Religion
He was born into a wealthy Jewish family, and this is said to have caused some dilemmas while he was younger. He once went over to a Christian schoolmate's house to play, and he let slip that his father's real name was Levy. He was thereafter not invited to the house again.
His father also insisted for the sake of appearances that they should join a Christian church. They joined the First Church at 96th Street and Central Park West, but John Howard still maintained strict observation of Jewish dietary laws.
While at Williams College during his sophomore year, he was denied election to the editorial board of The Williams College Monthly because some students raised questions about his Jewish background. He would later say that is was a good experience because it forced him "to begin his struggle to come to terms with his Jewish identity".
Read more about this topic: John Howard Lawson
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“Not thou nor thy religion dost controule,
The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule,
But thou would’st have that love thy selfe: As thou
Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now,
Thou lov’st not, till from loving more, thou free
My soule: Who ever gives, takes libertie:
O, if thou car’st not whom I love
Alas, thou lov’st not mee.”
—John Donne (1572–1631)
“Every sect is a moral check on its neighbour. Competition is as wholesome in religion as in commerce.”
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
“I do love this people [the French] with all my heart, and think that with a better religion and a better form of government and their present governors their condition and country would be most enviable.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)