Father's Kingdom

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging
Transcript

This is the untold story of the remarkable civil rights pioneer Father Divine – who had over a million followers worldwide and is considered the link between Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King – but is neglected by historians because he claimed that he was God incarnate.

Father Divine was born in poverty, the son of emancipated slaves, and went on to become one of America's most controversial religious leaders. Father Divine's movement was dedicated to integration and communal living and was an innovator in desegregating neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and the ballot box in the 1930s and '40s, through his radical program of empowerment. He commanded hundreds of properties and businesses, all funded by the work of his thousands of followers. At the same time, he preached that he himself was an incarnation of God and that by following his rules of purity and celibacy, his followers could live forever in “heaven on earth.” But scandal, suspicion, and racism lead to clashes with the law for him and his movement. Though he was once a celebrity and was decades ahead of his time fighting for civil rights, he has largely been written out of history because of the audacity of his religious claims, and doubt about his motives.

Today, Father’s few remaining followers live as a communal family on a magnificent estate outside Philadelphia. As time and mortality confront the followers, they struggle to preserve Father’s legacy. Through unprecedented access to this unique and reclusive community, the film explores the line between faith and fanaticism, between a religion and a cult. Father's revolutionary ideas on race and identity still resonate today.

Highly Recommended (Educational Media Reviews Online - EMRO) | Alexander Rolfe, Technical Services Librarian, George Fox University
"A fascinating and thorough look at the International Peace Mission and its leader Father Divine."

★★★ 1/2 Highly Recommended (Video Librarian) | P. Hall
"Feinberg wisely refrains from passing judgment on the fanatic frenzy that his subject inspired [...] [O]verall this is a fascinating tribute to an iconoclastic figure most often overlooked in civil rights history lessons. Highly recommended."

Huffington Post | Princess-India Alexander
"The documentary, in its examination of the mission’s history, follows the history of a man and mission who fought against segregation, fed and empowered the poor and believed that God was here on Earth. Through this film the movement’s impact is tangible."

Film Threat | Joshua Speiser
"On so many levels, this is an engrossing and rich film that sheds light on a unique and little known historic American figure. But, it is also about race, community, faith, and our need as humans to be part of something larger than ourselves. Superbly directed, paced, and scripted, with a master integration of contemporary interviews and archival footage, this is a film that stays with the viewer long after the credits have ended. It demands to be seen."

Aleteia | Elizabeth Scalia
"The documentary is at once skeptical and respectful, troubled, and affectionate. Feinberg is not putting these people on display for anyone’s mockery or amusement. His film is the study of a man who preached peace to people who wanted that message more than any other, and of the people who still proclaim it and live quiet, celibate lives of duty, directed toward the god in whom they have believed. In the process Feinberg manages to cast reasonable doubt on some of the ways and means of the movement while also helping the viewer understand how and why Father Divine won the love and loyalty of these people."

Cleveland | John Petkovic
"Over 94 minutes, the fascinating documentary uses archival footage and interviews with followers to craft a layered, complex portrait of Father Divine - the spiritual leader who led his International Peace Mission and transformed what was once a small African-American church into a multinational, multiracial movement."

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

Feinberg, Lenny (film director)
Chandler, Claire (film producer)
Chandler, Claire (editor of moving image work)

Other credits

Edited by Claire Chandler; original music by Gunnard Doboze; camera, Christopher L. Ambolino [and 14 others].

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

African American Studies, Religious Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Civil Rights; "Father's Kingdom"; GOOD DOCS

WEBVTT

00:00:33.766 --> 00:00:37.666
[woman]
It is our conviction as
followers of Father Divine,

00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:44.666
that Father, God almighty,
has appeared again, in the flesh.

00:00:47.966 --> 00:00:53.266
[man] The people here at Woodmont
are all races, creeds, and colors.

00:00:53.300 --> 00:00:56.166
And this is God\'s family.

00:00:57.666 --> 00:01:01.733
The birthplace of the kingdom
of God on earth.

00:01:37.933 --> 00:01:42.366
We\'re approaching Woodmont,
the home of Father Divine.

00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.666
He passed away approximately
2:10 a.m. this morning.

00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:49.700
We have been told by the guards
that no press will be admitted.

00:01:51.266 --> 00:01:54.033
Well, you realize that
this is of national concern,

00:01:54.066 --> 00:01:55.566
the passing of Father Divine....

00:01:55.600 --> 00:01:58.733
I have nothing to say.
No comments whatsoever.

00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:03.666
[Haines]
What kind of person was he?

00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:06.600
Well, he was
different from anything

00:02:06.633 --> 00:02:09.533
that you have ever
come in contact with.

00:02:10.933 --> 00:02:13.700
To me he\'s God, and he\'s God
to the whole wide world

00:02:13.733 --> 00:02:16.466
if people
would just recognize it.

00:02:18.700 --> 00:02:23.366
[man] Father Divine
became God to millions,
both black and white.

00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:27.033
To the followers
of his International
Kingdom of Peace movement,

00:02:27.066 --> 00:02:29.000
he was the Second Coming
of Christ,

00:02:29.033 --> 00:02:32.333
but to non-believers
he was a mystery.

00:02:32.366 --> 00:02:37.466
Despite the lavishness
of his palatial 73-acre
country estate Woodmont,

00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:39.533
his followers insist
that Father Divine

00:02:39.566 --> 00:02:42.166
never personally profited
from the movement.

00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:46.600
That he had, in fact,
never exploited
the so-called \"God Game.\"

00:02:56.333 --> 00:02:58.766
Do you believe
that Father Divine is dead?

00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.500
No, I do not.

00:03:04.266 --> 00:03:06.233
[people chattering]

00:03:06.266 --> 00:03:09.466
[music playing]

00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:11.700
[people singing]

00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:20.466
[clapping to music]

00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:29.033
[singing indistinct]

00:04:03.300 --> 00:04:05.500
[song ends]
[cheering]

00:04:12.366 --> 00:04:14.066
[woman] Peace Father Devine.

00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:16.533
We are blessed to be here
at the mount of the house

00:04:16.566 --> 00:04:18.966
of the lord
that Father Divine dedicated.

00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.033
Father said that if it\'s
only just for this one time,

00:04:23.066 --> 00:04:27.400
we all are sitting together
as the family of God.

00:04:27.433 --> 00:04:28.866
And that\'s really wonderful.

00:04:28.900 --> 00:04:31.033
[applause]

00:04:32.866 --> 00:04:35.833
[man]
I went to Woodmont for dinner.

00:04:35.866 --> 00:04:38.500
And I noticed that there were
empty chairs.

00:04:39.900 --> 00:04:42.366
I said,
why is those chairs empty?

00:04:44.400 --> 00:04:47.300
And they would
talk to the chairs

00:04:47.333 --> 00:04:51.533
as if there was someone there.

00:04:51.566 --> 00:04:53.833
So, we thank you Father Divine

00:04:53.866 --> 00:04:58.766
for your actual ever presence
that is always with us.

00:05:07.933 --> 00:05:14.000
[woman] We serve Father\'s plate
recognizing Father\'s personal
presence with us.

00:05:15.433 --> 00:05:17.733
Everything has to be the way
Father Divine

00:05:17.766 --> 00:05:20.433
had it set in the early 30\'s.

00:05:22.166 --> 00:05:24.200
[Gamble] I\'ve never been to
a dinner like that.

00:05:24.233 --> 00:05:27.400
They have one dark person,
one light person

00:05:27.433 --> 00:05:29.166
all around the table.

00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:32.600
Father Divine was a pioneer.

00:05:33.700 --> 00:05:36.800
A champion for
interracial harmony.

00:05:38.900 --> 00:05:44.133
When you are free from racism,
free from all of
those superstitions,

00:05:44.166 --> 00:05:46.533
it gives you power.

00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:21.166
[speaking indistinct]

00:06:21.200 --> 00:06:24.933
-You have prayed to let
thy kingdom come.
-[crowd] Yes, Father.

00:06:24.966 --> 00:06:27.000
-They will be done...
-[crowd] Yes, Father.

00:06:27.033 --> 00:06:28.766
-...on earth...
-[crowd] Yes, Father.

00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.033
-...as it is in heaven.
-[crowd] Yes, Father.

00:06:31.066 --> 00:06:33.700
When you live
an evangelical life,

00:06:33.733 --> 00:06:37.200
it will change the innermost
part of your being.

00:06:37.233 --> 00:06:42.300
-[crowd] Thank you, Father.
-God has been materialized,
God is here.

00:06:42.333 --> 00:06:46.766
-Yes, Father.
-Five million that are
willing to stand with me

00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.866
-for this truth.
-[crowd] Yes, Father.

00:06:48.900 --> 00:06:50.633
-It is wonderful!
-[crowd murmurs]

00:06:50.666 --> 00:06:52.500
It is wonderful!

00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:55.400
It is wonderful!

00:06:55.433 --> 00:06:57.266
What all of this is about...

00:06:57.300 --> 00:07:00.900
[man] Father Divine was
the most unheralded proponent

00:07:00.933 --> 00:07:03.433
for civil rights
in this country for decades.

00:07:03.466 --> 00:07:07.733
His insistence on all aspects
of his organization
being integrated

00:07:07.766 --> 00:07:10.200
was unheard of at the time.

00:07:10.233 --> 00:07:11.466
He is one of the most

00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:14.533
important religious leaders

00:07:14.566 --> 00:07:16.466
of the 20th century.

00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:18.500
Why haven\'t we heard of him?

00:07:18.533 --> 00:07:19.900
[man]
That\'s a very good question.

00:07:19.933 --> 00:07:21.666
Why haven\'t we heard of
Father Divine?

00:07:21.700 --> 00:07:24.300
Well, for one thing,
Father Divine has

00:07:24.333 --> 00:07:26.600
what you might call
a public relations issue.

00:07:26.633 --> 00:07:29.100
Others would call it
a theological issue.

00:07:29.133 --> 00:07:33.233
And that is,
he declared and proclaimed

00:07:33.266 --> 00:07:36.666
that he in fact was God.

00:07:36.700 --> 00:07:39.500
Those are fighting words,
it can get you locked up.

00:07:39.533 --> 00:07:45.166
It can certainly get you
dismissed as a charlatan,
fraud, con-man, hustler.

00:07:46.733 --> 00:07:48.400
No one knows for sure,

00:07:48.433 --> 00:07:51.866
but the consensus among
historians and biographers is,

00:07:51.900 --> 00:07:54.766
Father Divine was born
as George Baker,

00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.200
the son of former slaves.

00:07:57.233 --> 00:08:00.766
[man] He was from
a small town in Maryland.

00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:05.966
There was a small black ghetto
in that town that was called
Monkey Run.

00:08:13.266 --> 00:08:17.500
[man] Most African Americans
then were sharecroppers

00:08:17.533 --> 00:08:20.100
who worked the land of whites.

00:08:20.133 --> 00:08:26.233
They were continually in debt,
subject to strict segregation.

00:08:28.233 --> 00:08:30.033
[Raboteau]
The black church was both

00:08:30.066 --> 00:08:32.033
a cultural
and a political center.

00:08:32.066 --> 00:08:35.233
Very important, because those
were the only positions to power

00:08:35.266 --> 00:08:38.299
that were often available
to black men.

00:08:40.066 --> 00:08:43.366
[Fisher] He began to meet
black ministers

00:08:43.400 --> 00:08:48.000
who were interested
in New Thought.

00:08:48.033 --> 00:08:50.133
And New Thought
is a philosophy,

00:08:50.166 --> 00:08:53.133
if you develop a practice
of positive thinking,

00:08:53.166 --> 00:08:55.733
you can control
the world around you,

00:08:55.766 --> 00:09:00.466
your own thoughts
can create reality.

00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:05.833
[Father Divine]
Those who are conscious
of God\'s presence with me

00:09:05.866 --> 00:09:08.933
would have the victory
over sickness and diseases,

00:09:08.966 --> 00:09:14.033
over all mortal human
limitations.

00:09:15.400 --> 00:09:16.533
Aren\'t you glad?

00:09:16.566 --> 00:09:19.166
[crowd cheering]

00:09:23.800 --> 00:09:27.000
He\'s got a growing
number of followers,
including a number of women.

00:09:27.033 --> 00:09:29.933
One of those women, Penninah,
becomes his wife.

00:09:29.966 --> 00:09:33.333
the first Mother Divine.

00:09:33.366 --> 00:09:35.766
It was a celibate,
spiritual marriage

00:09:35.800 --> 00:09:40.300
which transcended
the physical bond of
traditionally linked marriage.

00:09:43.566 --> 00:09:47.733
[Raboteau]
Father Divine
formed his first congregation

00:09:47.766 --> 00:09:51.766
during a period of virulent
Jim Crow racism.

00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:59.633
[Fisher] They decided to move
to Sayville Long Island,

00:09:59.666 --> 00:10:05.366
he sees a place
which he envisions as a
kind of a spiritual retreat.

00:10:06.866 --> 00:10:08.466
[man] It was in
a German neighborhood.

00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:10.566
And one of the people
in that neighborhood

00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:13.466
had changed his German name
because of the First World War.

00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:15.366
And the neighbors
got mad at him.

00:10:15.400 --> 00:10:17.133
So, he got mad at them,

00:10:17.166 --> 00:10:21.033
and he advertised this property
for sale to colored people.

00:10:21.066 --> 00:10:25.466
It was one of those rare times
where white racism helped him.

