What to do on this Labor Day Sunday? Consider the part the churches of America played in the early Labor Movement. The Catholic Church has long been involved with the various labor movements (eventually becoming Unions) and then there was the “Social Gospel” a movement from the Protestant churches that applied Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, slums, child labor and more. It is likely the Social Gospel’s strong sense of leadership by the people also led to women’s suffrage, and that the emphasis it placed on morality led to prohibition. Read on about the issues in the early 20th century
