhile, people living in the affected areas are experiencing high rates of cancer, heart and respiratory disease, along with rising birth defect and mortality rates.
Members of the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign, along with numerous Democratic representatives, are pushing for the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (A.C.H.E. Act, H.R. 526), which would allocate funds to research the affects of mountain top removal and to protect Appalachian families. Write to your representative today and urge them to pass this vital legislation.
One year ago, four leading scientists briefed the Senate and House of Representatives on the environmental and health impacts of mountain top removal (MTR) mining in Appalachia. Their results were damning: mountain top removal, the practice of clearing mountain tops of trees and topsoil and then blasting them with explosives to reveal the coal seams underneath, is polluting the Appalachian watershed decreasing organism diversity, increasing flooding and contaminating ground water. Just as frightening, people living in affected areas are experiencing high rates of cancer, heart and respiratory disease, and rising birth defect and mortality rates. The effects of mountain top removal constitute a true health emergency. I implore you to stand up for Appalachian communities and families and pass the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act. |
AGBSC CAREER GUIDANCE :
Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is unquestionably the largest livelihood provider in India, more so in the vast rural areas. It also contributes a significant figure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Sustainable agriculture, in terms of food security, rural employment, and environmentally sustainable technologies such as soil conservation, sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity protection, are essential for holistic rural development. Indian agriculture and allied activities have witnessed a green revolution, a white revolution, a yellow revolution and a blue revolution.
The economy of India is primarily based on agriculture, and that is why, Indian government is promoting students to pursue agricultural education to boost the country’s economic condition. The education, research and training system of Indian agriculture is internationally recognized for its quality. After completing an agriculture course, you can find a job in Agricultural Marketing, Farming, Dairy Farming, Food Science & Technology and other such disciplines.
Making a difference!
With its very low productivity levels, the sector offers tremendous potential for trained professionals. Besides picking up a gamut of information, you
also get to practically apply it in the real world. “You make a difference to the economics of your country.
What are some of the qualities and skills needed for a career in agriculture?
You need a good, solid background in science education, especially subjects like Mathematics, Biology and Physics. Good English language and communication skills are crucial. Students from a rural background have an edge as their exposure to farming useful.
What does the course curriculum entail?
A general course curriculum covers all aspects of agriculture like agronomy, cultivation of crops and soil science, understanding natural resources and management. Agriculture extension is cucial, directly reflective of benefit to farmers.
How does geographical diversity influence the study of agriculture?
Variation in terms of geography is essential. For e.g, Jharkhand is 29 percent forest resources. Punjab and Haryana are 100 percent irrigated and Bihar is river-irrigated as well. Jammu and Kashmir as well as the North East, demand an understanding of hilly track agriculture. A thorough knowledge about soil erosion, land degradation, acute water scarcity and dry land and rain agriculture is required.
They are immense and the most opportunities at the moment are in banks and financial institutions. Centrally-funded projects, is another. Retail marketing, state governments and seed/fertiliser companies, also offer jobs. You can immediately get a job after a BSc or pursue higher studies. There’s a dearth of assistant professors, and education and research is a decent area to opt for as well.
If you want to join in AGBSC Course you must have completed your 10+2 with Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics as subjects. |
On Heroism
Heroic?
hero: late 14c., “(person) of superhuman strength or physical courage,” from Latin heros “hero,” from Greek heros "demi-god" (a variant singular of which was heroe), originally “defender, protector”.
Let distinctions between fictional and non-fictional heroism be of no concern for this discussion. Heroism, after all, is one topic where the line between is not so easy to place; where one person's reality may be another's most monstrous nonsense. And vice versa.
The sum of human efforts to define heroism, to struggle against other people's definitions, and to decide whether heroes are a good or bad thing, has produced enough energy that if it were harnessed it could supplant the entire high-carbon economy. So let's not thrash around in those debates now, save to address one unavoidable landmark in the analysis. That monument – whose grandeur or ugliness, depending on your perspective, has divided opinion – is the notion of the “Hero's Journey” or “monomyth” put forward by Joseph Campbell in 1949. In short, this is the idea that virtually all heroic stories, from any culture, in any format, can essentially be reduced to one basic pattern that is common to them all.
One rendition of the “Hero's Journey”, courtesy of Comrade Wikipedia.
Those familiar with the Hero's Journey will know of its armies of proponents and detractors, who have in the former case developed it to ever-increasing sophistication, and in the latter critiqued it to bits. It can be both accused and defended on a range of very serious charges: that in concept or effect it is culturally biased; gender-loaded; or just plain wrong. Campbell's original model threw in some horribly essentialist gendered associations: 'woman as temptress', 'atonement with the father', and so forth. We shall speed right past these problems for our present purposes, and take it as given that heroism is equally applicable or relevant to any person, female or male or otherwise, of any ethnicity or culture. All are diverse.
In my own opinion I will admit there may be a certain value, and honest veracity, in identifying common patterns that appear so nigh-universally in humanity's stories, and asking why they do so. However I remain sharply sceptical of such a reductionist exercise, especially when its assertion is still, to a large extent, the affair mostly of people who just happen to be white, male, and chiefly immersed in the cultural environment of the United States.
One point, however, appears to stand strong. Hero's Journey. A hero, whatever else, by definition has a journey. This appears absolute. Anyone who can be even remotely construed as a hero experiences a personal story, in which those people his or her choices affect, but also the hero himself or herself, achieve a better condition than they were in at the start. (Or as we must come to, when we speak of tragic heroes, fallen heroes, or heroes who are not heroes at all, the resultant condition may be worse rather than better.)
Consider a person who arrives in a troubled society, and is already powerful and wise enough to solve all its problems instantly, with little effort, even be it such a way that everybody likes it. We might call that a favour, or a service, but it hardly seems apt to call it heroism. Heroism seems inherently to connote some struggle, an overcoming of unfair odds and ordeals set both by challenging external forces and the hero's own flaws. A courage that requires one first to be afraid; a learning experience that requires one first to be foolish; and a will to confront difficult value choices or judgement calls, that grows at last to soar above both the jeers of arrogant societies and the countervailing arrogance of one's own heart.
For it is like this. Heroes are made by their journeys; their journeys are told of in stories; and stories are shaped and expressed in accordance with their narratives. Narratives are the stories' underlying frameworks: the values, beliefs, assumptions and points of view that inform how the stories are told, and which decide, among other things, what a hero is or is not.
And we, humanity, have accumulated a planet-load of horrible narratives.
So it is that the “heroes” of nationalist narratives, racist narratives, gendered narratives, heteronormative narratives, “development” narratives, “rational choice” narratives, “clash of civilization” narratives, “war on terror” narratives and so forth, have in sum dealt quite unheroic cruelties to extremely large numbers of human beings and societies. We live in a world tormented by Things Which Should Not Exist, and when we allow those Things control of our narratives, we too readily come to believe abominable myths to be absolute truths. And the heroes of these corrupted stories – stories we quite often find those “heroes” wrote themselves – may well be heroic according to the rules they set up for those stories, but look considerably less heroic according to the actual welfare of human beings, human communities or the planet Earth, by whose standards they may actually be deplorable, and their narratives nests of egos, lies and bigotries.
Nests we are decidedly poor at dismantling when we live in them. Nationalism is one of them. How many national cultures shower glory on their armed forces or histories of aggression, while casting bile upon other countries'? There they exploit the power of heroic narratives in order to generate jingoism, patriotic fervour, and the vandalisation of history to present their own countries as heroic above all others – as the UK's Conservative Party, for example, is about to do for the centenary of World War I. In a similar vein are characters like Churchill, Thatcher, Stalin, Qin Shihuang, Genghis Khan, Indira Gandhi, Che Guevara, Forbes Burnham, Suharto, and goodness knows how many presidents and generals of the United States – all venerated as national heroes in certain populations' mainstream narratives, while all others recognize that each was in at least some times and places downright heinous. Or worse.
After all, the hero's opposite, the villain, almost always considers him or herself the hero of his or her own narrative. Remember that the concept of “villain” is itself built on prejudice: deriving from the Latin villanus, meaning “farmhand”, or “one who works on a villa”, thus insinuating a link between low or agrarian social class and malicious character. Some who walk or dramatically cross the line between hero and villain – from Arthas Menethil to Tony Blair, from Achilles to Robert Mugabe – become so tragically convinced of the heroism of their quests that they even grow capable of believing it while simultaneously grinding civilizations to dust.
Probably not so heroic.
Where is the line, then, between flawed heroism and plain monstrousness? Might it run through the hearts of us all? This subject is not exactly objective science.
And we are not just talking about history here. We live right now amidst ideological mistakes as mighty and infamous as those preceding us. Consider how many would-be heroes have made it their charge to bring “development” to “developing” countries, or “democracy” to “dictatorships” - be it as heroes of armies, or governments, or NGOs, or international organizations. These are deceitful constructs, which mask much more complicated realities: that none of our societies is democratic, or developed, whatever those may mean; that all our civilizations have their problems, their weaknesses, their oppressions and terrible mistakes; and that there is much we can do to help one another, but also much ignorance, encouraged by many pernicious forces which play up these narratives to serve their selfish agendas.
Heroic? Hint: It depicts something that a) was bloody and aggressive and b) might not have actually happened.
Several masses of inglorious heritage compromise the matter almost beyond redemption. One is the biting shadow of colonialism and racism, the violent division of human peoples against each other, such that so much interaction must now invoke suspicion: in this case of a vainglorious sense of “hero's burden” that alienates and patronises the people whose problems the hero claims to understand better than they do; those whom the “hero”, consciously or not, deems unfit to be the heroes of their own stories. Another is gender, whose nasty complexity sows conflict even amongst the heroes and anti-heroes who fight it. A man who sets out to protect women may in one context be considered heroic, but in another may only reinforce the deeper problem of gender, whereby heroism is expected of men and victimhood of women: and by furthering this separation and stereotyping, he may thereby worsen the underlying problem.
That is not to say that one who believes those twisted narratives cannot become a hero. On the contrary, such devotion is exactly the kind of flaw whose overcoming may be the central act of a compelling hero's journey. Numerous are those for example who go to “developing” countries and find, to their surprise, that things are not as straightforward as the “development” paradigm makes them seem. But sadly we seem often to fail to surpass those flaws, too convinced that we ourselves are the experts, that we need no journey at all, and in such a mode bring ruin and resentment to those we thought we were aiding.
Societies that have had enough of getting brutalised by nationalist or gendered “heroes”, or insulted by the sanctimony of development “heroes”, may therefore have good reason to suspect all who come before them professing good intentions, and call them narcissists who are “playing the hero” or bearing “hero complexes”, “hero syndromes”: accusing them of caring more for attention-seeking than for the actual welfare of others.
This arrogance however can as easily infest the societies as the would-be heroes. These hard-hitting terms too often get swung at those who do not deserve it, because societies tend to generate a lot of their problems themselves. They might terrorize their dissidents, persecute those they consider different, stir up prejudices against their most vulnerable members, or be prepared to sacrifice minorities to great cruelties if they feel it to be in the majority interest. In those circumstances, distaste for heroism is a powerful and dangerous narrative tool, where the “heroes” who speak up against injustice, we are led to believe, are inconsiderate individuals who rock the boat, disturb social harmony, agitate over unimportant things, and obviously do not really care about others' suffering because they have their own agenda of selfish gain and ego-aggrandisement, and quite probably foreign backing.
This is an especially compelling narrative in societies with a more collective heritage, where people fear for good reason the wanton materialistic individualism that ransacks Europe and the United States. Or they might say, “our culture does not like heroes, so shut up”; typically against a background with dramatic giant statues of their liberation heroes who fought off the old colonisers. So too are there many commentators who believe that humans are inherently selfish, incapable of altruism, who would characterize all human action as inherently self-regarding, be it due to ideologies of 'rationality', or 'sin', or bad biology or others. By such analyses there can be no such thing as true heroism, which by definition requires a genuine concern for others. Typically these all rest on crooked ideologies and interests, and we would do well to contest them.
Not much heroic here.
“Hero complex”, and “hero syndrome”, we should remember, are pathologising terms. Medical concepts, carrying suggestions of disease and mental disorder. And with histories like ours, we have no excuse to be anything other than bloody careful when medical terminology gets applied to political subject matter.
Nowhere is heroism a more pivotal concept than in the human race's huge collective heritage of stories, from folk tales to literature, movies to myths, so many of which build their dramatic appeal by presenting heroic protagonists with whom the audience is expected to identify. Video games, as a medium, uniquely raise this to the literal absolute by giving you control of the heroes, making of them your avatars, extensions of your own will and choices. Now we can all be heroes. We are all Link (The Legend of Zelda), or the Pokémon trainer, or the Commander (Command and Conquer), in all their varied incarnations.
Is that a good thing?
Games like World of Warcraft take this further still, by allowing us to actually name and customize our own avatars to best fit our unique identifications, before projecting them into worlds which await their – that is, our – heroic deeds. “Avatar”, we should remember, is what Indian deities used to do when they wanted to come down to Earth. We have in effect commodified, perhaps democratized, a practice that was once the preserve of gods. You are the hero; you make the choices. Except when you don't: after all, a hero chooses, a slave obeys. The power of Bioshock comes precisely in its drastic deconstruction of this unspoken cosmic principle of the video game universe.
Given all our uncertainties and controversies about heroism, ought we to be concerned?
The supreme video game exploration of the concepts of heroes and heroism, in my experience, is found in a title far more obscure. The Japanese roleplaying trilogy known as Monster Girl Quest (Monmusu Kuesto, モンムス クエスト, hereafter MGQ) is on its surface an eroge: that is, a game with considerable sexual content, ostensibly aimed in the first instance at a market of persons who particularly relate to said content's flavour – in this case, men who are submissive as hell and like the idea of being set upon by powerful part-woman part-monster hybrids. As humans, however, we should have the guts and sobriety to look at things with our hands, not just our eyes. Those who do have found themselves well rewarded, in this instance, with what is nothing less than a narrative masterpiece, whose treatment of the concept of heroism – along with many others like prejudice, racism, war, religion, godhood, ethics, justice, good governance, force and persuasion – is as magisterial as it is profound.
Heroism in that human society is an established institution. Upon coming of age, a would-be hero attends a baptism ceremony and receives the goddess's blessing, from which follows various combat advantages and socio-economic perks. But for Luka, things do not go to plan. On the way to his baptism he stops to help an unconscious and ungrateful monster in the forest, which causes him to miss the ceremony, thus failing admission as a hero and losing all hope at recognition as such, much to the ridicule of that establishment from then on.
But he persists nevertheless, and soon acquires a travelling companion in the form of the monster he tried to help, who he returns to find has entered his house, ready to further provoke and denigrate his beliefs. Surly and sarcastic, she holds considerable disdain for humans, their faith, and Luka's dream of coexistence, serves as a foil for his idealism with no end of crushing deadpan witticisms, eats his stuff, refuses to help in battles, and takes to regularly addressing him as 'idiot' and 'fake hero': a stigma which effectively becomes his label for the entirety of the story. To complicate things further, it transpires that this monster is the ridiculously powerful Monster Lord, Alipheese XVI (“Alice”), precisely the person Luka is supposed to defeat as the ultimate goal of his heroic journey – though she too has set forth on a journey of her own.
And so the story unfolds into an epic saga, of a struggle to promote peaceful coexistence in a world with an arduous diversity of characters, communities, conflicts, uncompromising challenges, and ruthless countervailing interests including but not limited to those of the protagonist's own god. Alongside it comes an inner struggle no less crucial, to reconcile dreams and faith, to master oneself, and learn through true ordeals – the only way – what being a hero actually means.
It is quickly apparent that recognized, baptised mass-produced heroes tend to be a dodgy lot, prone to exploiting their perks (going into people's houses and taking stuff – compare Legend of Zelda), swaggering around with ignorance and cheapening the concept, then buckling out of weakness or fear as soon as any true challenge confronts them; which has led many of the monsters to despise “heroes” and view them as the actual problem. A sentiment that will be well familiar, perhaps, to people with reason to be fed up of the “heroes” of international development; as well as any World of Warcraft player who has endured the special miseries of dungeons, raid groups or conversations with some of the less agreeable of the 10-million “heroes” who comprise its player base. It is the struggles and resolve of the 'fake hero', rather, that draw the attention of serious monster antagonists, and eventually, against all odds, attain their respect; but not before one heck of a lot of hard lessons.
At first glance the moral is obvious: that true heroism is about deeds, choices, love, a learning journey, and the courage of one's own convictions – not a label or subjective recognition. But of course the reality is not nearly so straightforward in MGQ's complex world, with its conflicts, traumas, agendas, prejudices, difficult ethical dilemmas, and huge diversities of cultures and experiences. A world full of characters who actively or passively, for better or worse, consider themselves heroes in their own narratives: be they flawed heroes, fallen heroes, anti-heroes, warriors, researchers, ideologues, terrorists, tyrants, or lunatics.
MGQ breaks open the veneers on heroism to expose so much wordplay lying beneath, by which those we call heroes are often decidedly unheroic, while true heroes neither rush to consider themselves heroes nor are necessarily recognized as such by society's wordsmiths and norm-spinners. In the end, it is an utterly political concept. What each of us considers heroic, is inseparable from each of our visions of how we wish the world to be.
Heroism, then, is a chimera, a construct, like many of MGQ's eponymous monsters. And like those, it can be beautiful, it can be horrific, or it can be both, but which it is for you depends less on it, and more on you. It takes as reflective and nuanced an approach as MGQ provides to properly do justice to the concept of heroism in a complex world. And so it goes – one thousandfold – with ours. |
In 1911, Clyde Cessna, an agriculturist from Rago, Kansas, constructed himself a wood-and-fabric plane, flew it over the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and turned into a piece of aviation history. From this first flight, Clyde Cessna embarked on a business venture of the building and testing his airplanes and in the long run began Cessna 172 Aircraft Company that today is one oft the most well-known brands in the little aircraft industry.
Cessna's runway to fame has a couple of wanders aimlessly as Clyde ran from assembling biplanes with Travel Air Inc. in Wichita, Kansas, to concentrating on building monoplanes that utilized a wing without supporting struts or props which turned into Cessna's signature design, in 1927. Amid the Great Depression, in the same way as other makers in America, Cessna shut down production until Dwayne Wallace and his sibling Dwight took control in 1934. It was their business insight and creativity that took Cessna 172 Aircraft to new statues.
The Wallace siblings brought Clyde Cessna back as president and helped him to recapture control of his company and in 1935, the main production of the C-34 Cessna airplane was sold. The company proceeded with the C-37 which was a buoy plane and the first from Cessna to receive seaplane endorsement.
Amid the Second World War, Cessna fabricated a T-50 Bobcat, their first twin-engine plane, and the U.S. Armed force rushed to put in a request for 33 extraordinary order T-50s which got to be known as "Cranes" in the war effort. It was the biggest order Cessna 172 Aircraft had ever received and was an important association that would demonstrate productive for the company amid the war. When production of the Bobcat was suspended in 1944, about 5,400 planes had been created by Cessna. In 1944 the Army needed planes, and Cessna could shift production to making parts for the Douglas A-26 and Boeing B-29 aircraft.
The agreements Cessna 172 Aircraft could create amid the war permitted the company to extend from a company that began with monoplanes and rapidly developed to deliver a scope of little aircraft. The production of the Cessna 172 Aircraft in 1947 turned out to be a gold mine for the company. What got to be known as the "family auto for the skies," the mid 170 had four seats and a 140 hp engine. This plane, alongside later models like the 172 and 185, turned into the most well known little aircraft for pilots and Cessna's main offering plane.
The association with the U.S. military paid profits amid the Korean War as the United States Air Force started utilizing a militarized rendition of the 170 called the Model 305 and called the 0-1 Bird Dog by the military. Highlighting modified Fowler folds and a reexamined fuselage, the Bird Dog was utilized by the Air Force for forward air control and reconnaissance missions. As is often the case with military technology, civilian utilization of this modification made the 170B model outfitted with the modified-Fowler wing folds and a wing design that is still being used on the light Cessna models today. New tail gear and bigger rear windows were additionally modifications on the new design.
A significant part of the groundwork for the early Cessna planes made for military utilize incredibly enhanced the planes that kept on being utilized as a part of the civilian world long after the wars were done. Cessna keeps on being a pioneer in the aircraft industry and it can think back on it's 100-year history as one reason why the company keeps on being solid today.
Most as of late, Cessna showcased its newest aircraft at the Latin America Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in August of 2013, because of foreseen increments popular for its airplanes in Latin America. Cessna outperforms its nearest three competitors joined as far as some aircraft conveyed in the Latin American market and is the favored aircraft supplier all through the district. It uncovered the Citation Sovereign, Cessna TTx, and the Grand Caravan EX. Also, its Citation M2 aircraft made its lady flight on August 23rd, 2013, and it's relied upon to be profoundly successful in the US market.
Most recently, Cessna delivered 571 aircraft to its customers, of which 181 were Citation business jets. The company has two lines of business, which are aircraft sales and aftermarket product support. Citation business jets, Caravan single-engine turboprops, single-engine aircraft, and lift solutions are all in the scope of Cessna aircraft sales. Its aftermarket services include spare parts and maintenance, inspection, and repair.
It shows up the most well known playing in general aviation in the history of humanity is the Cessna 172 Aircraft. More than 35,000 have been sold, and you can discover these aircraft in airports around the globe. Cessna Aircraft Corporation has a pleased history in general aviation and has turned into the biggest general aviation aircraft produce ever.
You can ask any general aviation Private pilot if they have flown a Cessna 172 Aircraft and there is a 90% chance that the answer will be yes since so many flight schools have them for rent alongside many flying clubs. Many private pilots who wind up buying their particular aircraft she was a Cessna 172 Aircraft on account of its effortlessness and accessibility. It is suspicious that whatever other aircraft will ever surpass the Cessna 172 Aircraft as the most prominent aircraft in general aviation of all times.
If you are thinking about buying your very own aircraft, a Cessna 172 will without a doubt be on your rundown and in spite of the fact that it may not wind up your first decision the accessibility of utilized aircraft for sale makes the Cessna 172 Aircraft a conceivable option. |
The untold story of Nelson Mandela & the Bhagavad Gita
Hare Krishna. I thought you might like to know a little bit of the untold side of Nelson Mandela. He came several times to ISKCON’s Ratha Yatra in South Africa while he was president of the nation. The first time Bhakti Tirtha Swami met him, in the course of their conversation, Maharaja quoted a Gita verse. Half-way thru the verse, Mandela quoted the rest of it. BT Swami was surprised. He asked “You know the Gita?” Mandela said “Try me.”
Every Gita verse Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja knew, Nelson knew as well. Naturally, BT Swami asked “How is this?” Nelson Mandela explained that he was imprisoned on Robbins Island along with some of his fellow leaders of their political party, the ANC. One of them was an Indian-bodied lawyer. The South African government tried to break them by giving them mindless labor and routine.
Realizing that they needed to keep their minds actively engaged, the Indian lawyer taught Nelson Mandela Gita verses which they quoted and discussed back and forth to transcend their daily drudgery. Nelson Mandela told Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja that learning the Gita helped keep him sane and did much to infuse his view of the world and his strategies for bringing independence and a better future for the South African people.
Bhakti Chaitanya Maharaja, the GBC for South Africa adds: “When Mr. Mandela visited our temple the first time (he came several times thereafter as well) he, with dignity and humility bowed before Srila Prabhupada, and then asked (me) “How did he do it?”, meaning how did Srila Prabhupada spread Krishna consciousness all over the world.
We then had a brief discussion about how Srila Prabhupada gave Krishna consciousness to all nationalities and types of people, without discrimination, and Mr Mandela was deeply struck by this, and was very appreciative of Srila Prabhupada. |
The Psychology of Power and Corruption
The old anecdote says that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Economist has a fascinating article describing experiments into this effect.
These experiments show that there is in fact a causal link between power and corruption. Even more interestingly, they may point to the reason for this link.
How the experiments work
The researchers used “priming” techniques to make test subjects feel either powerful or powerless.
Once primed, both high-power and low power subjects were asked to rate the morality of various situations. For example the researchers asked subjects to rate the morality of cheating on taxes or of taking an abandoned bicycle.
The experiments showed a significant difference in the judgments of high-power and low power subjects:
High-power = Judge others more harshly than yourself
Low-power = Judge others more leniently and yourself more harshly
Power does indeed seem to cause people to judge themselves more leniently than others – they are moral hypocrites.