00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:31.400
He was able to move
into an area that had
been exclusively white.

00:10:37.666 --> 00:10:39.766
[bell ringing]

00:10:46.533 --> 00:10:48.866
[applause]

00:10:50.300 --> 00:10:55.000
It\'s a blessing to be here
in Sayville, Long Island.

00:10:55.033 --> 00:10:57.200
[applause]

00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:01.133
And it\'s more of a blessing

00:11:01.166 --> 00:11:05.900
to be seated
at this particular table

00:11:05.933 --> 00:11:09.600
at which Father Divine
is the head.

00:11:09.633 --> 00:11:15.900
It was from here that the truth
about Father Divine

00:11:15.933 --> 00:11:21.766
and the message he carries
went throughout the world.

00:11:22.900 --> 00:11:26.000
[all singing]

00:11:26.033 --> 00:11:29.133
♪ Father did
just what he said ♪

00:11:29.166 --> 00:11:32.633
♪ Yes he did, yes he did

00:11:32.666 --> 00:11:36.200
♪ He healed the sick
and he raised the dead ♪

00:11:36.233 --> 00:11:39.133
♪ Yes he did, yes he did

00:11:39.166 --> 00:11:43.166
♪ Now, you can tell
the world about this ♪

00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.300
♪ You can tell the nations
we\'re blessed ♪

00:11:46.333 --> 00:11:49.900
♪ Tell them what
Father has done ♪

00:11:49.933 --> 00:11:52.733
[singing continues indistinct]

00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:04.233
[Klaus] New York City heard
that Father was in Sayville

00:12:04.266 --> 00:12:08.933
feeding and clothing the people
gratis and it drew thousands.

00:12:13.266 --> 00:12:19.266
The neighbors became irritated
and contacted the police
and fire department one evening.

00:12:19.300 --> 00:12:21.400
They surrounded the house.

00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:29.066
[Weisbrot]
Father Divine was arrested
for disturbing the peace.

00:12:29.100 --> 00:12:33.933
Father Divine,
is there anything you would
care to say at this time?

00:12:33.966 --> 00:12:36.300
I don\'t care to make
any statement just now.

00:12:36.333 --> 00:12:39.600
-I can appreciate that.
-I\'d like to see
to my attorney.

00:12:39.633 --> 00:12:45.900
[Weisbrot] One of the
specifics in the indictment
was that Father Divine

00:12:45.933 --> 00:12:51.933
held religious services
at which whites and colored
did congregate and mingle.

00:12:51.966 --> 00:12:59.133
Clearly there was
a racist aspect to
his arrest and to his trial.

00:13:01.333 --> 00:13:06.000
[Fisher] The public notoriety
surrounding the case
is very important to him.

00:13:06.033 --> 00:13:09.333
Prominent African American
lawyers from New York City
defend him.

00:13:09.366 --> 00:13:13.866
And even the negative publicity,
and all the inaccuracies
and even the racist undertones

00:13:13.900 --> 00:13:18.633
of much of the coverage
only further encourage
his supporters.

00:13:19.566 --> 00:13:22.200
[crowd cheering]

00:13:22.233 --> 00:13:29.400
[Weisbrot] Judge Smith
sentenced Father Divine to a
$500 fine and a year in prison.

00:13:29.433 --> 00:13:32.066
It was just three days later,

00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:35.566
then Judge Smith
mysteriously dropped dead.

00:13:37.633 --> 00:13:41.366
Reporters flocked to
Father Divine\'s jail cell.

00:13:41.400 --> 00:13:45.166
Father Divine said sadly,
\"I hated to do it.\"

00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:49.866
The obvious implication being
that he used his Godlike powers

00:13:49.900 --> 00:13:55.066
to kill the judge
who convicted him.

00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:58.733
Judge Smith brought it
on himself by his...

00:13:58.766 --> 00:14:01.600
his prejudice and his...
his bigotry.

00:14:01.633 --> 00:14:06.000
With Father, when people
touched him inharmoniously,

00:14:06.033 --> 00:14:07.966
they received the effect of it.

00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:09.900
It\'s just like electricity.

00:14:09.933 --> 00:14:13.666
Electricity\'s a blessing
if you abide by the laws
of electricity

00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:18.333
and use it rightfully.
But if you don\'t, you know,
it can electrocute you.

00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:24.166
[Fisher]
The coincidence of the death
of the judge, for many people,

00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:27.800
further confirmed,
hey, this guy\'s not
an ordinary preacher.

00:14:27.833 --> 00:14:31.533
The man is God. And he can do
things that only God can do.

00:14:31.566 --> 00:14:35.100
Which is, of course,
a little disturbing.

00:14:37.933 --> 00:14:42.533
There were at that time a lot of
messiahs and small cult leaders.

00:14:42.566 --> 00:14:47.666
And I think that he followed all
of those and learned from them.

00:14:49.733 --> 00:14:52.633
[Fisher]
Father Divine clearly
understands now,

00:14:52.666 --> 00:14:55.300
there\'s no such thing
as bad publicity.

00:14:55.333 --> 00:14:59.066
Every time he\'s arrested
or threatened or charged
with something

00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:00.966
he becomes more popular.

00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.266
[crowd cheering]

00:15:03.300 --> 00:15:06.100
-Peace everyone!
-[all] Peace Father!

00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:21.366
[knocking]

00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:29.900
Peace, Father Dear.

00:15:29.933 --> 00:15:32.366
I\'d like to bring you
some roses.

00:15:38.133 --> 00:15:41.466
All your children
love you very much.

00:15:47.833 --> 00:15:49.733
This is Father\'s personal room.

00:15:49.766 --> 00:15:53.400
We always knock at the door,
make sure we can come in,

00:15:53.433 --> 00:15:55.666
if we have to come in to clean.

00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:58.766
We respect Father\'s presence
here every day,

00:15:58.800 --> 00:16:01.466
\'cause we know
he\'s here with us.

00:16:03.100 --> 00:16:07.933
And these dressers are full of
his clothes, shoes, everything.

00:16:07.966 --> 00:16:09.900
[man]
Do they ever get taken out?

00:16:09.933 --> 00:16:13.900
They get washed. [laughing]
They do.

00:16:13.933 --> 00:16:17.566
You know, if we need to send
the suits to the cleaners
we will do that.

00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.000
[man] Why would you
send them to the cleaners?

00:16:20.033 --> 00:16:24.233
Well, after a while you need to
send them to the cleaners.

00:16:24.266 --> 00:16:29.266
[chuckles]
They don\'t stay fresh forever.
So...

00:16:34.966 --> 00:16:37.800
[Raboteau]
Why do people believe
what they believe?

00:16:37.833 --> 00:16:40.366
That sometimes
seems incredible.

00:16:42.266 --> 00:16:45.566
If God was incarnate in Jesus,

00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:51.800
why could he not be incarnate
again in Father Divine?

00:17:06.033 --> 00:17:11.099
As a follower, I live a holy,
celibate, virtuous life

00:17:11.133 --> 00:17:13.433
all the days of my life.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.800
Everybody that\'s here
has to be on that same level.

00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:24.200
This has to come from
you personally,

00:17:24.233 --> 00:17:25.766
from the depths of your soul.

00:17:25.800 --> 00:17:29.600
This is what I want,
and I\'m going to live by it.

00:17:31.533 --> 00:17:34.266
And Father frees everybody.

00:17:34.300 --> 00:17:36.233
You\'re free to come
and you\'re free to go.

00:17:36.266 --> 00:17:38.900
Nobody\'s here with a hammer
trying to keep you here.

00:17:46.600 --> 00:17:52.200
[Klaus] This is 72 acres.
Largest estate in Gladwyn.

00:17:53.733 --> 00:17:58.400
The church brought the property
for $75,000 in 1952.

00:18:00.033 --> 00:18:03.833
This used to be a dairy barn
but we renovated it in 1987.

00:18:03.866 --> 00:18:08.900
We did most of the work
ourselves and changed it
into a brothers\' quarters.

00:18:12.366 --> 00:18:14.333
I met Father
when I was nine years old.

00:18:14.366 --> 00:18:16.600
We came here
from Colorado Springs.

00:18:16.633 --> 00:18:22.800
I looked into his eyes
and I knew that this
was supernatural.

00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:25.600
But I was free.

00:18:25.633 --> 00:18:27.566
I could do whatever I wanted.

00:18:27.600 --> 00:18:29.733
I had a girlfriend
in high school and all of that.

00:18:29.766 --> 00:18:33.533
I started my life thinking,
I\'m going to save up some money

00:18:33.566 --> 00:18:35.633
and then I\'m going to
marry this girl.

00:18:35.666 --> 00:18:41.500
And Father let me know,
that ain\'t the way to go.
[laughing]

00:18:41.533 --> 00:18:47.633
I packed up my \'51 Chevy and
drove across the United States.

00:19:02.700 --> 00:19:08.866
You have to be willing to
sacrifice your would-be family.

00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:12.900
Same thing when you wanted
to be a disciple of Jesus.

00:19:14.433 --> 00:19:16.333
Give your life for it.

00:19:31.833 --> 00:19:36.866
In 1933, a man in a $20 suit
walked into Harlem.

00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:38.700
He said he was God.

00:19:38.733 --> 00:19:40.833
[man] The biggest Negro
metropolis in the world,

00:19:40.866 --> 00:19:44.066
Harlem is accustomed
to strange sensations.

00:19:44.100 --> 00:19:46.966
But a new kind of sensation
to rhythmic, racy Harlem

00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.033
is a religious phenomenon
called Father Divine,

00:19:50.066 --> 00:19:54.033
whose presence pervades
all Harlem.

00:19:54.066 --> 00:19:57.600
Number One Heaven,
Father Divine\'s capital
and executive mansion,

00:19:57.633 --> 00:20:00.000
is at 123rd Street
and Lenox Avenue.

00:20:00.033 --> 00:20:01.933
And whenever
the spirit moves him,

00:20:01.966 --> 00:20:03.800
he is able to chat
with his flock.

00:20:03.833 --> 00:20:06.800
-[Father Divine]
Peace everyone.
-[all] Peace.

00:20:06.833 --> 00:20:10.233
-Everybody happy?
-[all] Yes.

00:20:10.266 --> 00:20:11.866
So am I.

00:20:11.900 --> 00:20:14.333
[crowd cheering]

00:20:14.366 --> 00:20:17.000
[woman]
They see their own lives
as having begun

00:20:17.033 --> 00:20:19.666
once they accepted the divinity
of Father Divine.

00:20:19.700 --> 00:20:23.233
And with that acceptance
they become new people.

00:20:23.266 --> 00:20:24.933
They change their names.

00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:29.033
Terms that Father Divine
used a lot

00:20:29.066 --> 00:20:31.900
are among
the most popular names.

00:20:34.266 --> 00:20:36.466
My name is Meekness Faith.

00:20:36.500 --> 00:20:39.300
Now that\'s a big job to handle.

00:20:39.333 --> 00:20:43.366
The meekness of God
and the faith of God.

00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:46.933
But I look to Father
for my strength

00:20:46.966 --> 00:20:50.700
to be able to exercise
those qualities.

00:20:52.766 --> 00:20:56.733
I\'ve been a follower
from my youth up.

00:20:58.800 --> 00:21:04.666
We moved to New York
where we could be closer
to Father\'s activities.

00:21:06.100 --> 00:21:10.100
He offered to them large scale
communal living,

00:21:10.133 --> 00:21:13.700
apartment building after
apartment building in Harlem

00:21:13.733 --> 00:21:16.466
full of followers
of Father Divine.

00:21:16.500 --> 00:21:21.033
They were really sanctuaries
for those who wanted to be

00:21:21.066 --> 00:21:26.266
sheltered in a real wholesome,
quiet atmosphere.

00:21:26.300 --> 00:21:30.166
Those in the likeness
of sisters slept on one floor

00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:34.033
and those in the likeness
of gentlemen slept on
another floor.

00:21:34.066 --> 00:21:37.366
And we did not interchange
in our floors.

00:21:38.700 --> 00:21:40.833
[man] In his scores
of branch heavens,

00:21:40.866 --> 00:21:43.966
followers pay but two dollars
for a whole week\'s lodging.

00:21:46.133 --> 00:21:48.233
But Father Divine
is chiefly celebrated

00:21:48.266 --> 00:21:51.800
for the unfailing regularity
with which he feeds his flock.

00:21:55.133 --> 00:21:57.300
[Raboteau]
During the depths
of the depression,

00:21:57.333 --> 00:22:00.633
African Americans
were just devastated.

00:22:00.666 --> 00:22:03.233
The statistics
for unemployment were worse,

00:22:03.266 --> 00:22:07.766
as is usually the case,
in African American
communities.

00:22:12.066 --> 00:22:13.933
[Meekness Faith]
In those depression days

00:22:13.966 --> 00:22:17.833
they didn\'t have food
to feed their children,

00:22:17.866 --> 00:22:20.133
they couldn\'t pay their bills

00:22:20.166 --> 00:22:25.433
and they heard that
Father Divine could help them
in all of these avenues.

00:22:26.566 --> 00:22:28.300
[woman]
A movement like Divine\'s

00:22:28.333 --> 00:22:32.200
has mass appeal in a period
when there\'s mass disaffection.

00:22:32.233 --> 00:22:36.233
Where the standard institutions
of society are failing people.

