Tuesday, June 9, 2026

It is the 9th of June 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

When you hear the term “Christian Activist,” you are likely to have a particular type in mind. In my rubric of the varieties of Christian experience, I have noted that Christians have long been “activists” of sorts- emphasizing the now over the not yet and stressing the importance of social action for spreading the gospel and for protecting the most vulnerable.

The 19th century saw abolitionism in America in light of slavery, and the following century saw both pacifists in light of the world wars and civil rights activists in light of Jim Crow laws.

But there’s a kind that might make some uncomfortable for different reasons- and as relics of a sort- the Prohibitionist. The 18th Amendment banning alcohol and the 21st repealing it have largely put that question to rest- but there was one particularly colorful character who captivated the nation before this, Carrie Nation.

She was born in 1846 as Caroline Moore in Kentucky- raised by unstable parents, she was largely reared by the family's slaves, making her sympathetic to the abolitionist cause. She married Charles Gloyd in 1867, whose early death on account of alcohol pushed her in the direction of prohibition. She would then marry David Nation in 1869, a Baptist minister. The two would travel through Missouri, Texas, and Kansas, where she developed a reputation as a fiery speaker and bible teacher. She founded the Workers For Christ, a women’s aid society.

In Kansas, she would claim to reveal divine visions- in her autobiography, she described herself as “a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn’t like.” She would work with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union- and it’s worth noting to moderns that while they were opposed to alcohol, it was largely because of what they believed to be exploitative economic reasons and the damage the alcohol did to families like her own.

She would serve as a “jail evangelist” and with various churches along with her husband until her actions led her on a more radical path.

In 1900, she claimed a direct revelation to “Go to Kiowa,” a place in Kansas, where she believed she was called to destroy the local saloon. Kansas was a dry state, and so she believed she was acting righteously both civilly and religiously. She continued to destroy saloons- increasingly making use of a hatchet (for which she has also been called “Carrie Hatchet”). She would claim, “God told me to use the hatchet. He said: ‘Ye shall break down the idols.’ He didn’t say smash them down, but He meant it. Moses was a good smasher. Look how he smashed the golden calf. Hatchetation is a mighty good thing sometimes.”

Her husband filed for divorce on account of her increasingly erratic ways, and groups like the WTCU were unsure as to how close to affiliate themselves with the hatchet-wielding woman. She would be arrested, but use the money she made on her speaking tours to pay for bail. She also helped to found some of the first women’s shelters in the United States for women and children affected by alcoholic husbands.

By 1903, she gave up the hatchet- at least literally. She stated that the Bible was to be her only weapon in the cause of protecting the vulnerable. She began a newsletter called, appropriately, “The Hatchet,” where she argued for prohibition but also women’s suffrage. She would give a famous lecture at Carnegie Hall called “The Lord’s Saloon” in which she compared the “Lord’s Saloon” to the Devil's Saloons- she urged women to push away those men she called “you nicotine-soaked, beer-besmeared, whisky-smeared, red-eyed devil”.

Carrie Nation would die before the 18th and 19th Amendments would be passed- but the colorful woman- “a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn’t like” became a symbol for that brand of Christian Activism. Carrie Nation would die on this, the 9th of June in 1911- born in 1846, she was 64 years old.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Hebrews 13:

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
 never will I forsake you.”

6 So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
 What can mere mortals do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 9th of June 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by our own beer-besmeared, whisky-smeared, red-eyed devil Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man challenging you to use the word hatchetation sometime this week- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.