The entitlement hint
It seems that powerful people not only abuse the system, they also feel entitled to abuse it. This proved to be an important hint and the researchers did more experiments to explore this entitlement.
In these experiments the subjects were primed again, but this time entitlement was split from power:
High-power subjects who felt they deserved to be powerful
High-power subjects who felt they did not deserve the power
Low-power who deserved to be powerless
Low-power who did not deserve to be powerless
These subjects were also asked to rate moral actions of themselves and others.
Again the powerless judged others leniently and themselves harshly. This was true whether they legitimately powerless or not.
As expected, those who felt entitled to their power judged others very harshly and themselves very leniently.
The interesting result is for those who were powerful but felt the high-power position was undeserved. These subjects were lenient on others but very harsh on themselves.
This was the exact opposite of the normal result for high-power test subjects.
The reasons why
Why would undeserving powerful people be harsher on themselves than others? That is the opposite of the usual reaction to having power.
The answer to that question provides an elegant explanation for the whole set of results.
Humans evolved living in smallish groups with dominance hierarchies. In such hierarchies all of the experimental results make sense.
Powerful (dominant) members of the band can get away with bending the rules (judging themselves more leniently). They should also deal harshly with anyone lower in the hierarchy taking a chance (judging others more harshly).
Powerless group members should be submissive – they should judge others (normally more dominant) leniently and themselves harshly.
When people from low in the hierarchy find themselves temporarily in powerful positions they are in danger of attracting punishment from the true dominants.
So they act extra-submissively by judging themselves extra harshly and being extra lenient on others.
It all makes sense!
Great experiments overturning conventional knowledge
Science is awesome – get an idea about how the world works, create an experiment to test that idea, repeat. That simple process is how mankind has come so far.
Along the way there have been several cases where the scientific process has overturned conventional “knowledge”. For example people thought that the Earth was flat because that is what came naturally to them – but that was rubbish. Don’t be so smug though, I guarantee that today we believe things that are equally untrue (about human nature, morality, and consciousness for example).
The stories of the open minded scientists who made these breakthroughs are interesting reading. Here is an article discussing 10 great experiments of history: “moments when, using the materials at hand, a curious soul figured out a way to pose a question to nature and received a crisp, unambiguous reply”.
I’ll summarise an example:
William Harvey – the heart actually pumps blood
In the 1700s conventional wisdom said that invisible spirits called “pneuma” caused the blood to “slosh back and forth like the tides” but Harvey thought the heart had something to do with it. He tested his theory but cutting open a live snake and pinching the main vein entering the heart. The heart became paler and smaller as it was starved of blood. When he pinched the main artery coming out of the heart the opposite happened, the artery swelled up with blood like a balloon. He had shown that the heart pumps blood around the body.
This entry was posted in science and tagged science on May 14, 2008 by alistair.
Fertile women have more attractive voices
New Scientist has this article about a study showing that a woman’s voice becomes more attractive when she is most fertile. The researchers made recordings of women during four different phases of their menstrual cycles. The recordings were played in random order to both men and women, who consistently rated recordings made during fertile stages as more attractive. It seems that using voice alone both men and women are able to subconsciously detect fertility.
I’ve previously blogged about another experiment showing that fertile lap dancers earn more tips – this is just another example of the fact that we can subconsciously detect fertile women.
I explain the evolutionary reasoning behind these interesting effects in that article. In short, it pays women to conceal when they are fertile – so men will stick around all the time to be sure. It pays men to know when women are fertile so that they can focus energy when it counts.
Does eating carrots really improve night vision?
No. Carrots do contain high levels of Vitamin A which is essential to eyesight, among other things. However, eating carrots only makes a difference to sight for those who have a serious Vit A deficiency.
The myth was started by the British during World War 2 as a plausible explanation for their remarkable success rates at shooting down German planes at night. Stories were told about pilots with amazing night vision like, Lieutenant John “Cats Eyes” Cunningham who was said to have exceptional night vision thanks to his love of carrots.
In fact, the Brits were making use of a secret invention – radar – and they didn’t want the Germans to realize something was up. So they told the public that they were feeding the defenders massive amounts of carrots and that was leading to improved night vision.
They were so persuasive that the British public actually increased carrot consumption in an effort to improve their own night vision – which was important when cities were being blacked out to prevent bombing!
This entry was posted in natural world, science and tagged history on May 6, 2008 by alistair.
Animals showing intelligence we thought was uniquely human
National Geographic Magazine has an interesting article on some of the smart animals that are being used to learn about intelligence and cognition. Most people who have had a pet ‘know’ that animals can think because of the way that they react to us – they sometimes seem almost human.
But for a long time this idea was seriously out of fashion – experts agreed that people were projecting human emotions and thoughts onto animals (known as anthropomorphism). For instance at school I had a friend who claimed that her goldfish was embarrassed – surely a case of anthropomorphism.
However, the view that intelligence and emotions are purely human is simplistic and a little arrogant. Intelligence (and emotions) has obvious evolutionary advantages for social and long-lived animals. Humans are also just animals – we arrived through the same evolutionary processes. Isn’t it more plausible that there are levels of intelligence with some species showing more or less?
Plenty of scientists agree with me and have been working with animals to show that many of the qualities supposedly unique to human intelligence are shared by animals. The article goes into a lot of detail with awesome examples involving dogs, chimps, bonobos, parrots, jays, crows, dolphins and others. I thought that I would extract a few of the stories about clever animals.
Alex the parrot was taught to pronounce English words and could understand several concepts. He was able to count, and distinguish shapes and colors. For instance when shown a group of toys and asked how many yellow ones there were he could tell you – ‘Five’. Alex even got impatient with other parrots who were getting their pronunciation wrong – calling out ‘Talk clearly!’ when they made mistakes.
Betsy the border collie understands more than 300 words and is able to learn new ones easily. One test involved putting several new toys (which Betsy had not seen before) in the kitchen. Betsy was then shown a picture of a Frisbee and told to fetch it from the kitchen. That she was able to do so shows that not only does she understand words like fetch and kitchen (something the testers already knew) but that she understands that a picture represents something in the real world.
Betty the New Caledonian crow was able to create and use tools. In one test Betty was shown into a room in which there was a treat in a basket down a tube – out of her reach. There were also two pieces of wire in the room, one with a hook and one straight. The researchers had expected Betty to use the hooked wire to get the basket out, but another crow had already removed it….
“Betty is undeterred. She looks at the meat in the basket, then spots the straight piece of wire. She picks it up with her beak, pushes one end into a crack in the floor, and uses her beak to bend the other end into a hook. Thus armed, she lifts the basket out of the tube.”
This entry was posted in natural world, science and tagged nat-geo, nature on April 9, 2008 by alistair.
People are less rational when they’re hungry
The Economist has this article about a study recently published showing that when blood sugar levels are low, people use more intuition to make decisions. You know, when you have been thinking hard about something for a while and then there is one last decision that you just can’t be bothered with? That is what the scientists were studying.
The scientists got a bunch of students to do a mentally taxing task and then gave half of them lemonade with sugar and half lemonade with another sweetener. Using a psychological trick (read about it in the article if you want) the scientists were able to show that those who had been mentally worked and not given sugar were more likely to make decisions using intuition instead of reason.
So it turns out that you really should take food into exams and that you really shouldn’t make important decisions on an empty stomach…
Price really does impact enjoyment
The Economist recently ran an interesting article on the impact of price on our perceptions of quality. It seems obvious that price would have an impact on the expectations of quality.
However, a recent paper has used brain scans to show that people really do enjoy wine more when they think it is expensive.
Volunteers were asked to rate 5 wines of differing prices (from $5 to $90 a bottle)
What the volunteers didn’t know is that there were actually only 3 different wines – 2 of which were served twice at different prices
While tasting the part of the brain responsible for registering pleasant experiences was scanned
The wines tasted twice at different prices were rated as better when served at a higher price
The brain scans showed that people really did enjoy a wine more when they thought it was more expensive
A follow up blindfolded experiment was done where volunteers weren’t given the prices. In that case they rated a wine tasted twice as the same both times. This shows that it is the price that substantially impacts enjoyment.
So the ideal is to have a situation where you are paying for a medium quality product but you believe it is worth a lot more. The key is making sure that you actually believe it is worth more.
Brightness optical illusions
Boing Boing has this post showing some cool illusions that rely on brightness differences. There are a few of them, but this is the a good one. The two squares A and B are actually exactly the same color. Seriously.
I have copy-pasted the areas next each other as proof below.
I love optical illusions because they show just how fallible our brains really are. It feels like we are getting a reliable picture of the world when in fact our consciousness is actually getting something far more complex from the subconscious.
We don’t see an image like a camera – at any one time we are only really seeing a surprisingly small area and our subconscious is doing gymnastics to give what we think we see.
Generally this works very well, but these “tricks” can sometimes mistakes – enter the optical illusion. You can be sure that this kind of thing happens in lots of areas other than vision – for example our sense of morality.
This entry was posted in science on February 14, 2008 by alistair.
Growing a replacement jaw bone in your abdomen
Here is an interesting report on how some Finnish scientists were able to replace “a 65-year-old patient’s upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.”
Stem cells are cells that are still able to turn into other types of cells. In adults stem cells act as a repair system for the body by replenishing specialized cells – bone, skin, kidney, etc. Because they have this ability they show a lot of promise for medical science.
For instance, in this case the researchers harvested stem cells from the patients fatty tissue and “attached them to a scaffold made out of a calcium phosphate biomaterial and then put it inside the patient’s abdomen to grow for nine months. The cells turned into a variety of tissues and even produced blood vessels.”
This new bone was then be surgically inserted into the patients jaw in order to replace bone which had previously been lost to a tumor.
This is a very promising science which could plausibly be used to one day provide replacement organs for people. I recently read about a team who were able to grow a mouse heart from stem cells on a scaffold which was actually able to beat.
Unfortunately, due to George Bush’s moralistic meddling in science, stem cell research has been held back for the last 8 years in the USA. Luckily it looks like a more sensible president is one the way.
This post is loosely based on the superb article by Steven Pinker: The Moral Instinct
Humans are afraid of heights. Around the world humans of all cultures have an in-built fear of heights. Have you ever wondered why people have that fear? It’s to prevent injury and death as a result of falling. Right?
If proximity to heights induces fear then people will feel an urge to get away from the heights. Humans who are afraid of heights are therefore less likely to die by falling (even if they aren’t conscious of why they fear heights). Evolution has made fearing heights part of what it is to be human. It is an instinct wired into our brains.
Pretty simple. But did you ever think that morality – our sense of right and wrong – is also an evolved instinct? It’s a little less obvious but true.
The basic moral principles
By studying people’s moral judgments around the world anthropologists have realized that there are basic moral principles which appear to be universal to almost all people and across all cultures (they are instinctive, not cultural). A list of these basic moral principles has been suggested by Jonathan Haidt:
Harm: Don’t harm innocent people
Fairness: Reciprocate favors and punish cheaters
Community: Loyalty, sharing, and solidarity among group members. Conforming to group norms
Authority: Follow authority and respect people with high status
Purity: Aim for cleanliness and and avoid defilement and contamination
These moral heuristics (rules-of-thumb) are instincts that have evolved for very good reasons – they helped our ancestors. Violating these principles makes people uncomfortable so in general the principles are obeyed. Pinker gives details on the evolution of the moral heuristics and he points out that the same moral principles have even been observed in monkeys (I have blogged about monkeys having a sense of fairness).
As an illustration I’ll go into more detail on the evolution of fairness and it’s associated emotions.
The evolution of morality – fairness
Humans benefit by working together in groups: we are all better off working together than any of us would be working alone. If I share my extra mammoth meat with you today when I have too much anyway, then you share with me later when I really need it. It pays both of us to work together.
However, as I have noted in the past, if people can cheat they will cheat – that complicates things.
Axelrod (and Dawkins among others) has shown that cooperation can and does evolve. Axelrod showed that evolutionary agents (for our discussion these are people) do naturally evolve toward a basic cooperative strategy (known as tit-for-tat). This strategy basically specifies:
Cooperation by default. This means that you get the benefit of cooperating with other ‘friendly’ people.
Punishment of cheating. Don’t let the ‘bad’ people get away with it.
Forgiveness. Once the cheat has been punished try to cooperate again.
If you think about it, this kind of strategy makes excellent sense – cooperate as much as possible, but don’t tolerate cheats. Robert Trivers suggested that humans unconsciously implement a kind of tit-for-tat strategy through their moral emotions. Steven Pinker has given us the following examples:
Sympathy prompts a person to offer the first favor, particularly to someone in need for whom it would go the furthest.
Anger protects a person against cheaters who accept a favor without reciprocating, by impelling him to punish the cheat or sever the relationship.
Gratitude impels a beneficiary to reward those who helped him in the past.
Guilt prompts a cheater in danger of being found out to repair the relationship by redressing the misdeed and advertising that he will behave better in the future.
So, we can see how several emotions and the moral sense of fairness have evolved in order to help humans implement a strategy for cooperation. Evolution is brilliant!
All this is fascinating, but it also has some interesting and powerful implications:
1. There is no absolute right and wrong – it’s all in our heads
Our sense of right-and-wrong is actually just an evolved instinct. There is no universal right-and-wrong or good-and-evil. There is just the moral judgment that each person makes using their instincts.
If my moral judgment in a situation is different to yours then who is right? There is no universal morality to appeal to for an answer. We are both just letting our moral instinct make a judgment – so we are both right… If there is no universal morality then what can we use to compare moral judgments?
Humans have a pragmatic way of dealing with this: we agree on moral judgments and then expect everyone in our society to abide by those judgments. It’s a real cop-out and, as we will see below, sometimes those judgments don’t make all that much sense.
2. Our moral ‘sense’ is as fallible as other senses – moral illusions
Our moral sense is evolved just like our sense of sight. There are countless examples of optical illusions illustrating that even something as trusted as our sense of sight regularly gets things wrong. Similarly, our sense of morality can get things “wrong” quite easily.
We know that our sense of sight has got something “wrong” when we realize that what we thought we saw doesn’t match reality. As we have learned (implication 1 above) we have no similar way of judging our moral instincts. So when I say that our moral sense gets things wrong, I mean that if you think about some moral judgments rationally they don’t always make sense.
This is because morality is based on heuristics (the 5 moral principles from earlier) which don’t necessarily lead to rational and consistent judgments every time. The trolley problem (worth an entire posting itself) is an excellent example but here I will give a simpler example from Pinker.
A family’s dog is killed by a car in front of their house. They heard that dog meat was delicious, so they cut up the dog’s body, cook it and eat it for dinner.
What is so wrong with that? Seriously? It causes us to feel disgust because it hits the purity principle, but rationally there is actually nothing wrong with it. No one is harmed; the family is happy and had a cheap and delicious meal to remember their dog by. Be rational. We just feel that this is wrong but we don’t have good reasons for it. Perhaps this is a case of the purity instinct firing unnecessarily.
Disclaimer: As you will see if you read about the trolley problem, rationally examining moral judgments can make you feel very uncomfortable. I still don’t know what to think…
3. Sometimes what we perceive as immoral is just a different weighting on the basic moral principles
We now know that there is no universal moral code against which we can measure moral judgments. We also know that sometimes our moral judgments don’t even make rational sense. How can we judge others as wrong or immoral if their judgments differ from our own?
As Pinker points out, the other party is often also acting morally, he/she has just used different priorities on the 5 moral principles:
Many of the flabbergasting practices in faraway places become more intelligible when you recognize that the same moralizing impulse that Western elites channel toward violations of harm and fairness (our moral obsessions) is channeled elsewhere to violations in the other spheres. Think of the Japanese fear of nonconformity (community), the holy ablutions and dietary restrictions of Hindus and Orthodox Jews (purity), the outrage at insulting the Prophet among Muslims (authority). In the West, we believe that in business and government, fairness should trump community and try to root out nepotism and cronyism. In other parts of the world this is incomprehensible — what heartless creep would favor a perfect stranger over his own brother?
In short: I don’t know.
For instance, I have previously attacked those Muslims who thought it just to execute a teacher for naming a teddy bear Muhammad. Now I realise that they were acting by their own moral judgments. I still disagree strongly with them, but I now know that I don’t have any moral high-ground.
I would like to appeal to rationality to show that I am right, but I’m not at all comfortable using rationality against all moral decisions so that would be cheating.
Knowing more about the true nature of morality hasn’t given me the answers – it has made me realise that I wasn’t even aware of the questions! |
A museum is a locale where a variety of historic artifacts are on display for viewing by the general public.
Noteworthy Museums
Bergen Museum
Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
House on the Rock
Icelandic Phallological Museum
1. Wikipedia entry
Game and Story Use
In far too many horror stories, museums house Artifacts of Doom (TM) which are either stolen by Bad Guys or else have a baleful influence over the surrounding area.
Alternatively, they might house benign artifacts which are needed to defeat some sort of demonic entity from the dawn of time. The heroes only need to figure out how to convince the staff so that they can "borrow" it. Or they could try to steal it outright…
Traditionally, all museums have extensive "black" collections with very limited access where they store items of occult significance or which refer to secret and/or unacceptable historical facts. Properly accredited characters - who may or may not be the good guys - should be able to get access to these collections1. This is best limited to large, old museums in a sensible campaign. In a silly one, even the Cotswold Bicycle Museum may have occult relics.
Museums can also serve as a vital source of information about ancient, long-lost civilizations, especially those whose influence still lingers today.
A big museum with money to spare might hire a group of adventurers to travel across the world looking for whatever artifacts the museum can find some leads on. Having an actual archaeologist involved helps, but since these artifacts are priceless the museum may find the risk of working with some unusual and not-very-experienced people worth it, especially if they'll accept low wages and the cheapest forms of travel and accommodations available.
1. Actually, this kind of access makes a good "story reward" for PCs, usually in return for dealing with some kind of occult nuisance or turning over a valuable "black collection" artifact to the museum and thus proving themselves "worthy" of access to the inner circle of "those who understand" |
B is for Believe
Yesterday, here in the United States of America, we remembered Martin Luther King Jr., the American Baptist minister who lead the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 60's. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi's non-violent manner, his involvement in the civil protests began in 1955, with the Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, and continued until the day he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. Other than helping the end of segregation in buses, King pursued the end of segregation in public schools, the protection from police abuse, the acquisition of laws to prevent discrimination in employment, and the protection of voting rights for minorities. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, which led to him receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. The following is a quote from his acceptance speech:
Kristin & Eva's Paint Party Friday: Week 46 Year 6
His words are as relevant today as they were back then. Although we have come a long way in this country, lately I believe we may be regressing. There is just so much division, misunderstanding, and senseless violence going on by all factions in our country.
Tim Holtz Mini Tattered Flowers Die, Tiny Things Stamp, & Simple Sayings Stamp With Various Card Stock Scraps
Karen's Word Art Wednesday - Challenge Weeks #266-267
There's a plethora of reasons for our problems, but one of them is our deteriorating communication. With all the forms of communication available, we should be doing better. However, news outlets and social media are actually aggravating the situation.
Here You Go, This, That & The Other
Smash Book Page With Various Embellishments & Tapes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Chill Out
Julia's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 398
I value freedom of speech, but we need to be responsible when exercising this freedom. This is of utmost importance to the news media, from liberal to conservative, who are sometimes responsible for the spread of propaganda. Social Media aggravates the situation, because some people on both sides spread it, along with hateful commentaries.
If I Would Only Use My Old Bike I'd Be In Better Shape
iPhone 6s Shot Edited On iPhoto
Our Beautiful World: OBW 180~Bicycle
In my humble opinion I believe we need to scrutinize everything we read, as well as consider multiple sources of information. We need to consider multiple perspectives, and be aware that we can't believe everything that's out there. I also believe that we need to be careful with our words and practice the Golden Rule, as found in Matthew 7:12, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If you don't agree with a political or other point of view, discuss it if appropriate, but don't use derogatory terms. The latter is hurtful to others and propagates further division. So yes, I believe in Martin Luther King's words, but it's going to take a conscious effort on our part to make it happen. Peace!
Hand Carved Stamp Letter B Smash Book
Lots of wonderful art again. MLK was a great man, the world could do with people like him now. Thanks for joining us at TIOT and AJJ, Valerie
Love your rooster stamp and all the artwork contributed this week! Although not raised in a religious home "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." was the golden rule we lived by. Well said! Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!! Children learn what they live let's all be good examples!! You are!! |
E. Coli Bacterium Under Microscope
E. coli or Escherichia coli, named after German discoverer Theodor Escherich in 1885, is bacterium that is part of the normal flora of the gut. Some strains of this bacterium can cause food poisoning like serotype O157:H7. But most strains are part of a good flora of the gut that helps to fight against pathogenic bacterias. The most common way to get infection of E. coli is by eating contaminated food or over hands contact. The symptoms of E. coli infection, which usually starts 7 days after infection, are watery diarrhea and cramps. Illness do not need some special treatment but you should get a lot of water to prevent dehydration. |
mar'-ket, mar'-ketplas, mart (ma`arabh, cachar; agora):
(1) Ma`arabh, from a root meaning "trading" and hence, goods exchanged, and so "merchandise" in the Revised Version (British and American), "market" in the King James Version, occurs only in Ezekiel 27:13, 17, 19, 25, and is translated correctly "merchandise" in both the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version.
(2) Cachar means a "trading emporium," hence, mart, and merchandise. It occurs only in Isaiah 23:3 (see MERCHANDISE).
(3) Agora, from root meaning "to collect," means a "town meeting-place," "resort of the people," so a place where the public generally met to exchange views and wares. No doubt, the central place soon filling up, the people thronged the adjoining streets, and so in time each street thus used came to be called agora, "marketplace"; translated "marketplace(s)" in 1 Esdras 2:18; Tobit 2:3; Matthew 11:16; Matthew 20:3; Matthew 23:7 Mark 6:56; Mark 7:4; Mark 12:38 Luke 7:32; Luke 11:43; Luke 20:46 Acts 16:19; Acts 17:17; "Market of Appius" in Acts 28:15 means, probably, "street" (see APPII FORUM).
The marketplace in New Testament times was the public open space, either simple or ornate, in town, city or country, where (Mark 6:56) the people congregated, not only for exchange of merchandise, but for one or more of the following purposes:
(1) a place where the children came together to sing, dance and play, a "back-to-date" municipal recreation center (Matthew 11:16, 17 Luke 7:32);
(2) a place for loafers, a sort of ancient, irresponsible labor bureau where the out-of-work idler waited the coming of an employer with whom he might bargain for his services, usually by the day (Matthew 20:1-16);
(3) a place where the proud pretender could parade in long robes and get public recognition, "salutations in the market-places," e.g. the scribes and Pharisees against whom Jesus emphatically warns His disciples (Matthew 23:3-7 Mark 12:38 Luke 11:43; Luke 20:46);
(4) a place where the sick were brought for treatment, the poor man's sanatorium, a municipal hospital; Jesus "who went about doing good" often found His opportunity there (Mark 6:56);
(5) a place of preliminary hearing in trials, where the accused might be brought before rulers who were present at the time, e.g. Paul and Silas at Philippi (Acts 16:19);
(6) a place for religious and probably political or philosophical discussion (gossip also), a forum, a free-speech throne; no doubt often used by the early apostles not only as a place of proclaiming some truth of the new religion but also a place of advertisement for a coming synagogue service, e.g. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:17).
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:12 (the King James Version) has "They counted... our time here a market for gain," the Revised Version (British and American) "a gainful fair," margin "a keeping of festival," Greek panegurismos, "an assembly of all." Such assemblies offered particular opportunities for business dealings.
... fair, ware. From azab in the sense of letting go (for a price, ie Selling); trade,
ie The place (mart) or the payment (revenue) -- fair, ware. see HEBREW azab. ...
Christians Charged with an Obstinate Contempt of Death Instances ...
... [736] Tertullian refers to Cleopatra's death also in his tract ad Mart. ... [737] This
case is again referred to in this treatise (p. 138), and in ad Mart c. iv. ...
/.../tertullian/ad nationes/chapter xviii name charged with.htm
Some History of Tiberias. The Jerusalem Talmud was Written There ...
... There inquiry is made by one, "What of the mart of Tsur?""There is this inscription
there, "I Diocletianus, the king, built this mart of Tsur [or Tyre], to ...
/.../lightfoot/from the talmud and hebraica/chapter 81 some history of.htm
The Persecution of Diocletian.
