Summary Of Damnation Of Theron Ware

America beacons, but America repel is a slogan that sums up the experience of a vast majority of immigrants. This statement held water in the 18th and 19th century and it still holds truth today. During the 1840s up until the 1920s America had experienced an influx of immigration. These immigrants came from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and other European countries. They brought with them their own religions such as Catholicism, Judaism, and other religions that weren’t prominent in America. While America welcomed these immigrants with open arms, Americans rejected them. These new immigrants brought with them new ideas that conflicted with the old ideology causing some masses to question and change their religious life and others

The book Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic, the main character of the book a Methodist minister by the name of Theron Ware had received training that was deeply conservative and rejected secular ideas. He expected to be a minister in a big city, but instead was sent to a rural town. Here he befriends a catholic minister by the name of Forbes and a doctor by the name of Ledsmar. These two men live in an entirely different world than Ware. These men are not holding on to the ideology of the past and have incorporated and accepted secular ideas such as science. When Mr. Ware tries to accept these new notions in order to enter this new world he is rejected. This is reflective of the Methodist church. The Methodist church happens to be stuck in the past while the catholic one has to certain extent accepted some new ideas. In the Panic scene of the book it is shown that Catholics had organ music playing and where drinking while the Methodist were not. Ware is stuck in between the old world and the new one. He wants to be part of the new one, yet he does not want to denounce his religion. The interaction that Ware has with this people ultimately led him to abandon his life as a minister and become a

These people did so by getting policies passed that forced others to change their religious lives. One such policy was established due to the reasoning that the supreme court used to justify the sentence of a man by the name of Mr. Rugger. Mr. Ruggers was arrested because while intoxicated he decided to make vulgar rants against Jesus Christ. He was arrested and trialed for blasphemy. The court found him guilty. He takes his case to the supreme court and argues he his rights the supreme court however, also finds him guilty. The reasoning that the supreme court uses is that the local governments have the right to decide what is moral within their jurisdiction. This ruling would be used against the Jews. The Jewish community didn’t follow the protestant Sabbath. They opened up their shops on Sundays while protestants kept their shops closed. In an attempt to keep everyone from working on Sabbath the protestants passed Blue laws. These where laws that kept any one from conducting any form of business on Sunday. This laws were up held by the court on the basis of moral establishment. The Jews were forced to adapt to the protestant religious life. Not only did they have their own religious day off, but now they also had to follow the protestant Sabbath day as well whether they liked to or