THEMES

The power and  prominence of Protestantism, well established in the 19th century,  began to wane in the decades after World War I. One historian, Robert Handy, called the period of the 1920s and 1930s a kind of religious depression.

Mainline denominations were still strong but some of were troubled by divisions between liberals and traditionalists or Fundamentalists. The Scopes trial created  such a bad press that conservative or Fundamentalist churches, such as the Southern Baptists, concentrated on shoring up their own institutions to quietly but effectively transmit their tradition to the next generations.

But World War II and the Cold War that followed made the 1940s and 1950s a time of renewed religious strength. Pulling together as a nation, Protestant denominations along with the Roman  Catholic Church (by then the largest denomination in the country) and the Jewish community all participated in a celebration of American values. Politicians came to speak of the "Judeo-Christian tradition"  (Protestants, Catholics, and Jews) as vital in the defense or freedom and the American way of life.

MATERIALS

Marty:  chap. 17, A Season of Conflicts, 1920s & 1930s: Disillusionment and Controversy

Marty: chap. 18 - The American Ways of Life (WW II, 1950s, Consensus)

Porterfield: #4, Protestantism as Establishment and #35, "Preface," The Protestant Establishment

Moore: 2, Post-Protestant Culture and 3, A Protestant (Counter) Culture