American Christianity and Communism during the Second Red Scare

Today, I read an interesting post on another blog regarding Conrad Hilton and anti-communism.  Most people think hotels or Paris Hilton's wealthy ancestor when they think of Conrad Hilton.  Most people do not recognize that he was an ardent Catholic who saw religion in general and Christianity in particular as a bulwark against communism.

In the post-World War II era, Christianity saw a huge boom, with perhaps more church members per capita than at any time in American history.  This was also the age of fervent anti-communism with Joseph McCarthy and his infamous lists and the HUAC hearings against anyone who happened to be even remotely related to communism.  If you even read Marx you were suspect and might lose your job.  Robin Hood even found itself on the anti-communist version of the Index of Prohibited Books because it advocated that communist idea of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.

The increase in religious sentiment in America during the 1940s and 1950s brings up an interesting question.  Was this Christianity more pro-Jesus or pro-America?  While Christianity and America are by no means mutually exclusive, some people seem to equate the mission of America and the mission of Christianity as one and the same.  I tend to view this as a danger, because America has at times been on the wrong side of issues (Indian policy and slavery are a couple of obvious examples far enough in the past not to engender a major political debate).  If Christians equate America's mission with that of Christianity, they are likely to unquestioningly stand by if something similar came across the radar in the future.  This subject is something that really interests me.  People have written quite a bit on the topic since the appearance of Robert Bellah's essay on American civil religion.  Harry Stout's Upon the Altar of the Nation traces this idea through the Civil War, showing how people came to kill based upon the idea that they were doing God's will (both sides had somewhat similar rhetoric).  This book really challenged my thinking, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.  The intro to Stout has a synopsis of Bellah's argument.

Is this viewpoint still as prevalent as it was in the 1940s and 1950s, or is America becoming so secularized that it does not matter?  Only time will tell.  I think both extremes can be dangerous.  Without a moral compass, people do bad things.  People can also think they are doing God's will and do bad things.  Neither is a good thing.

Top Book Suggestions for Christmas Gifts

It's now less than a month until Christmas.  While I'm not a huge fan of the all of the commercialism that is tied to the holiday, I confess I still celebrate with the family and give gifts (well, actually, my wife picks out all of the gifts, except for what I get her).  In light of this, here's a list of some of the most interesting books that I've read in the last year or so while in grad school.  Some are related to church history, some to some other field of history, and some to culture in general.  All can be purchased at Amazon.com through the wonderful link at the top of this blog.  

1. Emily Cockayne, Hubbub: Filth, Noise, and Stench in England, 1600-1770.  This book is a bit gross, but it is probably still my favorite that I've read since starting my doctoral program--probably because it's gross.  It discusses the life of common folk in early modern England in a, well, sort of gross manner.  Not related to church history.

2. D.A. Carson, Christ and Culture Revisisted.  Carson critiques Richard Neibuhr's Christ and Culture and looks at the relationship between Christians and society.  He discusses postmodernism and church/state relations.  If you can get through the first chapter, the rest of the book is a much easier (less deep) read.  I've been reading it along with some professors who were nice enough to ask me to join their reading group.

3. Timothy Keller, Generous Justice.  Critique of the much of Christian society from an evangelical insider.  Causes some serious thinking regarding prevalent evangelical thought on society and economics.

4. Mark Valeri, Heavenly Merchandize: How Religion Shaped Commerce in Puritan America.  This book looks at the change in Puritan attitudes to merchants from the Great Migration of the 1630s to the Great Awakening.  They started out pseudo-socialists and basically ended up rabid capitalists.  Find out why.

5. Harry Stout, Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War. This book looks in some ways at religious and moral thought during the Civil War, but ties it to thoughts prior to the war.  This book influenced my own thinking, and I utilized some of the thinking (with credit given, of course) in some of my recent work.

These are just a few recommendations.  Even if you're not going to buy these, you can still utilize the link to Amazon to buy anything that they have for Christmas gifts or at any time of the year.