The Politics of American Religious Identity

The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Church, Clergy, Denominations, Mormonism, Reference & Language, Law, Constitutional
Cover of the book The Politics of American Religious Identity by Kathleen Flake, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kathleen Flake ISBN: 9780807863541
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: December 15, 2005
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Kathleen Flake
ISBN: 9780807863541
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: December 15, 2005
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Between 1901 and 1907, a broad coalition of Protestant churches sought to expel newly elected Reed Smoot from the Senate, arguing that as an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smoot was a lawbreaker and therefore unfit to be a lawmaker. The resulting Senate investigative hearing featured testimony on every peculiarity of Mormonism, especially its polygamous family structure. The Smoot hearing ultimately mediated a compromise between Progressive Era Protestantism and Mormonism and resolved the nation's long-standing "Mormon Problem." On a broader scale, Kathleen Flake shows how this landmark hearing provided the occasion for the country--through its elected representatives, the daily press, citizen petitions, and social reform activism--to reconsider the scope of religious free exercise in the new century.
Flake contends that the Smoot hearing was the forge in which the Latter-day Saints, the Protestants, and the Senate hammered out a model for church-state relations, shaping for a new generation of non-Protestant and non-Christian Americans what it meant to be free and religious. In addition, she discusses the Latter-day Saints' use of narrative and collective memory to retain their religious identity even as they changed to meet the nation's demands.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Between 1901 and 1907, a broad coalition of Protestant churches sought to expel newly elected Reed Smoot from the Senate, arguing that as an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smoot was a lawbreaker and therefore unfit to be a lawmaker. The resulting Senate investigative hearing featured testimony on every peculiarity of Mormonism, especially its polygamous family structure. The Smoot hearing ultimately mediated a compromise between Progressive Era Protestantism and Mormonism and resolved the nation's long-standing "Mormon Problem." On a broader scale, Kathleen Flake shows how this landmark hearing provided the occasion for the country--through its elected representatives, the daily press, citizen petitions, and social reform activism--to reconsider the scope of religious free exercise in the new century.
Flake contends that the Smoot hearing was the forge in which the Latter-day Saints, the Protestants, and the Senate hammered out a model for church-state relations, shaping for a new generation of non-Protestant and non-Christian Americans what it meant to be free and religious. In addition, she discusses the Latter-day Saints' use of narrative and collective memory to retain their religious identity even as they changed to meet the nation's demands.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book The 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the Struggle against Atlantic Slavery by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Private Woman, Public Stage by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book The Works of James M. Whitfield by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Political Terrain by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Capturing the South by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Learning from the Wounded by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Hiking and Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway, Revised and Expanded Edition by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Long Gray Lines by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book The Rough Road Home by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Beyond the Alamo by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Research to Revenue by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Past into Present by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Telling Histories by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book Oral History by Kathleen Flake
Cover of the book The Imagined Civil War by Kathleen Flake
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy