What an interesting contrast with the situation today! Direct link to Mona J Law's post I never fully understood , Posted 3 years ago. Now God is everywhere; now God is in everything. Though he recognized that public schools mostly made religious exercises entirely inadmissable [sic], Schmucker still hoped that the teacher who is himself filled with holy zeal, who has himself learned to find in nature the temple of the living God, would bring his pupils into the temple and make them feel the presence there of the great immanent God (The Study of Nature, pp. Now we explore the message he brought to so many ordinary Americans, at a time when the boundaries between science and religion were being obliterated in both directions. By the mid-1930s, Rimmer had spoken to students at more than 4,000 schools. Even though Rimmer wasnt a YEChe advocated the gap theory, the same view that Morris himself endorsed at that pointhis Research Science Bureau was a direct ancestor of Morris organizations: in each case, the goal is (or was) to promote research that supports the scientific reliability of the Bible. 21-22). At the same time, he raised the burden of proof so high for evolution that no amount of evidence could have persuaded his followers to accept it. Radio became deeply integrated into people's lives during the 1920's. It transformed the daily lifestyles of its listeners. What of the billions of varieties that would be necessary for the gradual development of a horse out of a creature that is more like a civet cat than any other living creature? Rimmer and other fundamentalist leaders of the 1920s had no problem with vast geological ages, so for them Science Falsely So-Called really meant just evolution. Scientists themselves were, in the 1920s, among the most outspoken voices in this exchange. What was Fundamentalism during the 1920's and what did they reject? One of the most apparent ways was to refuse to join the league of nations. 190-91) the title says it all. How did fundamentalism affect society in the 1920's? Both groups differed in viewpoints on almost every topic. The pastor of one of the churches, William L. McCormick, served as moderator. 20-21. For more about Compton and design, see my article, Prophet of Science Part Two: Arthur Holly Compton on Science, Freedom, Religion, and Morality [PDF],Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith61 (September 2009): 175-90. Urbanites, for their part, viewed rural Americans as hayseeds who were hopelessly behind the times. If you arent breathless from reading the previous paragraph, please read it again. Why not? These agreements ultimately fell apart in the 1930s, as the world descended into war again. Define nativism and analyze the ways in which it affected the politics and society of the 1920s; Describe the conflict between urban Americans and rural fundamentalists; . Opposition to teaching evolution in public schools mainly began a few years after World War One, leading to thenationally publicized trialof a science teacher for breaking a brand new Tennessee law against teaching evolution in 1925though it was really the law itself that was in the dock. Direct link to jb268536's post What happen in 1920., Posted 3 months ago. Why not just put them in camps, make sure they're not against democracy then let them go? Darwinism, he wrote, has conferred upon philosophy and religion an inestimable benefit, by showing us that we must choose between two alternatives. The external groups for which a subject functions as folk-science can vary enormously in their size, sophistication and influence, necessitating different styles of communication. The unmatched prosperity and cultural advancement was accompanied by intense social unrest and reaction. https://philschatz.com/us-history-book/contents/m50153.html. This material is adapted from Edward B. Davis, Fundamentalism and Folk Science Between the Wars,Religion and American Culture5 (1995): 217-48. Ravetz has defined a very helpful concept, folk science, as that part of a general world-view, or ideology, which is given special articulation so that it may provide comfort and reassurance in the face of the crucial uncertainties of the world of experience. This obviously maps quite well onto Rimmers creationism, but it can also map onto real science, especially when science is extrapolated into an all-encompassing world view. They must have had families. There has always been nativism, in many time periods, including now :(, immigrants have not been welcome. Lets go further into this particular rhetorical move. fundamentalism, type of conservative religious movement characterized by the advocacy of strict conformity to sacred texts. The fundamentalism can be better considered a response to the horrors of WWI and the involvement in international affairs, although it was partially a response to the new, modern, urban, and science-based society, as shown in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Direct link to Alex's post The fundamentalism can be, Posted 3 years ago. Basically, Rimmer was appealing to two related currents in American thinking about science, both of them quite influential in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and still to some extent today. The trial was exacerbated and publicized to draw attention to Dayton, Tennessee, as well as the fundamentalism vs. evolution argument. Most religious scientists from Schmuckers time embraced that position. In retrospect, one of his most important engagements happened at Rice Institute (nowRice Universityin 1943. No longer is He the Creator who in the distant past created a world from which He now stands aloof, excepting as He sees it to need His interference. Contemporary creationistscontinue this tradition, but their targets are more numerous. Although he never published any important research, Schmucker was admired by colleagues for his ability to communicate science accurately and effectively to lay audiences, without dumbing downso much so, that toward the end of World War One he was elected president of theAmerican Nature Study Society, the oldest environmental organization in the nation. Born in San Francisco in 1890, his father died when he was just five years old. Morris hoped Rimmer would address the whole student body, but in the end he only spoke to about sixty Christian students. When then asked to stand again if they found Schmucker more persuasive, it seemed that only this same small group stood up and those who voted seemed not to have had their preconceived ideas changed by the debate. Rimmers own account (in a letter to his wife) differed markedly; he claimed that Schmuckers support nearly disappeared, while gloating over his rhetorical conquest. Indeed, the basic folk-science of the educated sections of the advanced societies is Science itself (Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems, pp. Rimmer was a highly experienced debater who knew how to work a crowd, especially when it was packed with supporters who considered him an authority and appreciated his keen wit. But, at the time, they were seen as a promising path to maintaining the peace. 386-87). A second idea embedded in Rimmers rhetoric was emblazoned on the gondola in the balloon cartoon: Science Falsely So-Called, which references 1 Timothy 6:20, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called. For centuries, Christian authors have used this phrase derisively to label various philosophical views that they saw as opposed to the Bible, including Gnosticism, but since the early nineteenth century natural history has probably been the most common target. Fundamentalism is usually characterized by scholars as a religious response to modernism, especially the theory of evolution as an explanation of human origins and the idea that solutions to problems can be found without regard to traditional religious values. As a young man, Sunday . I learned about it in two books that provide excellent analyses of both creationism and naturalistic evolutionism as examples of folk science; seeHoward J. How did fundamentalism affect America? In passages such as these, Schmucker stripped God of transcendence and removed from the laws of nature every ounce of contingency that has been so important for thedevelopment of modern science. For the moment, however, I will call attention to a position that gave him high visibility in Philadelphia, a long trip by local rail from his home in West Chester. The invitation came from a young instructor of engineering,Henry Morris, who went on to become the most influential young-earth creationist of his generation. These fundamentalists used the bible to guide their actions throughout the 1920's. Come back to see what happens. Direct link to Liam's post Would the matter of both , Posted 4 years ago. For the first time, the Census of 1920 reported that more than half of the American population now were indulging in urban life. This year, 2021, legislatures in many states are mounting a similar offensive against critical race theory. Fundamentalism has benefited from serious attention by historians, theologians, and social scientists. Shortly after World War Two, as the ASA grew in size, its increasingly well-trained members began to distance themselves from Rimmers strident antievolutionism, just as Morris was abandoning Rimmers gap view in favor of George McCready Pricesversion of flood geology: two ships heading in opposite directions. BioLogos believes the same thing, but not in the same way: our concept of scientific knowledge is quite different. When the test is made, this modern science generally fails, and passes on to new theories and hypotheses, but this never hinders a certain type of dogmatists from falling into the same error, and positively asserting a new theory as a scientifically established fact. With seating for about 4,000 people, it was more than half full when Rimmer debated Schmucker about evolution in November 1930. Distinctions of this sort, between false (modern) science on the one hand and true science on the other hand, are absolutely fundamental to creationism. He had been up late for a night or two before the debate, going over his plans with members of the Prophetic Testimony of Philadelphia, the interdenominational group that sponsored the debate as well as the lengthy series of messages that led up to it. Over a period of three hundred years of slavery in America White slave owners built a sophisticated structure to sustain their brutally corrupt and immoral system. At a meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation in 1997, biochemist Walter Hearn (left) presents a plaque to the first president of the ASA, the lateF. Alton Everest, a pioneering acoustical engineer from Oregon State University. Science, in studying them, is studying him. 92-3. Harry Rimmer got off to a very rough start. The term has been co-opted in recent decades to give it a specifically anti-evolutionary meaning; design and evolution are now usually seen as mutually exclusive explanations, which was not true in Schmuckers day. These fundamentalists used the bible to guide their actions throughout the 1920's. A perfect example of this would be the increased amount of charity . Like todays creationists, Rimmer had a special burden for students. The 1920s was a decade of change, when many Americans owned cars, radios, and telephones for the first time. The telephone connected families and friends. The last two parts examined some of Rimmers activities and ideas. The modern culture encouraged more freedom for young people and women. In a book written many years ago, four faculty members from Calvin College pointed out that folk science provides a standing invitation to the unwary to confuse science with religionsomething that still happens all too often. Add an answer. The 1920s was a decade of change, when many Americans owned cars, radios, and telephones for the first time. I do not know.. This cartoon, drawn by W. D. Ford forWhy Be an Ape?, a book published in 1936 by the English journalist Newman Watts. Wasnt that just putting the work of the wholly immanent God into practice, by applying the divine process of evolution to ourselves? They reacted to the rapid social changes of modern urban society with a vigorous . He actually felt that atheistic materialism is dead, and that Nature Study would help show the way toward a new kind of belief, rooted in the conviction that God is everywhere. MrDonovan. Like most fundamentalists then and now, he saw high schools, colleges, and universities as hotbeds of religious doubt. Apparently, Rimmer had originally sought to debate the renowned paleontologistWilliam King Gregory from theAmerican Museum of Natural History, but that didnt work out. This was true for the U.S. as a whole. As far as we can tell from the evidence available today, Harry Rimmers debate with Samuel Christian Schmucker was of this type. The cars brought the need for good roads. 