Word: socialism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Vogueing began in the 1960s in Harlem, where transvestites parodied Seventh Avenue by calling their social clubs houses and holding annual balls that featured the dance style. Voguers from clubs like the House of Dupree practiced their steps in downtown discos, spreading the craze. Myra Christopher, a salesclerk in designer Patricia Field's New York City boutique, helped vogueing flourish after she went to a ball in the winter of 1987. Says she: "Here were these kids getting prizes and trophies for things they get made fun of for in the real world." She persuaded her boss to start...
...American Protestantism, these churches shaped virtually every aspect of an evolving nation: its pioneering colleges, its 19th century novels of sin and rectitude, its capitalist ethic of striving and saving, and a world-conquering spirit that was shared by missionaries and entrepreneurs alike. Mainliners were at the forefront of social crusades from independence to abolition, women's suffrage to Prohibition, civil rights to Viet Nam protests...
...traditional Protestant churches dropped below replacement levels in the 1960s, and future trends are alarming because of the rising average ages of members. Moreover, note Roof and McKinney, while liberal congregations never excelled at converting nonbelievers, they used to attract a steady flow of "switchers" from other churches. Social-climbing gains by high-prestige mainline churches began to dwindle in the 1960s...
Paradoxically, mainline churches are being hurt by past success. Many are living off income earned from old wealth and feel no urgency to attract new supporters. They have also been lulled by their social status, which formerly made it possible to attract members without any effort. The Rev. Roger Zimmerman, who is industriously turning around a Disciples of Christ church near downtown Louisville, says that his socially prominent congregation long had a "white glove" mentality: "They didn't reach out and evangelize. They expected people to come of their own accord...
More important than rancor over specific positions is the impression that social crusading is turning the faith into a "political agenda masked with a veneer of spirituality," in the harsh words of Kent Hill of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy. A. James Reichley of the Brookings Institution believes that mainline "social and political action takes away from the religious focus." Mainliners sometimes seem more convinced about the virtues of the Sandinistas or the vices of Nestle than, say, the meaning of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection...