Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Purity: The Young People On Purity

Purity: The Young People On Purity

Last updated on: November 11, 2017 at 2:18 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Purity: The Young People On Purity 2017-11-11T14:18:46-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

photo-1473594659356-a404044aa2c2_opt

This is purity.

It is important to know what the students in our public schools are thinking. Here is a poem published in The Daisy, a literary journal for a Brooklyn high school, in November.

We have to recall that what kids say in high school does not always endure. People change their minds, after all, but it is a good way to spot trends. For telling the future is hard, but one way, at least one way people in my social media feed keep suggesting, is to see what the kids are saying.

Here is Michael Sophrin, Brooklyn, on purity:

Purity

By Michael Sophrin.

Forth she stepped from the purest sky,

And stood upon the mortal earth.

She glanced about with tossing eyes-

She cast a gaze into each heart

Of human generosity,

And of human false pretenses.

Again she stared, again she looked,

And again and again she sought

To find a home upon this Earth,

to find a throne of honesty

Where she, purity, might reign.

As she stood in veiled gown,

As she weighed Heaven and Earth-

Heaven, no of man’s vile actions,

Not the seat of godless rulers,

Not the Palace of Injustice,

Not the home of greatest suffering-

As she stood there thus debating,

Clouds descended and she entered;

Heaven demanded purity.

That’s what the kids said in November of 1910.

Purity. We need it, we want it, but it cannot come down from Heaven because we are not fit for it. Whatever the merits of the poem as poetry, it does seem to reflect the idealism of the class that had not yet known World War and was growing up under progressive Republicanism. The kids saw the problems–purity could not dwell here–where canning companies could pawn off impure foods as wholesome and too many people covered up for human sufferings.

There is no reason to doubt that the bulk of the kids wanted a better world. Magazines carried names like The Christian Century and science was making life better. If our hearts could be pure, then this power would make the world better than it was.

As far is it goes, for all the religions represented in Brooklyn in 1910, the American world did get better, though horrible times were coming in Europe for the Jewish people just finding some equality in New York City.

Justice did improve for many who were excluded. Standards of living went up, and science solved many of our physical problems. Yet godless rulers, officially atheist states, would start mass murder within eight years of this poem being published. Injustice receded with colonialism, but new injustices, like the murder of unborn children, joined hidden manifestations of old evils such as racism.

The difference is that nobody wanted purity anymore. Fringe groups of Christians reduced “purity” to sexual behavior of women (and ignored men) taking the parts of Edwardian culture that should have died and reviving it while forgetting the broader meaning of the term. Purity was not just for women or about about sex, purity culture meant: protecting the air from polluters, our medicine from adulteration, and our politics from graft through civil service reform.

A lot of the answers of 1910 were half-hearted or just wrong, but purity was a goal: honesty, transparency, a square deal. By the time this lad would have been eighty, purity was not desired and more derided or debased. I don’t know which was worse.

Those who debased “purity” by talking about the old ideal while they only talked up a misunderstanding may have made the world useless for decades. Of course, this mistake was made, in part, because another group became intent on deriding sexual purity in any form. Both groups forgot the seamless garment of purity that led from the political to the personal: purity as integrity, honesty, cleanliness.

Maybe young Mr. Sophrin was right and purity did ascend to Heaven and leave us bereft in 1910.

God help us that would explain a great deal.

We were left with science, urges toward justice, and many other goods, but without purity to guide our way. Who does not look at polluters and wish for purity? Who does not see children forced to attend filthy schools and argue for purity? Turn on the television and hear our President and politicians use foul and debased rhetoric and we plead for purity.

Let’s aspire to pure justice, pure air, pure politics, even if we cannot quite attain it.

God send us purity again and recall our weakness.

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

November 5, 2017

The Enduring Wit of Teachers: November, 1907 Calling

Next Post

November 7, 2017 We Meant Well: The Millions Dead Were an Excess of Enthusiasm

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What book comes after Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ecclesiastes Isaiah Daniel Psalms

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »