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:
“Religion is an attempt to get an irrefragably safe investment, and this cannot be got, no matter how low the interest, which in the case of religion is about as low as it can be.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“If therefore my work is negative, irreligious, atheistic, let it be remembered that atheism—at least in the sense of this work—is the secret of religion itself; that religion itself, not indeed on the surface, but fundamentally, not in intention or according to its own supposition, but in its heart, in its essence, believes in nothing else than the truth and divinity of human nature.”
—Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872)
“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)