John Howard Lawson - Religion

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:

    India has 2,000,000 gods, and worships them all. In religion other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    It is manifest therefore that they who have sovereign power, are immediate rulers of the church under Christ, and all others but subordinate to them. If that were not, but kings should command one thing upon pain of death, and priests another upon pain of damnation, it would be impossible that peace and religion should stand together.
    Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)

    The only human beings I have thoroughly admired and respected in the world have been those who carried the load of the world with a smile, and who, in the face of anxieties that would have knocked me clean out, never showed a tremor. Such men and women end by owning us, soul and body, and our allegiance can never be shaken. We are only too glad to be owned. Religion is nothing but this.
    Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)