00:22:36.266 --> 00:22:39.733
And he provided
a very viable alternative.

00:22:40.433 --> 00:22:41.866
[applause]

00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:45.033
For those of you
that are daily attendants,

00:22:45.066 --> 00:22:50.533
you realize this is not
something out of the ordinary.

00:22:50.566 --> 00:22:52.000
[crowd] No!

00:22:52.033 --> 00:22:55.033
-This is a daily occurrence.
-[crowd] Yes!

00:22:55.066 --> 00:22:59.266
That men might understand
the abundance of the fullness

00:22:59.300 --> 00:23:04.966
is a living reality if they can
and will concentrate on it.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:06.633
[crowd cheering]

00:23:08.300 --> 00:23:10.433
[Fisher]
Father Divine appears
in a lot of newsreels,

00:23:10.466 --> 00:23:12.266
and he\'s very, very effective.

00:23:12.300 --> 00:23:15.266
Hundreds of theaters
in which these newsreels

00:23:15.300 --> 00:23:17.266
are shown throughout
the country.

00:23:17.300 --> 00:23:20.700
He\'s a bonafide celebrity now,
for the first time.

00:23:20.733 --> 00:23:23.266
Millions of Americans
will begin to see,

00:23:23.300 --> 00:23:26.066
they\'re not just giving you
a cup of coffee and a little
meager cup of soup.

00:23:26.100 --> 00:23:30.933
They\'re treating you like
a genuinely respected
and loved compatriot,

00:23:30.966 --> 00:23:35.733
rather than someone who is
a charity case or a subject
of pity or something like that.

00:23:39.933 --> 00:23:41.800
[Raboteau]
There was this life to it.

00:23:41.833 --> 00:23:47.033
A spirit of belonging
and of being somebody.

00:23:47.066 --> 00:23:50.100
The attractions
of regular feasts,

00:23:50.133 --> 00:23:54.400
the well-regulated life
in the midst of chaos,
of poverty,

00:23:54.433 --> 00:23:59.200
could lead one to have
the willing suspension
of disbelief

00:23:59.233 --> 00:24:01.400
that this man was God.

00:24:01.433 --> 00:24:04.766
[people singing]

00:24:08.266 --> 00:24:10.133
Jesus worked miracles.

00:24:10.166 --> 00:24:12.766
Father Divine seems to be
working miracles.

00:24:16.166 --> 00:24:19.533
[Fisher] The followers increase
enormously in the 1930s.

00:24:20.900 --> 00:24:23.066
His movement reaches
unprecedented heights

00:24:23.100 --> 00:24:25.766
of popularity and influence
and became known as

00:24:25.800 --> 00:24:28.133
the International
Peace Mission.

00:24:29.966 --> 00:24:32.366
It\'s more than a church.

00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:34.900
It\'s more than
a religious movement.

00:24:34.933 --> 00:24:37.233
It\'s a movement
with global aspirations

00:24:37.266 --> 00:24:40.933
to spread the teachings
of Father Divine.

00:24:47.033 --> 00:24:49.933
♪ We\'re calling everyone

00:24:49.966 --> 00:24:53.033
♪ No smoking, no drinking

00:24:53.066 --> 00:24:58.466
♪ No undue mixing of sexes

00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:02.666
♪ So, if you want a world
of peace and joy ♪

00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:05.833
♪ Of purity and honesty

00:25:05.866 --> 00:25:10.400
♪ Everybody\'s got to
fall in line ♪

00:25:10.433 --> 00:25:14.333
♪ With the International
Modest Code ♪

00:25:14.366 --> 00:25:21.700
♪ Established by
God Father Divine ♪

00:25:25.233 --> 00:25:28.266
Certain things we just
don\'t do with...

00:25:29.600 --> 00:25:31.966
association with
the opposite sex.

00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:35.400
Not even speaking to the
opposite sex unless it\'s on

00:25:35.433 --> 00:25:38.700
-a strictly business occasion.
-[woman] Strictly...

00:25:38.733 --> 00:25:43.966
The Rosebuds are sisters
that live a virtuous holy
spiritual life

00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:46.066
just like the nuns
in the Catholic Church.

00:25:46.100 --> 00:25:50.000
Even with a higher standard.

00:25:50.033 --> 00:25:53.633
And the V on
the Rosebud jacket,
it does stand for virtue,

00:25:53.666 --> 00:25:58.233
but V also stands for
victory over carnality.

00:25:58.266 --> 00:26:03.300
And I think for those very
reasons so many people do not

00:26:03.333 --> 00:26:06.400
want to follow
Father Divine\'s teaching.

00:26:11.633 --> 00:26:16.033
Father Divine promised
his true followers

00:26:16.066 --> 00:26:20.166
an ageless,
healthy eternal life.

00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:23.300
And, so, there\'s no need
to create more people

00:26:23.333 --> 00:26:26.966
if you\'re all going to
live forever now.

00:26:31.233 --> 00:26:34.000
[man]
All the people I grew up with,

00:26:34.033 --> 00:26:37.100
the blooming and the blossoming
Peace Mission,

00:26:37.133 --> 00:26:40.500
all of those followers
are not here today.

00:26:40.533 --> 00:26:45.433
And so the thought
comes to my mind, what is
the future of the Peace Mission?

00:26:49.600 --> 00:26:52.833
[Gamble]
When you have a celibate
organization like that,

00:26:52.866 --> 00:26:55.433
it has its own repercussions.

00:26:56.733 --> 00:26:59.133
[music playing]

00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:47.133
[Meekness Faith]
Father didn\'t use any word

00:27:47.166 --> 00:27:49.866
that would describe
a person\'s complexion.

00:27:49.900 --> 00:27:55.500
We would say light-complected,
she was a light-complected
person, if it was necessary.

00:27:55.533 --> 00:28:01.266
And we wouldn\'t even
like to say that
because it caused separation.

00:28:01.300 --> 00:28:04.200
He took the words
out of our vocabularies.

00:28:04.233 --> 00:28:09.566
So, we wouldn\'t even register
a word that\'s segregated.

00:28:11.566 --> 00:28:13.833
[Weisenfeld]
The argument was not,
you\'re not Negroes,

00:28:13.866 --> 00:28:17.400
you\'re something else
that is also racial.

00:28:17.433 --> 00:28:20.933
It\'s that you\'re not Negroes,
and race doesn\'t exist.

00:28:20.966 --> 00:28:23.966
You are human children of God.

00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:27.800
[Mother Divine]
Those of a light complexion,

00:28:27.833 --> 00:28:32.400
if they\'re going to be saved,
they have to transcend racism

00:28:32.433 --> 00:28:37.000
and worship God
in that expression.

00:28:37.033 --> 00:28:41.566
Only that could atone
for the injustices

00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:46.300
that have been perpetrated
against those of
a dark complexion.

00:28:51.566 --> 00:28:55.000
You find a transcendence
of the racial categories

00:28:55.033 --> 00:29:01.100
which form such a straightjacket
upon African American
expectations of upward mobility.

00:29:01.133 --> 00:29:03.900
So you see him chipping away
at the chains,

00:29:03.933 --> 00:29:08.333
legal, political,
but especially psychological.

00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:14.233
[Weisbrot]
Segregation was the rule.

00:29:17.466 --> 00:29:22.300
In the south it was backed
by police repression

00:29:22.333 --> 00:29:24.500
and vigilante violence.

00:29:24.533 --> 00:29:29.833
But it was not all
that much freer in the north.

00:29:29.866 --> 00:29:35.666
There, segregation was not
as much a matter of law,

00:29:35.700 --> 00:29:39.566
but it was
nonetheless pervasive.

00:29:43.100 --> 00:29:47.600
[Satter]
They make quite an effort
to challenge segregation,

00:29:47.633 --> 00:29:52.700
doing civil disobedience
at a time when that was
rarely done.

00:29:52.733 --> 00:29:57.433
In the 1930\'s they would go in
segregated restaurants.

00:29:57.466 --> 00:30:01.066
They would not leave until
the group was served.

00:30:02.766 --> 00:30:05.700
He would find ways to break into
racially restricted
neighborhoods

00:30:05.733 --> 00:30:09.100
by having the lighter
complexioned purchase property

00:30:09.133 --> 00:30:12.266
that could then be used by
the darker complexioned people.

00:30:16.466 --> 00:30:21.633
Even now it\'s extraordinary to
have full racial integration

00:30:21.666 --> 00:30:24.266
in most areas of American life.

00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:36.800
Back then,
it was seen as a threat.

00:30:36.833 --> 00:30:39.400
Whites were deeply hostile.

00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:45.300
For many years,
organized labor was among

00:30:45.333 --> 00:30:48.900
the most racist institutions
in the country.

00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:51.600
During strikes, for example,

00:30:51.633 --> 00:30:53.600
blacks would sometimes be
hired as strikebreakers,

00:30:53.633 --> 00:30:56.500
the only time they could
enter many industries.

00:30:56.533 --> 00:31:04.066
Workers sometimes
defended their workspaces
by beating up strikebreakers.

00:31:06.266 --> 00:31:10.333
Father Divine
did urge businesses

00:31:10.366 --> 00:31:14.133
to hire people
without regard to color.

00:31:16.333 --> 00:31:19.633
He had a very ingenious strategy
which involved promoting

00:31:19.666 --> 00:31:23.000
small businesses
empowering African Americans.

00:31:24.833 --> 00:31:27.366
[newsman]
All manner of businesses
pop up throughout the district,

00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:30.933
all offering life\'s necessities
at incredibly cheap prices.

00:31:30.966 --> 00:31:36.233
All stressing
the passwords \"Peace\"
and \"Thank you, Father.\"

00:31:38.566 --> 00:31:40.800
[Gamble] I grew up
at 15th and Christian,

00:31:40.833 --> 00:31:43.800
it was right around the corner
from the Peace Mission.

00:31:43.833 --> 00:31:49.366
My mother used to take us over
there and get something to eat.

00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:54.400
You could get a well-rounded
meal for maybe 15 cents.

00:31:54.433 --> 00:31:57.666
Haircuts like a nickel.

00:31:57.700 --> 00:32:01.400
He was a hero in our community.

00:32:02.933 --> 00:32:08.866
He is effectively brokering
the creation of small businesses

00:32:08.900 --> 00:32:10.366
as an appendage
of his own movement.

00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:12.233
And we\'re talking
more than tithing,

00:32:12.266 --> 00:32:13.933
we\'re talking about
profit sharing

00:32:13.966 --> 00:32:16.633
on the part of many of
these small businesses.

00:32:16.666 --> 00:32:19.133
When members joined
they went all in

00:32:19.166 --> 00:32:22.366
handing over significant assets
to the community.

00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:25.200
It was a collective model.

00:32:26.833 --> 00:32:29.433
It became a way of
fulfilling his message.

00:32:29.466 --> 00:32:33.400
But also, of course,
it was very effective
for his own coffers.

00:32:38.066 --> 00:32:42.866
[Kingdom]
Father did not endorse
taking welfare money.

00:32:42.900 --> 00:32:49.166
Father advocates you
paying the welfare money
back to the system.

00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.433
There are 20 million dollars

00:32:52.466 --> 00:32:58.466
saved by lifting the thousands
and thousands from the welfare.

00:32:58.500 --> 00:33:00.700
[crowd cheering]

00:33:04.266 --> 00:33:11.133
Father taught every one of us
to be self-supporting
and independent.

00:33:11.166 --> 00:33:13.700
[Raboteau]
He stressed gender equality.

00:33:13.733 --> 00:33:17.600
The choice that it gives
to women of a different
kind of life.

00:33:18.633 --> 00:33:21.433
Not restricted to housework,

00:33:21.466 --> 00:33:23.233
to raising children,

00:33:23.266 --> 00:33:26.566
to being the property,
almost, of a man.

00:33:26.600 --> 00:33:31.600
[Meekless Faith]
I was put in charge of the
courtesy employment service.

00:33:31.633 --> 00:33:34.500
I sent people out to jobs,
I interviewed people.

00:33:35.933 --> 00:33:37.966
[Fisher] He also creates
employment agencies.

00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:40.100
The large number
of African American women

00:33:40.133 --> 00:33:45.266
that were drawn there could be
hired out as domestic servants.

00:33:45.300 --> 00:33:48.500
He doles out jobs, he controls
employment of these women,

00:33:48.533 --> 00:33:52.766
and in turn he gets a very
healthy cut of what they earn.

00:33:52.800 --> 00:33:55.833
It\'s a communal arrangement,
and, so, there\'s no
paper trail,

00:33:55.866 --> 00:33:58.266
there\'s no money trail
that leads to him.

00:33:59.766 --> 00:34:02.300
[man] Father Divine
did not believe in credit.

00:34:02.333 --> 00:34:06.100
They would not take a mortgage
on a building.

00:34:06.133 --> 00:34:09.300
[woman] We used to see this
big limo come in.

00:34:09.333 --> 00:34:15.300
I can remember being just
dumbfounded to see the cash,

00:34:15.333 --> 00:34:17.500
all cash, suitcases.

00:34:17.533 --> 00:34:23.300
I have never seen such
suitcases, huge things,
in all my life.

00:34:23.333 --> 00:34:26.400
And seeing those
piles of money.

00:34:28.866 --> 00:34:32.500
[Rydant] Everyone was mystified.
You know, how can he be
buying all these properties

00:34:32.533 --> 00:34:35.066
and he didn\'t seem to have
any source of income?