... The little circle which surrounded Pamphilus did not escape. In the third year of
the persecution (Mart. of Pal. ... (Pal. Mart. Cureton's ed. p.36 sq.; HE App. ...
/.../pamphilius/church history/section 3 the persecution of.htm
Whether Martyrdom is an Act of Fortitude?
... fortitude. On the contrary, Cyprian says (Ep. ad Mart. et Conf. ... persecutors.
Hence Cyprian says in a sermon (Ep. ad Mart. et Conf. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether martyrdom is an act 2.htm
Catalogue of his Works.
... Eusebius himself refers to this work in four passages (HE VI.32, VII.32, VIII.13,
and Mart. Pal. c.11). ... Eccles. in a note on the first chapter of the Mart. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/pamphilius/church history/section 2 catalogue of his.htm
Many Others, Both Men and Women, who Suffered in Various Ways.
... It was practiced apparently throughout Maximin's dominions; we are told of numbers
who were treated in this way, both in Egypt and Palestine (see Mart. Pal. ...
/.../pamphilius/church history/chapter xii many others both men.htm
The Bishops of the Church that Evinced by their Blood the ...
... [2558] ie Tyrannion. [2559] Silvanus, bishop of Gaza, is mentioned also in Mart.
Pal. chaps. ... [2561] Peleus and Nilus are mentioned in Mart. Pal. chap. ...
/.../pamphilius/church history/chapter xiii the bishops of the.htm
Excursus on the Minor Orders of the Early Church.
... The name and the function, however, appear much earlier in the Christian
Church; eg, Justin Mart., Apol. ii., 6 (p.45). The forms ...
/.../schaff/the seven ecumenical councils/excursus on the minor orders.htm
Luther's Catechisms. AD 1529.
... Enchiridion. Der kleine Catechismus für die gemeine Pfarher und Prediger, gemehret
and gebessert durch Mart. Luther. ... Prediger. Mart. Lu. ...
/.../ 43 luthers catechisms a d.htm
Those in the Palace.
... Eusebius thinks. The martyrdoms of which he has heard belong rather to the
time after the Fourth Edict (see below, Mart. Pal. chap. 3 ...
/.../pamphilius/church history/chapter vi those in the palace.htm
1. (n.) A market.
2. (n.) A bargain.
3. (v. t.) To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
4. (v. t.) To traffic.
5. (n.) The god Mars.
6. (n.) Battle; contest.
Mart (2 Occurrences)
... 2. (n.) A bargain. 3. (vt) To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart. 4. (vt) To traffic. ...
Merchandise (34 Occurrences)
... Version, but "traffic," "abundance of thy traffic," ie doing a thriving business:
"trade was good." (3) The place of trading, ie emporium, mart, etc.: cechorah ...
/m/merchandise.htm - 22k
Martha (12 Occurrences)
/m/martha.htm - 16k
Wares (23 Occurrences)
... activity, property, possession, work, occupation, thing made, deed, business (Ezekiel
27:16, 18); (6) `izzabhon, "selling," trade, revenue, mart, letting go ...
/w/wares.htm - 15k
Traded (16 Occurrences)
... Ezekiel 27:15 The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of
thy hand; they brought thee as tribute horns of ivory and ebony. (See RSV NIV). ...
/t/traded.htm - 11k
Markets (11 Occurrences)
... (DBY). Ezekiel 27:15 Sons of Dedan 'are' thy merchants, Many isles 'are' the mart
of thy hand, Horns of ivory and ebony they sent back thy reward. (See RSV). ...
/m/markets.htm - 9k
Marshy (1 Occurrence)
/m/marshy.htm - 6k
Sihor (3 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 23:3 And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river,
is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations. (KJV WBS YLT). ...
/s/sihor.htm - 8k
Isaiah 23:3 And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
(KJV JPS ASV WBS YLT)
Ezekiel 27:15 The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they brought thee in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.
(ASV DBY JPS YLT)
Corinth (13 Occurrences)
Damascus (58 Occurrences)
Rendered (30 Occurrences)
Trade (33 Occurrences)
Tribute (67 Occurrences) |
"By offering defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible.
"You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. "Then you ask, 'How have we defiled the sacrifices?' "You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect.
By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised.
"You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say, 'The table of the LORD is to be despised.'
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
By presenting defiled food on My altar." You ask: "How have we defiled You?" When you say: "The LORD's table is contemptible.""
By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' By saying, 'The Table of the LORD is contemptible.'
You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, 'How have we offended you?' By treating the table of the LORD as if it is of no importance!
You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'The LORD's table contemptible.'
"You offer contaminated food on my altar. "But you ask, 'Then how have we contaminated you?' "When you say that the LORD's table may be despised.
Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar. And ye say: 'Wherein have we polluted thee?' In that ye say: 'The table of the LORD is contemptible.'
“You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled Thee?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.’
Ye offer polluted bread upon my altar; and ye say, In what have we polluted thee? In that ye say, We die of hunger in the service of the LORD.
You offer polluted bread upon my altar; and you say, How have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
You offer polluted bread on my altar; and you say, Wherein have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible.
To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible.
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible.
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
Ye offer polluted bread upon my altar? and ye say, In what have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'Yahweh's table contemptible.'
Ye are bringing nigh on Mine altar polluted bread, And ye have said: 'In what have we polluted Thee?' In your saying: 'The table of Jehovah -- it is despicable,'
The Polluted Offerings
6"'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?' says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, 'How have we despised Your name?' 7"You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say, The table of the LORD is to be despised.' 8"But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.…
Then the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire to the LORD.
'They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings by fire to the LORD, the food of their God; so they shall be holy.
'You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy.
The altar was of wood, three cubits high and its length two cubits; its corners, its base and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, "This is the table that is before the LORD."
"They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep My charge.
"But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.
"But you are profaning it, in that you say, 'The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.'
"You also say, 'My, how tiresome it is!' And you disdainfully sniff at it," says the LORD of hosts, "and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?" says the LORD.
Ye offer, etc. or, Bring unto my, etc. polluted.
Leviticus 2:11 No meat offering, which you shall bring to the LORD, shall be made …
Leviticus 21:6 They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their …
Deuteronomy 15:21 And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, …
The table.
Malachi 1:12 But you have profaned it, in that you say, The table of the LORD …
1 Samuel 2:15-17 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said …
Ezekiel 41:22 The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two …
1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: you …
1 Corinthians 11:21,22,27-32 For in eating every one takes before other his own supper: and one …
(7) Ye offer.--Literally, offering.
Bread.--This is not the shewbread, which was not offered upon the altar. The word rendered "bread" means in Arabic "flesh;" in Hebrew, "food generally." This word is applied (Leviticus 3:11; Leviticus 3:16) to the fat portions of the peace offerings, which were burned, and is there translated "food." (See references there.) In Leviticus 21:6; Leviticus 21:8; Leviticus 21:17; Leviticus 21:21-22; Leviticus 22:25, it is used of the sacrifices generally, but is there inconsistently translated "bread."
Polluted.--The Hebrew word does not occur in this sense in the Pentateuch, but we have it in Daniel 1:8 in the reflexive conjugation: "to allow himself to be defiled" with food, and in the active ("polluted thee") in this verse. The context shows that the words "polluted bread" means "food unfit to be offered." "Polluted me" is the same as "profaned [my name]" (Malachi 1:12); for in the Hebrew Scriptures "God" and "God's name" are often equivalent expressions (Comp. Malachi 2:5). Keil takes the words, which he wrongly translates, "ye that offer polluted bread," as parallel to the words "despisers of my name," and to a certain degree explanatory of them; while he finds the actual answer to the questions, "Wherein have we despised?" "Wherein have we polluted?" is given in the words, "In that ye say," &c. He renders the passage thus:--
"Ye priests, who despise my name!"
And yet say, "Wherein have we despised thy name?"
"Ye who offer on mine altar polluted food."
And yet say, "Wherein have we polluted thee?"
(Ans.) [Ye have despised my name and polluted me], in that ye say, "The table of the Lord is contemptible."
The error of this rendering consists in supposing that "offering polluted food," which is anathrous, can be parallel to "Ye priests who despise my name," which is defined by the definite article. In truth, the English Version is perfectly correct. We will repeat it with only the slightest possible verbal alterations. and with such parenthetical explanations as are required to make it quite intelligible:--Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, "O priests, that despise my name!"
[This is the commencement of a prophetic rebuke to the priests; but they, in accordance with the prophet's graphic style of writing, are supposed to catch him up at the first clause of his utterance.]
"But" [despisers of God's name!] say ye, "wherein have we despised thy name?"
(Ans.) "Offering [as ye do] polluted food upon mine altar."
" But," say ye, "wherein have we polluted thee?"
(Ans.) "When, now, ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?" &c.
Say--i.e., show by your conduct that such is your feeling. "This was their inward thought . . . he puts these thoughts into abrupt, bold, hard words, which might startle them for their hideousness, as if he would say, this is what your acts mean. He exhibits the worm and the decay which lay under the whited exterior."--Pusey.
Table--i.e., altar, as in Ezekiel 41:22 : "The altar . . . this is the table that is before the Lord." (Comp. Ezek. 49:16.)]
Verse 7. - Ye offer polluted bread (food) upon mine altar. The prophet answers the priests simply by detailing some of their practices. The "bread" (lechem) is not the shewbread, which was not offered on the altar, but the flesh of the offered victims (see Leviticus 3:11, 16; Leviticus 21:6; Leviticus 22:25). This was "polluted" in that it was not offered in due accordance with the ceremonial Law, as is further explained in the next verse. Wherein have we polluted thee? They did not acknowledge the truth that (as St. Jerome says) "when the sacraments are violated, he himself, whose sacraments they are, is violated" (comp. Ezekiel 13:19; Ezekiel 20:9; Ezekiel 39:7). The table of the Lord is contemptible. This was the thought of their heart, if they did not give open expression to it in words. The "table of the Lord" (ver. 12) is the altar, on which were laid the sacrifices, regarded as the food. of God, and to be eaten by the fire (Ezekiel 41:22; Ezekiel 44:16). They showed that they despised the altar by fancying that anything was good enough for offering thereon, as the next verse explains.
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar,.... Which some understand of the shewbread, mention being afterwards made of a "table", as Jerom; who observes that it was made of wheat, which the priests themselves sowed, reaped, ground, and baked, and so could take what they would out of it: as for their sowing it, it does not seem likely that they should be employed in such service, whatever may be said for their reaping; since the sheaf of the first fruits was reaped by persons deputed from the sanhedrim (w); though of the reaping of that for the shewbread, I find no mention made; but as for grinding, sifting, kneading, and making it into loaves, and baking it, and taking it out of the oven, and putting it upon the table of shewbread, all this was the work of the priests (x); and those of the house of Garmu (y) were appointed over that work: now, this bread might be said to be polluted, when they set upon the table such as was not made of fine wheat flour, and had not pure frankincense put upon or by each row, as the law required, Leviticus 24:5 nor is it any material objection to this sense, that it is an altar, and not a table, on which this bread was offered; since, as the altar is called a table, Ezekiel 41:22, as this is in a following clause, the table may be called an altar; though it may be observed, that the shewbread is never said to be offered, but to be set, or put upon the table: indeed the burning of the frankincense set by it is called an offering made by fire unto the Lord, Leviticus 24:7 wherefore others interpret this of the daily meat offering, which went along with the daily sacrifice of the lambs, and part of which was burnt on the altar, Exodus 29:40 or rather this designs sacrifice in general, sometimes called "bread", Leviticus 3:11 and so the Targum here,
"ye offer upon my altar an abominable offering;''
such as had blemishes in them, were blind or lame, as after mentioned; and had not the requisites of a sacrifice in them; or were offered not in a right manner, or by bad men, and with a wicked mind:
and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? thy bread offering or altar; as if their offerings were pure, and they themselves, and their consciences pure from sin. The answer is,
In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible; either the shewbread table, which yet was covered with gold, and all the vessels of it made of gold; or the altar, as in Ezekiel 41:22 their actions spoke so loud, and declared that the table or altar of the Lord was a contemptible thing, since they cared not what was offered upon it: or the reason why it was had in contempt, as some think, was because there was not that holiness in the second temple as in the first: or, as Abarbinel and Kimchi say, because of the fat and the blood which were offered on the altar, which they esteemed contemptible things; not observing the end for which the Lord commanded them to be offered.
7. ye offer, etc.—God's answer to their challenge (Mal 1:6), "Wherein have we despised?"
polluted bread—namely, blemished sacrifices (Mal 1:8, 13, 14; De 15:21). So "the bread of thy God" is used for "sacrifices to God" (Le 21:8).
polluted thee—that is, offered to thee "polluted bread."
table of the Lord—that is, the altar (Eze 41:22) (not the table of showbread). Just as the sacrificial flesh is called "bread."
contemptible—(Mal 1:12, 13). Ye sanction the niggardly and blemished offerings of the people on the altar, to gain favor with them. Darius, and probably his successors, had liberally supplied them with victims for sacrifice, yet they presented none but the worst. A cheap religion, costing little, is rejected by God, and so is worth nothing. It costs more than it is worth, for it is worth nothing, and so proves really dear. God despises not the widow's mite, but he does despise the miser's mite [Moore].
1:6-14 We may each charge upon ourselves what is here charged upon the priests. Our relation to God, as our Father and Master, strongly obliges us to fear and honour him. But they were so scornful that they derided reproof. Sinners ruin themselves by trying to baffle their convictions. Those who live in careless neglect of holy ordinances, who attend on them without reverence, and go from them under no concern, in effect say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. They despised God's name in what they did. It is evident that these understood not the meaning of the sacrifices, as shadowing forth the unblemished Lamb of God; they grudged the expense, thinking all thrown away which did not turn to their profit. If we worship God ignorantly, and without understanding, we bring the blind for sacrifice; if we do it carelessly, if we are cold, dull, and dead in it, we bring the sick; if we rest in the bodily exercise, and do not make heart-work of it, we bring the lame; and if we suffer vain thoughts and distractions to lodge within us, we bring the torn. And is not this evil? Is it not a great affront to God, and a great wrong and injury to our own souls? In order to the acceptance of our actions with God, it is not enough to do that which, for the matter of it, is good; but we must do it from a right principle, in a right manner, and for a right end. Our constant mercies from God, make worse our slothfulness and niggardliness, in our returns of duty to God. A spiritual worship shall be established. Incense shall be offered to God's name, which signifies prayer and praise. And it shall be a pure offering. When the hour came, in which the true worshippers worshipped the Father in Spirit and in truth, then this incense was offered, even this pure offering. We may rely on God's mercy for pardon as to the past, but not for indulgence to sin in future. If there be a willing mind, it will be accepted, though defective; but if any be a deceiver, devoting his best to Satan and to his lusts, he is under a curse. Men now, though in a different way, profane the name of the Lord, pollute his table, and show contempt for his worship. |
Study: People more empathetic towards whites than blacks
According to a recent study, people are more empathetic towards whites than blacks, especially regarding medical treatment or pain.
The discovery is known as the “racial empathy gap.” It shows that people including medical personnel assume blacks feel less pain than whites.
From Huffington Post:
“people, including medical personnel, assume black people feel less pain than white people and helps explain disparities in areas from health care to criminal justice. The findings come just several months after a study published in a March issue of the American Journal of Public Health reported researchers found that two-thirds of doctors harbored “unconscious” racial biases toward patients.” |
Deer Processing Tips
We all hunt for different reasons. There is the chance to get away from it all for a while, to face off against fellow outdoorsmen to see who is the most accomplished hunter, and to experience the thrill of the hunt. But just important to most is the chance to fill the freezer for the year with a natural source of meat. It can cut grocery costs for the season, and there’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with providing for you and your family. Some even like to share their harvest with others, and venison sausage or other treats can be a nice compliment to any gift or holiday party. However before you can enjoy this year’s harvest at your table, you have to take special care of the deer throughout the harvesting process. We offer some tips and equipment suggestions for your next deer processing job.
Careful Field Dressing
Successful processing of your deer naturally starts with careful field dressing. For a more in depth examination of this process, we recommend: How To Field Dress A Deer.
The key is to keep the meat clean as you field dress it. Leaves, hair from the hide, bugs, and internal organs are all your enemy, and exposure of each to the interior cavity and meat should be minimized or hopefully completely avoided while you’re out in the field. As we mentioned in the field dressing guide, careful removal of the intestines is the most important facet of preserving meat during the field dressing process. Another important and overlooked tip is knife care. Cleaning the knife periodically throughout the field dressing process will reduce the risk of contamination and keep the knife sharp for the entire process. The easiest way to take care of your knife is to bring alcohol wipes along with your field dressing kit. Finally, don’t forget the gloves. These days gloves aren’t optional, they are a must during field dressing. Be sure to bring several pair just in case.
Once you’re finished with the initial field dressing, you’ll want to protect the deer from bugs as you get ready to transport it. A game bag is always the best option for this, but acting quickly once the field dressing is complete is just as important. Some hunters prefer to just finish the field dressing and hop to it to get the deer to their truck, but unless it’s only a very short trip from the deer to the truck, a game bag is cheap and probably worth the investment if you’re serious about meat preservation. Will not using a game bag mean contamination? Well it likely won’t, but proper meat care is about minimizing exposure to contaminants and getting the deer to cool quickly. Let’s move on to that second part now.
A Word On Transportation
The next question on meat care comes down to: “Quarter or not to quarter in the field.” Again this decision is usually dependent on your location and how close you are to home. You’ll also have to take into account whether or not your state requires a visit to a check station. If you’re headed back to a hunting cabin without a proper fridge, then a cooler is going to be a vital piece of equipment. Yeti is the big name in outdoor coolers, and they are rugged enough and hold ice long enough to make them worth the extra investment. Using a cooler also means that you’ll need to quarter the deer to fit it in the cooler. It can be hard to quarter right at the initial field dressing site and keep everything clean, but some hunters swear by it. After skinning and quartering you can place the deer in the cooler, but make sure to periodically drain the water out and replace with more ice.
Whether or not you have to take your harvest to a check station will determine your cooling and transportation options.
Those who don’t want to or can’t quarter on-site should have a plan for safe transport of the deer out of the field. ATVs, deer carts, or even just a strong buddy are good options, but dragging the deer out by yourself won’t be the best option since you’ll be risking additional contamination. If you’re going to just jet home with the field dressed deer and process it at home, make sure you prepare for that option before you ever head out to the stand. The deer should be covered when possible since direct sunlight can speed the spoiling process, and again a game bag is a good choice if it’ll be riding in the back of your truck for a while. Sorry folks, mounting the deer on the hood isn’t exactly the best plan anymore. Another good tip for those who choose this option is to have a frozen gallon jug of ice to place in the cavity on the way home. Ice bags aren’t the best choice because you don’t know where the outside plastic has been. Instead save those milk jugs, clean them well, and then freeze them and leave them in your truck for a potential harvest.
Where To Process
Once back home (or at the appropriate place), you’ll want to set in on the skinning and quartering process almost immediately. This is easier than in the field because you can meticulously skin the deer while it hangs in a suitable spot. Garages, sheds or similarly cool places are the best options for skinning and quartering. Make sure to keep the ice in the cavity to help the meat cool down, and only remove it when washing the deer. Washing the interior cavity is an important step and helps increase the quality of meat and remove any lingering contaminants. Once again, clean the knife regularly while working through this process, especially whenever you cut through any bone. Never cut into the skull, and clean the knife immediately after cutting into the spinal cord or bone.
Wearing gloves and keeping your cutting surfaces clean is an important step of processing.
Hunters differ on this next part as well, and we’ll cover both approaches. The first is to leave the deer, washed and filled with ice, hanging to age overnight. This can be an option on a very cold night, but if the weather is warm, you’ll need to pack it away into cold storage once it’s skinned and quartered. You can either place it in a cooler and replace ice as it melts (while regularly draining the water), or if you have an extra fridge, you can place the meat in there. Before you get started, check out one of the deer cuts charts you can find online.
As you start to de-bone the meat, take your time and be sure to cut out all tendons, fat and “sliver skin” or connective tissue as you work through the quarters. You’ll want to wear gloves throughout de-boning just like you have throughout the processing. Don’t forget to sanitize your cutting surfaces before beginning, and then give them a good scrub and wash periodically throughout the process. When possible, cut meat against the grain rather than with the grain for added tenderness. This is a trick that many cooks do with beef as well.
Finally, you’ll want to freeze everything you’re not sending to be processed further right away. Many hunters make burger out of the less tender cuts and freeze it afterward. A vacuum sealer can be a good investment for DIYer’s, but you can get by with pressing air out of freezer bags best you can. The meat is best from the freezer during the first six months after harvest, so plan your meals and send your friends some meat to make the most of your successful hunt. |
Getting Medieval With Coloring Books
Category: Faith and Family on the Internet Inspirational Kate O'Hare
Coloring isn’t just for kids anymore. It’s become the latest hot pastime for adults, and there are studies that suggest it’s good for relaxation and relieving stress.
Of course, children still are the primary colorers. But, a new type of coloring book brings grownups into the mix as well — so coloring can truly become a whole-family activity.
Some of the books available use art and designs of various kinds, from fractals to mandalas. But as Catholics, we have one of the richest and most brilliantly hued artistic legacies — especially with medieval art.
We tend to think of medieval times in terms of gray stone Gothic churches and monks in brown habits, but as a recent piece in ChurchPop showed, medieval cathedrals used to be painted in near-psychedelic colors. We also have tapestries, icons, illuminated manuscripts and stained-glass windows, all of which can be found in coloring books (click the links above for examples).
There are even rosary coloring books.
Just last week, as a part of the #ColorOurCollections event, several museums made images from the collections — including medieval Catholic ones — available as PDFs you can download for free (this link includes links to a whole bunch of them).
Whether you’re using colored pencils, markers, pastels or watercolors, coloring can be a solitary activity or — if your pages are large enough — even a cooperative venture. I’ve even thought that coloring parties could be fun, with buckets of pencils or crayons, and people working on many different pages at once.
The image at top is from the first coloring page I did (it’s from this book) — and I have a confession to make. I believe it depicts the Wedding Feast at Cana, and that figure to the far right, despite not having a beard, is supposed to be Jesus.
I could be wrong about that, but if it is, I didn’t realize it until after I was finished. So allow me to apologize for kinda coloring Him like a girl. Sorry. |
Guiding Children Through Embarrassing Moments
One teacher described how embarrassed a 7-year-old boy was when he occasionally wet his pants. Although the other kids knew they weren’t supposed to tease him, they did it anyway.
The kind teacher told the boy “Everyone has things that don’t work for them. You’ll figure this out. Go change your pants right now and then we’ll play a game.” The teacher did not make a big deal of it and also gave the boy confidence that he would eventually solve the problem. |
How often do you use apps on your mobile device? If you’re like us, you probably connect to the web via mobile apps dozens of times per day. And, hopefully, like us, you realize that mobile devices are no safer than personal computers when it comes to sending sensitive material over the web. Unfortunately, most people don’t share this sense of caution and operate under the false confidence that mobile devices are hack-proof or somehow more secure than a PC.
But in efforts to test this sense of security, security researchers at the Leibniz University of Hanover in Germany conducted a study looking at ways popular Android apps in the Google Play marketplace handle attacks on security protocols called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS).
Most browsers will show a lock image when connecting
via SSL or TLS indicating the connection is secure.
Horrifyingly, the study found that about 8% of the apps examined misused these two security protocols, leaving users’ sensitive information vulnerable to exposure. And we’re talking really sensitive data – think credit card numbers and passwords.
Fortunately, the researchers said they have no evidence these attack strategies are currently being used.
SSL and TLS work by encrypting data over network connections to, theoretically, keep user information safe from extraction. The protocols are used extensively all over the web and especially by Android applications to transmit things like credit card credentials and other sensitive data.
Researchers used a tool called MalloDroid to execute “Man in the Middle” (MITM) attacks on the selected apps. In a MITM attack, the hacker places himself in the middle of a SSL or TLS connection and monitors activity as the app communicates with its target.
