Christianity: Details about 'Social Gospel'
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The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The movement applies Christian principles to social problems, especially poverty, liquor, drugs, crime, racial tensions, slums, bad hygiene, poor schools, and the danger of war. Theologically the Social Gospel leaders were overwhelmingly post-Millenarian. That is they believed the Second Coming could not happen until mankind rid itself of social evils by humanly effort. They mostly rejected the Pre-Millenarian theology (which was strong in the South) that believed the Second Coming will be soon, and Christians should devote their energies to prepare mostly for it, rather than deal with social evils. Part of the Christian "modernism" trend with a strong emphasis on social justice, the movement is a rival to the later movements of evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity. The Social Gospel was a driving force in most of Protestant America. The Presbyterians said it best in 1910: The great ends of the church are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. In the early 20th century, many Americans were disgusted by the poverty level and the low quality of living in the slums. The social gospel movement provided one basis for those beliefs. They aimed to improve the lives of the poor. Many Catholic and Protestant clergymen despised crime and disease in lower-class slums, yet they did not see the connection between horrid living conditions and personal transgression. They believed that sin was a personal vice against God and that poverty itself was an "Act of God." Activists in the Social Gospel movement hoped that by providing decent food and shelter, as well as allowing the poor to develop talents and skills, the quality of their moral lives would begin to improve. Led by Protestant ministers, the ideas of the movement were based on Christian values. The most important concerns of the Social Gospel movement were labor reforms, such as abolishing child labor. Other concerns were to advocate civil service reform, regulate large corporations, and to implement heavy taxes on incomes and inheritances. Some reformers inspired by the movement opened settlement houses. They helped the poor and immigrants improve their lives. Settlement houses offered services such as daycare, education, and health care to needy people in slum neighborhoods. In the United States prior to World War I, the Social Gospel was the religious wing of the progressive movement which had the aim of combatting injustice, suffering and poverty in society. In this context, it is seen as having provided the philosophical underpinning for some elements of the New Deal, for example the work of Harry Hopkins. After 1940 the movement withered, but was invigorated by Black leaders like Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. After 1980 it weakened again as a major force inside mainstream churches; indeed the those churches were losing strength. Examples of its continued existence can still be found, notably the organization known as the Call to Renewal. The Social Gospel movement in the United States was parallel to the Christian socialism movement in Britain about the same time. The two movements came together in Canada, where they were especially influential. Many ministers became active in the socialist movement in the form of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and later the New Democratic Party. Tommy Douglas, a Baptist minister, was leader of the CCF from 1942 and the premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, where he led the first socialist government in North America and introduced universal public medicare to Canada. From 1961 to 1971 he led the New Democratic Party at the federal level. The Social Gospel was reflected in the novel In His Steps, written by the Congregational minister Charles Sheldon, who coined the motto "What would Jesus do?." Sheldon was committed to Christian Socialism and identified with the Social Gospel. One of the early theologians of the Social Gospel was Walter Rauschenbusch, and he indicated how Sheldon's novel inspired his theology. Social Gospel is still influential in Canada's United Church and in the Anglican Church but has less influence in the United States. It also remains influential among Christian socialist circles in Britain in the Church of England, Methodist and Calvinist movements. In Catholicism, liberation theology has similarities to the Social Gospel. In the Anglican Church, the social gospel has found expression in pacifism. Prominent Social Gospel advocates have included:
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