13-14) Ultimately, Schmucker all but divinized eugenics as the source of our salvation; he believed it was the best means to eliminate sinful behaviors, including sexual promiscuity, the exploitation of workers, and undemocratic systems of government. Secularism's premise is that social stability can be achieved without reliance on religion. How did America make its feelings about nativism and isolationism known? Evangelicalism (/ i v n d l k l z m, v n-,- n-/), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experiences personal conversion; the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity . When people think of the 1920s, many imagine a golden era filled with flappers and Jazz, solo flights across the Atlantic, greater freedoms for women, a nascent movement for African American civil rights and a boom-time for capitalist expansion. Writing to his wife that afternoon, he had envisioned himself driving a team of oxen through the holes in his opponents arguments, just what he wished the Trojans would do to the Irish: they didnt; Notre Dame won, 27-0,before 90,000 fans. Every immigrant was seen as an enemy fundamentalism clashed with the modern culture in many ways. Rimmer wasnt actually from Kansas, but he liked to advertise a formal connection he had made with asmall state college there. Samuel Christian Schmuckers Christian vocation was to educate people about the great immanent God all around us. Portrait of S. C. Schmucker in the latter part of his life, by an unknown artist, Schmucker Science Center, West Chester University of Pennsylvania. The telephone connected families and friends. This was especially relevant for those who were considered Christians. Eight decades later, the horse remains atextbook example of evolution, and creationists still demand more transitional formsdespite the fact that, as creation scientistTodd Woodadmits, the evolutionists got that one right. Direct link to Jacob Aznavoorian's post who opposed nativism in t, Posted 3 years ago. While prosperous, middle-class Americans found much to celebrate about a new era of leisure and consumption, many Americansoften those in rural areasdisagreed on the meaning of a "good life" and how to achieve it. A narrow bibliolatry, the product not of faith but of fear, buried the noble tradition (quoting the 1976 edition ofThe Christian View of Science and Scripture, p. 9). The twin horns of that dilemma still substantially shape religious responses to evolution. Direct link to gonzalezaaliyah's post How did America make its , Posted 2 years ago. The old and the new came into sharp conflict in the 1920s. Often away from home for extended periods, Rimmer wrote many letters to his wife Mignon Brandon Rimmer. Schmucker wrote five books about evolution, eugenics, and the environment for major publishing houses. Without a transcendent lawgiver to stand apart from nature as our judge, it was not hard to see eugenic reforms as morally appropriate means to spread the kingdom of God on earth. This photograph from the early 1930s was given to me by his son, the late John J. Compton. This article explores fundamentalists, modernists, and evolution in the 1920s. Fundamentalism vs. Modernism . But, since Im an historian and the subject is history, please pay attention. This was especially relevant for those who were considered Christians. The laws of nature are eternal even as God is eternal. Despite the fact that Isaac Newton himself had explicitly rejected both the physics and the theology he was about to utter, Schmucker then said that gravitation is inherent in the nature of the bodies. Harding worked to preserve the peace through international cooperation and the reduction of armaments around the world. The arguments of the Scopes Trial, which is also known as the "Monkey Trial", have been carried far past the year of 1925. One of the key developments in the Middle East over the last three decades has been the rise of what commentators variously call political Islam, Islamism, and Islamic . The balmy weather took him back to his home in southern California, back to his wife of fifteen years and their three children, back to the USC Trojans and the big home game just two weeks away against a great team from Notre Dame in what would prove to beKnute Rocknes final season. The grandfather,Samuel Simon Schmucker, founded theLutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg; his son, Allentown pastorBeale Melanchthon Schmucker, helped found a competing institution, TheLutheran Philadelphia Seminary. Id like to think that Hearn and others, including those of us here at BioLogos, have found a viable third way. Shortly before most of the world had heard of Dawkins, theologian Conrad Hyers offered a similar analysis. We shouldnt be surprised by this. Harry Rimmer at about age 40, from a brochure advertising the summer lecture series at the Winona Lake Bible Conference in 1934. It could be argued that fundamentalism is a serious contemporary problem that affects all aspects of society and will likely influence all cultures for the foreseeable future. Years later, Morris expressed disappointment that he didnt get a chance to talk to Rimmer afterward, owing to another commitment: he had been eagerly looking forward to getting to know [Rimmer] personally, hoping to secure his guidance for what I hoped might become a future testimony in the university world somewhat like his own (A History of Modern Creationism, p. 91). The moment came during his rebuttal. What caused the rise