and they wanted to be the perfect immigrants, so they joined the unitarian church. she dropped her catholicism, he dropped his anglicanism. they became charter members of the unitarian church, which meant being teetotalers and doing all the right things. the father worked very hard. the idea was to better yourself, and it's the perfect immigrant experience. [william carlos williams] they came here to new york, moved to rutherford, and here i was born. i have one brother. we were both born here. [james laughlin] i think he went to grade school here in rutherford, but at 14, he and his brother were sent to a fine school-- le chateau de lancy-- on lake geneva in switzerland. this was a real opening out for him because he saw and experienced all sorts of things that you couldn't find in new jersey. many of these things remained with him all his life. so this was most important, this stage at the school in switzerland, though it was only one year. after that, he returned to rutherford. one of the best high schools at that time was the horace mann school. i think it was u

-- stated that more provocatively -- in some ways, i think it's unitarian sensibilities and framing of this issue are the ones that executed today, but in some ways, what jones had to do as a methodist more clearly reveals the theological tensions of midcentury. so i refer to holmes here as a figure who is pointing forward in some ways, to our own spiritual but not religious. he was a socialist, a path of us, a leader of the aclu and the naacp. and a founder what he called the all world gandhi fellowship. holmes made the case for gandhi that, as i said, most clearly resonates with the spiritual flight from organized christianity that we see today. i'm going to read an extended quote here from john homes. this is from 1944. the basic trouble lies in the fact that the greatest of all indians, the most influential among his countrymen, and a figure of exalted spiritual stature declines to become converted to the christian gospel. he certainly is a better christian in the ethical sense of the word, then the overwhelming multitude of those who profess the christian faith. but all this on

but they don't talk about nature's god in unitarian churches. i know, i'm lapsed unitarian. prof. gallagher: can you be a lapsed unitarian? [laughter] prof. onuf: check it out. this is what you get. prof. gallagher: from what you're saying, let me push you on something else right here. if this is a process and it's things are going toward, with any luck, something that's even better, did jefferson think this could only be -- i mean the union became very much an exceptionalist concept by the mid-19th century. is it that way in jefferson's mind? could this happen somewhere else? prof. onuf: there is an exceptional dimension. you know, the city on the hill idea that we've heard from ronald reagan as he was channeling john winthrop, that idea that united states is an exemplary nation. the example suggests that others can follow. but "follow" is the key word. they will become more enlightened in the fullness of time. what's remarkable about the american people is -- these are the people who made the revolution -- is that they -- they are all literate mostly, except in places like virgi

the new york unitarian minister, john haynes holmes -- another of gandhi's most significant american interlocutors -- stated the case more boldly. in some ways, i think it's unitarian sensibilities and framing of this issue are the ones and they carried today, but in some ways, what jones had to do as a methodist more clearly reveals the theological tensions of midcentury. so i refer to holmes here as a figure who is pointing forward in some ways, to our own spiritual but not religious. he was a radical politically. he was a socialist, a path of -- a fascist a leader of the , aclu and the naacp. and a founder what he called the all world gandhi fellowship. holmes made the case for gandhi that, as i said, most clearly resonates with the spiritual flight from organized christianity that we see today. i'm going to read an extended quote here from john holmes. this is from 1944. "the basic trouble lies in the fact that the greatest of all indians, the most influential among his countrymen, and a figure of exalted spiritual stature declines to become converted to the christian gospel. he

before i represent is first people of this area and on sunday i gave a presentation at the first unitarian church and my subject was the looney is grantee chinese hispanic blacks whites and san francisco development now for those of you who will have eyes and know anything about quality of life issues and for those of you who have a harder heart and know exactly when is happening in the city is great divide between is fidgety rich and is very poor you need to pay attention to what i'm saying this land every square inch of that land belongs to the walking ma loan 18 treaty i didn't see was signed between is united states government and is tribes of california and not ratified having said that, i ran the presidio's i know something about figures but if you look at how much money $71 million how many unit are being built and when it comes to is units go built for so-called affordable it is reduced and is units market rate unit are increased and you commissioners are sit down and if nothing is the - i'll ask a question maybe you'll ask a question after isle i've made my statements to the devel

my sense was that john was raised with more calvinist bent, but was more unitarian as an older man. what about abigail? edith: thank you, thank you for that question. abigail was a very religious woman. abigail was so religious that in times of turbulence, when things went wrong in her life, she thought it was a case of punishment. when there was an epidemic during the war years when john was away when they that people were dying and her servants were sick and so forth. she said, it is a scourge sent upon us for some sin. and she truly believed that life was providential. her letters continually reference the bible. i think that when things got bad in her life, she became more religious. and when and more conservatively religious. i agree with you that she was probably more conservative in her religion than john adams. susan: we've got 10 minutes left in our discussion of abigail adams in this series on the biographies of the first ladies with our two guests here. when john adams realized that he'd lost the presidency, how did he take that? how did abigail take it? james: i think th

that would be true of jefferson probably more unitarian. same with franklin at the end.out somewhere because if you want to get a christian during this period, you would look at witherspoon or john jay. >> i was fascinated by both of your books. i have long been fascinated by your work by the whole japanese internment. i thought about how warring could have gone through this. do you think at the time believed what it was too ignorant do you think at the time he was angling because this is a great step to higher office and ends up becoming the most popular governor in history. >> i think that he acted not as a believer, but as a politician. this is what the public wanted. people were afraid and he rode the back of the history to the governorship against culvert olson who had been asked that were less vigorous in condemning japanese americans. i want to mention one thing about the world intern med. if you deal with people who live in this world. internment is something done. enemy aliens interned during wartime. so while the word internment has lived on is what happened wi

about franklin and voltaire and i wonder if he is aware of voltaires and how that was -- british unitarian minister who said the purpose of miracles is to prevents the knee for miracles. >> host: why is this of interest to you. >> gus baas of the fossil water in the aqua fer. the debate between the american philosophical society about voltaire's theory of spontaneous -- is because of sea shells in the andes and jefferson didn't think it was a miracle. he did this before the plate tectonics and i'm concerned about protecting the water in the aqua fer but down in the last ice age, 10 to 12,000 years ago, and i think we're living as a similar time now, and james love locke british biologist and ologist, has posited that the earth -- the name for the earth is gia, and he thinks we have developed these communications systems which i can't use. i have naoto sensitive enlens see -- >> host: nancy, we'll leave it there. >> guest: i think that if you look at einstein jefferson and franklin they were -- why the fossils were leonardo da vinci figures its out too. it's not just miracles. it's natural