Life, 1912-05-09 · page 15 of 48
Life — May 9, 1912 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1910s *Life* magazine article satirizes the commercialization of American religion and religious evangelism. The fictional "New England Amalgamated Religion Generator Company" mocks how religion had become a business enterprise, with preachers and evangelists treated as salesmen peddling spiritual products. The satire targets several real abuses: 1. **Itinerant evangelists** who made their living traveling and preaching without stable employment or legitimate business practices 2. **Religious variety as commodity**—the company offers multiple "religions" like consumer products, suggesting Americans shopped for faith based on trends rather than conviction 3. **"Scientific management" applied to spirituality**—treating emotional, spiritual needs as efficiency problems to be solved commercially 4. **Sherman Law compliance**—sardonic reference suggesting even this fraudulent "religion corporation" follows antitrust law while exploiting people The cartoons show a charlatan pitchman and a "courteous salesman" using high-pressure sales tactics. The critique: organized religion had become indistinguishable from any other commercial enterprise, prioritizing profit and growth over genuine spiritual concern.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
«LF EB New Religion on Paying Basis New England Amalgamated Religion Generator Company Answers Criticisms Received from Misinformed Friends —Lays Out Its Programme—Splendid Chance for Earnest Souls CE the announcement of our new ¢ of business we have received s from many parts of the coun- ym misguided people who are the delusion that our object is ‘ully expected this, and are pre- to meet it with facts. we can establish ourselves y in the confidence and love people of this country, we sld like to insist that our motives pure and are simply along the lines e highest scientific management u as they are being evolved from day to day. We guarantee to satisfy every human need at a merely nominal price. Up to the present time the name of religion has been an opportunity for graft in various forms. This must be apparent to anybody. We simply place the matter on a purely commercial basis—the greatest good for the great- est number. Under our system hysterical and emotional women, for example, can have their energies properly directed through the right channels. This sav- A RELIGIOUS CHARLATAN “Our motto: ‘See your religion first, money after fou “One of our courteous salesmen” ing of force alone can scarcely be overestimated. There are in this country a large number of itinerant evangelists who, up to the present time, have had to scratch around leading a hand to mouth existence, simply because they have no business ability. By joining our force they lead active lives at good salaries, and are able to perform a much more effective work than ever before. The fact that we offer so many varieties of religions has been held up against us. It must be remembered, however, that we are here only to fill orders, and the broadest way of look- ing at things is that which disregards the form and gets at only the sub- stance. Our capital stock is now a million dollars, and we are happy to state that we have conformed with all of the provisions of the Sherman law. There a small block of stock still remain- ing out, and it can be obtained at par by notifying us at once. In order to place our business meth- ods right before the public, we have the following programme (subject to variations, which is usual with us in starting any new religion) : First—We send our agents out to look over the field. There are certain communities that demand a new re- ligion from time to time. They treat their religions very much as they do fiction; the old classics are put away in the book shelves, while best sellers comicbooks.com