00:34:35.100 --> 00:34:38.600
Well, Father Divine himself
wasn\'t buying these properties.

00:34:38.633 --> 00:34:41.533
It was the followers
of Father Divine
who would buy them.

00:34:41.566 --> 00:34:44.900
Most of the buildings
were bought by multiple people.

00:34:44.933 --> 00:34:49.300
And that was to prevent
any one person to feel
that they owned it

00:34:49.333 --> 00:34:50.766
and that they could control it.

00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:52.400
[crowd cheering]

00:34:52.433 --> 00:34:55.033
[Weisbrot]
Father Divine was enmeshed

00:34:55.066 --> 00:35:01.133
in controversy
virtually his whole life
as an evangelist.

00:35:01.166 --> 00:35:05.166
He antagonized
established preachers

00:35:05.200 --> 00:35:06.866
simply through his success.

00:35:09.466 --> 00:35:12.400
[newsman]
The sect has always thrown
a curtain around its secrets,

00:35:12.433 --> 00:35:13.933
spiritual and financial.

00:35:13.966 --> 00:35:15.800
To help us
penetrate the curtain

00:35:15.833 --> 00:35:17.733
we spoke to Ted Poston
of the New York Post,

00:35:17.766 --> 00:35:20.500
who has made a detailed study
of Father Divine.

00:35:20.533 --> 00:35:24.766
He studied what the other
cult leaders had done
and he avoided their pitfalls.

00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:27.633
On top of that,
he had some very shrewd lawyers,

00:35:27.666 --> 00:35:34.233
cleverest legal minds
in this city,
and learned from them.

00:35:37.100 --> 00:35:41.500
[Weisbrot]
When there were so many
condemning him as a charlatan,

00:35:41.533 --> 00:35:45.400
as a fraud, Father Divine\'s
answer was powerful.

00:35:45.433 --> 00:35:47.033
I have arisen that vision...

00:35:47.066 --> 00:35:50.166
He said that I would not give
five cents for a God

00:35:50.200 --> 00:35:52.266
who could not help me
here on earth.

00:35:52.300 --> 00:35:55.533
It is a false delusion
that you might just as well

00:35:55.566 --> 00:35:57.333
go ahead and suffer here,

00:35:57.366 --> 00:36:00.600
and after a time you will
go to a heaven somewhere.

00:36:00.633 --> 00:36:06.900
If God cannot provide
heaven for you here,
you are not going anywhere.

00:36:09.966 --> 00:36:11.866
[newsman]
In Ulster County, New York,

00:36:11.900 --> 00:36:14.166
scores of idle farms,
sometimes whole communities,

00:36:14.200 --> 00:36:16.600
have been turned into
Divine cooperatives.

00:36:16.633 --> 00:36:21.366
And to the faithful they are
known collectively
as the Promised Land.

00:36:23.200 --> 00:36:24.833
Here then, Father Divine sees

00:36:24.866 --> 00:36:26.733
not only the nucleus
of a greater movement

00:36:26.766 --> 00:36:28.833
to spread peace and joy
throughout the nation,

00:36:28.866 --> 00:36:31.566
but a practical way to furnish
his expanding kingdom

00:36:31.600 --> 00:36:35.633
with a never-ending supply
of heaven\'s most dependable
attractions:

00:36:35.666 --> 00:36:39.300
fried chicken and pork chops.

00:36:44.166 --> 00:36:48.400
Divine\'s vision
was a closed world

00:36:48.433 --> 00:36:52.733
in which they could be
self-sustaining and independent.

00:36:54.333 --> 00:36:58.166
[Fisher]
Cooperative industries,
housing, and farms,

00:36:58.200 --> 00:37:01.633
and effectively what he\'s doing
is creating a social experiment

00:37:01.666 --> 00:37:04.333
based on his
religious principles.

00:37:04.366 --> 00:37:07.166
Ulster County,
it\'s overwhelmingly white.

00:37:07.200 --> 00:37:10.633
And he\'s now going to be
transplanting impoverished,

00:37:10.666 --> 00:37:14.900
often African American
students, young people,
from the cities.

00:37:16.533 --> 00:37:18.566
[Rydant] Children were
going to school here.

00:37:18.600 --> 00:37:20.466
The local bus driver
was a racist,

00:37:20.500 --> 00:37:22.766
he wouldn\'t pick up
the black kids.

00:37:25.900 --> 00:37:28.733
[Weisenfeld]
The Ku Klux Klan
threatened bombings.

00:37:41.266 --> 00:37:46.833
He risked his life to spread
a message of complete equality.

00:37:53.166 --> 00:37:57.300
One of the most
dramatic acquisitions
for the movement

00:37:57.333 --> 00:37:59.400
was a property
called Crum Elbow.

00:37:59.433 --> 00:38:03.233
It\'s across the river from
President Franklin Roosevelt\'s
house,

00:38:03.266 --> 00:38:06.900
supposedly sold by
a disgruntled neighbor.

00:38:06.933 --> 00:38:10.400
President Roosevelt
encourages the debtor.

00:38:10.433 --> 00:38:13.933
Father Divine
encourages the thrifty.

00:38:13.966 --> 00:38:18.266
He will not permit anyone
who has been on relief
and not repaid it

00:38:18.300 --> 00:38:19.966
to be among his followers.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:25.766
I am backing the Divine deal
against the New Deal.

00:38:28.733 --> 00:38:30.500
France... Washington.

00:38:30.533 --> 00:38:32.200
When he learned that
anti-New Dealer Howlan Spencer

00:38:32.233 --> 00:38:35.400
sold 500 acres near Hyde Park
to Father Divine\'s Angels,

00:38:35.433 --> 00:38:38.300
intimates say that FDR
smiled and said,

00:38:38.333 --> 00:38:42.500
\"Well, it is good to know
we will have some
nice neighbors for a change.\"

00:38:43.300 --> 00:38:46.766
[boat horn blows]

00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:50.600
[newsman]
Never to be forgotten will be
the summer day in 1938

00:38:50.633 --> 00:38:53.533
when the Angels overran old
Crum Elbow

00:38:53.566 --> 00:38:56.100
and transformed the drowsy land
of Rip Van Winkle

00:38:56.133 --> 00:39:01.233
into Father Divine\'s
Promised Land of peace and joy.

00:39:05.700 --> 00:39:08.766
[boat horn blows]

00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:12.000
[car horn honking]

00:39:16.066 --> 00:39:20.566
We had probably 15 or 20
properties in Philadelphia
at one time.

00:39:26.766 --> 00:39:30.066
This is our building right here.
This is Bible Institute.

00:39:33.133 --> 00:39:37.433
For years there were sisters
living here that were nurses

00:39:37.466 --> 00:39:39.700
and domestic workers
and so forth.

00:39:39.733 --> 00:39:42.366
The public dining room
was downstairs.

00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.900
They were feeding people
12 hours a day,
seven days a week.

00:39:45.933 --> 00:39:48.166
There was a lot going on here.

00:39:48.200 --> 00:39:50.800
[all singing]

00:39:58.333 --> 00:40:00.500
[applause]

00:40:02.866 --> 00:40:06.200
We got a problem
with the floor above,

00:40:06.233 --> 00:40:09.900
the... peeling of the paint.

00:40:09.933 --> 00:40:13.533
It\'s a lot of work
to keep these places going.

00:40:13.566 --> 00:40:15.766
[switches clanking]

00:40:29.800 --> 00:40:32.533
[Weisenfeld]
The Peace Mission movement
faces the challenge

00:40:32.566 --> 00:40:37.233
that other celibate religious
movements have faced.

00:40:37.266 --> 00:40:41.766
The Shakers, for example,
who have a few things in common

00:40:41.800 --> 00:40:45.066
with the Peace Mission,
including celibacy.

00:40:46.333 --> 00:40:47.700
I\'m Brother Arnold.

00:40:47.733 --> 00:40:49.266
I\'m a member
of the Shaker community

00:40:49.300 --> 00:40:50.800
in New Glouster, Maine.

00:40:50.833 --> 00:40:53.966
The only active Shaker community
in the world.

00:40:55.600 --> 00:40:57.833
At this moment
there are two of us.

00:40:59.400 --> 00:41:03.300
Mother Divine decided she wanted
to come and meet the Shakers

00:41:03.333 --> 00:41:06.266
and we were blessed
from that time forward.

00:41:06.300 --> 00:41:08.266
We\'ve been visiting
back and forth ever since,

00:41:08.300 --> 00:41:10.200
and we found the harmony
of the spirit,

00:41:10.233 --> 00:41:12.700
we\'re very harmonious
in our beliefs

00:41:12.733 --> 00:41:14.866
and our outlooks and our life.

00:41:15.966 --> 00:41:17.800
That draws us one to each other

00:41:17.833 --> 00:41:20.200
and it\'s certainly in
a great deal of love.

00:41:23.466 --> 00:41:28.833
[Primiano] There have been no
people joining the movement
in the last number of years.

00:41:28.866 --> 00:41:30.700
They don\'t accept just anyone.

00:41:30.733 --> 00:41:32.966
Especially now,
they\'re very conscious

00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:35.000
of whether the person is,
you know, really,

00:41:35.033 --> 00:41:37.966
truly sincere about the belief.

00:42:10.133 --> 00:42:13.600
[man] Well, this room was
set aside as a sacred space

00:42:13.633 --> 00:42:15.600
more than ten years ago.

00:42:15.633 --> 00:42:17.966
Other symbols predominated
at the time.

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:22.966
But it has been converted
to Father Divine.

00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:30.600
I prepared to be a professor
of American Literature.

00:42:30.633 --> 00:42:35.166
It\'s not so easy to get jobs
as a professor
of American Literature.

00:42:36.533 --> 00:42:38.600
My very first exposure
to Father Divine

00:42:38.633 --> 00:42:42.966
was probably 20 years ago.
I was reading academic books.

00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:47.033
The more I dove into
the history of the movement

00:42:47.066 --> 00:42:50.866
the greater
mystical depth I find.

00:42:52.766 --> 00:42:58.100
This is not just
a Christian preacher
emphasizing positive thinking.

00:42:58.133 --> 00:43:01.066
This is really, really deep.

00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:04.633
It\'s like the Bible
or the Koran.

00:43:04.666 --> 00:43:06.433
It\'s just inexhaustible.

00:43:08.500 --> 00:43:12.900
Father\'s words have that
same kind of potential.

00:43:22.233 --> 00:43:24.700
[crowd murmuring]

00:43:24.733 --> 00:43:28.166
Why is it I so heartily endorse

00:43:28.200 --> 00:43:31.166
the Constitution
of this country?

00:43:31.200 --> 00:43:34.833
It is because
it grants the privilege

00:43:34.866 --> 00:43:38.166
of every man to serve God

00:43:38.200 --> 00:43:40.933
to the dictates
of his own conscience.

00:43:40.966 --> 00:43:43.400
[cheering]
[trumpet playing]

00:43:48.733 --> 00:43:53.233
Father Divine
had become increasingly
interested in politics.

00:43:54.833 --> 00:43:57.700
He pushed his followers
to register to vote.

00:43:57.733 --> 00:44:02.500
And there was anxiety
about the possible
politicization of these people.

00:44:02.533 --> 00:44:05.366
There was a lot
of government harassment.

00:44:07.266 --> 00:44:11.266
-Name please?
-Heavenly Bouquet.

00:44:11.300 --> 00:44:14.800
-Name please?
-Peak Determination.

00:44:15.866 --> 00:44:19.600
-Name please?
-Gracious Lamb.

00:44:19.633 --> 00:44:22.100
[Fisher]
When they presented themselves
to the election boards

00:44:22.133 --> 00:44:24.100
they would be summarily
rejected on the grounds

00:44:24.133 --> 00:44:26.400
that these were not
in fact their given names.

00:44:27.633 --> 00:44:29.600
Father Divine sued, and he won.

00:44:29.633 --> 00:44:33.733
And so his followers were
then given the right to vote.

00:44:38.533 --> 00:44:43.533
[Weisenfeld]
Father Divine was well aware
of the ways racial terrorism

00:44:43.566 --> 00:44:46.800
was used to police black life,

00:44:46.833 --> 00:44:50.900
to control,
and force segregation.

00:44:53.533 --> 00:44:58.866
Very often lynchings
were occasions for whites
to celebrate,

00:44:58.900 --> 00:45:05.466
and the burned body
would be displayed.

00:45:07.566 --> 00:45:10.400
They were not prosecuted.

00:45:10.433 --> 00:45:13.100
[Weisbrot]
Father Divine
drafted a petition

00:45:13.133 --> 00:45:15.266
to pass an anti-lynching bill

00:45:15.300 --> 00:45:19.366
and got some
250,000 signatures on it.

00:45:21.400 --> 00:45:25.100
[Weisenfeld]
The NAACP hung a flag
when it happened,

00:45:25.133 --> 00:45:26.933
and the flag flew often.

00:45:26.966 --> 00:45:33.000
So, Lynching was a major
concern for black activists.

00:45:35.700 --> 00:45:38.466
And it still is.

00:45:46.100 --> 00:45:48.700
[Fisher] In the 1930s
the Peace Mission
was speaking out

00:45:48.733 --> 00:45:52.466
against the persecution
of Jews in Germany.

00:45:52.500 --> 00:45:54.666
The mainstream
American churches

00:45:54.700 --> 00:45:57.133
did not speak out
until much later,

00:45:57.166 --> 00:46:00.400
in many case in the 1940s,
in some cases barely at all.