We introduce MalloDroid, a tool to detect potential vulnerability against MITM attacks. Our analysis revealed that 1,074 (8.0%) of the apps examined contain SSL/TLS code that is potentially vulnerable to MITM attacks. Various forms of SSL/TLS misuse were discovered during a further manual audit of 100 selected apps that allowed us to successfully launch MITM attacks against 41 apps and gather a large variety of sensitive data. Furthermore, an online survey was conducted to evaluate users' perceptions of certificate warnings and HTTPS visual security indicators in Android's browser, showing that half of the 754 participating users were not able to correctly judge whether their browser session was protected by SSL/TLS or not. [LUH]
More than any time before, we, as consumers, rely on tech providers to protect our sensitive data. But the fact is, no company provides flawless security. At SumRando, we encourage all of our users to not only educate themselves on security issues, but to take responsibility for their online safety with a solid VPN. |
Digital Divide: Cyber Alerts Worldwide - January 31, 2017
their legislation today could be yours tomorrow
South Africa’s new Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill is on its way to Parliament; Michalsons law firm is amongst those concerned: “The Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill gives the South African Police and the State Security Agency extensive powers to investigate, search, access, and seize just about anything.”
Draft regulations look to further crackdown on internet freedom in China: “Any overseas connections that are not approved will be blocked. Once the communication is cut off, it is the equivalent of a wall; there will be no holes for VPN to drill through,” reported the Hong Kong Internet Society.
Research and Initiatives
making your world a more cybersecure place
United States-based encrypted email service Lavabit was relaunched last week, offering three levels of security: Trustful, Cautious and Paranoid. In 2013, when faced with a government request for access to Edward Snowden’s account, Lavabit shut down rather than compromise its users’ security.
Indian companies such as Innefu have begun to shift from using human intelligence to using artificial intelligence to analyze data. “Cyber warfare isn’t a movie, it’s happening right now…We lost out on the industrial revolution, we lost out on the defence revolution – let’s not lose out in the cyber revolution,” argued Innefu’s Tarun Wig.
The Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, a partnership between the University of New Brunswick and IBM, opened last week. The institute will serve as a center for research and to develop cybersecurity professionals.
the threats we all face
Indian horse racing website, Racingpulse.in, was recently hacked with the Dharma Ransomware Trojan in an attack that seized all of the website’s files. Website editor Sharan Kumar plans to move the website’s servers, currently located in the United States, elsewhere.
A December power outage in Ukraine has been determined to be a cyber attack. Hackers worked undetected in power supplier Ukregergo’s IT network for six months before launching an attack considered to be one of the first to affect civilian access to heat and light.
a new glimpse at past alerts
United States-based WhatsApp has denied the security vulnerability reported by Tobias Boelter, but Steffen Tor Jensen of the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights disagrees: “WhatsApp can effectively continue flipping the security keys when devices are offline and re-sending the message, without letting users know of the change [until] after it has been made, providing an extremely insecure platform.”
As 2017 begins to take shape, one thing is clear: this year will not be the year of the massive, unexpected data breach. Rather, it very well could be the year of accepting cybersecurity weaknesses and looking to enact much-needed protective measures. In just the past week, four countries worldwide have highlighted areas in need of cyber attention:
Australia: Intelligence officials fear Australian political party leaders will be the next victims of cyberespionage. Cyber Security Minister Dan Tehan acknowledged, “The use of cyber to maliciously influence the democratic process is a recent development in statecraft and we need the proper protections in place in Australia to prevent it happening here.”
Canada: increased opposition to pipelines has only heightened the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s warning to domestic energy companies about the risk of cyber espionage and attacks. “You should expect your networks to be hit if you are involved in any significant financial interactions with certain foreign states,” stated a CSIS briefing.
India: A turn to digital payments has brought scrutiny to India’s lack of cybersecurity: “While India does have an early warning system and a national computer emergency response team, there is no clear national incident management structure for responding to cyber-security incidents,” reported the Software Alliance (BSA).
United Kingdom: a shortage of cybersecurity experts has the potential to put businesses in the UK at cyber risk. Reported Mariano Mamertino, “Sadly the supply of skilled workers isn’t keeping up with employer demand, and Britain’s cyber security skills gap, already the second worst in the world, is getting worse. The problem is fast approaching crisis point, and British businesses will inevitably be put at risk if they can’t find the expertise they need to mitigate the threat.”
Bhim, India’s new mobile-phone-payment app, attracted 10 million users in its first 10 days and also much cause for concern: “India urgently needs a new digital payment law that regulates all these mobile payment apps that have sprung up overnight. We are right now in a completely uncharted and unsupervised territory legally,” reported cyber-law expert Pavan Duggal.
Privacy, Surveillance and Censorship
government isn't always on your side
Lebanon has arrested Ramzi Al-Kadi for tweets that insulted three Lebanese nationals killed on New Year’s Eve in Istanbul. Only a month prior, authorities similarly arrested Bassel Al-Amin for insulting the state of Lebanon in a tweet.
Tobias Boelter recently found a security vulnerability in United States-based messaging app, WhatsApp. In his words, “The problem here is that the WhatsApp server could potentially lie about the public keys. Instead of giving you your friend’s key, it could give you a public key belonging to a third party, such as the government.”
The 27th France-Africa Summit took place last week in Mali. At the conference, African heads of state agreed to increase cybersecurity cooperation and established a continent-wide partnership for digital security.
With government approval, Mauritius will build a cybercity in Ghana. The city will include innovation towers, conference centers, bank and finance towers, an ICT plaza and regional headquarters of ICT companies.
Labels: Africa, cyber alerts, Middle East North Africa (MENA), South Asia, The SumTimes, united states
SumTips: Davos’ 2017 Guide to Business Cybersecurity
The annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is underway. While the election of Donald Trump to the American presidency has attendees questioning what else 2017 will bring, one concern remains clear: cybersecurity.
In conjunction with the live event, the Forum offers a host of suggestions for making the coming year cybersecure, for businesses and individuals alike:
From “Why being a responsible leader means being cyber-resilient”:
Cyber risk is a systemic challenge and cyber-resilience a public good. Without security and resilience in our networks, it will be impossible to safely take advantage of the innumerable opportunities that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is poised to offer. Responsible and innovative leaders, therefore, are seeking ways to deal with these risks. In order to meet these challenges and be truly responsive to and responsible for the challenges of digitalization, leaders need tools and partnerships.
From “Defending against cybercrime: how to make a business cyber-resilient”:
Cyberattacks, cyber-breaches and cybercrime are not new problems and are universally acknowledged to be costly, pervasive and increasingly sophisticated. The best defence against such intrusions is cyber-resilience: building capabilities to protect yourself and your business from cyber threats, and building the ability to rebound from attacks, should they happen.
From “Four steps to protect your business against cybercrime”:
Ask yourself these questions:
Is security part of your culture? The board members can’t do everything themselves. You need to build security awareness into your organization’s culture by making it part of everyone’s role. Give them responsibility, and encourage them to speak up.
Have you separated your data? The trick is to make sure you have layers between your systems. If your customer data is behind another wall, it’s safer. You want to make sure your most valuable information is hidden – even from your own employees. You don’t see bank vaults out on the street. They’re behind checkpoints, cameras and closed doors. Do the same with your data.
Do you have all the basics sorted? Start with making sure passwords are strong and long and ensuring that all the right policies are in place. Encryption should be used across the board and you need a response team ready to deal with attacks and minimize the damage. Spare a moment to think about whether your partners are keeping your data safe. Most importantly, think from a criminal’s perspective: try hacking back into your own business to identify vulnerabilities and then fix them.
Image credit of Shutterstock.com.
SumTips: 7 Findings From Secure the News' Leaderboard
Labels: cybercrime, cybersecurity, Europe, SumTips, The SumTimes
The Nigerian government is unprepared for cybercrime in 2017, reports the Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN). Concerns for the coming year include CEO email scams, ransomware, assisted online kidnapping, cyber bullying and impersonation.
Top cybersecurity officials in China have pledged their loyalty to President Xi Jinping’s leadership. Priorities for 2017 include cleaning up cyberspace, strengthening cybersecurity, promoting IT and creating tighter overall internet controls for China.
December’s cyberattacks against the Thai government in response to an unfavorable computer crime law amendment have now been met with a response of its own: Thailand’s government has begun to recruit civilian “cyber warriors” to protect against future attacks.
Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - December 22, 2016
Labels: Africa, Asia, cyber alerts, Southeast Asia, The SumTimes
Earlier this week, American actress Meryl Streep won the Golden Globes’ 2017 Cecil B. DeMille Award for her “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.” In accepting the award, Streep turned the audience’s attention to an event unrelated to Hollywood: she referred to American President-Elect Donald Trump’s decision to mock a disabled reporter as an act that “sank hooks in [her] heart.”
In response, she asked for a “principled press to hold power to account” and specifically requested that Hollywood support the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonprofit in support of press freedom worldwide.
SumRando has been a longtime fan of CPJ, as well as of the organizations below that support a free and fact-finding press:
IFEX: a global network of organizations connected by a shared commitment to defend and promote freedom of expression as a fundamental human right.
International Press Institute: a global network of journalists, editors and media executives, working to defend media freedom and the free flow of news wherever they are threatened.
Afghanistan Journalists Center: a nongovernmental body that works to defend rights of Afghan journalists and ensure freedom of expression in Afghanistan and a member of IFEX.
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility: a Philippine nonprofit working to build up the press and news media as pillars of democratic society through programs that uphold press freedom, promote responsible journalism and encourage journalistic excellence.
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA): a nonprofit campaigning for genuine press freedom in Southeast Asia.
Instituto Prensa y Sociedad Venezuela: a Venezuelan organization working for the right to freedom of expression, the right to information and a freedom of the press that allows for the scrutiny of power.
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA): an organization working to achieve media freedom and free expression for all as an essential part of strengthening democracy in southern Africa.
Support the press, surf secure and stay Rando!
SumTips: 5 Highlights of Snowden's Twitter Interview
Labels: Africa, freedom of expression, Latin America, Middle East North Africa (MENA), Southeast Asia, united states
Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - January 9, 2017
Comando de Defesa Cibernetica (ComDCiber), has been approved by the Brazilian Army as the country’s new cyber defense command. ComDCiber is tasked with protecting Brazil’s online infrastructure.
The Turkish government has plans to recruit hundreds of cybersecurity professionals from universities. In 2016 alone, Turkey experienced 90 million cyberattacks.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of telecom, IT and law for India, has asked Google to support the country’s cybersecurity efforts: “I want Google to be involved in a more meaningful way. The more digital India becomes, there would be challenges. I would appeal to Google to work more to ensure digital security.”
Last February’s theft of $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank is now thought to have been an inside job. Bangladesh Police Deputy Inspector General, Mohammad Shah Alam, believes bank IT technicians created the conditions that provided access to hackers.
Make 2017 Your Most Cybersecure Year Yet
In 2016, news worldwide shifted from headlines of massive security breaches to those of initiatives taken by countries, companies and consumers to prevent future disruptions. Start the new year off right by joining the security bandwagon. If you haven't found a lasting new years resolution yet, here's one: commit to logging into SumRando VPN every time you use the internet in 2017. |
Sustainability at Kent
Resolutions or not…this really is the right time to ditch the plastic in your life!
Is it just me or is there a large amount of news content about plastic recently?
Whether it is the disturbing sight of plastic bottles ruining the immersion of being in the deep blue as David Attenborough lulled you to sleep on a Sunday night with the incredible Blue Planet 2; the news that China will no longer take our recycled plastic due to pollution concerns; or yesterdays ban of Micro-beads coming into full affect; it seems plastic has finally fallen out of favour.
So with it being the new year why not add a truely transformative resolution to your list. Ditch the plastic.
A simple way to do this is to start with any single use plastic that is entirely unnecessary. Do you need that straw in your drink? If Weatherspoons and Jamie Oliver can ditch them for good, so can you! Can Tupperware serve you better than clingfilm? Does your coffee really taste as good out of that disposable?
There are so many things in our everyday life that create rubbish after just one use but with a few simple changes you could do away with single use plastic for good. It will definitely save you money, especially if the government decide to tax all single use plastics such as plastic bottles and the so called ‘latte levy’ which could reduce the 2.5 billion coffee cups we get through in the UK, of which only 1% are recycled.
If you would like to be part of the movement to ditch single use plastic head on over to the Global Good Award’s #pointlessplastic on Twitter to get some inspiration.
Categories: Behaviour Change, Packaging, Waste Tags: new year, plastic, Waste Author: em552
Pokemon Go(als)
My two worlds collided last week when I was alerted to the fact that Pokemon Go creators Niantic were ‘standing with the global goals’ and were offering free global goals t shirts to every Pokemon Go players avatars.
Now if you are not familiar with either Pokemon Go or the Global Goals, this next bit is for you:
Pokémon Go is a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. The game was the result of a collaboration between Niantic and Nintendo, by way of The Pokémon Company. Players create and customize their own avatars, which as the player moves within their real world surroundings, their avatars move within the game’s map. The purpose of this is to catch and collect Pokemon which if you were not a 90’s kid probably need their own explanation.
The Global Goals are the 17 aspirational goals established by 193 countries and United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015. The 17 goals cover the world’s greatest challenges and are underpinned by over 100 targets to eradicate poverty, halt climate change and end inequality by 2030.
Now as an avid Pokemon Goer in my spare time, and a sustainable development professional as my day job I did not see this coming! So why have Pokemon Go and The United Nations paired up on this project?
At the last estimate around 65 million people are playing Pokemon Go each month and perhaps unsurprisingly the majority of players are under 30.
The United Nations and World Economic Forum has said before that that young people are crucial in delivering the goals as they are the people that are going to be most challenged by the current status quo, for example unstable work, low wages, education inequality, climate change effects etc…
So what better way to keep the conversation going about the goals amongst young people than by making it a part of well loved and daily signed in game.
Niantic have asked, “We hope everyone will join us in having their avatar wear the Global Goals shirt proudly to show their support and spread awareness for these critically important Goals.”
It may be a little thing but I have to say it has been heartening to see just how many other Pokemon trainers are wearing the Global Goals shirt as I have been out playing the game. Hopefully this is just another little things that pushes the Global Goals into the consciousness of people, and I shall be doing my bit by wearing my shirt proudly!
Let’s save the World one return form at a time!
This week’s guest post comes from Claudia Cox, a Classics student at Edinburgh University entering her final year of study. Claudia is passionate about sustainability and protecting the environment, and also loves getting involved in social and environmental projects to encourage positive change where possible.
Why its time online retailers get serious about sustainable packaging
A recent survey by UPS shows that people are now doing 51% of their shopping online (excluding groceries), which is a vast amount in comparison to just a few years ago.
This is great news for the environmental side of things, as customers who tend to shop online rather than in stores have already reduced their carbon footprint by driving less, and research carried out by Carnegie Melon University has found that it is more eco friendly for businesses to be online since they have an overall energy consumption that is 30% lower than traditional shops.
But there’s also another side of the same coin: with increased demand for delivered items also comes the need for more and more packaging. So it becomes clear that it’s time online retailers up their game and think seriously about the parcels they’re sending out each day and the ways in which they can help reduce their negative impact on the environment.
Who hasn’t, at some point, been shocked by the awfully excessive amount of wrapping they’ve ended up with when ordering a very small item? It is sad to learn that the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that in 2012 containers and packaging accounted for 30% (75.2m tons) of total solid waste generated in the US. Using eco-friendly packaging is therefore one of the most important steps companies can take to minimise their environmental impact.
However, conceded that having fully sustainable packaging throughout the supply chain is still a big challenge, it feels like all ecommerce retailers, and particularly the major ones, should be doing more to improve their packaging practices. Technology and innovation has helped to create sustainable alternatives, but big companies should also pay close attention to what startups are doing.
Ecovative, for example, uses agricultural waste to grow packaging in different shapes and the Finnish startup RePack gives customers of online retailers adopting the solution the option of paying a small deposit for reusable packaging at checkout. This deposit then gets reimbursed once the bag or box finds its way back to the company, via any post office in Europe. Others, like ethical clothing company Verry Kerry, have found some creative ways to minimise their environmental impact. Firstly they do not include a return form in every parcel, which on a large scale could amount to a huge saving in paper and ink. Enclosing return forms in every order seems to be a common practice among fashion retailers (ASOS & co) but, as Amazon & eBay demonstrate (with their online return policy), it’s clear that alternatives are available. Verry Kerry also send their (sustainably made) garments in recycled paper mailing bags, which are a great substitute of the commonly used plastic alternatives .
This is another way to check your packaging is sustainable, by ensuring that your products are enclosed in materials which are recyclable, as far as possible. For online retailers, this means not using flimsy plastic packaging to wrap items which is wasteful and unnecessary, but rather placing them inside packaging such as a reusable bag or a large recycled paper envelope. This keeps costs and environmental impact down to a minimum. Reducing the overall amount of packaging is also important, for example not using two separate bags for a product where one would suffice, and getting rid of excessive amounts of paper/plastic enclosed within the parcel.
The leading online fashion company ASOS have a list of packaging initiatives in line with these ideas, among which include using lighter packaging to help reduce CO2 emissions from deliveries and recycling packaging from customer returns. However although all their boxes are fully recyclable still only 25% of their bags are, and sadly this is the sort of packaging which is most frequently used by ASOS. It is clear from this that they are only part of the way there, and there is definitely so much more that they, as well as other large retail companies, can be doing to improve upon this.
To summarise, it is crucial that online retailers get their act together and start thinking seriously about how they can reduce the negative effects which unsustainable packaging has on the environment. It is the hope that in the future all retailers will have to adhere to strict guidelines about the way in which they conduct their packaging process, so why not take some initiative and start now, one step ahead of everyone else!
In terms of the environment, CO² and other greenhouse gas emissions are the most immediately obvious areas in which travel impacts sustainability. Air travel specifically is one of the most damaging culprits – accounting for 2% of all human-induced carbon dioxide emissions annually, and a staggering 781 million tonnes of CO² in 2015 alone.
Fortunately, initiatives are being introduced to reduce these impacts. Airlines are responding positively to carbon-cutting targets, and an increasing number of airports are even fuelling aircraft with alternatives to traditional pollutant fuels.
Impact on local economy/ecology
Through its ties with the hospitality industry, travel also has a big impact on local economics and ecology.
Simply put, travelers and holidaymakers need somewhere to stay. Unfortunately this has lead to the dominance, in many popular destinations, of international hotels and corporations. Thanks to global supply chains, these often fail to invest in local culture, buy local produce, or hire local staff.
Even alternative, private accommodation options such as second home ownership can be detrimental to local communities. Properties left vacant throughout the majority of the year are a drain on space and resources, and can stall community development. The rise of popularity of property investment funds and other fractional ownership platforms offers some relief to this issue, but it’s still a huge problem for local sustainability.
Similarly, the activities travelers engage in also have a big effect on local ecologies and economies. UNEP found that some 80% of the expenditure of ‘adventure tourists’ goes to international companies rather than local businesses or workers, damaging local economies. There are however some initiatives, such as WHOA (Women High On Adventure), which aim to tackle this in innovative and inspiring ways.
So what can I do when I go travelling?
Fortunately, you won’t need to overhaul your plans, break the bank, or go to any extreme lengths; factoring sustainability into your travels can even save you money. The key thing is to identify which elements of your travel plans are likely to have the biggest impact, and see if you can make small changes when planning your trip, and during your stay.
Before you embark
Firstly, consider the transport you’ll be taking. In many cases, flying will be an inevitability for excursions abroad or to far-off destinations, but you can still make green decisions. Take-off and landings are the most CO²-heavy parts of air travel, so if possible, choose a direct flight with as few stopovers or landings as possible.
If you’re travelling somewhere closer, consider making a more eco-friendly choice than flying. Trains, for example, offer staggeringly lower CO² emissions when compared with aircraft – and are usually cheaper. It can be tempting to simply want to opt for the faster option, but if train travel is an option, it’s worth exploring.
Another thing to think about is where you’re going to stay (which will depend, naturally, on the type of trip you’re taking).
If you’re planning to stay in a hotel, consider sharing rooms – sharing a space inevitably is beneficial in terms of energy consumption and sustainability. If you’re travelling solo, or are backpacking, options like Airbnb or Couchsurfing could enable you to stay with a host in their home, eliminating any affiliation with large, consumptive hotel chains.
It’s also a good idea to be aware of which corporations, businesses and brands you opt to use. There are almost always multiple options when it comes to booking transport and accommodation (particularly if you use comparison sites), and taking the time to do some research – via online ‘green index’ tools, or simply checking company websites for recognised sustainability certificates – can reveal which of your potential choices are most committed to sustainability.
Things to think about when you’re there
The priority during your time spent travelling should be to enjoy yourself – but there are a few simple things you can do to keep things green, which won’t detract from your experiences.
Try to use reusable containers. If you’re shopping, aim to bring at least one reusable bag with you to reduce plastic consumption. In many places it might be necessary to purchase bottled water, but where you can, use a reusable water bottle too. This is particularly important if you’re backpacking, and it will save you money too – all those Evian bottles add up!
Backpacking!
Think about where you’re shopping too; if you only need a few ingredients for some evening cooking, then shopping at a small local business is a more sustainable option than choosing to visit a huge multi-national supermarket (as tempting as this can be). It’ll also give you a far more authentic taste of the local community and culture, so it’s a win-win. If you’re eating out, try to opt for local restaurants or cafés that source their ingredients locally.
The other main thing to be wary of is the activities you take part in, or more generally, the things you do when you’re on your travels. As appealing as it may be to drive a quad bike through the jungle, or water-jetpack around a harbour, it might be a good idea to limit how many of these environmentally harmful activities you take part in.
Even just being as self-aware as possible can make a difference – if you’re hiking or walking, don’t drop any litter, and if you see any, try to throw it away. Do your best to leave as minimal an imprint on the local ecology as possible – stick to the well-beaten path; even hiking can cause damage over time, but as long as you are conscious of the environment you’re exploring, these effects can be dramatically reduced.
When it comes to travel, as with many other walks of life, it’s often the little things that can make a big difference in terms of sustainability. It’s not worth letting an environmentally conscious attitude prevent you from enjoying yourself – you need merely try to be as aware and informed as possible when making choices.
When you’re traveling in the future, simply do some homework; check out the different options available to you, and try to be mindful of what impact you might have. The real goal shouldn’t be to compromise the quality of your experiences, but simply to see if there are more sustainable alternatives, as doing so can save you time and money. Along with a tan and an abundance of photos, you’ll return home with a real sense that you’ve done your bit to keep things green.
Student Services at Medway has been at the heart of sustainability action at the University of Kent since 2010. Below, Lynne Regan, the Sustainability Champion there, showcases what they have been up to and what the team has gotten out of the process.
Categories: Behaviour Change, Case Study, Community, Sustainability Champions Tags: Behaviour Change, Case Study, Champions, Community, Medway Author: em552
How Worried Should We Be About Air Pollution In Canterbury?
Today we have our second guest post from Justin Fox, a graduate of the University of Kent, having studied History here from 2012-2015.
Situated a good ways south of London amidst the ‘Garden of England’, you could be forgiven for assuming that Canterbury and the surrounding parts of Kent are oasis’s of environmental welfare and a triumph of nature. However, as with any urban hub that has increasingly developed and become more and more built up over time, there is a hidden menace which threatens our health and goes against the most central tenants of sustainability.
Whether you’re based up by the University or in the heart of the city, there’s no getting away from the emissions of industry, transport, and those generated just from day to day living. According to Canterbury Council, their current objective in this regard is to keep a lid on the quantity of nitrogen dioxide being produced and specific attention is being paid to the city centre and surrounding primary roads.
The ring road around Canterbury city centre
Naturally when compared to the larger and more densely populated cities across the country, Canterbury is hardly going to be the first location that requires urgent aid. Statistics from Air Quality England since the turn of the year place the city within the lowest ‘band’ of pollution and note that the Strategic Objectives for the area are ‘not exceeded’.
However that’s not to say things are totally fine and there’s no reason for Canterbury residents to be concerned about air quality at a local level. Persistent exposure to unclean air can have all kinds of unforeseen consequences as even low levels of pollution can do damage to someone if they feel its impact each and every day.
The prevalence of agricultural farms on such a scale nearby also could be some cause for concern as a factor driving air pollution as animals on farms in particular are known for being a net contributor to methane emissions. Whilst there’s no denying the valuable economic contribution food production has both countywide and nationally, that as with most things comes with an environmental cost.
Indeed there were worries in the Spring of 2016 that air pollutants from farms within Kent were going to combine with those from mainland Europe and create an ‘agricultural smog’. Various officials recommended that those with pre-existing breathing issues should avoid physical activity and seek shelter where possible, and that anyone else displaying symptoms of breathing difficulties should also stop what they are doing and take things easy.
