Thursday, June 13, 2024
PMT: Father Coughlin
Perhaps you have never heard of Father Charles Coughlin, but it might be time to do so.
He was the parish priest at the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan but was mostly significant because of his very popular radio show, The Hour of Power. He began broadcasting in 1926, and was hugely influential until World War II. He was a Christian leader who was expressly political. His agenda included pushing for an "America First" foreign policy and staunch anti-communism. Though he promoted unions, he evolved into a right-wing defender of Hitler's actions in the 1930's, including Kristallnacht. In 1938, he promoted the emerging Christian Front, a militia-like organization which vowed to defend America from Communists and Jews. Anti-semitism became a major part of his theology.
At his peak in the 1930's, about 30 million people listened to his weekly broadcasts-- about a quarter of the U.S. population of 120 million.
Ultimately, his activities were curtailed when World War II began. He opposed U.S. involvement in the war, predictably blaming Jews for the conflict.
I hope that it will not take a world war to create broad rejection of Christian nationalism in our own time.
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