This content was created by Craig Dietrich.
International Modest Code
1 2010-07-31T04:46:54-07:00 Craig Dietrich 2d66800a3e5a1eaee3a9ca2f91f391c8a6893490 10 1 plain 2010-07-31T04:46:54-07:00 Craig Dietrich 2d66800a3e5a1eaee3a9ca2f91f391c8a6893490This page is referenced by:
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The Divine Economic Plan
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Father Divine claimed millions of dollars had been saved by the city because of his economic vision called the "Divine Cooperative Plan." While Father Divine's standards for followers were strict, as he insisted on "an honest day's work for an honest day's pay," moral standards were equally strict as Father banned smoking, drinking, gambling, swearing, and sexual relations among the followers who were asked to live by his "International Modest Code."He provided economic security in the form of lodging, food, and employment. Among his programs was the opening of free employment bureaus where the Peace Mission worked at finding jobs at no charge for any individual. Economic ideas were a basic part of his overall principles and commonly found in his sermons, lectures, letters, even church by-laws. The reality of God's economy stressed individual independence but also saw the cause of humanity served through a cooperative system of community sharing and community spending of resources:
"We usually have a-full and a-plenty to eat. That is the first thought, if you please. Plenty of comfort and convenience! Then the cost of living is cut from forty to seventy-five to eighty percent by MY Cooperative System and by unifying the people together, causing them to love one another"
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Divine Style
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The preservation and beautification of this property has had a notable influence on the expressive culture and general aesthetics of the Movement. The hallmarks of the "Divine style" under Father Divine were bounty, community, integration, and a nationalist spiritual ethos called "Americanism." Influenced by their Woodmont theology and under the leadership of Mother Divine, this aesthetic has been expanded to include . A Victorian Quaker aesthetic may have inspired the creation of Woodmont, but the Peace Mission aesthetic has maintained it for fifty years. Woodmont stands as the embodiment of Father Divine's perfectionist utopian community, and with its workshops, garages, orchards and fields, it represents the synthesis of Divine's communal lifestyle. The property's pristine condition is the marriage of Father Divine's emphasis on the principle of perfection (The New Day 21 May 1942:50) to his understanding of an activist use of the material world to express that perfection. This union encapsulates Father Divine's theology of material culture where a sacramentalism of material usefulness is the primary objective of a world created by God and re-created, renewed, and restored by humans influenced by God.In a celebratory meeting after midnight on 13 September 1953 in the auditorium of the Unity Mission Church on 41st Street in the city, he directly addressed to his followers the meaning of the dedication and consecration of Woodmont from a theological and racial perspective:We know you all know a Standard of morality, of modesty, of Holiness, of Virtue and of Honesty, all of these attributes and qualities have been established and that is second to none! But as an abstract expression we are happy to say, the materialization of these things is taking place in our experience
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Standards of Living
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**This Page is Under Construction**
International Modest Code dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla dui quam, ultricies at elementum a, consequat eu tellus. Pellentesque ac tincidunt quam. Vivamus cursus augue eleifend sapien vestibulum feugiat.All Peace Mission properties, and living quarters, were spiritualized through their cleanliness (See 16-17 February 1950 message; printed in The New Day 16 April 1983:5) and safety and marked by their ubiquitous adornment with framed photos of Father and Mother Divine and mottos of the Mission in every room. Such preparations marked a building's dedication and consecration to the service of God. Properties with Banquet Rooms still stand prepared with clean plates, glasses, and silverware for a Service, always with the expectation of Father's personal presence and with the belief in Father Divine's spiritual presence. Father Divine maintained offices in all major church properties, and he would unexpectedly arrive at these extensions to visit with staff. Large properties were important, but Divine acknowledged the spiritual significance of followers' domestic environments as well. In the same November sermon, he proclaimed:I ABUNDANTLY and BOUNTIFULLY BLESS YOU ALL " causing your homes as selected and purchased and owned, to no longer be houses as they have been, of VICE and Crime and SIN, but DEDICATED as HOUSES of PRAYER, where you in your own Homes will be able to WORSHIP GOD under your own Vine and Fig Tree where no man can make you ashamed!...I AM causing every Home, at least, I shall cause every home to be as a CHURCH! Aren't you glad!..To be a CHURCH for PRAISE and WORSHIP, where you WORSHIP GOD by DAY and by NIGHT in all you SAY and in all you DO! (22-23 November 1945, printed in The New Day, 30 November 1991:3)