Westgate Gardens
Overall the point is that despite appearances, air pollution is a serious matter even in locales where you might not think it would be a matter of priority. Whilst comparatively benign compared to larger population centres, that’s not to say work isn’t still needed to better air quality in Canterbury. Newly incoming MP Rosie Duffield had covered the matter in the run-up to the election, so hopefully action can soon be taken to set matters aright. For the time being though individual responsibility is still vital to protecting ourselves from the effects of pollution, as complacency cannot be afforded with an issue that impacts on every one of us.
The reason I am writing about this today is because it is Mental Health Awareness Week and as someone who actively has to look after their mental health daily I am only too aware of some of the misconceptions, fallacies and misinformation that surrounds this topic.
I generally do not talk about my struggles for good mental health beyond my circle of close friends and a couple of extremely good line managers, however, after browsing twitter this morning I saw a few comments and discussions around raising awareness that made me feel able to talk about my condition ‘publically’ for the first time, especially in the context of the job that I do.
I am lucky enough to work in a job where my day to day activities and objectives align quite neatly with my own personal values and therefore my job never feels entirely like ‘work.’ This means the line between the work and the personal can get quite blurry, and even if you are someone with good mental health this can have an effect on you in the long term. Speaking to fellow sustainability professional across different sectors I have heard the same stories of people struggling to leave their work behind when they come home. Even when things are going well I know that my mind cannot quite seem to let go of new possibilities for change despite the barriers of time, resources and energy.
I try and leave work at work now as a habit, although it is easier said than done when it seems that 9 to 5 is not quite enough time to save the world!
And as for ‘you always look so happy!’ Well, hopefully most people are moving towards an understanding that depression is not just about being sad. It can be many different things for many different people. For me it is a lack of confidence; a struggle to find motivation for even the things I like to do; it is energy absorbing and isolating. It is not about feeling sad. I can still crack a joke and to be honest I think my default face is smiling anyway.
On this Mental Health Awareness Week I encourage anyone that reads this to be kind to those around you. The smiley people, the grumpy people, the sad looking ones. With 1 in 4 of us experiencing some type of mental poor health in our lifetimes, it is quite possible that under the surface they are struggling.
And to all my fellow sustainability professionals out there who spend their time fighting for change; take care of yourselves.
To reduce the scope of this issue, we quite simply need to reduce the amount of plastic that we consume. There’s so much that gets tossed away needlessly, such as with bottled water-roughly 176 billion bottles every year will need disposing of despite it being a resource available (in the developed world at least) from literally any tap. A lot of work needs to be done to restore the world’s oceans and seas, and taking control of the plastic problem is a key element of most plans to do so.
If the usage of plastic is unavoidable however, it’s vital that the adequate facilities are in place to allow for the recycling of the material and that the public is made aware of what forms of plastic can be recycled and what can’t. All too often, recyclable material is instead sent to landfill due to contamination, as well-meaning people have made a mistake and put non-recyclable items in with them. Going forward though the ideal scenario would be for biodegradable plastics to become standard usage in all walks of life, as part of a transition towards 100% recyclable plastics in all forms. Water is quite literally the planet’s lifeblood, and ensuring its security should be one of our highest priorities going forward.
Something that often flies under the radar when discussing environmental practices is the significance of local produce. Typically part of the debate around organic farming and ‘food miles’, by buying local goods, small-scale businesses can profit- businesses that often rely on traditional methods of production which are less environmentally damaging.
The close proximity between producer and buyer also cuts down on transport emissions, which as we discussed earlier is a major cause of air pollution. Getting even a small amount of long-haul lorries off of the roads can only be a good thing, but these local producers rely on the loyalty of their market to survive. Against larger competition who can offer a wider variety of services, it is once more up to us the customer if we are willing to perhaps pay a bit more and look a bit further for the most eco-beneficial bits for sale.
Furthermore from a global perspective, supporting local sources of production is vital for the development of economies in less well-off parts of the world. Aid from wealthier countries whilst well intentioned, often cripples economies as producers of any goods cannot compete with literally free handouts. Developing the global economy at a town and village level is vital to help the planet as it is only when this foundation is laid that sustainable development practices can be introduced. Actively choosing fair trade products wherever possible will do wonders in this respect, providing critical support for those in need and ready to work to create their own solutions.
Apply Pressure on Environmental Offenders
If more diplomatic efforts fail to yield results, unfortunately the best course of action is for concerned environmentalists may very well be to organise campaigns highlighting various companies disregard for nature, so as to turn public opinion against those who refuse to listen to reason.
Such activism may seem exhausting and often fruitless when faced with an opponent with such extensive resources, but many peaceful movements have done a fine job at persuading big business to rethink their approach to sustainability. John Lewis is a prime case where this worked in 2010, when animal activists led a protest against the chain’s usage of wool obtained via ‘mulesing’, a particularly nasty way of obtaining wool from lambs. Their supplier in Australia even agreed to invest $23 million in finding an alternate solution, all thanks to the efforts of a comparatively small group of concerned individuals.
Ultimately, the most powerful weapon that individuals can bring about change to create a more environmentally minded international industrial outlook is to use our money to affect change. Business of all shapes and sizes are inherently profit-driven, and will react to consumer demand if enough of us let them know that we want sustainable practices and sources of goods, even if it costs us a bit extra. Change will come about given time and persistence, and eventually buyers, sellers and all the planet will benefit, thanks to a more thoughtful approach to global production.
There is another aspect to this which on this day, March 8th, International Women’s Day makes me think harder about how important access to water is. Figures collated from Water.org from a number of sources including the UN and the World Health organisation show that:
Women and children spend 125 million hours each day collecting water
Women and girls living without a toilet spend 266 million hours each day finding a place to go
Women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection
Women and girls often spend up to 6 hours each day collecting water
Reductions in time spent collecting water have been found to increase school attendance
Globally, 1/3 of all schools lack access to safe water and sanitation
Involving women can make water projects 6 to 7 times more effective
I don’t know about you but not being able to access a toilet that is clean, private and safe, especially when on my period sounds frightening and would strip an individual of their dignity. The taboos around menstruation still exist and even in the UK many women will know the dance of hiding sanitary products up their sleeves so they can walk through the office to the loo. Now couple this taboo with schools that do not have anywhere for the disposal of sanitary products, and toilets that only designed for men (urinals). By keeping girls from going to the loo they are not going to remain in school especially as they reach their teenage years, and with the pressure to walk further and further to collect clean drinking water as climate change reduces access to water many girls will miss huge chunks of education.
This is why I have picked Global Goal 6 as my goal to champion.
So, now we know the problem, what can we do?
Raise awareness – tell people about this issue
Support the Global Goals
Support charities that are working on the ground with women where the problem is felt the worst e.g. water.org, Water Aid etc
Find out what is happening here in the UK – Homeless women rarely have access to clean toilets and sanitary products during menstruation –
Don’t take the access we have to clean water and sanitation for granted!
Seasonality is basically eating food when it is in season. It is as simple as that.
Eating with the seasons often ties in with local food as your local food providers will be changing what fresh produce they sell dependent on the time of year and what they can grow.
Eat The Seasons provides a great breakdown of the benefits of eating with the seasons:
“WHY EAT THE SEASONS?
There are a number of good reasons to eat more local, seasonal food:
to reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow and transport the food we eat
to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way
to support the local economy
to reconnect with nature’s cycles and the passing of time
but, most importantly, because seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious”
At the time of publishing we are deep into Purple Sprouting Broccoli season so make sure you pick some up and taste the difference!
Higher Welfare
Often higher welfare for farm animals is considered an ethical issue rather than an environmental, however Compassion in World Farming has done a fantastic breakdown of the environmental consequences of factory farming that, wherever you stand on the ethics of meat and dairy production, is a compelling read for those that are concerned for the environment.
Factory farming has been linked to:
Intensified CO2 production leading to climate change
High levels of biodiversity loss
An increase in disease breakouts
An increase in food insecurity.
Conscious meat consumption
Leading on from higher welfare is conscious meat consumption. For some this means going vegan or vegetarian, eliminating meat and dairy from their diets to reduce their personal carbon footprints, take away money from the meat and dairy production industry and/or for health reasons. The associated carbon and water footprint of the meat industry has been covered in many articles.
Foodtank – Meat’s large water footprint
The Daily Mail – Help save the planet – Ditch lamb for rabbit!
For those that do not want to remove all meat and dairy from their diet there is a way to consciously think about the amount and type of meat you eat, and there are many well known campaigns that support this idea. Click the pictures below for more information.
Less waste
From growing to transportation, packaging to our plates there are a lot of opportunities to reduce the amount of waste produced in our food system.
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall from River Cottage Fame has been highlighting the issue of wasted food recently bringing this huge issue to the forefront, from campaigning supermarkets to stock ‘Ugly Veg‘ to helping people make the most of their left overs.
Eat Ugly by Harriet Stansall
According to Love Food Hate Waste, throwing good food away costs the average person in the UK around £200 a year, which is not great for your wallet. This total is nothing compared to the amount of food thrown away during productions and from the supermarkets. Organisations like FareShare are working hard to address this issue. “Last year [FareShare} redistributed more food than ever before, enough for frontline charities to provide 18.3 million meals for vulnerable people. Yet hundreds of thousands of tonnes of perfectly edible food still gets thrown away, or used to generate energy or animal feed, every year – enough to provide at least 650 million meals for people in need.”
Knowing where your food comes from has become much easier in recent years with fresh produce in particular being labelled with its origin. This allows the consumer to look out for things such as food miles as mentioned earlier. One area where traceability is crucial to a sustainable diet is fish.
The easiest way to ensure the fish you buy is from sustainable fish stocks and can be traced is to look out for the Marine Stewardship Council’s Blue eco label:
“The blue MSC label is only applied to sustainable fish and seafood products that can be traced back to MSC certified fisheries. Supply chain businesses must identify and separate MSC certified product in order be certified to our Chain of Custody Standard for traceability. Every business, along every step of the supply chain, is audited by an independent certification body. The MSC regularly monitors the supply chain and auditors’ application of the Standard to make sure requirements are being followed correctly.
We also conduct a series of monitoring activities to ensure the robustness of the system. One of the ways in which we ensure our traceability system is working is through independent DNA tests. Tests have been carried out on hundreds of random samples from MSC certified products and have shown that mislabelling is extremely rare. In the last 6 years, less than 1% of samples have been found to be incorrectly labelled on average.” Marine Stewardship Council
The Sustainable Development Goals for a more sustainable world feature sustainable food. These Goals ask us what we can do as individuals, communities and countries to ensure that we meet these goals 2030. For more information on the goals please visit our blog calling you to action!
Sustainable Food is a crucial part of the goals so after this breakdown how sustainable do you think your plate of food is? Can you change the world for the better three times a day? |
Wine, Seriously
It's more than just tasting notes.
Guía de pronunciación de los términos del vino y de la vid
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2013 Assessment of Long Island Winery Websites
As of July 2016, despite a much-needed reassessment, as so many of the sites have been significantly updated and improved, I have had no time to do a full re-evaluation. My book, The Wines of Long Island, 3rd edition, has just been turned in to my publisher, SUNY Press. After a period of decompression, I shall revisit all the Websites and update this post.
In an article published in Wines & Vines, “What Visitors Want from Wine Sites” (June 2011), Kent Benson explained what information he thought serious visitors to wine sites (specifically winery and vineyard ones) should provide. I thought that his ideas were worth serious consideration and decided to try and apply those criteria to the websites of the region that I am most familiar with: Long Island. Benson’s original article is accessible at Wines & Vines 6/11.
In order to assess the quality of the Long Island winery/vineyard websites, I have chosen to evaluate them on the basis of both the historical and technical information that they provide. Below is my adaptation (mostly a reorganization) of Kent Bensons’ wish list for wine websites:
Identify type of operation up front: Winery &/or Vineyard &/or Tasting Room
History: frank and honest, including founder, subsequent owners and corporate owners: (don’t pretend you’re a “family” winery when you’re not)
Winemaker, vineyard manager, and owner: names, pictures and bios
Technical information (viniculture)
Vineyard information: acreage, vine density, vinicultural practices, yields, maps
Wine grape source locations, soil types, vine ages
List of all grape varieties in the vineyard with acreage
Vintage report
Technical information (vinification)
Forthright, step-by-step, detailed description of the winemaking process: (tell all); e.g., details of aging regimen: proportion aged in wood, proportions of French & American oak, proportions of new, one-year, two-year, etc., oak alternatives employed
b. Technical data: degrees Brix at harvest, actual ABV, TA, pH, RS, dry extract, disgorgement date: (for sparkling wine) [this set data is for wine geeks; most others may not care]
Estimated drinkability range from vintage date
Purchase information (Online/Wine Club)
Available current releases and at least two previous vintages
Pairing and serving temperature suggestions
Bottle and label shots: (keep them current, show front & back labels)
Pictures of estate or controlled vineyards and of winery
In addition, I would like to see Winery websites that are easy to navigate and do not require that a visitor need dig for information or other data. All features should be easily accessible, which means that navigation options should not be embedded more than a level or two down from the main menu or home page.Blogs are very nice to have and can be extremely informative: Bedell Cellars, Channing Daughters, and Shinn Estate have particularly useful ones. However, they are not scored for this assessment, as most sites have no blogs.
Events and event calendars are an essential part of nearly any retail winery, but these are not scored individually in the assessments that follow, as they are mostly about entertainment and social matters, and information on winegrowing and winemaking is our real concern.
Consequently, I have also added a new criterion, for ‘general’ features. These are scored by the number of features listed above that appear on the Website, thus 10 ‘yes’ answers (features present) is complete. If a feature is not applicable (n/a) the score is not reduced. Furthermore, if a newsletter is available, I score the newsletter for quality of its information—if no newsletter is offered, it is not scored.
3 = adequate/basic relevant information, but lacking depth
4 = very good/most relevant information
5 = excellent/all relevant information
n/a = not applicable (e.g., no viniculture information because no vineyard)
The highest score possible for a website is 5.0 points out of 5. Nominally, the lowest score should be 1.0 point out of 5, but there is one site that has a blog about money and dogs and nothing about wine—an aberration, to be sure, but listed nevertheless for the sake of completeness.
NOTE: In May 2012 there were fifty-five Websites that were evaluated. As of July 2016 there are over seventy sites to be assessed.
Anthony Nappa Wines / Winemakers Studio: (3.9 out of 5)
Vineyard: No; no grape source info either
Winery: No (uses Raphael facilities)
Winemaker: Anthony Nappa
Tasting Room: The Winemaker Studio, Peconic (see Web assessment below)
Website design: (4/5) Slick, sophisticated, but home page is rather busy in consequence
Additional features: Artists’ labels a focus
Brooklyn Winery (4.2 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes; Conor McCormack
About / Biographies: (5/5) Interesting and amusing
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (5/5) Complete and clearly presented
Purchase online: (n/a) Online sales are apparently pending; for now, purchase at retail or at the winery
News/reviews link: Presently there are no complete reviews; PDFs are awkward to use
Wine Blog: Yes
Events / calendar: Yes; but no links to some events that could use them
Website design: (4/5) Slick, sophisticated
Comment: Site may still be a work in progress, given that though it shows a shopping cart and checkout, in fact online purchases cannot be made.
Castello di Borghese: (2.2 2.6 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Erik Bilka
History / background: (3/5) Adequate, but one has to read the press releases to learn that this was originally Hargrave Vineyard, the first on LI, which the Borgheses purchased in 1999.
About / Biographies: (3/5) ) Adequate, with emphasis on aristocratic Italian heritage, but if one digs deeply there is a press article that provides some
Vineyard / viniculture information: (1/5) Inadequate, with nothing about viniculture
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (2/5) Adequate, praiseful adjectives
Purchase online: (3/5) Good, but too much navigation is required
Contact: by phone, snail mail, and email via [email protected]
Directions: Yes, text.
News/reviews link: Yes
Newsletter / Mailing List: (1/5) Yes; the newsletter, issued regularly, is largely confined to events at the winery and various links; there is no news about winemaking or viniculture
Tours: Yes, including a vineyard tour
Photo gallery: Yes
Website design /usability: (3/5) busy-looking, keeps viewer jumping around, awkward navigation in places
Additional features: Olive oil for sale; local beer on offer; Tour: ‘Winemaker’s Walk’ by appointment
Castello di Borghese
Comment: Web focus is on winery’s prestige and social events as well as its wine; no staff bios, not even of the owners, unless you find the press releases—so the info is available, albeit in a desultory way.
Channing Daughters: (4.8 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Christopher Tracy
History / background: (5/5) Excellent, especially with regard to its philosophy
About / Biographies: (5/5) Excellent, with full biographies
Vineyard / viniculture information: (4/5) Excellent, lacking only parcel maps, sustainable practices (member LISW)
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (5/5) Excellent: detailed and complete
Technical wine data: Embedded in the description/notes
Purchase online: (5/5) Excellent, wines are full described
Wine Blog: Yes, articles posted on East End by Christopher Tracy (not updated since 9/2011).
Events / calendar: Yes, but no entertainment or weddings, but rather for tasting classes.
Tours: No
Website design /usability: (5/5) Excellent, elegant, easy to use (by Cro2)
Additional features: Art gallery featuring Walter Channing’s wood sculpture
Up-to-date: Yes, ‘Where to buy’ option shows the wines are offered in many states and are available in some of the best restaurants in the country, including Daniel in NYC, The French Laundry in Napa, as well as eateries in Montreal and Quebec City.
Tours: Yes, according to LI Wine Country, but it doesn’t appear to be the case according to the winery Website
Photo gallery: No, but a slide show of ten images includes one of goldfish (?). A picture of a duck would make more sense for Duckwalk, one would think.
Website design /usability: (4/5) Very easy to use; home page is dominated by pictures of its scheduled entertainers
Additional features: About Duck Walk’s supported causes; there used to be an option to choose any of four languages other than English: French German, Italian, and Spanish, but that appears to have been removed since the site was reviewed last year (2012)
Duck Walk
Comment: What? No directions on how to get there? No newsletter? A rather basic site, it could also use more information about viniculture, especially given the claim to sustainable practices, and more about the wines, as well.
Grapes of Roth by Wölffer Estate: (4.4 out of 5)
Vineyard: No; grape sources are identified—incidentally—in a review
Winery: No, uses Wölffer’s facilities, as he’s its winemaker
Winemaker: Yes, Roman Roth
Tasting Room: Wölffer Estate and The Winemaker Studio, Peconic
About / Biographies: (5/5) Excellent: full biography, in chapters
Vineyard / viniculture information: (3/5) Good, about outsourced vineyard
Technical wine data: Yes, very detailed and complete
Contact: in small print at bottom of Home page: e-mail, snail mail, and phone
Directions: n/a
News/reviews link: Yes, but it isn’t up-to-date.
Events / calendar: External events are listed and are up-to-date, but no calendar
Photo gallery: Yes, in connection with Roth’s bio in chapters
Website design /usability: (5/5) Elegant and straightforward design (in a glass), very easy to navigate (by ZGDG)
Additional features: No, but you may need to get used to the puns.
Up-to-date: Events, yes, but the reviews page has nothing later than 2010
The Grapes of Roth
Comment: Elegant design, if a tad idiosyncratic, very complete info about wines and Roth.
NOTE: Now that Roth has been named a partner in Wölffer Estate, where he has been winemaker for over 20 years, Grapes of Roth will be part of the Wölffer brand.
Harbes Farm & Vineyard: (3.2 out of 5)
Winemaker: Edward Harbes IV
History / Background: (2/5) Adequate, focused on family & farm
About / Biographies: (2/5) Adequate, but no biographies
Vineyard / viniculture information: (3/5) Good, though brief; sustainable practices (member LISW)
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (3/5) brief, offers food pairing suggestions
Purchase online: (3/5) Easy to use, wine descriptions brief but to the point
Directions: text and map
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, but it appears not to be functional as of 5/16/12
Tours: Yes
Website design / usability: (4/5) Newly redesigned, attractive, easy to navigate
Additional features: Other farms, Farm Market, Family fun, Maze adventures, Groups & Parties, Weddings
Harbes Farm & Vineyard
Comment: A wine website with a split personality: fun & games for kids; wine for adults, even a farm market; there are three different farms, only the one in Mattituck has a vineyard
Harmony Vineyards (1.8 2.2 out of 5)
Winemaker: No; uses Eric Fry of Lenz
Tasting Room: No
History / background: (1/5)
About / Biographies: (1/5)
Vineyard / Viniculture information: ( 2/5) little is said in text, but some pictures are worth a few more words
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (2/5) actually, all wines are commented on by quoting reviews, but there are further notes when one goes to purchase online.
Purchase online: (3/5) easy to use, adequate wine notes
Directions: address and map
Website design: (3/5) Attractive and straightforward
Additional features: Art gallery (text, no images!), We Support (list of causes & charities); video of house moved to new site, accompanied by music; promotions
Up-to-date: wines of the 2010 vintage are on offer
Harmony Vineyards
Comment: Very limited options, focus is on worthy causes and charities
Winery: PWG
Comment: An attractive, useful, and interesting site lacking some basic information, including bios
Lieb Cellars / Bridge Lane Wines: (4.0 out of 5)
Winery: No, uses PWG
Winemaker: Yes, Russell Hearn is an owner and a winemaker/owner at Premium Wine Group
Tasting Room: Yes, at PWG
History / Background (4/5) Good, found under the rubric Our Vineyard.
About / Biographies: (3/5) Good, limited bio about owners
Vineyard / viniculture information: (3/5) Good, but incidental to the overall story; no maps; sustainable practices (member LISW)
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (4/5) Very good; inconsistent from wine to wine
Technical wine data: Though indicated as available, trying to open the wine spec sheets and tasting note PDFs produces a “Error 404 Page not found.”
Directions: Yes, from different directions and a map to boot
Additional features: Featured restaurants that offer Lieb Cellars wine, particularly a link to Craft Restaurant, given that Lieb makes a sparkling wine for Craft’s private label as well as a link for Lieb’s Summer Rosé for Park Ave. Restaurant’s private label. (Both restaurants are in NYC.)
Lieb Cellars
Comment: An attractive and largely well-designed site that is mostly easy to get around; though there are two separate labels—Lieb Cellars and Bridge Lane, the distinction between them is not made clear. The inability for users of opening the wine tasting notes and spec sheets is frustrating; apart from the error message, clicking on the Continue button simply takes one back to the wines page—in other words, a circular routing.
Macari Vineyards: (4.0 4.4 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Kelly Urbanik, also Helmut Gangl, consultant
History / background: (4/5) Sufficient history & background
About / Biographies: (5/5) Excellent, especially on the backgrounds of the winemakers
Vineyard / viniculture information 4/5: Useful information about vinicultural practices; no parcel maps
Winemaker’s notes / wine description 4/5: Professionally-written descriptions, no notes
Purchase online: (4/5) Easy to use
Directions: Addresses with maps
News/reviews link: Yes, including many recent reviews for 2013
Tours: Virtual (online), tells much of the story of the winery and vineyards
Website design: (5/5) Very attractive and easy to navigate
Additional features: Weddings, Private parties
Up-to-date: Yes, includes 2012 wines on offer and up-to-date reviews
Macari Wines
Comment: The virtual tour that I so highly recommended in 2012 is, alas, no more.
Martha Clara Vineyards (3.5 3.9 out of 5)
Winery: No, uses Premium Wine Group
Winemaker: Yes, Juan Micieli-Martinez uses PWG
History / background: (3/5) Brief, focuses on family
About / Biographies: (5/5) Full bios of owners & winemaker/manager
Vineyard / viniculture information: (1/5) Virtually no information, but uses sustainable practices (member LISW)
Winemaker’s notes / wine description (5/5) Full, rich descriptions; click on bottle illustration for more information, including . . .
Technical wine data: Yes, also via downloadable PDF.
Purchase online: (5/5) Store is a catchall for wine, gifts, and events; minimal descriptions of wines with food-pairing notes; full wine information is found under ‘Wines’
Contact: phone & e-mail. Also Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and BlogSpot.
Directions: Yes, text and Google map.
Wine Blog: No, it has been eliminated.
Events / calendar: Yes; encourages large parties, weddings, meetings, etc. Calendar shows upcoming events through Sept. 2013, including concerts, dinners, other. Does not mention special viniculture class led by vineyard manager, Jim Thompson, held once a year.
