Father Divine

Background

Father Divine was born George Baker c. 1878 in rural Georgia, probably on a rice plantation situated on Hutchinson's Island in the Savannah River.  Further details about his early life are unclear.

Education

Divine lacked formal education.

Career

Around 1900, Baker moved to Baltimore, where he worked as a gardener. His religious interests led him to become a part-time Baptist minister.  In 1907 he met Samuel Morris, an itinerant mulatto preacher who called himself "Father Jehoviah. " Morris established a church of his own and designated Baker his "Messenger. " A third leader, John (St. John the Vine) Hickerson, joined the group in 1908.  Quarrels fragmented the church in 1912, and Baker went south.

By 1914, Baker had attracted a religious following in Valdosta, Georgia, but he was arrested as a public nuisance.  Given the choice of being sent to an asylum or of leaving the state, he moved north again, first to Brooklyn, New York, and then to Sayville, New York, on Long Island. Using the name Reverend Major J. Devine, he organized a religious group that came to be known as the Peace Mission Movement.  Its center was an eight-room house, apparently purchased with the earnings of his wife,  Peninah, who had become Baker's disciple in Valdosta.  Numerous adherents were being attracted to Devine by 1919.  Some sought his spiritual counsel; others found that he offered food and help in securing jobs.  Some of his followers began to call him "Father, " and Devine did not protest. Indeed, in 1930 he reported his rebirth and formally adopted the name Father Divine.  In November 1931 he was arrested when the crowd at his house disturbed the peace.  He spent several weeks in jail.

In 1933, when the Great Depression was at its worst, he moved the Peace Mission to Harlem.  A decade of rapid expansion ensued.  Although property disputes led to legal difficulties, prompting Divine to move his headquarters to Philadelphia in 1942, growth continued.  The Peace Mission kept no official membership records, but Divine could countthousands of followers, whites as well as blacks.  Eventually there were nearly 200 majorcenters - or "Heavens, " as they were called - most of them in New York City and Philadelphia.

Although in theory no hierarchical distinctions stratified the membership, in practice Divine's disciples were of two kinds.  The majority retained their usual occupations, but there also emerged an inner circle who gave all their worldly resources to the Peace Mission, lived communally, and worked full-time for the cause.  Also noteworthy is the fact that Divine regarded property ownership as a mark of spiritual success.  The holdings amassed under his leadership - including the huge Woodmont estate in suburban Philadelphia, which became his home - were worth millions of dollars.

Divine died on September 10, 1965, of natural causes at his Woodmont estate.

Achievements

• Divine is best remembered as the spiritual leader, who founded the International Peace Mission movement, formulated its doctrine, and oversaw its growth from a small and predominantly black congregation into a multiracial and international church.

Religion

Divine was not ordained by any established religion. Although he never explicitly identified himself as God, it is unlikely that he would have disavowed the 1967 statement's assertion that he "fulfills the Scriptural Prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ for the Christian world and the Coming of the Messiah for the Jewish world. " Nor is it probable that he would have denied the proposition that his adherents have "One Father and One Mother - God - Personified in Father Divine and His Spotless Virgin Bride - Mother Divine. "

In appraising Father Divine and his work, it is helpful to differentiate a sect from a cult.  A sect is a movement that restores or intensifies basic emphases in an established tradition, whereas a cult originates a new religion based on novel revelations, doctrines, or messianic claims. Father Divine's Peace Mission falls between the two. Many of his teachings about moral perfection, the kingdom of God, and even economics link him to a long history of spin-offs from mainstream Protestant Christianity in America.

Views

Divine emphasized equality among races - even the words "white" and "Negro" were forbidden - and it is likely that his strict teachings on celibacy were intended to reduce the hostility that he could expect his racial philosophy to draw.  More of his convictions are reflected in a summary of Peace Mission tenets printed after Divine's death in the March 8, 1967, issue of New Day, the movement's official (even canonical) publication.  That statement cites the following beliefs as fundamental: Father Divine's "International Modest Code" is to be obeyed.  Tobacco, liquor, and profanity are ruled out.  Public education is affirmed; it should be open and free, with advancement to its highest levels determined by ability.  Furthermore, English is called the "Universal Language, " and it ought to be "compulsory in the educational institutions of all nations. " The statement goes on to underscore the Peace Mission's commitment to full employment, mass production as the best means of eliminating poverty and want universally,  business transactions by "cash on the spot, " and cooperation among members "to purchase, own and manage all our possessions in the best interest of humanity generally. " None of Father Divine's genuine disciples shall be on relief.  Social Security will be unnecessary when people express "their individual independence as true Americans. " In fact, the United States is to be "the Birth Place of the Kingdom of God on earth, " and that kingdom is coming in accordance with the King James version of the Bible.

Personality

The centrality of Divine, the charismatic, messianic leader who enjoined obedience and claimed to control powers of retribution, is sufficient to qualify the Peace Mission as a new religion.

Connections

Divine was married to a follower, Peninniah, who was a few years older than him. Like Father Divine, her early life is obscure, but she is believed to be from Macon, Georgia. The date of the marriage is unknown but probably occurred between 1914 and 1917.

After Divine's first wife had died, even though his teachings rejected matrimony and urged celibacy and segregation of the sexes, on April 28, 1946, he secretly married Edna Rose Ritchings. The announcement of their wedding in August 1946 was controversial and sensationalized by the press.  Divine convinced his followers that the marriage was a spiritual matter, and "Sweet Angel" emerged as Mother Divine.  She succeeded her husband as the movement's leader.

Spouse:

Edna Rose Ritchings

Spouse:

Peninniah

colleague:

John Hickerson

colleague:

Samuel Morris

References

• God, Harlem U.S.A.
• Divine Father: Reawakening the Balanced Male Spirit & Sacred Mind of Humanity
• The Divine Liturgy of Our Father Among the Saints John Chrysostom: Slavonic-English Parallel Text
• Father Divine (Blacks in the New World.)