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At a moment when "freedom of religion" rhetoric fuels public debate, it is easy to assume that sex and religion have faced each other in pitched battle throughout modern U.S. history. Yet, by tracking the nation's changing religious and sexual landscapes over the twentieth century, this book challenges that zero-sum account of sexuality locked in a struggle with religion. It shows that religion played a central role in the history of sexuality in the United States, shaping sexual politics, communities, and identities. At the same time, sexuality has left lipstick traces on American religious history. From polyamory to pornography, from birth control to the AIDS epidemic, this book follows religious faiths and practices across a range of sacred spaces: rabbinical seminaries, African American missions, Catholic schools, pagan communes, the YWCA, and much more. What emerges is the shared story of religion and sexuality and how both became wedded to American culture and politics.

The volume, framed by a provocative introduction by Gillian Frank, Bethany Moreton, and Heather R. White and a compelling afterword by John D'Emilio, features essays by Rebecca T. Alpert and Jacob J. Staub, Rebecca L. Davis, Lynne Gerber, Andrea R. Jain, Kathi Kern, Rachel Kranson, James P. McCartin, Samira K. Mehta, Daniel Rivers, Whitney Strub, Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci, Judith Weisenfeld, and Neil J. Young.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright Page
  2. pp. i-iv
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-viii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. Introduction: More than Missionary: Doing the Histories of Religion and Sexuality Together
  2. Gillian Frank, Bethany Moreton, and Heather R. White
  3. pp. 1-16
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  1. Winnifred Wygal’s Flock: Same-Sex Desire and Christian Faith in the 1920s
  2. Kathi Kern
  3. pp. 17-33
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  1. Subversive Spiritualities: Yoga’s Complex Role in the Narrative of Sex and Religion in the Twentieth-Century United States
  2. Andrea R. Jain
  3. pp. 34-53
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  1. Purity and Population: American Jews, Marriage, and Sexuality
  2. Rebecca L. Davis
  3. pp. 54-70
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  1. Sex Is Holy and Mysterious: The Vision of Early Twentieth-Century Catholic Sex Education Reformers
  2. James P. McCartin
  3. pp. 71-89
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  1. Real True Buds: Celibacy and Same-Sex Desire across the Color Line in Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement
  2. Judith Weisenfeld
  3. pp. 90-112
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  1. Sexual Diplomacy: U.S. Catholics’ Transnational Anti–Birth Control Activism in Postwar Japan
  2. Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci
  3. pp. 113-132
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  1. Modernizing Decency: Citizens for Decent Literature and Covert Catholic Activism in Cold War America
  2. Whitney Strub
  3. pp. 133-151
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  1. Family Planning Is a Christian Duty: Religion, Population Control, and the Pill in the 1960s
  2. Samira K. Mehta
  3. pp. 152-169
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  1. From Women’s Rights to Religious Freedom: The Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and the Politics of Abortion, 1970–1982
  2. Rachel Kranson
  3. pp. 170-192
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  1. Fascinating and Happy: Mormon Women, the LDS Church, and the Politics of Sexual Conservatism
  2. Neil J. Young
  3. pp. 193-213
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  1. The Making of Gay and Lesbian Rabbis in Reconstructionist Judaism, 1979–1992
  2. Rebecca T. Alpert and Jacob J. Staub
  3. pp. 214-233
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  1. Founding New Sodom: Radical Gay Communalist Spirituality, 1973–1976
  2. Daniel Rivers
  3. pp. 234-252
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  1. We Who Must Die Demand a Miracle: Christmas 1989 at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco
  2. Lynne Gerber
  3. pp. 253-276
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  1. Afterword
  2. John D’Emilio
  3. pp. 277-282
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  1. Recommended Reading
  2. pp. 283-288
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 289-292
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 293-303
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