Photo gallery: Ample, nicely presented; videos offered, but apparently disabled as of 4/9/2012
Website design: (4/5) Front page busy & unattractive, the rest of the pages use a minimalist design & are easy on the eyes; navigation is mostly straightforward; home page uses functional Table of Contents (with fake page numbers—a tad confusing)
Additional features: Strong emphasis on community involvement & charity support; also offers horse & carriage rides. Videos offered, but no longer accessible. Small zoo for children.Up-to-date: Yes
Additional features: Weddings; Newsletter (2005-2010)
The Old Field
Comment: An attractively-designed site that could use more information about the vineyard and the winemaking; fuller biographies would be welcome too.
Onabay Vineyards (3.5 out of 5)
Winemaker: No; consulting winemaker John Leo at PWG
About / Biographies: (2/5) Some information, no biographies
Vineyard / viniculture information: (3/5) no vinicultural info; aerial photo
Winemaker’s notes / wine description (5/5) Very useful and complete
Technical wine data: Yes, can be downloaded
Purchase online: n/a; the wines are available from restaurants and retailers, for which there is a list
Wine Club / Subscription: No
Contact: Phone, e-mail via Gmail, snail mail
Directions: No, without a street address either
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes to both, though I’ve not received a newsletter since I signed up months ago
Website design: (5/5) Elegant, easy to use, conveys the seriousness of the owners
Up-to-date: Yes, but a reverence to Steve Mudd as vineyard manager is no long valid; since 2012 it has been Bill Ackerman
Onabay Vineyards
Comment: Beautiful website, needs to provide more information
One Woman’s Wines: (2.0 2.1 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Claudia Purita
History / background: (2/5) Some personal background.
About / Biographies: (2/5) Some personal background
Vineyard / viniculture information: (1/5) passing mention
Winemaker’s notes / wine description (3/5) Adequate description, no notes
Purchase online: (4/5) Yes, but one must first create an online account.
Directions: Text
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, the newsletter is limited to visitor’s information and upcoming events
News/reviews link: Yes, but no dates are shown with the links; however, the most recent review was published in 2011
Events / calendar: Yes, but limited info
Website design: (4/5) Attractive and straightforward; navigation is easy.
Up-to-date: probably, but not entirely clear if it is.
One Woman’s Wines
Comment: Basic website, but then, Claudia is a one-woman operation (plus her daughter who works in the office).
Osprey’s Dominion: (1.8/5)
History / background: (0/5) Completely ignored.
About / Biographies: (0/5) Completely ignored
Vineyard / viniculture information: (0/5) none
Winemaker’s notes / wine description 2/5 Sometimes uses quotations from critics, but no notes
Purchase online: (5/5) Excellent, the site’s major focus, to the detriment of other options
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, but I’ve received nothing since signing up a year ago
News/reviews link: Yes, as part of the blog, Fishhawk News
Wine Blog: Yes, but little about viniculture or winemaking, not updated since April 2012
Events / calendar: Yes, focused on entertainment at the winery
Website design: (3/5) Good, functional but not attractive; navigation is OK. (by Cro2)
Additional features: List of wine competition awards
Up-to-date: Up to 2012.
Ospreys Dominion
Comment: It’s apparent that this website was designed for other than informational purposes.
Palmer Vineyards: (3.0 1.0 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Miguel Martín
History / background: (0/5) No longer, though it used to tell about the founder, Bob Palmer
About / Biographies: (0/5) No staff bios, but pictures of the staff
Vineyard / viniculture information: (0/5) Nothing
Winemaker’s notes / wine description 5/5 Excellent; some notes very complete
Technical wine data: For some wines
Purchase online: (4/5) With the new makeover it is not presently functional (but it had been very good, easy to use, brief descriptions of wines). Let’s hope that it will be as good as the former version (212)
Directions: Yes, via MapQuest
Photo gallery: Yes; also a video promo
Up-to-date: Apparently, given that it’s a new design, but there is no datable information, though this should be corrected once the online-purchase feature is enabled.
Comment: A brand-new look and feel, with the home page emphasizing “Live Music Every Weekend”; the site that feels incomplete and lacks the most basic information on the winery, vineyard, or staff. A shame, but the site will be regularly revisited to see what it will become once completed.
Paumanok Vineyards: (4.6 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Kareem Massoud
About / Biographies: (4/5) Very Good, no complete bios
Winemaker’s notes / wine description 5/5 Excellent; complete notes
Technical wine data: Yes, but only for their top red wines
Purchase online: (5/5) Excellent, full wine notes and reviews are quoted
Directions: Yes, with GPS coordinates & MapQuest
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, issued regularly to announce wine dinners, reviews of their wines, and the occasional entertainment event
Wine Blog: Yes, many interesting posts and links to articles, and it’s up to date.
Website design: (5/5) An attractive and well-organized site, easy to use (by Cro2)
Additional features: Quotes Walt Whitman on Paumanok’s name; lists all the restaurants and wine stores at which their wines can be found, as well as a full selection of lodgings in the East End, plus a helpful list of related wine Web sites
Paumanok
Comment: An excellent site that needs just a little improvement in the History & About sections, including staff bios
Pellegrini Vineyards (4.2 4.3 out of 5)
Tasting Room: Yes, Zander Hargrave
About / Biographies: (3/5) Lacks biographical information
Vineyard / viniculture information: (5/5) Full description of the vineyards; no parcel maps; useful notes on viniculture
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (5/5) Adequate on the Tasting Notes option, but much more complete if one goes to the Trade Support option (2001 through 2008)
Technical wine data: Yes, but one has to use the Trade Support option to get to them.
Purchase online: (4/5) No wine descriptions accompany purchase options, so one has to go the Tasting Notes option to read them
News/reviews link: Yes, excerpts only
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, but since signing up 13 months ago, I’ve not received a single newsletter
Website design: (5/5) Very attractive, straightforward to use, though one has to dig through some options; Tasting Notes aren’t also viewable in Purchase section; full wine notes are accessible through Trade Support option
General feature set:6 of 10 (3/5)
Additional features: In Trade Support there are images of both the front and back labels of the wines.
Up-to-date: Yes, for events and tasting notes (up to the 2011 vintage); Trade Support info only goes up to the 2008 vintage, as was the case when the Web site was reviewed in May 2012. There is no mention of the fact that Russell Hearn, the winemaker, recently left the winery.
Pellegrini Vineyards
Comment: An attractive and interesting site to use, but lack of biographies and unusual options can frustrate
Pindar Vineyards (3.2 out of 5)
Winery: Yes, Edward Lovaas
History / background: (4/5) No history about the site pre-Pindar
About / Biographies: (5/5) Includes biographies of all staff, including the dog
Vineyard information: (1/5) Very little other than the background history
Viniculture: (3/5) Info included in the Green section, including sustainable practices; general, not just about the vineyard
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (3/5) No notes, just description
Purchase online: (4/5) Many choices besides wine; no additional wine descriptions
News/reviews link: Yes, but media all dates to 2005-2007; no updates since.
Website design: (3/5) Attractive, but retrieving info can be complicated by unusual options, can require some digging around
General feature set:5 of 10 (2.5/5)
Additional features: Green, Making Wine with Wind, Pindar Giving
Up-to-date: Yes, but not news/reviews; Mother’s Day notice still up on 5/18/12
Pindar.net
Comment: Excellent background and history, but could use more information about viniculture and winemaking philosophies.
Pugliese Vineyards (1.7 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Peter Pugliese
History / background: (1/5) Almost no information
About / Biographies: (1/5) Almost no information
Vineyard information: (1/5) Virtually no information
Viniculture: (0/5) No information
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (2/5) Brief descriptions, food-pairing suggestions
Purchase online: (4/5) Straightforward, suggests food pairings
News/reviews link: Awards list only
Website design: (4/5) Easy to use but limited features
Additional features: Painted glassware
Pugliese Vineyards
Comment: The site is strictly devoted to selling the wine; otherwise there is little or no info.
Queens County Farm Museum Vineyard (1.8 out of 5)
Winery: No, PWG makes their wines
Winemaker: No, Russell Hearn @ PWG
History / background: (3) A long history, briefly dispatched; no mention of vineyard
About / Biographies: (3) No bios
Vineyard / Viniculture information: (0) Nothing at all.
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (0) Nada.
Directions: Yes, text only
Events / calendar: Yes, up-to-date and covers 2013-14
Website design: (3) Easy navigation but run-of-the-mill.
Additional features: map of farm PDF, but vineyard is not apparent from the layout.
Queens County Vineyard
Comment: Vines and wines are an afterthought on the website of this museum-farm operation.
Raphael Wine (4.1 out of 5 points)
Winemaker: Yes, Anthony Nappa
About / Biographies: (3/5) No bios
Vineyard / viniculture information: (3/5) Minimal on vineyard, no maps; viniculture is mentioned under several options
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (5/5) Complete with vintage information for each wine, though the comments are a bit self-promoting
Purchase online: (5/5) Easy to use, full information on each wine by clicking its label
Website design: (5/5) Elegant, easy to use and navigate
Additional features: None noted
Raphael Wine
Comment: A nice, clean design featuring an elevation drawing of the façade of the Raphael winery, it is notable in part for what it doesn’t have as well as what it does: No quotations or links from the news media or reviewers. It also lacks any biographical information on staff, and tells a visitor little about the vineyard. One the other hand, it offers excellent wine notes.
Red Fern Cellars (1.8 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Aaron Munk
History / background: (0/5) No
About / Biographies: (0/5) No
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (4/5) No notes, ample descriptions
Purchase online: (n/a) e-mail or phone orders only
Contact: only by snail mail or e-mail; no phone listed
Directions: No; visits must be arranged in advance
News/reviews link: ; link to WineLoversPage.com; Jewish Week (2008, though it reviews 2005 wines)
Website design: (3/5) Adequate and straightforward, but few options
Additional features: LI Wine links; option for custom labeling
Up-to-date: No; it doesn’t appear to have been updated since 2008; latest wines listed are 2005; it hasn’t changed since last year’s assessment (2012)
Red Fern Cellars
Comment: Functional, but with minimal information; is it even up-to-date?
Red Hook Winery (1.4 out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Abe Schoener, Robert Foley
Tasting Room:Yes
History / background: (1/5) Bare minimum to be useful
About / Biographies: (0/5) Minimal info, no bios
Vineyard / Viniculture information: (n/a) buy grapes from many sources
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (0/5) No notes, descriptions
Purchase online: (3/5) OK, but no information on the wines
Contact: by phone, snail mail or e-mail
Directions: Address only
Comment: Functional, but with minimal information
Roanoke Vineyard (4.4 out of 5) [updated 11-16-13]
Winemaker: Roman Roth at Wölffer Estate
Tasting Room: Yes, both at the vineyard and on Love Lane in Mattituck
Vineyard / Viniculture information: (3/5) Little vineyard info or maps; though an adequate, brief note on viniculture (strange, given that the Owner, Rich Pisacano is a “vineyardist” and his father, Gabby, is the vineyard manager.)
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (4/5) Brief, sometimes more complete, often less, and just a tad tongue-in-cheek in the self-promoting phrases; e.g., a ‘wild fermentation’ Chardonnay “Quite simply . . . leaps out of your glass!”’
Technical wine data: Yes, but some more, some less
Directions: Yes, uses Google Maps
News/reviews link: Yes, via the option, ‘Judgment of Riverhead’
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, they are mostly about wines and tastings, often in cahoots with restaurants, some with themes, such as “how to be a Wine Snob”; issued weekly
Wine Blog: Of sorts (‘Judgment of Riverhead’ again) but informative, amusing, and well worth reading.
Events / calendar: Yes, and it’s all about wine, like the Smackdown tastings
Photo gallery: Not as such, but many pages are well-illustrated
Website design: (4/5) The opening page looks crowded but as a whole the site is easy to use and very functional. Some features require a bit of clicking around.
Additional features: Wine library, Winemakers’ Smackdowns
Roanoke Vineyards
Comment: A website that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but provides a good deal of serious information in a sometimes light-hearted way. It is, in its way, rather endearing. However, it’s a vineyard, so why is there not more information about the vineyard proper?
Sannino-Bella Vita Vineyard (2.5 3.4 out of 5 points)
Winemaker: Anthony Sannino; also with his vine-to-wine students
Tasting Room: Yes, at Ackerly Pond’s barn
History / background: (3/5) Adequate
About / Biographies: (5/5) Full bios
Vineyard / Viniculture information: (2/5) Little information, as a member of the LISW, it practices sustainable viniculture, but a nice video of the vineyard with pleasant musical accompaniment
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (3/5) Descriptions with food-pairing suggestions
Purchase online: (3/5) Yes, with brief wine descriptions
Wine Club: Yes, through vine-to-wine program
News/reviews link: Yes, this is where one can find more information about the wines.
Newsletter / Mailing List: Yes, but I’ve received none since I signed up a year ago
Wine Blog: Option is not functional
Events / calendar: Yes, including music, tours, and classes
Photo gallery: Yes, several that are thematically based
Website design: (3/5) Not unattractive but busy yet functional, though to find the video one needs to select the B&B option
Additional features: Bed-and-Breakfast (reservations can be made online); Vine-to-Wine experience; virtual tour of the vineyard and slide presentation of the Tuscan Suite guest house.
Sannino Vineyard/Bella-Vita-Vineyard
Comment: website with focus on the Vine-to-Wine program; several interesting options but little about the vineyard; considerably improved over the version assessed last year.
Scarola Vineyards (3.6 3.9 points out of 5)
Winemaker: No; uses Roman Roth at Wölffer Estate
Tasting Room: No, planned but not yet open to public
About / Biographies: (5/5) Complete, with brief bio sketches of all the staff
Vineyard / Viniculture information: (1/5)
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (5/5) Full notes and description at Trade option
Technical wine data: Yes, via For the Trade option
Purchase online: (4/5) Limited wine descriptions, with no direct link to the Trade option; order by phone, e-mail, or online
Directions: No, only the street address
Website design: (4/5) Attractive enough, but there are some navigational challenges
Additional features: link to Cedar House on Sound B&B, owned by Scarola family
Scarola Vineyards
Comment: Strongly family-oriented and emphatically Italian. Given that the Scarolas have a vineyard and no winery, it is frustrating to find that the site scrimps on vinicultural information yet has plenty to say about its wines (made Roman Roth).
Sherwood House Vineyards (3.6 points out of 5)
Up-to-date: Yes, for the wines, but the last news entry dates to 2012
T’Jara Vineyards
Comment: A serious but engaging website. The focus is on the history and the wine. Premises are not open to the public.
Purchase online: (3/5)
Directions: Phone, e-mail, snail mail
Events / calendar: Yes, all music
Website design: (2/5) Some navigation choices are in very small text at the bottom of the page; not intuitive or easy to figure out
Additional features: Row of Vines Dedication, Weddings and Private parties
Up-to-date:
Comment: There are links for reviews if one does a search for it. (It had been a minimalist approach to providing access—the focus was strongly centered on purchases and events. Little information, even about the wine.) NOTE: online reviews tend to trash the place as a party venue out of control; other reviews extoll it as a party venue
Waters Crest (2.0 points out of 5)
Winemaker: Yes, Jim Waters
History / background: (2/5) No history, a little background in About section
About / Biographies: (3/5) Good overview, but no bios per se
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (4/5) Good description but no notes
Purchase online: (1/5) Apparently not, but perhaps through wine club; not clear; one has to fill out a PDF application and send it in
Directions: Only the street address
News/reviews link: Yes, but very limited
Newsletter / Mailing List: follow on Facebook
Website design: (4/5) Attractive, mostly straightforward to use.
Additional features: Link to LI Wine Country Places to eat & stay.
Up-to-date: Yes, clearly indicated on each page.
Waters Crest Winery
Comment: In some ways its functions can be frustrating, but this is the only website in this survey that gives a page’s most recent update
Winemakers Studio
Comment: see Anthony Nappa Wines, for they share a Website.
Wölffer Estate (4.7 4.9 out of 5)
About / Biographies: (5/5) Good biographies of all the staff
Vineyard / Viniculture information: (5/5) Mostly general observations, with focus on terroir; for viniculture info one needs to dig into the News feature, but as of 2013 there is now a link to the LISW Web site, which details the sustainable practices followed by Wölffer.
Winemaker’s notes / wine description: (5/5) Very complete and full
Technical wine data: Yes, very complete, one could not ask for more
Purchase online: (5/5) Full notes and descriptions immediately accessible to buyer, but not all wines are provided with notes &/or descriptions—an odd inconsistency; they also offer verjus and vinegar
Directions: Yes, text with a painted map (not Google or MapQuest)
News/reviews link: Yes, though a 2013 review by Howard G. Goldberg has no link.
Tours: None appear to be offered
Photo gallery: Yes, on Flcker
Website design: (5/5) Newly updated, clean and attractive, mostly straightforward navigation, but why should one have to dig for the vinicultural information?
Additional features: Weddings & Private events, Wölffer Estate Stables
Interview with Russell Hearn about PWG (& Suhru Wines, T’Jara Vineyards)
For further background on Premium Wine Group (PWG), please read my earlier post, Oenology in Long Island: Premium Wine Group—John Leo.
NOTE: While Premium Wine Group makes wine for its many outside clients, there are also the wines of three of the employees that work there: John Leo, production winemaker, Russell Hearn, Managing Partner/Director of Winemaking, and Eric Bilka, production winemaker. While this article is, foremost, about Premium, it also includes sections devoted to the wines of these producers. (The winegrowing at Lieb Cellars (owned by partner Mark Lieb) and its wines will be the subject of a separate article, as will be the case with Clovis Point, whose wines are made by John Leo.
It should be noted that a press release issued on March 28, 2013, states, “Lieb Cellars and Premium Wine Group announced a merger of the two companies. Established in 1992 and 2000 respectively as two separate businesses with Mark Lieb as an investor, the combined companies have received substantial funding through their parent company Southport Lane, a private equity firm focused on growing its portfolio businesses. Southport Lane selected Lieb Cellars and PWG in part for their “custom crush” business, which is the production home of many North Fork wineries and the only one east of the Mississippi. There has been talk of the company going public.”
Because I interviewed both John and Russell separately, and the conversations were so extensive, I’ve divided the interviews into two posts: The first was based on my conversation with John, and was published on January 30. I was then away for six weeks on a cross-country trip and another week was recently spent in Northern Virginia (I was exploring vineyards on both occasions), so I have only now published this post based on my interview with Russell, which also includes discussions of T’Jara Vineyards and SuhRu Wines. Jed Beitler, Russell’s partner at T’Jara, contributed, by e-mail, a discussion of how he and Russell work out the blends for their wines–his comments are follow the interview with Russell.
From the bio of Russell Hearn on the Suhru Wines Website:
With 30 years of winemaking experience, in Australia, New Zealand, France and the USA, Russell Hearn has taken his Australian training with him throughout the journey. During the last 20 years on the North Fork of Long Island, Russell has established himself as an industry veteran who has helped forge our region into one known for producing World Class Wines. As winemaker for Pellegrini Vineyards, in Cutchogue, since 1991 Russell garnered five 90-point scores from the Wine Spectator. Russell continued to drive the style and quality of Pellegrini Wines for almost two decades [until August 2012].
He has consulted for a number of wineries on the North Fork of Long Island, in the Finger Lakes, in New England and in Virginia. He has lectured at Industry Technical Conferences in: New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Interview with Russell Hearn:
JM-L: John [Leo] just mentioned that PWG has more than 150 different lots of wine.
RH: Yep. Well, really, we actually have closer to 200 fermentations. Of that 130 are different lots.
JM-L: So of course that means that you are blending some of these fermentations.
RH: That’s right.
JM-L: What brought you to Long Island all the way from Australia?
RH: A girl.
RH: I worked in the industry in Australia, then exchanged for one harvest to Burgundy, and another year exchanged a harvest in New Zealand, and while I was there I took some vacation time, backpacked around New Zealand, and met this American girl at that point. Then she came to visit me in Australia, when I went back to work for Houghton Wines in Australia, and the next year I went on an exchange internship to California, so I went across and visited her in Massachusetts. There’s not much winemaking going on in Massachusetts, but I decided to stay for a while. Then I went back to Australia, then came back then went to Virginia for two years, then Long Island. We’ve been married now for twenty-seven years.
It was either Australia or East Coast; California, Oregon, Washington didn’t really interest me.
JM-L: For what reasons, may I ask?
RH: For a combination of personal reasons and professional ones. California—large chunks of it—has what a winemaker can see in Australia, the climate’s just like it is in Australia; Oregon’s too far from the ocean, Washington State’s too far from the ocean—regions that don’t fit my personal objectives.
JM-L: I see. So you really like the ocean—water life, sailing, surfing, swimming . . . .
RH: Sailing, swimming, surfing that’s right. I want to be close or in the water a lot, and I didn’t know that until we lived in Virginia for two years. And as pretty as the Blue Ridge Mountains are, we were three-and-a-half hours from the water and I realized that it didn’t work.
JM-L: Were you working for a winery there?
RH: Yes, a winery called Dominion Wine Cellars, it’s in Culpeper. It doesn’t go by that name anymore; it was bought by Williamsburg Winery three or four years after I left. And then I came here, consulted for several wineries initially; then for Bob and Joyce Pellegrini in late ’91, when they were looking to design a winery, I worked with local architects as they designed the facility; I designed the production part inside, it was built, I was with them for their first vintage in ’92, and I was there full-time until 2000. Then we I thought of Premium Wine Group, so I was starting this with two other partners, Mark Lieb and Bernie Sussman, I switched to a consultant role at Pellegrini—a very active consultant until the last vintage, 2011—and it’s stopped as of this vintage.
JM-L: I see. So now you’re full-time here.
RH: I finished up, yes. Being full-time here, yes. I was doing that in addition . . . .
JM-L: I don’t know, you people in the wine trade in Long Island seem to have to find more things to do and you’re all working—probably—80-90 hour weeks.
RH: It keeps it interesting . . . .
JM-L: It does. I don’t have that kind of energy, but I certainly enjoy writing about it, drinking it, and I especially enjoy meeting and speaking to people in the trade. They’re very interesting. They’re not just farmers, and they aren’t just chemists . . . .
RH: Yes, it’s a combination of . . . . There aren’t too many industries in which you have to have so many tiers that you must have at least competence in: growing it, making it, marketing it, managing it, so that makes it very challenging and very interesting.
JM-L: Yes. Well, you must have always had a very high organizational sense. You couldn’t possible have conceived of this business—PWG—if you didn’t.
RH: Hm. I think the best thing that one should do in starting in the trade or starting from school is to work at a large winery. The winery at which I started in Australia—Houghton’s—made about 800,000 cases. So it’s not a huge winery—Hardy’s, which owns Houghton’s, makes five and a half million cases. In a huge winery you’re pigeon-holed, in a large winery you’re forced into an organizational necessity . . . because you’re not as big so you have to do everything to make good wine, and that’s critical in winemaking. It’s not only how you do it or where you do it, it’s also when you do that is critical in winemaking. If you start off in a small winery, or only work in a small winery, you don’t get those organizational skills, because they never needed to, that force you to think ahead.
JM-L: Yes, just learning by the seat of your pants . . . learning on the job.
RH: Houghton’s was very organized so I was exposed to a good organizational structure, which as a result allows me to do this relatively comfortably. There are a lot of moving parts in the shuffle, so we need to make sure that people are paying the correct amount of attention and timing things so that they run on schedule, do deliveries. It’s not really so much of an issue: we have several full-time people, we have additional interns at the time of harvest [when the grapes are brought in to PWG]. We have good people who we’ve hired over the last twelve years. John’s been here twelve years, Eric has been here eleven, Rinaldo’s nine, Rosa’s eight, and Andrew started four years ago. Patrick’s been here a couple of years. . . we haven’t had a lot of turnover. We all know what has to be done and we have some smart people here, and so far it’s been turning out well.
JM-L: So everyone’s on salary. How many people are there in all?
RH: Eight full-time people and four additional people during harvest. The winery is working 18 to 20 hours a day, with a lot of automated procedures. So from September through November we get people from different parts of the world in the industry. We have two Australians for this harvest, a girl from Hungary in the industry, and an American. So we go from five days a week for nine months of the year to seven days a week and then in two shifts. So at this stage the night shift will be coming in about ten minutes . . .
JM-L: They work until midnight?
RH: Yep! As the harvest progresses—as we get into the second half—in October they’ll start coming in at 2:00pm or 3:00pm and work until 2:00-3:00am.
JM-L: Are they sleeping by the vats?
RH: Not yet! Not yet.
JM-L: Temperature control has changed that, hasn’t it?
