Religion in the 40's & 50's

[whistlebait]

This thread makes me think of the supposed drive-in religous services that were held in some parts of the country during the 1950s. This aspect of the religious movement seemed, was played up during the documemtary on the History Channel, "The 50s", so I wonder, as I wasn't alive during that time, how popular it really was.

 

[Lena_Horne]

This thread makes me think of the supposed drive-in religous services that were held in some parts of the country during the 1950s. This aspect of the religious movement seemed, was played up during the documemtary on the History Channel, "The 50s", so I wonder, as I wasn't alive during that time, how popular it really was.

Heck, they have that nowadays in Daytona:

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/drive_in_church/

L_H

 

[Salv]

... Religion IS UNDER attack in every corner of the country ...
DR

You seem to think that's a bad thing.

 

[jake431]

Yep, roll up the Lib-TARD shades and take a look. Religion IS UNDER attack in every corner of the country startign with militant Lawyers (always with Jewish last names, how facinating that is!) at the ACLU and jerks like Mike Newdow. :kick: AS for your question......oh never mind ya A$$-:icon_smil
DR

Thank you for your drive by ranting.
-Jake

 

[airfrogusmc]

Jeeze dusty I guess theres only one way to think, if ya don't think that way ya can't be an American. Now thats real AMERICAN....

 

[Weston]

I feared such things posting this topic to begin with. Up till now it's been OK.

I'm no Mod or anything, but you know what's more vintage than anything, that you can't get on eBay?

Civility.

 

[jamespowers]

I am watching. Let's try to keep it in the stadium eh? I don't want to have to shut down another thread.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Lincsong]

QUOTE=whistlebait]This thread makes me think of the supposed drive-in religous services that were held in some parts of the country during the 1950s. This aspect of the religious movement seemed, was played up during the documemtary on the History Channel, "The 50s", so I wonder, as I wasn't alive during that time, how popular it really was.

You're thinking of the Rev. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral in, I think Pomona, who started in the 1950's by having services on Sunday in a drive-in theater.:arated:

 

[Hemingway Jones]

...Religion IS UNDER attack in every corner of the country starting with militant Lawyers (always with Jewish last names, how facinating that is!) ...
DR

Are you saying that it is ironic that people of the Jewish faith are attacking religion, or are you insinuating that all of those who are attacking religion are Jewish? I fear it is the later and I sincerely hope you take another look at your position. There is a twisted irony in your posting in that you are obviously angered by the attacks on religion, and you are focusing your anger on a religion, the Jewish faith.

But more on topic:
I know in my hometown, Philadelphia, everyone had some sort of Church they attended and everyone went, everyone. It was very much a social phenomenom. There are years of photographs of my family on Easter decked out for services in period finery. If only they had saved their hats!

I think that much of this pressure to attend Sunday gatherings has dissipated. We are more permissive now.

 

[MudInYerEye]

Yep, roll up the Lib-TARD shades and take a look. Religion IS UNDER attack in every corner of the country startign with militant Lawyers (always with Jewish last names, how facinating that is!) at the ACLU and jerks like Mike Newdow. :kick: AS for your question......oh never mind ya A$$-:icon_smil
DR

Classy.

 

[jazzbass]

...... I've gotten the impression that the cultural shift that blossomed with the JFK administration was also shared in the religious realm. Young leadership, optimism beyond The Bomb, etc. The sixties ruined everything.

m

I grew up in the 50's and from my memories it was a time of repressive, small minded regimentation. My parents generation seemed to conceptualize religion as a "big police dept in the sky". Although it seemed unspoken, everyone was expected to be be pretty much the same---same values, same haircut, don't rock the boat, etc.

Coming of age in the 60's was the best thing that ever happened to me.

bob

 

[whistlebait]

You're thinking of the Rev. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral in, I think Pomona, who started in the 1950's by having services on Sunday in a drive-in theater.

I couldn't remember who it was, when I posted earlier, but he is familiar. Thanks for the information, Lincsong.

Heck, they have that nowadays in Daytona:

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays...ive_in_church/

L_H

And the pictoral in TIME is rather telling, Lena Horne, thanks for sharing it.

 

[jamespowers]

The sixties ruined everything.

Actually what the sixties did was what winston Churchill warned about years before:
"We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges."

