Quote of the Day
Currently I am researching for a seminar paper on the politicization of Carl McIntire and what his story can tell us about the re-entrance of evangelicals into political discourse during the 1950s and 60s. Very little academic work has been done on Carl McIntire (though now that Princeton is processing his papers I expect more to follow) except for one 2007 article by Heather Hendershot in the American Quarterly.
Dr. Hendershot began the article with a piece of correspondence to Carl McIntire from an anonymous listener of his radio show, The Twentieth Century Reformation Hour.
500 years ago Moses said, “Pack your camel, pick up your shovel, mount your ass, and I shall lead you to the Promised land.” 500 years later, F.D. Roosevelt said, “Lay down your shovel, sit on your ass, light up a Camel, this is the promised land.” Today, Nixon will tax your shovel, sell your camel, kick your ass, and tell you there is no promised land.
P.S. I am glad that I am an American, I am glad that I am free, but I wish I were a little doggy and Nixon were a tree.
Sometime you’ll have to travel to Collingswood and look at the enlarged pictures on the walls of the fellowship hall and you’ll see a picture of your grandmother as a teenager leaving the Presbyterian church with Carl McIntire on their way to the tent where the new church would be meeting (which was on the same site as the Collingswood Bible Presbyterian Church fellowship hall is today).
I wanted to see grandma’s picture, but I was entranced by the two-foot-tall, gold leaf letters on the wall above the pulpit: “BE YE SEPARATE”
I thought Hendershot’s use of that quotation was a low blow. I know I’d hate to have an article about me headlined with a quotation from some dumb e-mail sent to me by an anonymous student.
I think it was probably a case of “Oh, here’s a funny quote. I should work it in somehow.” She didn’t make it transparent though, so I didn’t realize that it wasn’t McIntire himself right away either.