Session Abstract

This panel explores the ways in which, throughout the twentieth century, religious institutions in the United States challenged barriers of class, race, ethnicity, and gender. In keeping with the 2012 AHA conference theme of “Communities and Networks,” the papers document a recurring process by which both established bodies and innovative organizations called existing conceptions of community into question. The panelists, through studies of different periods and locations in twentieth-century America, challenge historical accounts that have suggested that religious institutions fostered social division. Each paper argues the opposite case: religious organizations – even those that did not make overcoming societal divisions their primary goal – have consistently proved to be agents of social change. Such groups have represented vehicles for building communities marked by greater racial, ethnic, socio-economic, and gender inclusiveness.

David Mislin examines the Maine Interdenominational Commission of the early twentieth century and argues that the organization, which intended to foster efficiency by combining churches of different denominations, ultimately brought together people from highly divergent socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Melinda Johnson traces the development of Church Women United at mid-century and shows how a cross-denominational group of women created a mission-focused body that transcended racial and ethnic division, while at the same time providing space for its members to reconsider issues of gender. Finally, Hannah Waits turns to Roman Catholicism and explores efforts by the Diocese of Atlanta to overcome ethnic division by creating new avenues of religious participation for the Latin American immigrants who arrived in the city during the 1980s and 1990s.

The panelists do not simply consider the triumphs of their groups. They also examine the obstacles that impeded efforts to imagine broader communities. Whether in the form of disagreements about doctrine and polity in Maine, tensions surrounding gender roles in Church Women United, or conflict between immigrants and native-born Catholics in Atlanta, the proponents of new ideals in each group struggled against the forces of popular racial, ethnic, socio-economic, and, indeed, religious prejudice. Collectively, these papers offer significant contributions to our understanding of the unique possibilities and challenges that have accompanied attempts by Christian Americans to imagine broader, more inclusive communities.