International Peace Mission movement

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The International Peace Mission movement was the religious movement started by Father Divine, an African-American who claimed to be God.

[edit] History

The movement suffered a scandal beginning on the night of November 13, 1936 when a wealthy follower in California, John Wuest Hunt, calling himself John the Revelator, began to claim that he was "Jesus the Christ". He was arrested after a riotous devotional where the millionaire threw $10,000 cash to followers from a balcony. Following a trial where he was convicted of disturbing the peace, California devotees asked Father Divine for a statement. He affirmed that he was the only true manifestation of God but stopped short of condemning John the Revelator. The Revelator subsequently began touring Peace Mission congregations in a Packard he called his "Golden Chariot" driven by a follower who adopted the name Ben Hur.

On December 16 in Denver, Colorado, John the Revelator met the family of Elizabeth and Lee Jewett. After talking with their 17 year-old daughter Delight he renamed her Virgin Mary. John the Revelator assured the parents they would have an important place in the church. That night, he took her back to California without her parent's consent.

John the Revelator began sexual relations with her. He announced that she would give birth to a "New Redeemer" by "immaculate conception" in Hawaii. When Father Divine learned this, the leader was outraged that he violated his commitment to chastity and summoned him to Harlem. He reprimanded John the Revelator and sent Delight Jewett to a commune in Kingston, New York. When the Jewetts arrived, Father Divine warmly welcomed them, apologized and brought them to the collected farm where their daughter was. The parents were horrified to learn that she wouldn't even hug them because she claimed that their mortality should not touch her immortality. The Jewetts demanded compensation, but after the Movement's attorneys conducted an internal investigation, they refused. Outraged, the Jewetts offered their story to the highest bidder.

It was snapped up by William Randolph Hearst's "New York Evening Journal", an established critic of the movement. They furnished the Jewetts with a stipend, attorney, and alerted the FBI which conducted its own investigation and issued a flurry of warrants for those involved with the "transport of a minor across state lines for immoral purposes." After a manhunt and trial, John Hunt was sentenced to three years and adopted a new name, the "Prodigal Son." Father Divine agreed with the conviction of John the Revelator, but the scandal brought bad publicity to the movement. Newspaper accounts fueled the impression the movement was a cult that lured in and brainwashed gullible followers.

Public perception of the movement continued to flag and the movement suffered a series of setbacks. In March 1937, Mother Divine fell ill in Kingston, New York. The press widely reported that Father Divine didn't visit her as she died. He kept running the church, only visiting her once in Kingston. On April 20, 1937, a violent outburst occurred in a meeting when two men tried to deliver Father Divine summons. One of the men, Harry Green, was stabbed as Father Divine disappeared. During this time, one of Father Divines most prominent members, Faithful Mary, defected and took control of the Promised Land which was technically in her name. Of the Father she said, "he's just a damned man."

In early May Father Divine was located and extradited from Connecticut, Faithful Mary published against him alleging he defrauded his followers in many ways to maintain a rich lifestyle for himself. However, the most sensational charges were sexual. She claimed homosexuality was prominent in the sexually segregated communes, particularly among females. She claimed that Father Divine coerced females to have sex with key disciples.

In May, Verinda Brown filed a lawsuit for $4476 against Father Divine. The Browns had entrusted their savings with Father Divine in Syville back in 1931. They left the movement in 1935 wishing to live as husband and wife again, but were unable to get their money back. In light of their evidence and testimony from Faithful Mary and other critical of the movement, the court ordered repayment of the money. However, this opened up an enormous liability for the movement, so it resisted and appealed the order. In 1938 however, fortunes for the movement changed. Mother Divine recovered, the press softened its tone, and Faithful Mary, impoverished and broken, amazingly returned to the movement. Father Divine, however, made her grovel for forgiveness, which she did.

In the late 1930s the first "order" in the movement had evolved. The "Rosebuds" were first formed in California out of female followers. Rosebuds adopted the uniform of a blue skirt, white blouse, and red 'V' standing for "virgin". By 1941 they were officially recognized by the movement and soon joined by the "Crusaders", their bowtie-wearing male equivalents.

In this period and through 1942, the Father Divine centralized the movement into a formal church. Although this reduced the number of outposts, it put the organization under more firm control in the northeast. Three formal churches were set up in 1941, the Circle Mission Church, the Unity Mission Church, and the Palace Mission Church. Although they all had the same constitution and doctrines, they were financially independent. This redundancy made the movement stronger against legal attacks.

As the movement waned in the 1940s, several prominent members left. John Lamb claimed that he never believed Father Divine was God and only followed him to serve the poor. John Wuerst Hunt, the millionaire womanizer who was then called the "Prodigal Son" had an intimate relationship with a prominent Rosebud Carol. They left the movement to be married. He launch voracious printed attacks against Father Divine and accused Father Divine of forcing members including minors to participate in all sorts of sex acts. An FBI investigation found that the charges were baseless and that Hunt had bribed witnesses, however.

[edit] References

God Comes to America: Father Divine and the Peace Mission Movement, Kenneth E. Burnham, Boston: Lambeth Press, 1979 ISBN 0-931186-01-3
Father Divine and the Struggle for Racial Equality, Robert Weisbrot, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983 ISBN 0-7910-1122-4
God, Harlem U.S.A: the Father Divine story, Jill Watts, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992 ISBN 0-520-07455-6