RH: Yes, yes, exactly. We have a lot of technology here that allows us to sleep well. So the winery will be operating 18 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, from September until about the week of Thanksgiving, after which we start packing it in. We go back to six days a week for a while and then back to five days.
JM-L: And then you go back to having a life of your own again.
RH: Yeah, my wife says that she’s a “harvest widow” for a period of time, so . . . .
JM-L: A “harvest widow”—that’s good! So I just posted, recently, a piece on Raphael, and one of the salient facts about Raphael is that it cost six-million dollars to build that facility. That’s very deep pockets for a great deal of money . . ., but then it’s a showcase. You’re no so concerned with being a showcase, so much, though your facilities are attractive, but of course highly functional. How much did it cost to build this facility?
RH: Well, in today’s dollars it would be north of six-million, but as you can see it’s predominantly equipment. Therefore the saleable value, if you will, is real because it’s all asset. I mean, the building is an asset obviously, and the building cost, in today’s dollars, might be a million, since it’s a metal building, it’s concrete, it’s not aesthetic. It’s practical, functional. Setup prices would have been three-ish million.
JM-L: Yes. Well, Raphael went so far as to design their winery so that it could use gravity feed, which is also a very expensive proposition. Would you someday incorporate that into your facility?
R.H: Ultimately we can use fork lifts and gravity, on that level, so we don’t have a tier setup—everything’s one level. But we have some —I like to think—real quality additions to our equipment that really minimize the effect of not having gravity [feed]. We don’t pump skins—red-grape skins—everything is gravity because we drain the tank and put the skins into bins that are then fork-lifted back to the press. A lot of wineries don’t do that, so they pump the skins to the press. We don’t do that, and we try to be very gentle on the wine. And we have bulldog Waukesha pumps which push nitrogen rather than pump . . . they’re Waukesha twin-lobe pumps that are the gentlest in the industry. But they’re very expensive and for a small winery to have a Waukesha pump would be cost-prohibitive. We have four of them because we’re trying to make an affordable way of making quality wine. We have equipment here that isn’t anywhere else on the North Fork and the only ones on the East Coast, on some levels.
JM-L: Really? So you really are a premium Premium winemaker.
RH: Winemonger [chuckles]. We kicked around the idea of being Premier—being the first—and that didn’t really carry the concept of being Premium, and we have a high number of quality wines that are coming out through this facility. We allow people to do what they want to do so, depending on how high a bar they’re shooting for, I think that they can get that at this facility.
JM-L: Right. Very interesting. I was speaking to John [Leo] about his involvement and how you work with your clients and he said that you are, essentially, the cellar crew for the clients. Obviously, you get your marching orders from the consulting winemaker they hire and there are so many approaches that can be taken to making wine. You have to adapt to so many requests—do it this way, not that way—do that many pumpovers, no pumpovers, and so on . . .
RH: We have to be flexible for their needs. We’re assisting them in making their wine, we’re intimately involved in the quality control, with their practices and their whole organization. But the stylistic choices are 100% driven by the producers.
JM-L: Until recently Duck Walk was selling a magnum of their Chardonnay for $10, which is a terrific price, but they don’t have that anymore. Obviously, it isn’t possible to sell much wine at prices that low. Your costs out here are too high . . .
RH: It wouldn’t be economically viable in the long term. The one thing that we have is quality, which means that we have to sell on quality and we have to be realistic about how much we can ask for those quality products. So, where is that? It’s in the high teens and up.
JM-L: So, do you have special equipment to make sparkling wines?
RH: We do. We have all the equipment that we need for riddling [a fully-programmable 1,000-bottle automatic riddling machine] and disgorging, and bottle washing, and capsule pleating, and so on, so we do offer that service.
JM-L: Do you also provide for aging . . . ?
RH: Once it’s bottled, we do not continue to store wine here; so each producer would warehouse their wine elsewhere. Ours isn’t large enough for it; we can’t keep any volume for any length of time.
JM-L: That wasn’t your intention to begin with.
RH: No, were we to expand into something like that, we could. But we’re already full with tanks and barrels.
JM-L: Have you had to expand with more tanks and so forth as the business grew?
Let’s take a look at the diagram. Locations of tanks, this is the main tank room . . .
. . . and then we have external tanks and additional tanks near the bottling area. So in the original setup these tanks [pointing, above] were not here. These others [pointing to other tanks outlined in red] were not here—these four. In the second year we’ve added all of these and in the fourth year we added some outside. In the fifth year we added a substantial number outside and in the seventh year we added more tanks outside and just last year we put in another eight tanks. So when we started in the first year we had sixty-five tanks and now we have 125, so we’ve nearly doubled our capacity since or first production. We now use about 70% of our total capacity so we have room for more tanks. Do I think we’ll add more? I think it’ll be a few more years before we increase our capacity. We do have some organic growth—we’re adding more people.
JM-L: Exactly. Now, you also have your own label: Suhru.
RH: Two, actually. Suhru, which is Susan Hearn and myself, and we work with growers around the state, mostly in the North Fork and the Finger Lakes, to source the fruit that grows best in those regions, so we bring Riesling from the Finger Lakes and Shiraz and other red fruit from the Island here. So my wife and I and another couple that we’ve known for twenty years, bought a piece of land here in Mattituck in 2000, and planted it in 2000 and 2002. We sold fruit initially, and then in 2007 we started T’Jara Vineyards.
JM-L: Oh, yes, T’Jara. Isn’t that based on an Australian word?
RH: Yes. It’s sort of phonetic. We put a hyphen [apostrophe] between the two words, which mean “where I live/where I grow/where I farm/where I’m from.”
JM-L: I see. Does it sound like that when an Aboriginal pronounces it?
RH: Yes, T-Jara. You know, I guess you could say that it’s the Aboriginal word for terroir, although they don’t grow grapes there; they never have.
JM-L: Yes, though I’m sure that today many Aboriginals work in the wineries.
RH: Yep!
JM-L: Are there any Aboriginals who actually own their own wineries?
RH: Well, not that I’m aware of. I’m no longer really that connected [to the Australian wine industry] to know about that. But I suppose that there are.
JM-L: I ask because in South Africa there is a program to help get black Africans into the business. This is true of the South African label Indaba . . . .
RH: Oh, yes, of course. They make a very nice Chenin Blanc.
JM-L: Getting back to Suhru and T’Jara, Do you have styles that you wanted to make that would stand out from what everyone else does?
RH: Yeah. Suhru is a little more of a niche in that we are not going with mainstream varietals. We do not make Chardonnay; we don’t make Merlot as a varietal, or Cabernet Franc. We don’t make varietals from these three main varieties that we have out here. We do utilize the red ones in our blend, but the goal of Suhru is to make wines that we enjoy drinking: crisp, vibrant, good-acidity whites, and some quick-to-market, soft, juicy reds. More mainstream in respect of pricing, mid to high teens, and in approachability. T’Jara is sort of aiming for the high end of the market out here. We all have to aim high, shoot for the moon, but we aim to make the best red wine out here: the fullest—but, soft wines that will age because of the quantity of tannins plumper but lusher.
JM-L: So you pick the grapes as late as possible?
RH: Correct.
JM-L: You want them to go beyond their phenolic ripeness?
RH: Yes. So they’re barrel-aged for a long period of time but they’re not designed to be oaky wines.
JM-L: So you use a lot of used oak?
RH: Well, reasonably so, but everything’s Hungarian, and Hungarian oak is very tight-grained so it doesn’t give up the flavor as much as other—the French—would be. That doesn’t imprint on the wine heavily, so it keeps that soft plumpness. We use old oak barrels—one to seven-years-old ones so as to get the benefit of aging but without the imprint of tannin. Typically we don’t go for that long maceration that, you know, leads to that astringency level that needs time. They’re big wines but their big, soft wines.
JM-L: They’re almost ready to drink by the time that they’re released?
RH: Absolutely. The goal . . . that is goal number one. You do not need to age them—they will benefit if you age them, but you don’t need to do so. Stylistically, for example, Pellegrini’s wines [made by Russell], over the years, have rewarded aging. But that’s a stylistic choice. We looked at that model and Jed Beilter [Russell’s partner at T’Jara], Laurie, and Sue and I decided that that wasn’t what we wanted and we wanted our wine to give pleasure from the beginning.
So from a brand standpoint, there’s a separation in terms of the market segment that each is shooting for. In price separation as well.
Suhru is a brand; at T’Jara we make only as red wines: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot are planted there.
JM-L: So how many cases of wine are you able to produce?
RH: Well, we have seventeen acres under vine out of twenty acres of land, so ultimately we’ll have 3,000 cases; right now we have about a thousand cases.
JM-L: I see. And what’s the density of your plantings?
RH: 7 X 5 and 7 X 4. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot are 7 X 4 we’re trying to carry as little per vine as possible. Merlot is 7 X 5 and Cab Franc is 7 X 6—Cab Franc is more vigorous . . . .
JM-L: Well, that seems to answer the question of why one chooses a density of 7 X 5 or 7 X 4 or 7 X 6—it has to do with the vigor of the vines. That makes sense. OK, so T’Jara . . . and Suhru?
RH: Suhru is producing fifteen-hundred cases. T’Jara is a thousand cases.
JM-L: So for T’Jara you’re harvesting what? About two-and-a-half tons an acre?
RH: Yes, about two-and-a-half to three tons, depending on the year and the variety. More on the lower end for Cab Sauv, closer to three on the Merlot.
What follows are the T’Jara blending notes by Jed:
The process actually begins much earlier in the vintage year with how the growing season has gone. Depending on the strength of the season, we’ll know which component varietals we’ll have to work with. For example, 2007 was both a long and a very hot year. A spectacular year all around. So all our fruit showed beautifully on the vine. That includes our Cab Franc, our Merlot, our Petit Verdot and our Cab Sauvignon. In 2010, just to compare vintages, it was a hot year, but not as long a year. The Cab Sauvignon didn’t ripen to a state that we felt was good enough to put in our wines. So you won’t see that component fruit in our 2010 releases.
This past year, 2012, was also a very strong growing season and all our component varietals grow to maturity. Each year, however, the fruit shows different characteristics. So you can’t always assume that the Merlot that came out of the barrel in 2012 will be the same as every year preceding that. It’s always a clean slate when it comes to blending a particular year’s components.
The process Russ and I go through is the same every year we’ve worked together. We assemble the component varietals and look to see what possibilities exist. As you can see from the photo, it’s not the most romantic picture of what transpires. Beakers, water baths, pipettes all arrayed on a conference room table.
It also helps that Russ and I learned early on that we had very similar tastes in terms of our palates. When Russ was the winemaker at Pellegrini, he first brought me in to their conference room for a similar exercise. We had three flasks, filled with either Cab Sauvignon, Cab Franc or Merlot. We each had to come up with three blends: a Cab Sauv, a Merlot and a red blend. Blinded from each other’s admixtures, we each came up with three offering and presented them to each other. the three blends were all very close to each other and, as we had previously experienced, cemented the fact that we were of similar minds when it came to what we thought would be best in the bottle.
This year, we are dealing with four or, potentially five component varietals to make our wines. Initially, we didn’t think we would release a red reserve in addition to the Merlot and the Cab Franc. While 2012 was a good growing season, we just weren’t sure that we’d have a reserve that would be good enough to release.
As the process unfolds, we start with one of our wines. As you know, for a wine to be called by its varietal name, it must contain at least 75% of that component fruit. Anything after that is up to the winemaker. Anything less than that has to be called a blend or some other nondescript name.
Russ and I went through the Merlot and the Cab Franc. We started with the minimums and tested a number of different combinations of supporting varietals, each to bring something specific to the blend. Maybe it was more roundness. Maybe it was more length. Sometimes, we are trying to balance the various smells coming from the component fruits: red berry versus darker stone fruit; more chocolaty or tobacco notes versus more jammy qualities. All those ingredients are what we are trying to balance to achieve a wine that, year over year, will have a similar (not necessarily the same) consistency that those who have tried and liked our wines will come to expect as the years roll on.
To our surprise, we not only were able to come up with what we feel are very formidable Merlot and Cab Franc blends, but we also came up with a reserve blend for the 2012 that we are very proud of. From the initial sampling, we went through iteration after iteration of blending options. It kind of surprised us when we focused in on the final option. But we’re very happy with the result.
That whole process, going from large fractions of blending components to the fine-tuning took over three hours. But the process doesn’t stop there. And I’m sure Russ can add further to this discussion here, but he’ll take the blending notes from our session in the conference room and start the process of putting the final blends together in the barrel. He will still tweak a particular blend as it matures in our Hungarian oak barrels before it’s ready for bottling. Maybe a touch more Cab Franc here, a slight addition of Malbec there. That’s all part of Russ’s magic as a top-flight winemaker.
In the end, it’s all part of the joy we have as partners in coming up with wines we are proud to call T’Jara.
It should also be noted that a press release issued on March 28, 2013, states, “Lieb Cellars and Premium Wine Group announced a merger of the two companies. Established in 1992 and 2000 respectively as two separate businesses with Mark Lieb as an investor, the combined companies have received substantial funding through their parent company Southport Lane, a private equity firm focused on growing its portfolio businesses. Southport Lane selected Lieb Cellars and PWG in part for their “custom crush” business, which is the production home of many North Fork wineries and the only one east of the Mississippi. There has been talk of the company going public.”
Because I interviewed John and Russell separately, and the conversations are so extensive, I’m dividing this post into two parts: The first (this one) is based on my conversation with John, and subsequently my interview with Russell, which also includes discussions of T’Jara Vineyard and SuhRu Wines: Oenology in LI: Premium Wine Group–Russell Hearn.
According to the bio of John Leo from Winemakers’ Studio Website, “A native of the Hudson Valley, New York, John graduated with a journalism degree and immediately proceeded to wander slowly around the world. He started working in wine in 1982 and joined the East End wine growing community in the early 1990s, becoming winemaker for Clovis Point, in Jamesport in 2004. John works full-time at Premium Wine Group where he makes the Clovis Point wines as well as Leo Family Red. A journalist by training, traveler by inclination, and grape grower by preference, John believes in honest hard work, natural transformation and the pleasure of sharing a bottle with friends.”
Personally, I found John to be thoughtful, articulate, soft-spoken yet straightforward, as well as clearly professional in outlook and attitude. It was a pleasure to converse with him.
JM-L: I want to begin by asking you about your client list on the PWG website. I recognize all of the names but on [see below], but there is one that puzzles me, DeSeo de Micheal [sic], but actually that’s Deseo de Michael . . . What’s his full name?
JL: Michael Smith. His wife is Puerto Rican, so I think that she anointed the name.
JM-L: So that explains that mystery. Well, one of the reasons that I called you was because I’d been in touch with Chiara Anderson Edmands, and she’d said that one of the people that I have to speak to is you. So the advantage of speaking to you now is that I can now speak to you of your wine, their wine, and possibly Sherwood House, because I will be speaking to Bill Ackerman, the vineyard manager.
JL: You know, the consulting winemaker for Sherwood is Gilles Martin, so he’ll have more answers about style and things like that, but about the logistics part I can help out with because it all does come in here.
JM-L: So Gilles and Juan—who used to work here—and other consulting winemakers formulate what they want you to do and how do you work with them? How do they formulate what they want you to do?
JL: Well, we sit down to talk about that. I guess that in a stand-alone winery the winemaker is not only making the decisions but lifting the hoses and doing the work. But they usually have assistants, especially around harvest time, so they’re making their own plans about how much tonnage to bring in, how to ferment it, etc. etc., and their usually delegating that to their assistants in the cellar. So in a sense that’s what we are . . . we’re custom production, so the consultant tells us that he will bring in 5 tons of this Merlot, 6 tons of that Merlot, we want you to handle this one way and that another way. So we’re basically the cellar hands . . . we’re the winemaking service for that . . .
JM-L: So you are, in effect, the cellar assistants.
JL: In a sense, yes.
JM-L: Except that you actually do all the hands-on of making the wine . . .
JL: And we have all the equipment—that belongs to us, and the facility belongs to us, and they’re being charged, sort of, per finished case. [See below, From the PWG website: Wine Production; which lists all the equipment they own.]
JM-L: I see.
JL: So we’re the winery with the labor to get the job done that they want, but in terms of how they formulate things, it’s straightforward, just like in any winery, they decide how they want to handle certain batches, what yeasts to use, what temperature to ferment at, how often to pump over, all those decisions they can make to then communicate them to us and we do the work.
JM-L: The thing, of course, is that they’re not being hands-on, so what happens when some kind of issue, say a stuck fermentation, takes place (which I’m sure doesn’t happen too often) . . .
JL: Not too often, no.
JM-L: or, for example, a temperature issue with the tanks, or you find that the amount of pumping over that they request perhaps is not optimum for the wine as its coming out . . .
JL: Right. That last one is a different issue. I might personally disagree with their protocols, but if that’s their protocol that’s what we do. Lots of oxidation, no oxidation, no air at all. They can ask for seven pumpovers a day or no pumpovers. They can demand of me whatever they want. If it seems that out of the ordinary we’ll clarify. We’ll say, “Are you sure that’s what you’re asking for? That’s not the norm.” Maybe we’ll have to charge more for more pumpovers, so we just want to make sure that that’s what you want.” When they confirm it, it doesn’t matter what I like or think is right or wrong for that batch of wine . . . they’re the boss. In terms of stuck fermentations or a little bit of sulfide issues or things like that, Andrew’s very attentive [Andrew Rockwell, the Laboratory Director]. We’re testing everything every day, after rackings, every day’s ferment, so Andrew’s sticking his nose in the tank every day, and he’s got a good nose and palate and he’s very sensitive, so he’ll let Russell or I know, or if the consultant’s already sitting in the room he’ll go directly to them, or we’ll call the consultant and say, “Hey, there’s an issue with tank 1956, there’s some sulfite issue, a little bit of a stink coming out of it.”
Also, a lot of our newer clients, for example Deseo de Michael, say, “I want to bring in my grapes this year, 600 pounds . . .
JM-L: 600 pounds. Well, if you only have a third of an acre . . .
JL: Exactly. So the first thing I explain to him if you want us to press it, that we need more than that because our presses aren’t that small, so we can’t press 600 pounds effectively, so you’re going to have buy some Chardonnay to put in with yours to make it. So he’s so small that it doesn’t make sense to have a consultant, you know, realistically, but the first year I helped him through that and I didn’t charge him anything, and I said, “You know, you can do it this way or you can do it this way. Here’s the decision points now. You can taste the juice coming out of the press, do you want to cut it there? Do you want to keep on pressing harder? You’ll see the change.” So we just walked him through it. So for 2011 he hired Gilles [Martin] to be his winemaker for his one Chardonnay, so now it’s at a more professional level.
JM-L: Good. But the vines must be very young . . .
JL: Sure. So that’s an extreme example of someone who wants to do things right, is willing to pay commercial charges, but he doesn’t have enough volume to get a full-time consultant . . . so we try to be as helpful as we can.
JM-L: Of course.
JL: We have other clients like that, they have a little bit of fruit in their back yard, so we try to avoid it, but when it’s a friend of a friend, we do stuff like that . . .
JM-L: Sure.
JL: You know, Juan [Micieli-Martinez, Manager and Winemaking Consultant of Martha Clara Vineyards], Gilles [winemaking consultant to several vineyards], Tom Drozd—who makes the Baiting Hollow wines, and Erik [Bilka, the other PWG production manager] has his own wine, and other clients who know what they’re doing. So we expect them to make all those decisions, so we’re just backing it up. We do have some non-Long Island clients, but that is just coincidence.
JM-L: So who are your non-Long Island clients?
JL: Well, you know, Silver Springs, up in the Finger Lakes.
JM-L: All the way up there? Do they send their fruit down?
JL: Mmm, no. When they started five or six years ago, they bought Long Island red, so they make some things up there in the Finger Lakes, and that goes for the white, the hybrid stuff, and they wanted to buy some red, so they approached us and said, “We want to buy a few tons, and how do we get it up to us and what can we do?” And, I don’t think they actually have a winery, I think all their production is custom, either here or there. So anyway, that’s how we got started. And now, every couple of vintages they’ll send some white juice down, and they’ll have us ferment it here because it’s going to be part of a bigger blend or something like that.
JM-L: I see. Very interesting.
JL: So they’re one. And then there’s Belhurst, Belhurst Castle . . .
JM-L: Are they also in the Finger Lakes?
JL: Yes, they are. They’re basically a hotel, a resort hotel, and again, they might have a little show winery, but I haven’t actually been there. But we make their wines, sort of for the same reasons, they’re purchasing all their fruit, both red and white, and we’re making the wine for them.
JL: Not any more. We were the first on the East Coast as a custom crush, and I don’t know, but I think that there are one or two in the Finger Lakes now. I know that East Coast Crush started up and it’s connected to one of the bigger wineries. I don’t know if it’s the exact same facility or if they have separate business names to bring in more clients, or it’s a whole new facility. Russell might know that. And I think that I heard of another place, White Springs was, again, doing their own thing but doing a lot of custom work, I think that just changed ownership and might now be all custom.
JL: But, anyway, we started people thinking about it as an option, since they save a lot of money and only pay for what they’re bringing in rather than buying equipment that’s going to cost them two million to put in and they’re only going to use it once a year, so . . .
JM-L: Yes, like Raphael, which spent six million dollars on their own winery . . .
JL: Yeah, it’s a different interest. If you have the money to invest and you want that showpiece, you know, that’s . . .
JM-L: Well, they have that showpiece, there’s no question of that. Pretty impressive! So, when you have a really abundant harvest out here, even the wineries that have facilities of their own may find themselves with more fruit than they can handle . . .
JM-L: So you do take overage, as it were . . .
JL: Yes. If we have the space for it, sure, and it happens where we have one particular client, another winery that knows pretty much that they’re going to have more fruit coming in every year than they have space for themselves, so they’ve been saying fairly consistently that they need a tank of twenty tons, or something, for this overage. There are other wineries where it’s more vintage-related, most years they’re self-sufficient but some years they’re looking for extra space, so as long as we have the room we’re happy to do that. We also do pressing and settling; some Connecticut buyers of wineries, are buying local Chardonnay or other varieties and they’re looking for a place to have it destemmed, pressed, cold settled [chilled], and then they’re taking it as juice so that they don’t have to drive [the purchased grapes] all the way around. So that’s another part of our business that is pretty consistent every year.
JM-L: So you’re just sending them the must?
JL: Yes, either the must for reds or the settled juice for, say, Chardonnay.
JM-L: And then they ferment it.
JL: Yes, and we have fee schedules—so they don’t have to bring things just to bottle; we have a pressing and settling charge, or you can ferment it here, age it here, and then sell it in bulk, instead of selling it in the bottle, and you’re not paying the full cost . . . In other words, PWG has a fee schedule for all its varied services that allow a client to decide whether to take a wine all the way to bottle, or to sell it early in the process as juice (before fermentation) or later in the process as bulk wine.
JM-L: OK. Well, you and Russell, and who else helped found this?
JL: Well, I’m not a partner, Russell is. It’s Russell and Mark Lieb and a fellow called Bernard Sussman—he isn’t located out here. He lives in New Jersey or may have moved to Florida now. They’re the three partners. I’ve been here since it opened. I was working with Russell at Pellegrini Vineyards when he was planning this, and when 2000 was our first harvest he asked me if, when this was done, I’d like to come with him.
JM-L: Now, how many clients did you start with?
JL: Roughly a dozen.
JM-L: Really? So in other words, you first determined that there would be a market out there, you determined that there would be people who would bring their fruit in, if you would just set up . . .
JL: Yes. And, you see, the reason that we knew that—especially Russell—was that Russell, had been the winemaker for Pellegrini Vineyards, at that point, for eight or nine vintages, and people kept approaching him, saying “I have fruit for sale, I’m thinking of starting my own label, do you have room?” So he was doing custom production at Pellegrini, with whatever excess space he had there, for Erik Bilka and everyone else . . . and, you know, people were looking for space. He knew that there were more vineyards coming online, he knew that this would be a growth market. And I think that Russell first approached Mark Lieb—or it might have been vice versa—because Lieb had a forty-acre vineyard and no facility, and he was trying to buy more property so that he could build a winery, and there was some political issue, possibly, and it was taking longer than he expected so they got together and he said, “OK, you build this and I’ll be an investor in it and instead of making it a Lieb winery we’ll make it a custom production winery. And Russell, you’re going to run it, right?” And it was very clever and it was the right time to get something started . . .”
