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Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Immigration Reform and the Waning of Mainline Protestantism

Online ISBN:
9781479803569
Print ISBN:
9781479803545
Publisher:
NYU Press
Book

Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Immigration Reform and the Waning of Mainline Protestantism

Nicholas T. Pruitt
Nicholas T. Pruitt
Eastern Nazarene College
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Published online:
20 January 2022
Published in print:
22 June 2021
Online ISBN:
9781479803569
Print ISBN:
9781479803545
Publisher:
NYU Press

Abstract

Open Hearts, Closed Doors examines the 40 years following the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924 and how white, mainline Protestants considered immigrants and refugees during this period. During these years the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War elevated the importance of immigration and American national identity. Mainline Protestants were accustomed to serving as cultural gatekeepers for much of US history, but they found their hold on an increasingly diverse American society much more tenuous as the twentieth century unfolded. Evident in their home missions and political lobbying, mainline Protestants approached pluralism with both apprehension and hope. Mainline Protestants responded to immigrants and refugees with both a conservative concern over the impact they would have on the nation and a steady resolve to incorporate immigrants into American society, while also challenging the racism that was enshrined in immigration policy. By 1965, when such policy was overturned, mainline Protestants continued to support a measure of cultural diversity while still working to maintain the nation’s Protestant identity. In short, they arrived at a pluralistic bargain. This history helps account for the waning influence of mainline Protestantism in American society and its role in shaping a more diverse nation.

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