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The Crime of Being Quaker

The Crime of Being Quaker

In Massachusetts, being a Quaker was not just frowned upon—it was illegal. Puritans despised Quakers for reasons of theology (they heretically believed they could have a direct relationship with God), power (they refused to pay taxes to support Congregational Church), and man- ners (the zealous Quakers sometimes interrupted church services and banged pots and pans in the streets). The punishment for being a Quaker was whipping on the first offense, having an ear cut off after the second, and execution…

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War on Christmas

War on Christmas

The effort to find, fight, and win a “war on Christmas” illustrates how a charge can have a grain of truth while also being mischievously exaggerated to stir rage, mobilize votes, or boost ratings. There have indeed been absurd instances of cities or individuals who, in their hyper attentiveness to the sensitivities of nonbelievers, have purged innocuous Christmas symbols. For instance, a member of the Parent-Teacher Association at an elementary school in Frisco, Texas, advised parents not to have Christmas…

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Katholic Killers

Katholic Killers

Note that this cheerful Klansman, sitting on a Catholic clergyman,  is holding both a Holy Bible. That’s because in the 19th and early 20th century, many Protestants claimed that Catholics were anti-Bible. This stemmed in part from Catholic efforts to stop the Protestants from forcing public school children to read from the King James translation of the Bible.   Ironically, Catholics actually did want the Bible to be taught but wanted their children to work off of a Catholic translation. Protestants…

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The Bible Riots

The Bible Riots

This is the image used on the cover of Sacred Liberty. This illustration depicts what were called “the Bible Riots,” which took place in 1834 in Philadelphia and killed 30 people. These days we tend to think of religion-in-schools fights being about believers vs. secularists. But for most of our history it was a fight between Protestants and Catholics. In Philadelphia, Protestants insisted that school children read from the King James Version – which Catholic families viewed as the wrong…

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The Asiatic “Barred Zone”

The Asiatic “Barred Zone”

The makers of a dishwashing fluid in 1886 capitalized on anti-Asian sentiment. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was driven by racist theories of ethnic superiority and some concerns about Chinese competing for American jobs. Eugenics was on the rise and taken quite seriously. A report from a congressional committee explained that there was “not sufficient brain capacity in the Chinese race to furnish motive power for self-government” and that “there is no Aryan or European race which is not…

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Religious freedom and the fight against fascism

Religious freedom and the fight against fascism

World War II was a turning point in the history of religious liberty.  It was during this period that politicians started talking less about the importance of religion and more about the importance of religious freedom. The key: it provided a stark contrast with the Nazis and later the Communists.  Roosevelt listed religious liberty as one of the Four Freedoms. Around this same time, interfaith groups of clergy – a rabbi, a minister and a priest – fanned out across…

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Imprisoned Mormons

Imprisoned Mormons

This is a picture of Mormons who were arrested for the crime of polygamy.  From 1882 to 1892 nearly 1,000 Mormons were jailed for practicing what they considered an important element of their faith, “plural marriage.” Federal agents scoured Utah for Mormons unlawfully cohabitating. A polygamist wife described the feeling of desperation: “It is difficult to picture the unsettled conditions in Utah and Idaho during the raid against polygamists. Homes were broken up and families scattered among relatives or friends.……

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Parley Pratt and his great, great grandson

Parley Pratt and his great, great grandson

See the resemblance? Maybe in the nose and lips? The man on the left is Parley Pratt, Mitt Romney’s great, great grandfather.  Pratt was no run of the mill Mormon. He was one of the original “twelve apostles” who helped found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pratt was imprisoned in 1838 with Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, and driven out of Missouri by mobs of angry Protestants. Pratt had twelve wives and was later murdered by the estranged…

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Twin Reptiles

Twin Reptiles

Not much subtlety here. The popular political cartoonist Thomas Nast hated Catholics and Mormons.  The cartoon was published in 1880, a period when both Catholics and Mormons clout was rising – as was the backlash against both. Federal agents scoured Utah jailing more than 1,000 Mormons for practicing polygamy. Meanwhile, surging immigrant populations of Irish immigrants meant increasing clashes in schools over whether Protestant Ten Commandments and Bible should be forced on Catholic Children and whether federal dollars should support…

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Indian children at boarding school
Christianizing the Indian Children

Christianizing the Indian Children

After the Civil War, some wanted to exterminate the Indians. The “reformers” thought it would instead be wise to “Christianize” them. A key weapon: boarding schools that would purge Indian culture. “Education cuts the cord that binds [Indians] to a Pagan life, places the Bible in their hands, substitutes the true God for the false one, Christianity in place of idolatry … cleanliness in place of filth, industry in place of idleness, self-respect in place of servility, and, in a…

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