What John Hews Stood For

The majority of the last 20 minutes of the second documentary we watched title "God in America" expanded on the rise of the Catholics throughout America, and this movement was led by and Irish born Bishop, John Hews. Hews, along with thousands of other Irish people immigrated to America because of the First Amendment's promise of freedom of religion. This was just years after the Cane ridge revival in Kentucky, were many Protestants rediscovered their faith in the God and the protestant church. The Irish people come to America with the hope that Catholics will be readily accepted into this "free area", but they couldn't have been more wrong. The Protestants of New York City had implemented anti-catholic teachings into public schools, which were funded by the people living in New York City. This was what John Hews' main argument for Catholics was centered around. Hews goes to court to challenge that since the public schools (which are really protestant schools) are being funded, that the Catholics should rightfully get money to fund their own school districts as well. His argument is centered off the fact that the separation of church and state was a law, but taxpayer money (including Catholics themselves) are paying for the protestant schools. However, despite the superior argument, he looses 15:1 because the majority of the council members were protestant. However, he then responds by raising funds to build parochial schools in the city of New York for the Irish-Catholic youth, but he is not satisfied yet. Hews urges his followers to vote for Catholic city council members, and his plan works out. 8 of the 10 Catholics who ran for office were elected, and Hews brought back his argument, this time winning 8:7 majority, passing the McClay bill. This doesn't end the conflict however, because the Protestants are outraged. However, this change reflects the ideals of American democracy in place, because of the guaranteed right of freedom of religion, John Hews and the Catholic believers were able to make America their home.