 

[Lincsong]

Yep, roll up the Lib-TARD shades and take a look. Religion IS UNDER attack in every corner of the country startign with militant Lawyers (always with Jewish last names, how facinating that is!) at the ACLU and jerks like Mike Newdow. :kick: AS for your question......oh never mind ya A$$-:icon_smil
DR

Mike Newdow is a freak of nature. Here's the thing; all the non practicing Jews like Ruth Ginsburg and the ACLU crowd have no respect for any religion whatsoever. It's the practicing Jews who don't get upset over something as inocuous as "Merry Christmas". I will give you the benefit of the doubt and not take this as being anti-semitic.

 

[Barry]

Mike Newdow is a freak of nature. Here's the thing; all the non practicing Jews like Ruth Ginsburg and the ACLU crowd have no respect for any religion whatsoever. It's the practicing Jews who don't get upset over something as inocuous as "Merry Christmas". I will give you the benefit of the doubt and not take this as being anti-semitic.

I am a non-practicing Jew. I do not get upset when people say "Merry Christmas." However, when people probe further and ask how I plan on celebrating Christmas I inform them that I do not celebrate the holiday.

What should I do...tell a lie?

Since many here seems to be convinced that Jews are attempting to "destroy religion" (and other institutions, I gather, just a hunch) in this country, I'd like a few specific examples.

Thanks,

Barry

 

[jake_fink]

Since many here seems to be convinced that Jews are attempting to "destroy religion" (and other institutions, I gather, just a hunch) in this country, I'd like a few specific examples.

Thanks,

Barry

Not many. Dusty Rhodes suggested this in his froth-at-the-mouth tirade. A truly moronic posting and exactly why the "ignore" feature exists.

Lincsong giving him the benefit of the doubt is some seriously generous benefit-giving.

I don't think that's the kind of thread Weston wanted to create (an Anti-Semitic screed), and I don't think there are "many" posters who believe that Jews are trying to destroy religion or anything else.

 

[Katt in Hat]

Mike Newdow's Home page & 2 links:

Some posts on this thread contain some of the attitudes which used to exist openly and commonly here in the USA. Sentiments were expressed against the Irish, Jews and Italian-Americans and 'natch; the "Negro". Still existing just below the surface, in parts of society; I'm delighted to see such sentiments nakedly expressed.

When you're up to your Alligator(Izod) in A$$holes, it's too late to break out the Shotguns... :rage:

http://www.restorethepledge.com/
www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,267702,00.html
www.churchofcriticalthinking.com/

 

[Lincsong]

I am a non-practicing Jew. I do not get upset when people say "Merry Christmas." However, when people probe further and ask how I plan on celebrating Christmas I inform them that I do not celebrate the holiday.

What should I do...tell a lie?

Since many here seems to be convinced that Jews are attempting to "destroy religion" (and other institutions, I gather, just a hunch) in this country, I'd like a few specific examples.

Thanks,

Barry

I am not one who said that Jews are attempting to "destroy religion" so please don't place that on me. However, I do find that certain non practicing Jews and also non practicing Catholics for that matter, are always in a hissy fit over things like "Merry Christmas" or such. Ruth Ginsburg makes it a point to make sure a wreath does not "invade" her space in December. Does she do it with tack and taste NO! Then there's that blowhard, big mouthed Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy who makes it a daily routine to bash his supposed Roman Catholicism. My post actually said that practicing Jews seem more tolerant than the non practicing ones like Ginsburg and the ACLU types. My past posts also brought out the fact that in the past Jews were denied housing and jobs and admission to organizations. I may be naive or overly optimistic but giving someone the benefit of the doubt seems fair until he proves otherwise. If I'm proven wrong then I will apoligize.:cheers1: Let's keep the discussion civil and respectful. We don't have to digress in an otherwise productive discussion.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I, too, experienced the 60's as liberating, having been raised in the 40's and 50's.

It was a bigoted time: Protestants mistrusted Catholics, people in my town thought all Jews were wealthy and owned everything, Evangelicals were considered eccentric "holy rollers," and my parents would not send me to Baptists churches because they were "too close to holy rollers," nor to Episcopal or Lutheran churches because they were "to close to Catholic." (I imagine a few Lutherans would be rolling their eyes over that one). So, I was sent to mainstream Protestant churches close to my home. When Kennedy ran for president, many would not vote for him because they feared a Catholic takeover.

