Zion choir members pose for a formal portrait.
American Lutherans and World War I By Laura Gifford
A
s a devout Presbyterian, President Woodrow Wilson understood the significance of 1917. Four centuries aſter Martin Luther’s courageous stand unleashed
the Protestant Reformation, Europe was again embroiled in conflict. By April, Wilson had concluded the U.S. must join the fight. Proclaiming before Congress that “the world must be
made safe for democracy,” Wilson concluded with words liſted straight from the Diet of Worms: “God helping her, [America] can do no other” (Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith by Andrew Preston; Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). Between the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and
U.S. entrance in 1917, Lutherans tended to be nominally pro-German. Many were descended from German immi- grants, but even Scandinavian Lutherans inherited their ancestral lands’ suspicion of Britain. Te war upon Ger- many unleashed a wave of soul-searching and recrimina- tion from outsiders who viewed Lutherans as “foreign.”
Viewed with suspicion Many Lutheran churches, especially in the more recently settled Midwest, offered services in German, Norwegian, Swedish or other Scandinavian languages. Families oſten settled in church-centered ethnic communities. But war turned community assets into liabilities. As
xenophobia (fear of strangers) swept the nation, Ameri- cans established defense councils, renamed sauerkraut “liberty cabbage” and heaped suspicion upon non-Eng- lish speakers. Government authorities also required the ethnic press to file translations of all articles, said Maria Erling, historian of the Lutheran Teological Seminary at Gettsyburg (Pa.). Fears of perceived disloyalty led Scandi- navian churches to hasten a transition to English already underway within a new, American-born generation. German churches fell under particular suspicion.
Many responded with Americanization campaigns. For example, Zion Lutheran, Ann Arbor, Mich., stopped its
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www.thelutheran.org
During World War I, Zion Lutheran Church, Ann Arbor, Mich., placed a U.S. flag above the altar.
100
years ago,
‘patriots’ in any language
BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR
BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR
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