00:46:02.433 --> 00:46:04.633
[Weisenfeld]
The FBI investigated.

00:46:04.666 --> 00:46:09.166
For them, the preaching
of racial equality
was in some way seditious.

00:46:09.200 --> 00:46:14.233
It was questioning the nature
of the American system.

00:46:17.833 --> 00:46:23.333
[Stewart] Father Divine was the
most important figure
addressing civil rights

00:46:23.366 --> 00:46:27.266
between Marcus Garvey
and Martin Luther King.

00:46:28.500 --> 00:46:31.166
But, he is called God.

00:46:33.766 --> 00:46:36.666
Father has been
neglected by historians

00:46:36.700 --> 00:46:40.066
because of
the religious claims.

00:46:40.100 --> 00:46:45.966
They don\'t want what they
might call a cult leader
having such an impact.

00:46:53.066 --> 00:46:54.933
[Weisbrot]
In Brigantine, New Jersey

00:46:54.966 --> 00:46:57.766
most beaches
were barred to blacks.

00:46:57.800 --> 00:47:03.700
They were not seen as fit to use
beaches that whites used.

00:47:03.733 --> 00:47:07.466
He purchased
beachfront property.

00:47:07.500 --> 00:47:10.900
Whites in Brigantine
strongly objected.

00:47:10.933 --> 00:47:15.800
They harassed his membership,
threatened legal action.

00:47:15.833 --> 00:47:21.466
It was a standoff
between Father Divine\'s
irresistible idealism

00:47:21.500 --> 00:47:25.366
and the immovable prejudice
that marked white America.

00:47:25.400 --> 00:47:27.233
[\"Accentuate the Positive\"
by Johnny Mercer]

00:47:27.266 --> 00:47:30.766
♪ You got to accentuate
the positive ♪

00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:34.400
♪ Eliminate the negative

00:47:34.433 --> 00:47:38.500
♪ And latch on
to the affirmative ♪

00:47:38.533 --> 00:47:41.833
♪ Don\'t mess with
Mr. In-between ♪

00:47:41.866 --> 00:47:43.833
♪ You got to spread joy

00:47:43.866 --> 00:47:47.966
[Klaus] Brigantine Island
was used as a Coast Guard watch

00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:52.200
to keep an eye out for German
submarines during World War II.

00:47:52.233 --> 00:47:57.666
Father made an offer
for the Coast Guard
to live in the Brigantine Hotel

00:47:57.700 --> 00:48:03.733
for one dollar a year,
providing that you live
together unsegregated,

00:48:03.766 --> 00:48:06.666
and the Coast Guard
jumped at it.

00:48:06.700 --> 00:48:12.966
Father made it serve the
purpose of breaking down
segregation in the military.

00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:16.666
♪ Have faith or pandemonium\'s

00:48:16.700 --> 00:48:19.566
♪ Liable to walk
upon the scene ♪

00:48:19.600 --> 00:48:23.300
♪ To illustrate
my last remark ♪

00:48:23.333 --> 00:48:27.500
♪ Jonah in the whale
Noah in the ark ♪

00:48:27.533 --> 00:48:29.400
♪ What did they do?

00:48:29.433 --> 00:48:33.700
♪ Just when everything
looked so dark?

00:48:33.733 --> 00:48:39.966
♪ Man, they said we\'d better
accentuate the positive ♪

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:43.566
♪ Eliminate the negative

00:48:43.600 --> 00:48:47.566
♪ And latch on
to the affirmative ♪

00:48:47.600 --> 00:48:50.433
♪ Don\'t mess with
Mr. In-between ♪

00:48:50.466 --> 00:48:54.433
♪ No, don\'t mess with
Mr. In-between ♪

00:48:54.466 --> 00:48:59.233
♪ Ya got to spread joy
up to the maximum ♪

00:48:59.266 --> 00:49:03.066
♪ Bring gloom
down to the minimum ♪

00:49:03.100 --> 00:49:06.833
♪ Have faith or pandemonium\'s

00:49:06.866 --> 00:49:09.833
♪ Liable to walk
upon the scene ♪

00:49:09.866 --> 00:49:14.600
♪ You got to accentuate
the positive ♪

00:49:14.633 --> 00:49:17.033
♪ Eliminate the negative

00:49:17.066 --> 00:49:20.666
[Fisher] It\'s not limited
to culture, it\'s not limited
to race at all,

00:49:20.700 --> 00:49:25.366
which will have kind of
organic snowball effect
of appealing to people

00:49:25.400 --> 00:49:27.900
of all backgrounds
all over the world.

00:49:27.933 --> 00:49:33.433
Australia, Europe, England...
it\'s a global movement.

00:49:51.933 --> 00:49:58.233
The Divine Lorraine
was the first integrated hotel
in Philadelphia.

00:49:58.266 --> 00:50:02.266
And up here is
the Communion Banquet room.

00:50:04.800 --> 00:50:09.033
I came to Philadelphia to find
the modern-day legacy

00:50:09.066 --> 00:50:11.800
and I met the followers
of Father Divine.

00:50:12.966 --> 00:50:15.400
And I photographed them.

00:50:21.766 --> 00:50:25.333
They invited me to come
and stay at Woodmont.

00:50:41.600 --> 00:50:43.466
[man]
Photographer Kristin Bedford

00:50:43.500 --> 00:50:45.666
spent five weeks
with some of the followers.

00:50:45.700 --> 00:50:47.466
What do we know about
George Baker?

00:50:47.500 --> 00:50:49.366
And how did he come to
be Father Divine?

00:50:49.400 --> 00:50:52.633
[Bedford] He obscured his past
pretty well.

00:50:52.666 --> 00:50:56.633
He was born in Rockville
in 1879...
[voice trails off]

00:50:58.833 --> 00:51:06.033
\"Father said, \'Not at any time
in the history of my
personal existence

00:51:06.066 --> 00:51:09.600
have I ever been called
George Baker

00:51:09.633 --> 00:51:13.066
as stated by you and many others

00:51:13.100 --> 00:51:19.900
who have filled the press
and the air with false
and perjured testimonies.\'\"

00:51:22.500 --> 00:51:29.366
[Weisenfeld] Recognizing that
person may have been named by
his human mother \"George Baker\"

00:51:29.400 --> 00:51:34.300
and developed
over time into
Father Divine is sacrilege.

00:51:35.800 --> 00:51:40.066
As soon as historians dig into,
well, who was the man,

00:51:40.100 --> 00:51:43.266
just by saying he\'s a man
is problematic.

00:51:46.133 --> 00:51:49.633
Having Father Divine
have a background and a name

00:51:49.666 --> 00:51:54.266
makes him mortal
and is heretical to them.

00:51:54.300 --> 00:51:59.600
And even my saying
all of this is, you know,
heretical in their eyes.

00:52:05.633 --> 00:52:08.233
[Meekless Faith]
We just really want the people
to know the truth.

00:52:08.266 --> 00:52:11.266
We\'re not asking them
to believe as we believe
or anything,

00:52:11.300 --> 00:52:13.733
but just speak the truth.

00:52:13.766 --> 00:52:17.100
If my name is what it is,
that\'s what it is.

00:52:17.133 --> 00:52:20.466
They went as far as
to go to the National
Library of Congress

00:52:20.500 --> 00:52:22.600
to get his name
removed as George Baker

00:52:22.633 --> 00:52:25.400
to fulfill his own desires
to be recognized

00:52:25.433 --> 00:52:28.200
not as George Baker
but as Father Divine.

00:52:31.466 --> 00:52:35.266
[Primiano] Religious people
are very protective
of what they believe.

00:52:35.300 --> 00:52:37.933
You can only see that
with the response of Muslims

00:52:37.966 --> 00:52:41.033
to what they feel is the
misrepresentation of Mohammad,

00:52:41.066 --> 00:52:44.033
or obviously Christians
who feel that Jesus

00:52:44.066 --> 00:52:46.533
has been misrepresented
in some way.

00:52:49.733 --> 00:52:53.000
[Fisher] It also suggests
a degree of anxiety

00:52:53.033 --> 00:52:55.733
about the future and the
permanence of the movement.

00:53:02.766 --> 00:53:04.966
When a movement
begins to falter,

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:08.533
you\'re thinking about
the endgame.

00:53:09.600 --> 00:53:11.300
You\'re thinking about a legacy.

00:53:15.300 --> 00:53:18.666
This is Father Divine\'s
library and museum.

00:53:18.700 --> 00:53:23.466
We have a cornerstone
2009 A.D.F.D.

00:53:23.500 --> 00:53:26.866
It means in the
Year of Our Lord Father Divine.

00:53:26.900 --> 00:53:31.200
And, hopefully, this library
will be here for a long time

00:53:31.233 --> 00:53:33.733
so that the people
can come and learn.

00:53:34.833 --> 00:53:38.033
Father gave multitudes
of messages.

00:53:38.066 --> 00:53:43.700
And so we have
the monumental task
of filing all of those words.

00:53:45.033 --> 00:53:48.666
The library is
the ultimate goal of Woodmont,

00:53:48.700 --> 00:53:53.700
to preserve Father\'s words
for the future generations.

00:53:58.500 --> 00:54:04.833
In this cabinet here we have
all the steno pads of 1930.

00:54:06.633 --> 00:54:08.900
Father Divine
had a lot of secretaries.

00:54:08.933 --> 00:54:13.866
Almost every word
that Father Divine spoke
actually has been transcribed.

00:54:16.033 --> 00:54:21.900
First thing was record
Father\'s words on the...
on a piece of wax.

00:54:21.933 --> 00:54:27.466
It\'s just like a record player,
cuts a groove in the...
Next ones was wire.

00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:31.033
This is like fishing line.

00:54:32.933 --> 00:54:34.033
[blows]

00:54:35.500 --> 00:54:38.900
Went from wire recording
to seven-inch tapes.

00:54:43.566 --> 00:54:48.100
[Primiano]
I\'m very happy that
they\'ve built this library.

00:54:48.133 --> 00:54:53.600
I was very much afraid
that their historical materials
would be lost.

00:54:53.633 --> 00:55:00.866
And, so, it is so important
that they themselves
are collecting these artifacts,

00:55:00.900 --> 00:55:05.100
so that future generations
can study them.

00:55:05.133 --> 00:55:07.033
This is a drop in the bucket.

00:55:09.366 --> 00:55:11.100
These are the cassette tapes.

00:55:16.466 --> 00:55:18.333
So much we haven\'t filed yet.

00:55:18.366 --> 00:55:22.133
[Klaus]
All we gotta do now is
get it organized and open it.

00:55:22.166 --> 00:55:24.900
Let the rest of the world
see what we have.

00:55:24.933 --> 00:55:27.400
I\'m sure
they\'re going to like it.

00:55:27.433 --> 00:55:28.900
[Calm laughs]

00:55:32.766 --> 00:55:36.566
[Primiano]
They\'re doing their best,
but it is just taking so long.

00:55:38.700 --> 00:55:42.766
There aren\'t literally
that many bodies
to make it happen.

00:55:54.300 --> 00:55:57.033
[Stewart] I was very eager
to spend more time

00:55:57.066 --> 00:56:00.666
with the followers
at the library
and to learn from them.

00:56:03.800 --> 00:56:08.700
I\'m taking an unpaid leave
to give a large chunk of time
at once.

00:56:08.733 --> 00:56:12.066
Should be a good boost
to the project.

00:56:16.966 --> 00:56:19.900
[Calm] We feel Father
prepared him for this job.

00:56:19.933 --> 00:56:23.966
And we know it was Father,
so that\'s why we gave
Father Divine

00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:26.100
all the honor
and all the glory.

00:56:26.133 --> 00:56:29.566
-Whatever he\'s done,
he\'s doing it, right?
-Yes.

00:56:31.900 --> 00:56:35.033
This will be the main entrance,
and the visitor
will come in here.

00:56:35.066 --> 00:56:40.366
The typical visitor
will be interacting with
this space as a museum space,

00:56:40.400 --> 00:56:43.433
getting the...
the anchor narrative

00:56:43.466 --> 00:56:47.766
through the kiosk presentation.

00:56:47.800 --> 00:56:50.233
[Father Divine]
Peace, everyone.

00:56:50.266 --> 00:56:54.466
[Calm] Dr. Stewart\'s an expert
in the computers and editing.

00:56:54.500 --> 00:56:58.333
[Mother Divine] Father and I
are glad to welcome you

00:56:58.366 --> 00:57:02.966
to Father Divine\'s
library and museum.

00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:07.366
[Klaus] Dr. Christopher Stewart
is a blessing to
the Peace Mission.

00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:10.600
If you want to know
what a miracle looks like,

00:57:10.633 --> 00:57:13.433
that\'s what
it looks like to me.

00:57:13.466 --> 00:57:15.733
Obviously, he\'s a godsend.

00:57:20.766 --> 00:57:22.866
[Father Divine]
The spirit of the consciousness

00:57:22.900 --> 00:57:28.033
of the presence of God
is the source of all supply.

00:57:28.066 --> 00:57:32.900
All of your problems
will be solved economically.

00:57:32.933 --> 00:57:36.566
I desire to see everybody
live in splendor.

00:57:36.600 --> 00:57:37.600
Aren\'t you glad?

00:57:37.633 --> 00:57:40.300
[crowd cheering]

00:57:43.200 --> 00:57:47.300
[Raboteau]
And Father Divine began
to attract more followers.