of fundamentalism? This caused a sense of fear and paranoia in American . What really got him going wasNature Study, a national movement among science educators inspired by Louis Agassiz famous maxim to Study nature, not books. But, they didnt get along, and perhaps partly for that reason the grandson was an Episcopalian. As a defendant, the ACLU enlisted teacher and coach, A photograph shows a group of men reading literature that is displayed outside of a building. T. Martin, Headquarters / Anti-Evolution League / The Conflict-Hell and the High School.. Such is, in fact . A regular at several prestigious venues in the Northeast, he was best known for his annual week-long series at theChautauqua Institution, the mother of all American bully pulpits. The author desires to clearly distinguish in this article between true science, (which is knowledge gained and verified) and modern science, which is largely speculation and theory., In Rimmers opinion, it was precisely this false sciencebased on speculative hypotheses rather than absolute knowledge of proven factsthat led youth to sneer at Christian faith because it is not scientific, to turn their backs on godly living and holiness of conduct, [and] to make shipwrecks of their lives as they drift away from every mooring that would hold in times of stress. Thus, Rimmer concluded that MODERN SCIENCE IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN! In other words, genuine science is Just the facts, Maam.. Wahhabism (Arabic: , romanized: al-Wahhbiyya) is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist movement originating in Najd, Arabia.Founded eponymously by 18th-century Arabian scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Wahhabism is followed primarily in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.. Once used exclusively to refer to American Protestants who insisted on the inerrancy of the Bible, the term fundamentalism was applied more broadly beginning in the late 20th century to a wide variety of religious movements. Direct link to David Alexander's post One of the most apparent . In the 1920s William Simmons created a new Klan, seizing on Americans' fears of immigrants, Communism, and anything "un-American.". Without such, its impossible to claim that science and a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible agree. Courtesy of Edward B. Davis. After introducing the combatants, McCormick announced the proposition to be debated: That the facts of biology sustain the theory of evolution., Schmucker wanted to accomplish two things: to state the evidence for adaptation and natural selection and to refute the claim that evolution is irreligious. Fundamentalism was especially strong in rural America. They founded "The Klan" to protect the interests of the white popularity. The modern culture encouraged more freedom for young people and women. Why do you think there was a backlash against modernity in the 1920s? One of the best things about many post-Darwinian theologies (and thats what Schmucker was writing here) is a very strong turn to divine immanence, an important corrective to many pre-Darwinian theologies, which tended to see Gods creative activityonlyin miracles of special creation, making it very difficult to see how God could work through the continuous process of evolution. As a brief synopsis, initially, urban Americans believed in modernism . Nature Study was intended for school children, and in Schmuckers hands it became a tool for religious instruction of a strongly pantheistic flavor. I have also quoted newspaper accounts of the debate, Kansan [Rimmer] Wins in Debate on Theory of Evolution,Philadelphia Public Ledger, 23 November 1930, part II, 2; and See Divine Will Behind All of Life,Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 24 November 1930, 16. For more than thirty years, historians have been probing beneath the surface of apparent conflicts, searching for the underlying reasons why people with different beliefs have sometimes clashed over matters involving science. Those who share my interest in baseball history are invited to read John A. Lucas, The Unholy ExperimentProfessional Baseballs Struggle against Pennsylvania Sunday Blue Laws, 1926-1934,Pennsylvania History38 (1971): 163-75. Additionally, the first radio broadcasts and motion pictures expanded Americans' access to news and entertainment. These eternally restless particles are not God: but in them he is manifest. When laws are challenged it shakes the town or city one is apart of. Direct link to Keira's post There has always been nat, Posted 3 years ago. Hams version of natural history qualifies fully as folk science.. Between 1880 and 1920, conservative Christians began . Naturalistic evolutionism views the cosmos as an independent, autonomous, material machine named NATUREa singularly meaningless image compared with the rich biblical vision of the cosmos as Gods CREATION (Portraits of Creation, pp. The heat of battle would ignite the fire inside him, and the flames would illuminate the truth of his position while consuming the false doctrines of his enemy. A small proportion of the audience stood, a reporter wrote. To understand this more fully, lets examine Rimmers view of scientific knowledge. As he had done so many times before, he had defeated an opponents theory by citing a particular fact.. But modern science is the opinion of current thought on many subjects, and has not yet been tested or proved. Rimmers son had him pegged well: Dad never won the argument; he always won the audience (interview with Ronald L. Numbers, 15 May 1984, as quoted in Numbers,The Creationists, expanded edition, p. 66). Interestingly, Wikipedia pages exist for his father and grandfather, two of the most important Lutheran clergy in American history, while electronic information about the grandson is minimal, despite his notoriety ninety years ago. That subtlety was probably lost on the audience, which responded precisely as Rimmer wanted and expected: with loud applause for an apparently crippling blow. During the 1920s, three Republicans occupied the White House: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.