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:
“Whenever a taboo is broken, something good happens, something vitalizing.... Taboos after all are only hangovers, the product of diseased minds, you might say, of fearsome people who hadn’t the courage to live and who under the guise of morality and religion have imposed these things upon us.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“This is one of the paradoxes of the democratic movement—that it loves a crowd and fears the individuals who compose it—that the religion of humanity should have no faith in human beings.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“When I read of the vain discussions of the present day about the Virgin Birth and other old dogmas which belong to the past, I feel how great the need is still of a real interest in the religion which builds up character, teaches brotherly love, and opens up to the seeker such a world of usefulness and the beauty of holiness.”
—Olympia Brown (1835–1900)