00:57:47.333 --> 00:57:51.200
And through sharing
the community funds
becomes more wealthy.

00:57:52.633 --> 00:57:54.566
He presided over,
not through his own name

00:57:54.600 --> 00:57:56.333
but in the name of his movement,

00:57:56.366 --> 00:57:58.033
a really extensive network

00:57:58.066 --> 00:58:01.100
of properties, of businesses.

00:58:01.133 --> 00:58:06.766
He himself begins to embody
the gospel of wealth.

00:58:07.733 --> 00:58:09.833
He\'s wearing $500 suits.

00:58:09.866 --> 00:58:11.333
He\'s driving a Rolls Royce.

00:58:11.366 --> 00:58:12.866
These would be the symbols

00:58:12.900 --> 00:58:15.900
of the achievement
that was possible.

00:58:15.933 --> 00:58:19.200
I mean, even Jesus said
it\'s better to give
than receive.

00:58:19.233 --> 00:58:22.233
Because you can\'t give anything
if you don\'t have anything.

00:58:22.266 --> 00:58:24.766
♪ Hey, Daddy

00:58:24.800 --> 00:58:30.600
♪ I want a diamond ring
and bracelets and everything ♪

00:58:30.633 --> 00:58:33.000
♪ Hey, Daddy

00:58:33.033 --> 00:58:35.100
♪ You outta get
the best for me ♪

00:58:35.133 --> 00:58:37.433
Of course, he\'s a tax-exempt
religious figure,

00:58:37.466 --> 00:58:40.000
so, there\'s always questions
about the money.

00:58:43.233 --> 00:58:46.333
[newsman] To what he calls
Kingdom of Heaven Number One,

00:58:46.366 --> 00:58:50.600
the mystery man goes daily
in his $25,000, Duesenberg.

00:58:50.633 --> 00:58:52.600
No collections are taken

00:58:52.633 --> 00:58:55.700
yet the Father\'s income
is as large
as it is mysterious.

00:58:55.733 --> 00:58:58.266
[crowd singing]

00:58:58.300 --> 00:59:03.766
I did not and do not
and will not
receive compensation,

00:59:03.800 --> 00:59:06.833
remuneration,
love offerings, donations

00:59:06.866 --> 00:59:10.866
or anything of that sort
for my spiritual work

00:59:10.900 --> 00:59:14.766
and activities
from any individual.

00:59:14.800 --> 00:59:18.066
I\'m a free gift to the world,
gratis to mankind.

00:59:21.766 --> 00:59:27.133
[Klaus]
It\'s not about graft and greed
or chasing the almighty dollar.

00:59:28.066 --> 00:59:31.100
It\'s all a work of love.

00:59:32.500 --> 00:59:34.500
I\'m here on a beautiful estate

00:59:34.533 --> 00:59:38.133
and no debts and no problems.

00:59:44.733 --> 00:59:50.033
I came in the Peace Mission
as a teenager
and I got into gardening.

00:59:50.766 --> 00:59:53.733
And here I am.

00:59:55.433 --> 00:59:57.266
I don\'t like to go back too far

00:59:57.300 --> 01:00:00.066
\'cause I don\'t want to go
into flesh, you know.

01:00:00.100 --> 01:00:05.933
And when I say flesh I mean
family and relatives and kin.

01:00:05.966 --> 01:00:07.766
Because this is my family.

01:00:09.800 --> 01:00:14.133
So, I\'m just a person
from nowhere and a person

01:00:14.166 --> 01:00:19.866
just doing what
I\'m supposed to do. That\'s all.

01:00:22.633 --> 01:00:27.333
He preached, God is your father
and you never had another.

01:00:27.366 --> 01:00:30.833
God is your mother
and you never had another.

01:00:30.866 --> 01:00:33.266
And, so,
in entering the movement

01:00:33.300 --> 01:00:38.300
followers would renounce
connections to family members.

01:00:38.333 --> 01:00:41.533
Married couples would live
as brother and sister

01:00:41.566 --> 01:00:46.500
and the children would be
understood as simply
children of God

01:00:46.533 --> 01:00:51.233
and not their personal
responsibility or concern.

01:00:52.866 --> 01:00:56.633
[woman] I came to the Peace
Mission at six years of age,

01:00:56.666 --> 01:00:59.000
shortly after my mother died.

01:00:59.033 --> 01:01:01.666
I have a sister
that went with me,

01:01:01.700 --> 01:01:05.900
but familial attachments
were discouraged.

01:01:05.933 --> 01:01:08.433
My sister was never
really my sister.

01:01:08.466 --> 01:01:10.100
She isn\'t to this day.

01:01:10.133 --> 01:01:13.066
And while we are
tied together biologically,

01:01:13.100 --> 01:01:16.066
that relationship
was severed forever.

01:01:16.100 --> 01:01:19.066
The members
of the Peace Mission
weren\'t supposed to form

01:01:19.100 --> 01:01:21.533
any emotional bonds
with the children.

01:01:21.566 --> 01:01:25.500
Which was very problematic
for the children.

01:01:25.533 --> 01:01:29.866
On this one occasion
I was called to one
of the houses,

01:01:29.900 --> 01:01:32.233
and there was my grandmother.

01:01:33.933 --> 01:01:38.466
And the heart of the child...

01:01:41.100 --> 01:01:46.166
wanted to just run to this woman
and never let her go.

01:01:46.200 --> 01:01:49.466
But I knew
I would be in trouble.

01:01:49.500 --> 01:01:52.766
They didn\'t want to
leave her alone with us.

01:01:52.800 --> 01:01:56.600
I know they stood
on the other side of the door
and they watched.

01:01:56.633 --> 01:01:59.100
I stood there frozen.

01:02:00.033 --> 01:02:01.866
What was I gonna say?

01:02:03.866 --> 01:02:05.533
I was afraid.

01:02:09.366 --> 01:02:13.266
I don\'t understand how people
at the Mission

01:02:13.300 --> 01:02:17.400
can be so far removed from
the reality of human existence

01:02:17.433 --> 01:02:20.433
that they treat children
like little robots.

01:02:20.466 --> 01:02:23.166
That because if I buy them
fine clothes

01:02:23.200 --> 01:02:25.166
or because they have
a fine place to live

01:02:25.200 --> 01:02:27.633
or because they have a limousine
that may drive them someplace

01:02:27.666 --> 01:02:29.800
that that\'s all there is.

01:02:31.133 --> 01:02:34.533
I had more than that
with a dying mother.

01:02:36.566 --> 01:02:42.133
The children do testify
to the emotional distress.

01:02:43.900 --> 01:02:50.266
And in movements that people
are likely to call cults,

01:02:50.300 --> 01:02:52.766
one of the strategies
of incorporating people

01:02:52.800 --> 01:02:57.533
into a closed community
under the leadership
of a charismatic central figure

01:02:57.566 --> 01:03:01.066
is to disconnect them
from their families.

01:03:13.900 --> 01:03:16.633
[Stewart] I don\'t know what the
future holds for me personally.

01:03:16.666 --> 01:03:19.500
I don\'t know what the future
holds for the Peace Mission.

01:03:22.300 --> 01:03:27.333
It\'s safest to call myself
a friend of the Peace Mission
rather than a true follower.

01:03:29.133 --> 01:03:32.733
I try to live by all of
the tenants of the Modest Code.

01:03:32.766 --> 01:03:35.366
I try to be celibate.

01:03:35.400 --> 01:03:39.966
It is not something
that is perfected... yet.

01:03:42.266 --> 01:03:48.133
For example, I am partnered to
someone that I\'ve been with
for 26 years.

01:03:48.166 --> 01:03:50.033
I\'m not single.

01:03:51.066 --> 01:03:53.633
[chatting indistinct]

01:03:56.766 --> 01:04:03.500
And my partner is...
he\'s very supportive.

01:04:03.533 --> 01:04:04.566
All right.

01:04:06.633 --> 01:04:08.366
I\'ll see you.

01:04:08.400 --> 01:04:11.133
[Stewart]
I wouldn\'t just
up and leave Lonnie.

01:04:21.166 --> 01:04:25.166
The Peace Mission
is not a tradition that says
one kind of lust is wrong

01:04:25.200 --> 01:04:26.700
and another kind
of lust is right.

01:04:26.733 --> 01:04:28.200
This is... this is a tradition

01:04:28.233 --> 01:04:30.866
that says lust is something
to transcend,

01:04:30.900 --> 01:04:33.100
no matter what kind
of lust it is.

01:04:33.133 --> 01:04:36.100
Very different from
the evangelical world

01:04:36.133 --> 01:04:39.400
that wants to turn people
from gay to straight.

01:04:39.433 --> 01:04:41.400
Well, the Peace Mission
doesn\'t want to do that.

01:04:41.433 --> 01:04:46.266
The Peace Mission wants to turn
everybody into lovers of God.

01:04:46.300 --> 01:04:51.133
If we want God more than we want
selfish considerations,

01:04:51.166 --> 01:04:55.666
God will transform
our connection into something...

01:04:56.800 --> 01:04:59.200
even more wonderful.

01:04:59.233 --> 01:05:02.233
What it is to me
is a holy challenge,

01:05:02.266 --> 01:05:05.066
to transmute lust into love.

01:05:18.533 --> 01:05:20.600
Could we move to
the Philadelphia area.

01:05:20.633 --> 01:05:24.866
Either you have a job
there or I have...
we both have jobs there.

01:05:24.900 --> 01:05:27.633
-Or...
-It\'s just...

01:05:27.666 --> 01:05:35.100
There... are other
considerations that
we have to... to work out.

01:05:36.566 --> 01:05:42.400
Like this house
and the cats and my employment.

01:05:46.333 --> 01:05:48.366
New chapters are hard for me.

01:05:48.400 --> 01:05:50.066
[mumbles]

01:05:50.100 --> 01:05:52.566
-Change is difficult.
-Yes.

01:06:10.233 --> 01:06:15.033
[Weisenfeld]
Outsider scrutiny
came frequently...

01:06:15.066 --> 01:06:20.900
questioning whether or not
this movement
was simply a means

01:06:20.933 --> 01:06:25.266
by which Father Divine
divested his followers
of their money

01:06:25.300 --> 01:06:28.766
for his own gain
and luxurious living.

01:06:32.133 --> 01:06:36.000
There were some disaffected
followers who felt that

01:06:36.033 --> 01:06:38.666
they had really been deprived
of their property.

01:06:38.700 --> 01:06:43.866
So, there\'s the famous
case of Verinda Brown,
and her husband Thomas Brown,

01:06:43.900 --> 01:06:45.866
who filed suit
against Father Divine

01:06:45.900 --> 01:06:50.933
to reclaim assets
that they had invested.

01:06:50.966 --> 01:06:54.200
Everyone testified that
they gave him money directly.

01:06:54.233 --> 01:06:55.766
They put it in his hand.

01:06:57.400 --> 01:07:00.300
Father Divine never
backed off the argument

01:07:00.333 --> 01:07:03.100
that he had
nothing to do with money.

01:07:03.133 --> 01:07:07.266
He was asked about
the $28,000 Duesenberg.

01:07:07.300 --> 01:07:09.833
He said it just materialized.

01:07:12.733 --> 01:07:17.033
The federal government
income tax people
searched him for years.

01:07:17.066 --> 01:07:20.633
But they were never able
to prove that he...
that he owned anything.

01:07:22.766 --> 01:07:24.933
[Weisenfeld]
The case revealed
what may have been

01:07:24.966 --> 01:07:29.200
fraudulent ascription
of ownership to people

01:07:29.233 --> 01:07:32.566
to hide Divine\'s
actual control.

01:07:32.600 --> 01:07:34.833
[Fisher] People might
look at it as nefarious.

01:07:34.866 --> 01:07:36.866
Others might simply say
it was pragmatic.

01:07:36.900 --> 01:07:40.300
It comes with the assent
of the membership.

01:07:40.333 --> 01:07:43.166
Nobody\'s putting a gun
to anybody\'s head.

01:07:44.733 --> 01:07:47.166
[Rydant] And he lost the case.
And he was very unhappy.

01:07:47.200 --> 01:07:50.100
Because if he paid Verinda,
how many other people
who had joined

01:07:50.133 --> 01:07:53.366
and were dissatisfied
would then be wanting
their money back?

01:07:54.933 --> 01:07:57.566
[Weisbrot] Father Divine
felt so strongly about this

01:07:57.600 --> 01:08:01.566
he left New York
rather than pay the judgment.

01:08:02.633 --> 01:08:05.566
It cost him his base in Harlem.

01:08:08.400 --> 01:08:10.300
He basically fled New York.

01:08:13.200 --> 01:08:15.766
There\'s no getting around it,
it was a defeat.

01:08:21.200 --> 01:08:27.500
There are a number of women who
claimed they had been sexually
intimate with Father Divine,

01:08:27.533 --> 01:08:33.300
that Father Divine
used the movement
to attract young woman.

01:08:34.933 --> 01:08:38.166
And he had a practice of
private audiences with people

01:08:38.200 --> 01:08:41.200
for spiritual counsel,
and it\'s also really striking

01:08:41.233 --> 01:08:46.966
the degree to which followers
employ romantic language.

01:08:47.000 --> 01:08:52.000
They describe him as beautiful,
and they talk about him
as a husband.