JM-L: Interesting.
JL: Most of those clients are still with us. I’d say that the only ones that aren’t were the ones that got sold or closed down. But Martha Clara was there the first year, Sherwood House was there, so pretty much everyone who was looking for a place and found us in 2000 has stayed.
JM-L: So Deseo de Michael [aka OR Wine Estate as of 2014] is the just latest . . . ?
JL: Yes, pretty much. Around 2010, in terms of having a license and all of that. But for example, my wine, which is a 2007, and Erik [Bilka], who makes a Riesling from Finger Lakes juice that he brings down, and he started in 2009, and that’s it; it’s not so much new vineyards coming on line anymore, but rather people buying fruit who want to start their own brands.
Leo Family Red: a History
JM-L: I see. So let’s talk about you . . .
JL: I don’t own my own vineyard; my situation is a little different in that I lease two acres. Well, I have a long-term agreement since 1999, with a particular vineyard to lease the two acres and I bring in my own fruit, with the understanding that I’ll do all the handwork. I do the pruning, I do the thinning, I do the harvesting.
JM-L: So you’re not buying fruit, you’re essentially the vineyard manager for a parcel that’s leased to you. So you have complete control of the fruit.
JL: Yes. The things that I didn’t have control over—I started at Martha Clara in 1999–where they controlled the spray schedule, the weed control, anything that had to do with tractor work—I could make suggestions. So in that respect I didn’t have complete control. But I was fine with that. That lasted until 2006, when they decided that they wanted to harvest their own fruit on that plot, so they decided that I was too small to make an exception for . . . so I was all ready to move anyway, and I was fine with that; it was time to move on. So I continued the same arrangement with Pellegrini Vineyards, in their easternmost vineyard, called South Harbor. So there were two acres planted with Merlot there as well, same arrangement as before, so I don’t have control of the spraying schedule. So I worked with the vineyard manager and that worked out nicely. That was between 2007 through 2010. In 2010 I started working for Onabay Vineyard as a winegrowing consultant, working out in the vineyard. So they asked me, would I be interested in leasing a couple of acres with them, and since I was already telling them what to do and hands-on with their whole vineyard it finally meant that it felt like my own vineyard, in that sense.
JM-L: Oh, that’s very nice.
JL: So in 2011 I moved to Onabay. I was very happy with Pellegrini, but at Onabay, where they’ve planted several varieties, I was able to have an acre of Merlot, half-an-acre of Cabernet Franc, and half-an-acre of Petite Verdot.
JM-L: So you were finally able to make a Meritage.
JL: Yes. And I did . . . since 1999 I’ve made wine every year, selling it off in bulk, but bottling a barrel for myself to have something to drink, and. . .
JM-L: I see. So now you’re now making wine in your own way—originally you were only making Merlot . . .
JL: Only growing Merlot. So the early vintages were 100% Merlot, but I started to go to other sources—Premium, for example, and other clients, to get a little bit of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, whatever happened to be available depending upon the year, including Syrah, Malbec, as well. Working here made it easy for me to know what was out there—the quality, the amounts, whatever was available . . . 2007 was the first wine I bottled and labeled myself; up to 2006 it was a just hobby project, what I kept at home for drinking myself and then to cover costs I’d sell most of the bulk; I sell anywhere from 200 gallons to 1000 gallons a year depending on my harvest yield and my blending needs.
[From the Winemaker’s Studio Website, there is this description of the 2007: “The first and so far, only wine released under the Leo Family label. A blend made of sustainably farmed grapes: 80% Merlot, 7% Syrah, 6% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon from the North Fork of Long Island. Aged 18 months in French and Hungarian oak, released spring 2011.”] [NOTE: I tasted this wine on Feb. 2 at a dinner party where venison was the main course. It followed a rather funky Spanish Tempranillo, and it showed beautifully. It was already showing secondary aromas and flavors, including lightly-smoked wood, coffee, lead pencil, and sour cherry. It was balanced and had an agreeable persistence on the palate and a very clean finish. I’d describe it as elegant and somewhat austere–rather like a Premier Cru from St-Emilion (Bordeaux). Its structure suggests several more years of maturation and good longevity. It was very much appreciated by all the guests at the venison dinner, and was a really fine food & wine pairing.]
[The back label—shown at right—tells even more about the wine and how it is made. . . ]
JL: Depending on the harvest . . . it was a lot, anywhere from 500 cases to a 1,000, or 200 gallons, some years there wasn’t very much. The 2007 was a blend of Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot . . . it’s not all Merlot.
JM-L: Which means that it’s more of a Left Bank than Right Bank Bordeaux style of wine.
JL: Yeah, with the Syrah tossed in too.
JM-L: And with the Syrah, which in the 19th Century, they used in winemaking in Bordeaux.
JL: Yes, I read that too. I’m not going to market it as Bordeaux . . . it’s just was the best that I could do.
JM-L: Of course you’re not going to label it as Bordeaux. Despite all the claims about how Bordeaux-like your wine is, this is still Long Island, after all . . .
JL: Exactly. There’s no French on the label, it’s just Leo Family Red . . .
JM-L: And where is it available? Can I buy it, for example, at Empire State Cellars?
JL: It’s available there; you can also buy it at the Winemakers’ Studio, that’s my biggest outlet . . . Anthony Nappa’s. They pour it and sell it on a regular basis. There’s also a small wine shop right here in Mattituck, called J. Shields. It’s owned by a woman who’s a real oenophile. She just loves wine; I think she studied the sommelier’s course . . . so she took it in a couple of weeks ago. So it’s on the shelf there.
JM-L: What was your aim in making your particular wine?
JL: Honestly, it’s kind of a cliché. I wanted to make a wine that I would enjoy drinking. There are no asterisks. I wanted it to stand on its own on a commercial level. I want make it only in good vintages and have it taste better than what people are expecting. . I wanted to be able say: Taste it and if you like it, buy it, and if you don’t, well, there are no questions asked. I made 420 cases, I think I have about 160 left. If I’m stuck with a hundred cases, fine, I’ll be happy to drink it for the rest of my life.
JM-L: So you’re really saying that the 2007 has great longevity.
JL: Yes, I think it does. Because I released it last year and it’s certainly drinking better this year. It hasn’t shown any signs of fading and improving still.
JM-L: You think that it has the structure to last another five, ten years?
JL: Five, ten years from now? I think so, but I honestly don’t know? It’s hard to say. Two to three years to reach its peak, and how long will it hold?
JM-L: Well, as you know, that’s a sign of good wine and good winemaking. The very fact that there is so much wine being made in Long Island that is age-worthy is, I think, a stunning testament to the level of the winemaking here, and the quality of the fruit and everything else. It’s no secret, after all, that for us, that the quality of the wine from Long Island is, frankly, at times sensational—and, well, times that it’s not— but given how good it is I often to prefer it to that of California.
JL: I’ve come the same way, obviously I’m in the industry and you could say that I’m completely biased, but I’m less and less happy when paying sixty or seventy dollars for a California wine that turns out to be an ordinary red wine, just high in alcohol but without much character.
JM-L: As soon as Robert Parker says “jammy and full of fruit,” I know immediately that that is a wine that I’m not likely to touch.
JL: Exactly. They’re making a style. Good for them. They’re marketing a style and making it work. We’re just not that.
JM-L: The other thing to remember is that everything here is “micro.” You just do not have the production to take on California, you just can’t make enough for a national market.
JL: And that should free us up a lot to experimentation, to be able to focus on quality, which more and more of our customers are asking for over the twelve years we’ve been in the business; at first our clients were just happy to get the fruit in, get it at 22 Brix, get the right pH. It’s got to have flavor. We’re all working on making higher quality wine, we’re challenging one another, we’re raising the bar.
JM-L: And what other vintages have you made since the 2007?
JL: Put into bottle and labeled—just the 2010.
JM-L: And that was a fabulous vintage.
JL: It was very good. At first I didn’t think that it was going to be as good as the 2007, but as I sampled it from the barrel it just got better and better, to the point that I decided to bottle it. Now I think it may even be better than the 2007. Leo Family Red will only be made in the best vintages. And now that we have 2012 in barrel I’m optimistic that 2012 could be another Leo
Family vintage.
JM-L: Well, that’s a good policy.
JL: Well, it’s nice to have a day job!
JM-L: John, you’ve been more than generous with your time, and I thank you for it. I’ll get back to you when I’m ready to write about Clovis Point.
Erik Bilka, who was not interviewed, is the other production winemaker at Premium, and also has his own wine label: Influence—a Riesling made from grapes sourced from Ovid Farm in the Finger Lakes.
From the Influence Wines Website:
“Every vintage a winemaker’s goal is to showcase the best attributes from the fruit he is presented. Fruit intensity, acidity, and sugar balance are all attributes which bring a wine to a harmonious blend of aroma, flavor, and palette impression. The winemakers’ influence determines the quality seen in the glass.
“Once harvested, Influence Riesling is delivered to White Springs Winery in Geneva, NY on Seneca Lake, where the experienced staff led by Derek Wilber crush, press, and cold settle the juice, which is then shipped to Premium Wine Group on the North Fork of Long Island. Upon arrival, winemaker Erik P. Bilka begins the winemaking process. The juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks. Before completion fermentation is halted in order to maintain the natural residual sugars found in this semi-dry vintage. The refining process which involves separating natural occurring sediment from the final product is done delicately in order to preserve the fruits integrity. This minimalist approach by the winemaker influencing only what the juice requires, allows the fruit to be showcased in the final wine.”
Brix at Harvest – 19.8
Ph – 3.10
Titratable Acid – 7.02
Residual Sugar – 22.00 grams/ liter
Aged – 100% Stainless Steel Tank
Bottled – March 31, 2011
To me, the commitment by the oenologists who work at PWG simply goes beyond the normal range of expectation and duty. For each of them is so passionate about wine, and apparently has so much excess energy, that it’s not enough for them to only work full-time at their place of employment, they have a deep need to practice their skills for themselves and their reputations. One can’t ask for more devotion than that. It’s also hard to find better winemakers.
Next, Russell Hearn.
GAI monoblock twenty (20) spout vacuum/ gravity filler with double (2) nitrogen sparging and triple (3) head vacuum corker
GAI single head screw capping machine, capable of applying Stevlin and Stevlin Lux screw caps
Automatic capsule dispenser and eight (8) head (reversible) capsule spinner and heat shrink capability
Sick Automatic champagne capsule dispenser and pleating device
Kosme – triple station (neck, front and back) six (6) turret pressure sensitive servo motor driven labeler
Manual inspection and packing station
Top and bottom ‘Little David’ case taper
Lanxess Velcorin DT 6 S dosing unit
Our facility has a fully-equipped laboratory, with a full-time Lab Director and assistant during the Harvest period. A production software system (Winemaker Database) allows our clients’ bulk inventory to be tracked from the time juice or bulk wine arrives at the winery, every mo vement, addition, chemical analysis and process is recorded and tracked. Our clients have full access to this detailed history of their inventory.
Mettler Toledo Auto-Titrator, generating pH, TA, and FSO2 automatically for reliable consistency
Total Acid (Automated Titration)
Total and Free SO2
Heat and Cold Stability
Enzymatic R.S. and Malate
Volatile Acidity
Bottling QA/QC
Routine Wine / Lot Maintenance
Crush Pads
We can receive hand harvested fruit in small half-ton bins, or machine harvested in gondolas. The receiving pad consists of a Weightronix truck scale and printer, two 7-ton Membrane presses with s/s dump hopper for whole-cluster pressing. Two destemmer / crushers: Rauch E20 and Euroselect ES, to ensure uninterrupted receiving capacity. Both presses utilize direct to press systems, if requested, to minimize solids and for “dug-out” red fermentations. Our 50-ton Refrigeration system ensures more than sufficient capacity for rapid cooling of juice. Tube-in-tube must-chiller capable of decreasing must temperature 20ºF. Additionally we have a 700 KW generator to ensure uninterrupted electrical service.
Numerous ‘gentle on wine’ Waukesha (twin lobe) pumps.
Pneumatic ‘punch-down’ tool above (18) red fermentation tanks.
(2) in-line tank heaters to maintain warm red ferments, correct malo-lactic temperature in tank, pre-bottling temperature control.
Crossflow filtration system Vaslin Bucher FX 3 with lees filtration add-on capability plate and frame pad filter as well as membrane cartridge filtration capability.
Steam and ozone capability.
Producers / Clients (all of which use only Long Island fruit)
Baiting Hollow Farms Vineyard
Bouké/Bouquet
Clovis Point Vineyard
OR Wine Estate (aka Deseo de Michael)
Harbes Vineyard
Martha Clara Vineyard
Pumphouse Wines (Scarsdale, NY)
Sherwood House Vineyard
[Leo Family Wines, by John Leo, employee]
[Influence Wines (Finger Lakes fruit) by Erik Bilka, employee]
[Suhru Wines, by Russell Hearn, PWG partner & production manager]
[T’Jara Vineyards, by Russell Hearn]
Premium Wine Group 35 Cox Neck Rd. Mattituck, NY 11952
Viniculture in Long Island–part III: Brooklyn Oenology and Saltbird Cellars 29 August 2017
Viniculture in the Hudson Valley–Hudson-Chatham Winery 20 August 2017
Viniculture in LI, Part III: Peconic Bay Winery 9 July 2017
Viniculture in LI, Part III: Shinn Estate 22 May 2017
Wines of Valencia: Bodegas y Viñedos Barón d’Alba 26 January 2017
Viniculture in LI, Part III: Jason’s Vineyard 5 January 2017 |
Idaho Eyes New Water Standards With Fish Consumption Survey
Credit Pacific Northwest National Lab / Flickr Creative Commons
A recently completed Idaho fish consumption survey that's part of a state process to set new water quality standards could mean greater restrictions for towns and businesses with wastewater discharge permits.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality released the report Wednesday as part of a process that started after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected the state's current standards in 2012.
The federal agency says it's not convinced the levels set by the state in 2005 protect human health. Toxins can accumulate in aquatic species caught and eaten by humans.
The Idaho Conservation League sued the EPA in 2012 in federal court contending the agency hadn't reviewed Idaho's standards as required by the Clean Water Act.
Idaho officials plan to release new proposed water quality standards in August.
DEQ
How Higher Nitrate Levels Could Impact Idaho’s Water
Kevin Micalizzi / Flickr Creative Commons
The United States Geological Survey recently studied nitrate levels in streams around the country. The study found that nitrate – which can be dangerous in drinking water – can affect water systems for decades.
Although none of these study areas were in Idaho, Michael Lewis says the study is worth a closer look.
How An Idaho Artist Uses Fish To Promote Healthy Rivers
By Samantha Wright • Feb 26, 2015
Lonnie Hutson
An Idaho artist has immortalized the state’s native fish, in the hopes that his art will encourage people to protect local rivers. |
Ruanbao Zhou, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Assistant Professor, Microbiology
Postdoctorate, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University
Ph.D., Plant Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Peking University, Beijing, China
M.S., Plant Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Anhui Normal University (China)
B.S., Biology, Anhui Normal University (China)
Current Research:
Using a synthetic biology approach to develop cellular cyanofactories, these engineered cyanobacteria are able to convert air (CO2 and H20) and water into fuel molecules (e.g. limonene) and high-value chemicals using sunlight. Outstanding students recruited to work on this project will gain extensive hands-on training on biochemistry and molecular biology. |
Your pets probably don't understand that in nine months a new baby will be joining your family, but dogs and cats do detect differences in mood, posture, behavior, and body chemistry that clue them that an enormous change is happening.
Your dog or cat will pick up other signs, too: Our four legged friends are masters at reading our body language, so they'll notice when your movements start to get more and more awkward. Pets are also highly attuned to changes in your daily routine - say, if you're not taking your dog for runs as often as you used to, if you're spending more time on the couch, or if family members are treating you with extra care.
It's common for dogs to go on alert and become overprotective of their expecting owner from the very beginning of her pregnancy. Behaviorists have witnessed dogs growl, bark, or even block doors with their bodies to prevent other family members - even the baby's father - from coming into the same room as the mom-to-be.
Cats on the other hand are less socially involved, therefore less likely to go through these sorts of behavioral changes. Cat owners have reported a wide range of responses from uninterested to more loving and protective behaviors. But keep giving your cat attention and love during your pregnancy, as neglected cats may become more aggressive or act out by urinating where they're not supposed to, like in your bed or laundry basket.
To help prevent problem behaviors, try to stick to your pre-pregnancy routine as much as you can, and ask family members and friends to help when you're not up for a run in the park or a long brushing session. I advise clients to develop a plan for their pet while they're in the hospital, just like they'd develop a birth plan. Line up a caretaker for your pets and write down your pets' schedules for that person.
To help your dog understand that you still love him, be careful of the messages you send through your body language. Pregnant women often unconsciously place their hands over their stomachs, and dogs read this closed-arm posture as saying "I'm unavailable" or "step back." Open-armed postures, on the other hand, send dogs the message to "come here."
If your dog or cat starts seriously misbehaving during your pregnancy, or if you don't have experience preparing pets for a new baby, it's a good idea to get help from a professional trainer. Many offer "baby readiness" classes or individual training sessions to help pets adjust.
If you stay on top of any potential behavior problems, having pets during your pregnancy and afterward can be a wonderful thing for you and your baby. Studies have shown that spending time with a domesticated animal can improve mood, reduce depression, lower blood pressure, and even help you live longer. So enjoy! |
Rock-solid partnership forms with granite manufacturer
By Liz Gamache | December 29, 2016
It seems simple, but it bears repeating: Keeping costs down helps Vermont businesses succeed, and energy is one of those costs. We can help business owners reduce that cost with energy efficiency solutions, and strengthen storied Vermont industries like granite manufacturing in Barre. The granite industry in Barre reaches as far back as the early 1800s, and it expanded in 1875, when the central railroad reached Vermont. As the granite industry grew, so did the city of Barre. Yet the granite industry is not thriving as it once was.
Small business moves to Vt. via Inspire Space
By Gareth Henderson | December 9, 2016
COLCHESTER — Through a recent contest, the energy-assessment company Greenbanc became one of five entrepreneurs to share space and work alongside the Green Mountain Power team in GMP’s Inspire Space. The Inspire Space is an area located inside GMP’s Colchester headquarters meant to attract and support energy entrepreneurs and open the door to ways they can collaborate with the utility. Like GMP, Greenbanc is a certified B Corp, meaning it values making a positive social and environmental impact and meets certain standards in those areas. The nonprofit B Lab gives the B Corp certification, based on criteria that need to be met. Greenbanc was the fifth business to get involved with the Inspire Space, after founder North Lennox heard about the recent contest when he was living in New York.
VEIC hosts legislative networking event
By Mike Reilly | November 11, 2016
BURLINGTON — Vermont Energy Investment Corp. welcomed the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce Legislative Networking event to its headquarters in Burlington’s South End in late October. Chamber members and guests got the opportunity to talk with candidates for Vermont’s legislature and other statewide offices (about 30 candidates attended), and the chance for some business-to-business networking. In addition to Vermont Energy Investment Corp., or VEIC, sponsors included AT&T, FairPoint Communications, Farrell Distributing, Green Mountain Power, Pomerleau Real Estate and Top Hat Entertainment. Sugarsnap of South Burlington catered the event.
Vt. warming up to heat pumps
By Gareth Henderson | October 30, 2016
Godnick’s Grand Furniture in Rutland is now home to Green Mountain Power’s largest installation of heat pumps, which have helped boost energy savings for a number of customers in recent years. GMP recently installed 20 of these hyper-efficient, ductless heat pump heads at Godnick’s, where they’re estimated to reduce fuel usage by 40 percent during the heating season. The heat pumps are also expected to save the business about 30 percent in electricity consumed by air conditioning in the summer. The heat pumps transfer air from the outdoors to heat the building, and in the summer, they transfer heat out to cool the building — making them far more cost-effective than traditional heating and AC systems.
Brian Godnick, owner of Godnick’s Grand Furniture, said the business had a 40-year-old air conditioning system which it hadn’t used in a few years, since it is highly inefficient. “It was old, not feasible to run,” he said.
Moving business forward with energy efficiency
By Liz Gamache | October 28, 2016
Energy keeps Vermont businesses running, helping them create good jobs for Vermonters and grow the state’s economy. As a business grows, so can its appetite for energy — and the accompanying energy bill will grow, too. Businesses in Vermont are looking for ways to reduce energy costs. This is where efficiency can offer a clear opportunity for businesses, and here at Efficiency Vermont, we are eager to be a partner in helping business leaders to seize that opportunity. Businesses can reap wonderful benefits from energy savings.
SunCommon hires 2 execs
By Editorial Staff | October 28, 2016
WATERBURY — SunCommon recently added two new hires to its leadership team, as it prepares to launch several new products and programs.
Tom Berry joins SunCommon as the new vice president of marketing and sales, and Jim Merriam is the new vice president of operations. Berry most recently worked for Keurig Green Mountain and was previously with Burton Snowboards. Merriam used to work for the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. The new duo is leading SunCommon through the launch of a small-business program, a new installation technology partnership and an innovative solar product: the Solar Canopy.
A multistate goal to make all new cars sold zero-emission by 2050 would save Vermont over $300 million in health costs and other impacts of pollution, according to a recent report from the American Lung Association in California. Vermont and California are part of a group of 10 states that signed a memorandum of understanding to meet the 2050 goal on zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Eight of those states, including Vermont and California, signed onto the memorandum at the climate accord in Paris in December. Vermont is also one of eight states that signed a 2013 agreement to get 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on the road in those states by 2025. “It’s all a recognition that we all need to do more, and we need to do more pollution reduction to secure a stable climate and a healthy future,” said William Barrett, senior policy analyst for the American Lung Association in California.
73-panel solar project completed
RUTLAND TOWN – SunCommon recently completed a 73-panel, 19,345-kilowatt solar system on the roof of Vermont Bedrooms in Rutland Town. Bill Beanland, co-owner of Vermont Bedrooms, said the company is “always looking for ways to cut costs and save energy.”
He noted the business previously cut its electric bill in half when the bulbs in its more than 70 spotlights throughout the store were replaced with LED bulbs.
Vt. brewers saving big on energy
By Tim Perrin | October 9, 2016
Beer matters in Vermont. Not only do we have more breweries per capita than any other state, we also consume 25 percent more beer than the national average per capita. That’s not surprising — if everyone else’s beer was as good as Vermont’s, they’d drink more of it too. The brewery industry is also an increasingly important part of Vermont’s economy. According to a study released last year by the Vermont Brewers Association, “Vermont’s brewing industry operations and investments, including food sales, other merchandise sales at breweries and brewpubs, and new plant and equipment capital expenditures, generates $199 million in total economic activity and 1,575 jobs in the state.
GMP expands battery storage program
By Bruce Edwards | September 23, 2016
Green Mountain Power is expanding its battery storage program to customers who install a solar system in their home through SunCommon. GMP and SunCommon have partnered to offer the storage device — called a Tesla Powerwall — for $37.50 a month. The battery storage device, which provides security during a power outage, is also available to GMP’s non-solar customers who get their power from the grid. “We’re willing to partner with any solar developer who wants to do this, but the partnership with SunCommon is the first of its kind with a solar developer in this state,” said GMP spokeswoman Kristin Carlson. The Tesla Powerwall stores a home’s solar energy for use during a power outage.
— Pam Behr on Fair Haven B&B going strong at 30
“Great article! Coffee here is top notch! Great place to grab a cup on the go or to meet…”
— Ari on Gold Ladder all about love of coffee |
Google Will Invest Millions in New Solar Energy Project
Search engine company Google will invest nearly $170 million in a huge new solar energy plant in the Mojave Desert, according to a new statement. The money will go to BrightSource Energy and its "Ivanpah" solar electric generating system, which will use solar thermal power to create cheap, clean, and reliable electricity.
The new project will use technology based around "power towers," which involve aiming sunlight at receivers on the tops of large towers using special heliostat mirrors. The receivers heat water to produce steam, which turns turbines and generates the electricity. So basically it will direct huge amounts of focused solar energy onto very small areas, which will produce electricity very efficiently.
The Ivanpah project the will be the largest solar energy project of its kind in the world and should be completed by 2013. It represents a major increase in Google "green energy" investment profile, which has been growing since the company was granted status as a public utility last year.
Google got into the cheap, environmentally-friendly energy game in order to power its own humongous dater centers. But now it appears that the tech giant has much bigger plans and may one day become a major player in the clean energy industry. |