There was no social tolerance for (as someone above posted) unwed mothers, or independent women, or gay people, or black people, or Mexicans, or Native Americans, or anyone of color. There was a huge double standard between men and women, and women were not allowed in many so-called "men's jobs."

When a new minister in our church suggested we needed to invite black people into our church, a number of members walked out and never returned. We were even lied to about what was in the bible. When I told our ministers I had doubts, he yelled at me and said I had to take it on faith.

People were certain that Communists were going to take over; that fear became a phobia for some and it destroyed lives and careers. People built bomb shelters and most of us were certain the end was coming: if we didn't hear it from the churches, we heard it from those who feared the bomb. We even had atom bomb drills, where we ducked under our desks and were told to bring a sheet or blanket to school to cover ourselves from radiation poisoning. Later, we marched downstairs to the basement of the school and bent over (to, I assume, to kiss our a**es goodbye). I spent most of my young life believing my time on earth was going to be short, a child of Armagedon.

There were students in small towns who were forced to pray in school to a Christian god. It was assumed we were all that and, by god, if we were not, then we should be. There were people then, as there are now, whose attitude was/is: convert or get off the planet.

In the late 60's,much of this came unglued: there were reasons young people took to the streets in protest, and the social revolutions took root: It started in the mid-50's with Rosa Parks refusing to sit on the back of the bus. The civil rights movement ignited, followed by the women's movement, the gay movement, Chicano movement, American Indian movement. I, with all my pain and anger, took to those movements like a duck to water.

We also watched as a president, his brother, and a Nobel prize-winning minister were shot down. It turned us into cynics; it caused many African Americans to become angry and hostile towards whites. It broke my heart.

People began to doubt their leader's motives, and that included the Vietnam War. People knew we had been lied to: some of us believed we needed to get out of Vietnam, others that we needed to step up military action to win it, others were confused or ambivalent and that included more than just the young people. It divided this country as nothing had since the civil war.

It was a fascinating time to be alive, it was also painful. I don't think I would ever want to go back to the late 40's and 50's, or even the early 60's. If I ever did find myself back in that time, boy would I cause trouble....

karol

 

[Briscoeteque]

I am not one who said that Jews are attempting to "destroy religion" so please don't place that on me. However, I do find that certain non practicing Jews and also non practicing Catholics for that matter, are always in a hissy fit over things like "Merry Christmas" or such. Ruth Ginsburg makes it a point to make sure a wreath does not "invade" her space in December. Does she do it with tack and taste NO! Then there's that blowhard, big mouthed Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy who makes it a daily routine to bash his supposed Roman Catholicism. My post actually said that practicing Jews seem more tolerant than the non practicing ones like Ginsburg and the ACLU types. My past posts also brought out the fact that in the past Jews were denied housing and jobs and admission to organizations. I may be naive or overly optimistic but giving someone the benefit of the doubt seems fair until he proves otherwise. If I'm proven wrong then I will apoligize.:cheers1: Let's keep the discussion civil and respectful. We don't have to digress in an otherwise productive discussion.

People who don't practice religon, be them from Catholic, Jewish or anything, don't like religon shoved in their face by the government they pay taxes towards. It's foolish to single out non practicing Jews and Catholics.

I'm sorry, but a great deal of people who push religon through government are also deprived in the tack and taste department. People have the right to say whatever they believe, and the goverment should stay out of this domain entirely by taking the neutral position of not endorsing religion. Plus, why say Merry Christmas if you don't know? Does it hurt you that bad to adopt a statment that acknowledges all holidays like 'Happy Holidays' in a public setting? If I was a Christian, I would not think it too much a burdon and don't understand why addressing all holidays violates my rights as a member of the majority. If I know a fellow well enough to address him by his particular holiday, I'll greet him in that manner, but as for people I don't know and non-religous insitutions, it just makes sense that everyone is included. I don't get in a hissy fit (I am the most Jewish looking guy on earth so I don't get mistaken) but just see it as an ettiquite issue.

I'm not an atheist, but the most vulgar atheist I've ever heard was no where even to the most vulgar theist on the subject.