01:08:52.033 --> 01:08:55.399
But I have not come across
any evidence.

01:08:55.433 --> 01:09:01.766
I don\'t know how we could know
whether or not these exposes,

01:09:01.800 --> 01:09:05.633
which seem to have been
sold to magazines, were true.

01:09:07.533 --> 01:09:10.600
It was all persecution
toward Father.

01:09:10.633 --> 01:09:12.633
The sensationalism
in the press,

01:09:12.666 --> 01:09:17.600
ulterior motives
and jealousy and all of that.

01:09:17.633 --> 01:09:21.733
[Meekless Faith]
Don\'t try to bring us down
because Father has blessed us.

01:09:21.766 --> 01:09:24.899
Because of the life
that we have lived,

01:09:24.933 --> 01:09:30.000
dedicated and consecrated
to God and man.

01:09:36.166 --> 01:09:39.899
[Weisenfeld]
In the mid-1930s
Penninah became ill,

01:09:39.933 --> 01:09:44.366
and Father Divine never
visited her in the hospital.

01:09:44.399 --> 01:09:48.266
[Rydant] She eventually died,
she just kind of like
disappeared.

01:09:48.300 --> 01:09:51.233
In fact, wasn\'t even mentioned
for a couple years.

01:09:51.266 --> 01:09:55.033
You know, where\'s Mother Divine?
But no one was saying anything.

01:09:55.066 --> 01:09:58.066
Because you were
supposed to live forever.

01:09:58.100 --> 01:10:04.166
They were famous for renouncing
the corpses of members,

01:10:04.200 --> 01:10:09.566
insisting that if you died
it was because you had sinned.

01:10:11.866 --> 01:10:14.700
Literally leave
their bodies to rot.

01:10:14.733 --> 01:10:18.433
And buried in pauper\'s field.

01:10:20.166 --> 01:10:23.966
It was a problem for
the theology of the movement.

01:10:28.966 --> 01:10:35.133
[Stewart] Mother Penninah
had asked Father to give her
the vitality of youth.

01:10:35.166 --> 01:10:37.433
When Mother left that body

01:10:37.466 --> 01:10:41.300
the spirit... was...

01:10:42.533 --> 01:10:45.700
transmitted to
a Rosebud\'s body.

01:10:49.133 --> 01:10:52.800
[Klaus]
Reincarnation has been
documented around the world,

01:10:52.833 --> 01:10:56.800
and it\'s quite reasonable
to think that one spirit can be

01:10:56.833 --> 01:10:59.866
transferred to the person
in the next lifetime.

01:11:04.600 --> 01:11:08.700
Mother was a young girl
in Vancouver, British Columbia.

01:11:08.733 --> 01:11:14.800
She took a bus ride all the way
across the United States
to see Father Divine.

01:11:16.766 --> 01:11:21.733
Mother was so inspired
she stood up
and made the statement:

01:11:21.766 --> 01:11:26.733
I want to marry you
because I know you are God.

01:11:28.666 --> 01:11:32.066
At that time interracial
marriages were unheard of.

01:11:32.100 --> 01:11:38.700
And Father and Mother had to go
to Washington, D.C. to get
their license to be married.

01:11:40.100 --> 01:11:41.633
[Klaus] There was prejudice.

01:11:41.666 --> 01:11:43.600
You think gay marriage
was something.

01:11:43.633 --> 01:11:46.700
You try interracial marriage
in 1946.

01:11:48.300 --> 01:11:51.133
[Gamble]
That America is a country

01:11:51.166 --> 01:11:55.400
that has a real wicked past,

01:11:55.433 --> 01:11:58.600
and that if any
African American stands up,

01:11:58.633 --> 01:12:01.100
I think that
it\'s very dangerous.

01:12:02.866 --> 01:12:07.866
Marrying Mother Divine
just really put him
in more danger.

01:12:10.700 --> 01:12:12.866
I think the marriage
was a statement,

01:12:12.900 --> 01:12:15.800
a kind of throwing down
of the gauntlet.

01:12:21.966 --> 01:12:25.266
[Mother Divine] We didn\'t marry
to propagate children,

01:12:25.300 --> 01:12:28.200
we married to propagate virtue.

01:12:28.233 --> 01:12:32.900
I held no claim on Father
as a woman would a natural man.

01:12:35.500 --> 01:12:37.766
[Weisenfeld]
He saw it
as a spiritual marriage,

01:12:37.800 --> 01:12:41.633
outsiders saw it
as not that at all.

01:12:46.266 --> 01:12:47.933
[applause]

01:12:51.100 --> 01:12:55.133
Peace Father, peace Mother

01:12:55.166 --> 01:12:57.900
and peace everyone.

01:12:57.933 --> 01:12:59.466
[all] Peace.

01:12:59.500 --> 01:13:02.766
[Bill] Eve and I applied
for a marriage license

01:13:02.800 --> 01:13:07.733
and we were not allowed
to marry at that time

01:13:08.633 --> 01:13:10.600
as an interracial couple.

01:13:10.633 --> 01:13:13.066
Eve saw the article
about Father and Mother

01:13:13.100 --> 01:13:15.833
getting married
in Washington, D.C.

01:13:15.866 --> 01:13:20.466
We applied for
a marriage license in D.C.
and it was granted.

01:13:20.500 --> 01:13:23.266
That was in 1947.

01:13:23.300 --> 01:13:25.066
[applause]

01:13:25.100 --> 01:13:29.500
And here we are wobbling
but still standing.

01:13:29.533 --> 01:13:31.100
[all laughing]

01:13:31.133 --> 01:13:33.366
Gosh, what more can you say?

01:13:33.400 --> 01:13:36.666
Just keep going.
God bless all of you.

01:13:51.300 --> 01:13:55.266
We have wonderful things. This
is something that really...

01:13:55.300 --> 01:14:00.266
really must be conserved. A
scrapbook from the thirties.

01:14:00.300 --> 01:14:01.333
Beautiful personal inscriptions.

01:14:01.366 --> 01:14:04.266
\"i love him with all my heart,
soul, and mind ...

01:14:04.300 --> 01:14:08.266
I mean my darling, sweet
Father Divine. He set me free...

01:14:08.300 --> 01:14:11.300
Gave me perfect... liberty.

01:14:13.666 --> 01:14:18.500
I can\'t understand the state
of the world today.

01:14:18.533 --> 01:14:20.766
How do we live in a world
that\'s not approaching

01:14:20.800 --> 01:14:24.200
the kind of ideals
that Father and Mother
have made so clear?

01:14:26.400 --> 01:14:28.433
You know,
Father says \"Peace, Peace\"

01:14:28.466 --> 01:14:31.066
and sometimes I\'m just so mad
at somebody in the news

01:14:31.100 --> 01:14:38.533
who\'s done
something vile, or unjust,
and I can\'t touch that peace.

01:14:41.100 --> 01:14:44.966
We found this
many more pictures,
and there\'s many more yet.

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:47.866
Yeah, I\'ll have to look
at these. Oh, yeah... Yeah.

01:14:49.800 --> 01:14:52.766
[Father Divine]
Trust my Modest Code,

01:14:52.800 --> 01:14:54.466
the nations of the earth

01:14:54.500 --> 01:14:59.900
will be free from
all inequality and division.

01:14:59.933 --> 01:15:05.266
[Klaus] Father\'s words recorded
on CDs are being played while
the people are dining.

01:15:05.300 --> 01:15:09.766
And it\'s been going on
since 1930,

01:15:09.800 --> 01:15:11.566
pretty much the same system.

01:15:11.600 --> 01:15:14.600
[Father Divine indistinct]

01:15:14.633 --> 01:15:17.266
[Comer] It may have been
warm one day and cold the next,

01:15:17.300 --> 01:15:19.900
but otherwise
it was all the same.

01:15:19.933 --> 01:15:23.100
And you were hearing
the same words all the time.

01:15:23.133 --> 01:15:27.933
But if you ever really
listened for content
it just wasn\'t there.

01:15:27.966 --> 01:15:30.266
It was the same thing
over and over.

01:15:30.300 --> 01:15:34.300
And everybody would cheer
and the spirit
would overtake them

01:15:34.333 --> 01:15:39.200
and they would speak in tongues,
and nobody knew what he said.

01:15:39.233 --> 01:15:40.666
[laughing]

01:15:40.700 --> 01:15:42.100
[applause]

01:15:45.600 --> 01:15:51.666
I can remember sitting watching
the people coming through
with these envelopes.

01:15:51.700 --> 01:15:54.366
And even at my young age
I realized

01:15:54.400 --> 01:16:00.200
that this was a collection
and not everybody was happy.

01:16:00.233 --> 01:16:02.800
There were hundreds
and thousands of people

01:16:02.833 --> 01:16:06.866
and he never sent
a collection plate around.

01:16:08.766 --> 01:16:12.866
[Comer]
But he did do an amazing thing

01:16:12.900 --> 01:16:15.100
whether you believe in it
or not,

01:16:15.133 --> 01:16:20.433
he got all of these
people together,
and they gave all him money.

01:16:20.466 --> 01:16:25.333
Wouldn\'t you like to do that?
I mean... [laughing] sorry.

01:16:25.366 --> 01:16:29.966
I mean, he built an empire.

01:16:31.800 --> 01:16:36.033
But, in my feeling,
it\'s on the backs of people.

01:16:36.066 --> 01:16:38.866
When you start having to control
everything they hear,

01:16:38.900 --> 01:16:40.800
when you have to control
everything they think,

01:16:40.833 --> 01:16:44.233
when you have to sing
the same songs over and over,

01:16:44.266 --> 01:16:47.100
you are not really
giving them free will.

01:16:47.133 --> 01:16:51.433
You are giving them
a form of slavery.

01:16:51.466 --> 01:16:53.033
[women singing]

01:16:54.033 --> 01:17:00.500
♪ I know you\'re God

01:17:00.533 --> 01:17:07.466
♪ I know, I know

01:17:07.500 --> 01:17:12.933
♪ You\'re God

01:17:21.633 --> 01:17:23.833
[Mother Divine]
Peace, ladies and gentlemen.

01:17:23.866 --> 01:17:26.966
I am happy to convey to all

01:17:27.000 --> 01:17:30.133
who might have a question
in their mind,

01:17:30.166 --> 01:17:34.200
Father Divine is alive and well.

01:17:35.400 --> 01:17:38.066
His true followers
throughout the world

01:17:38.100 --> 01:17:41.966
are not thinking
or anticipating otherwise.

01:17:42.000 --> 01:17:45.733
And now may I present
Father himself.

01:17:47.833 --> 01:17:53.000
Father,
would you like to say something
to the television audience?

01:18:07.333 --> 01:18:09.433
[newsman]
To the disbelief of millions,

01:18:09.466 --> 01:18:12.133
Father Divine\'s heart
has stopped.

01:18:12.166 --> 01:18:15.100
Father Divine is dead.

01:18:22.433 --> 01:18:28.800
What Father Divine has just done
does not change our faith
and belief in him.

01:18:28.833 --> 01:18:33.400
His name and his work
will not diminish anymore

01:18:33.433 --> 01:18:39.533
than Jesus\' diminished
after his crucifixion
and resurrection.

01:18:44.966 --> 01:18:47.133
[Poston] He gave hope.

01:18:47.166 --> 01:18:50.366
A rather ridiculous hope,
but he did give hope

01:18:51.633 --> 01:18:53.966
to a large number of people...

01:18:55.233 --> 01:18:58.166
who otherwise
had no hope at all.

01:19:14.566 --> 01:19:17.566
This is where
Father\'s body was placed.

01:19:19.033 --> 01:19:21.533
For people who realize
what sacredness is,

01:19:21.566 --> 01:19:26.800
this is the most sacred spot
as far as I\'m concerned,

01:19:26.833 --> 01:19:33.000
because it represents
the sacrifice of the most
perfect person I\'ve ever met.

01:19:58.400 --> 01:20:01.466
[Meekless Faith]
Father\'s presence remains

01:20:01.500 --> 01:20:04.400
even if we don\'t
see him in person.

01:20:05.633 --> 01:20:08.666
We live and die by that,

01:20:08.700 --> 01:20:10.800
Father\'s ever presence.

01:20:10.833 --> 01:20:14.433
Nothing changes that. Nothing.

01:20:17.833 --> 01:20:20.266
[Kranich] I feel carefree.

01:20:20.300 --> 01:20:22.433
I mean,
you do want things to go on,

01:20:22.466 --> 01:20:26.900
but you know that
Father and Mother are doing it.

01:20:26.933 --> 01:20:28.466
You just trust them.

01:20:31.600 --> 01:20:34.233
When you hear what\'s going on
out there in the world,

01:20:34.266 --> 01:20:37.300
I\'m thankful every minute
of the day

01:20:37.333 --> 01:20:39.766
how we\'re so blessed here.

01:20:39.800 --> 01:20:43.300
And work together
like one big family,

01:20:43.333 --> 01:20:45.200
and it\'s just a beautiful life.

01:20:45.233 --> 01:20:47.500
I wouldn\'t change it
for anything.

01:20:59.400 --> 01:21:04.966
[Klaus]
Father laid his body down
49 years ago.

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:10.033
And Mother Divine
fulfilled that place.

01:21:10.066 --> 01:21:11.933
All these years
she\'s carried that.

01:21:11.966 --> 01:21:13.966
[applause]

01:21:14.000 --> 01:21:16.333
[people singing]

01:21:16.366 --> 01:21:20.933
[Klaus] Before Father
laid his body down around 1953,

01:21:20.966 --> 01:21:23.700
Jim Jones came to Philadelphia.

01:21:24.900 --> 01:21:26.633
He was a young pastor

01:21:26.666 --> 01:21:30.800
and Father granted
an interview to him.

01:21:30.833 --> 01:21:34.533
He was charismatic
and fooled a lot of people.

01:21:34.566 --> 01:21:39.166
His followers were waiting
for every word that dripped
from his lips, you know?

01:21:39.200 --> 01:21:41.700
And most of it was baloney.

01:21:43.300 --> 01:21:45.733
He did come to
Philadelphia the second time

01:21:45.766 --> 01:21:49.166
he brought busloads
of his congregation,

01:21:49.200 --> 01:21:54.700
testing the waters to see
if they could take over
the Peace Mission Movement.

01:21:56.733 --> 01:21:59.266
[Jones] Why does he
have to have these $500 suits?

01:21:59.300 --> 01:22:02.333
Why does he have to have
that Rolls Royce?

01:22:02.366 --> 01:22:04.966
I have bewitched you
with the truth

01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:07.433
and you cannot now turn away.

01:22:09.100 --> 01:22:12.166
[Klaus]
And it came to a head
at the banquet table.

01:22:12.200 --> 01:22:17.400
Jim Jones got up and said
that he was Father Divine
reincarnated.

01:22:17.433 --> 01:22:21.800
That dropped the bomb,
and Mother immediately,
on her feet...

01:22:21.833 --> 01:22:24.900
[man] Mother puts her foot down,
told him to go,

01:22:24.933 --> 01:22:28.700
and then she said he
was the personification
of the d-v-l.

01:22:28.733 --> 01:22:32.033
We don\'t use that word.
We say, the other fellow.

01:22:33.166 --> 01:22:34.866
[Klaus]
He came back with buses,

01:22:34.900 --> 01:22:37.966
said you can live with us
in California.

01:22:38.000 --> 01:22:41.233
Some of the people
did leave the church
and go with them.

01:22:41.266 --> 01:22:44.733
Some of them ended up
in Guyana, too.

01:22:46.566 --> 01:22:48.933
We\'re interrupting our special
broadcasting to bring you this

01:22:48.966 --> 01:22:51.333
on the People\'s Temple
mass suicides in Guyana.

01:22:51.366 --> 01:22:56.000
[man] The death total at
Jonestown now stands at 405,
but it is rising.

01:22:56.033 --> 01:23:00.233
The persons found thus far
died from drinking grape
Kool-Aid laced with cyanide

01:23:00.266 --> 01:23:04.633
after Jones told them
it is time for us to meet
in another place.

01:23:07.800 --> 01:23:14.100
Those poor people
that were gullible,
they were misled...

01:23:14.133 --> 01:23:18.766
And we were totally disgusted
with the fact

01:23:18.800 --> 01:23:23.233
that he was in any way
connected to the Peace Mission.

01:23:27.900 --> 01:23:32.033
Father, do you really believe
that you\'re God?

01:23:32.066 --> 01:23:34.466
I don\'t have to say
that I am God

01:23:34.500 --> 01:23:36.900
and I don\'t have to say
that I am not God.

01:23:36.933 --> 01:23:41.733
I say that thousands of people
call me God. Millions of them.

01:23:41.766 --> 01:23:45.266
I think you\'ve given a whole new
world to me, Father Divine.

01:23:45.300 --> 01:23:48.933
They just gave James Earl Jones
a million bucks,

01:23:48.966 --> 01:23:53.200
and said, \"Here, you just
play this part, Father Divine.\"

01:23:53.233 --> 01:23:55.500
Father was misrepresented.

01:23:55.533 --> 01:23:59.700
They were going to show
this film and we protested it.

01:24:03.100 --> 01:24:05.666
But they showed it anyway.

01:24:05.700 --> 01:24:08.933
The one time some visitors
coming into Woodmont,

01:24:08.966 --> 01:24:12.066
they said,
\"Don\'t drink the Kool-Aid.\"

01:24:12.100 --> 01:24:15.000
Which is... hurt me,
you know what I mean?

01:24:15.033 --> 01:24:21.400
It was total ignorance
of the high standard
that Father has set.

01:24:23.100 --> 01:24:28.166
The Peace Mission movement
has been maligned by the media,

01:24:28.200 --> 01:24:30.666
prejudice and slander.

01:24:30.700 --> 01:24:36.466
And that\'s why
we\'re in this library,
to get the truth to the public.

01:24:39.566 --> 01:24:41.966
[Stewart] No, no, no, no. I
would not know this is a camera

01:24:42.000 --> 01:24:43.566
without taking this out of here.

01:24:43.600 --> 01:24:46.933
People who are
going to college next year

01:24:46.966 --> 01:24:48.666
were born in the 21st century.

01:24:48.700 --> 01:24:50.300
They\'re not going to recognize
what this is.

01:24:50.333 --> 01:24:52.566
[Calm] No.
[chuckles]

01:24:54.066 --> 01:24:57.166
This is really interesting,
this one. I like this one...

01:24:57.200 --> 01:24:59.366
[Stewart] We\'re in the middle
of the cataloguing process.

01:24:59.400 --> 01:25:01.366
Everything was initially
in great disarray

01:25:01.400 --> 01:25:03.366
and now it\'s coming together.

01:25:04.900 --> 01:25:08.800
I do feel a desire to help
as much as possible.

01:25:10.166 --> 01:25:12.566
The people here
that I\'ve gotten to know

01:25:12.600 --> 01:25:14.666
are really an inspiration.

01:25:16.033 --> 01:25:17.700
Whatever someone might imagine,

01:25:17.733 --> 01:25:19.800
lifelong celibates
and religious discipline,

01:25:19.833 --> 01:25:22.200
it\'s joyful here.
And... and it\'s...

01:25:22.233 --> 01:25:27.400
I don\'t feel like
I\'m visiting people who are
80 and 90 years old.

01:25:29.533 --> 01:25:34.766
But I don\'t know
what it will be like ten years,
20 years, in mortal terms here.

01:25:42.366 --> 01:25:46.633
It also involves sacrifice.
The life is the life.

01:25:46.666 --> 01:25:49.066
And, you know, you have to
live it every day.

01:25:49.100 --> 01:25:52.533
And there\'s a joy in it,
but you have to get to the point
of it being a joy.

01:25:52.566 --> 01:25:56.400
And people find
that it\'s too much work.

01:25:56.433 --> 01:25:58.666
And, so, they just go away
and do something else.

01:26:06.766 --> 01:26:10.766
[Stewart] Ideally, I would have
immediately said,

01:26:10.800 --> 01:26:13.666
\"Yes, it\'s the call of God,\"

01:26:13.700 --> 01:26:19.500
and without hesitation
or conflict choose God
over anything else.

01:26:22.800 --> 01:26:28.466
But, Lonnie, he doesn\'t want me
to live at Woodmont.

01:26:28.500 --> 01:26:32.533
It would be him making
a sacrifice of love for me.

01:26:33.200 --> 01:26:34.700
And...

01:26:54.266 --> 01:26:56.666
[applause]

01:27:02.933 --> 01:27:08.500
And we thank you
for making us one family.

01:27:08.533 --> 01:27:10.233
[indistinct chatter]

01:27:10.266 --> 01:27:13.266
No races, no colors.

01:27:13.300 --> 01:27:16.800
We don\'t know
what each other look like,
we just know we\'re sisters.

01:27:16.833 --> 01:27:20.866
Where in God\'s name
are you going to find that?

01:27:20.900 --> 01:27:24.800
Father Divine and Mother Divine
made that possible.

01:27:24.833 --> 01:27:27.366
[applause]

01:27:27.400 --> 01:27:31.333
-[Stewart] I thank Father for
letting me know that he is God.
-[Meekless Faith] Hallelujah!

01:27:31.366 --> 01:27:34.566
And giving me this
spiritual community
to drive home that conviction.

01:27:34.600 --> 01:27:39.633
[Meekless Faith] Yes.
-I can\'t snuff it off for,
it\'s real, it\'s very real,

01:27:39.666 --> 01:27:43.433
it\'s real in Mother\'s body,
it\'s perfect in Mother\'s body,

01:27:43.466 --> 01:27:47.066
and it\'s real and growing
in every other body here.

01:27:47.100 --> 01:27:49.833
And thanks to them
it\'s real and growing in me.

01:27:49.866 --> 01:27:52.833
I pray that I never
turn back from that.

01:27:52.866 --> 01:27:54.333
[people murmuring]

01:27:54.366 --> 01:27:56.133
Thank you Father and Mother.

01:27:56.166 --> 01:27:58.100
[applause]

01:28:02.800 --> 01:28:06.166
♪ And as she was

01:28:06.200 --> 01:28:09.600
♪ so shall she be

01:28:09.633 --> 01:28:12.733
♪ Now and throughout

01:28:12.766 --> 01:28:15.800
♪ Eternity

01:28:17.433 --> 01:28:21.166
-♪ She\'s just the same
-♪ The very same

01:28:21.200 --> 01:28:26.066
-♪ The same
-♪ The very same

01:28:26.100 --> 01:28:29.666
♪ The same

01:28:39.733 --> 01:28:41.600
[newswoman] Mother Divine,
the widow of a man

01:28:41.633 --> 01:28:43.300
seen as one of
the earliest cult leaders

01:28:43.333 --> 01:28:46.600
in American history,
has died at age 92.

01:28:46.633 --> 01:28:50.500
A viewing will be held
at Woodmont Estate on Thursday.

01:29:07.500 --> 01:29:11.000
[Klaus] When I walked
into the room she grabbed
my hand and wouldn\'t let go.

01:29:11.033 --> 01:29:13.766
I played the guitar
for a couple hours.

01:29:13.800 --> 01:29:17.633
Everybody was singing
and realizing

01:29:17.666 --> 01:29:21.433
that this is a historical event

01:29:21.466 --> 01:29:25.666
and that Mother
is one of a kind.

01:29:25.700 --> 01:29:32.633
A supernatural being
and personification of love.

01:29:34.000 --> 01:29:40.533
And realizing that she\'s in
Father\'s will,

01:29:40.566 --> 01:29:42.800
with Father in spirit.

01:29:53.400 --> 01:29:56.600
Our faith works for us.

01:29:58.733 --> 01:30:02.666
What\'s the point of being
the average Joe and not trying?

01:30:04.866 --> 01:30:08.866
It\'s a high standard,
but it\'s worth shooting for.

01:30:13.366 --> 01:30:17.766
[Meekless Faith] Father Divine
is all that I need.

01:30:17.800 --> 01:30:21.500
He is all that I\'ve found
that I wanted.

01:30:21.533 --> 01:30:24.866
And for me to look outside,

01:30:24.900 --> 01:30:28.333
to look for something else,
that\'s utterly impossible.

01:30:28.366 --> 01:30:30.466
Utterly.
[chuckles]

01:30:30.500 --> 01:30:33.500
I couldn\'t think of
doing such a thing.

01:30:42.633 --> 01:30:46.266
[Hadd]
The spirit\'s still there,
so long as we have breath,

01:30:46.300 --> 01:30:49.833
there\'s hope for
the continuance of the church.

01:30:49.866 --> 01:30:53.566
I firmly believe,
and I\'ve given up everything
I have for this,

01:30:53.600 --> 01:30:55.066
that I believe it is the truth.

01:30:55.100 --> 01:30:57.466
And God is not going
to let the truth die.

01:31:01.066 --> 01:31:03.766
Ultimately, all religion
is a leap of faith.

01:31:03.800 --> 01:31:06.533
Why does anyone
believe that anything is God?

01:31:08.200 --> 01:31:10.066
Believing that
Father Divine is God

01:31:10.100 --> 01:31:12.333
is not so radically different

01:31:12.366 --> 01:31:15.966
from the leap of faith
that anyone must make.

01:31:21.300 --> 01:31:26.566
[Gamble]
You had to respect
their way of believing.

01:31:27.800 --> 01:31:29.333
People got a right to believe

01:31:29.366 --> 01:31:31.233
the way that
they want to believe.

01:31:35.666 --> 01:31:37.166
[Meekless Faith]
With or without us,

01:31:37.200 --> 01:31:40.866
the Peace Mission,
it will go on.

01:31:40.900 --> 01:31:44.233
And as people are harmonious
with the preachings

01:31:44.266 --> 01:31:49.000
and teachings
of Father Divine,
they too will become followers.

01:31:49.033 --> 01:31:52.266
But as far as what the future
of the Peace Mission is,

01:31:52.300 --> 01:31:54.133
we\'re just like Father is,

01:31:54.166 --> 01:31:57.266
without any beginning
and without any end.

01:33:02.600 --> 01:33:05.366
[music playing]

01:33:06.466 --> 01:33:08.400
[indistinct singing]

01:34:06.600 --> 01:34:07.666
[music ends]

01:34:07.700 --> 01:34:08.966
[man 1] Good.

01:34:09.000 --> 01:34:10.433
[man 2] Nice, nice.

01:34:10.466 --> 01:34:11.733
[man 1] Not bad, not bad.

01:34:11.766 --> 01:34:11.800
[man 2] That\'s not too bad, no.

Main content

Father's Kingdom

Citation

Main credits

Other credits

Docuseek subjects

Distributor subjects

Keywords