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Chapter 8 A New Church in a New era In the decades spanning the end of World War II and the beginning of the twentyfirst century, North Carolina and the Presbyterian Church experienced tremendous challenges. As in any dynamic society, forces for change contended with those of stasis. The civil rights and feminist movements garnered the most headlines , but deeper structures of custom, institution, and heritage—indeed, of racial , gender, and religious identity—were at stake. The economic face of the state changed as the furniture manufacturing, tobacco, and textile industries declined due to changing markets and labor supplies. The Piedmont became known for its financial centers, and the Research Triangle Park symbolized new directions in cooperation between business, the academic sector, and government. In the coastal counties, improved transportation networks as well as the introduction of electricity and air-conditioning boosted the tourist and recreation industry, though unplanned development threatened to destroy the very resources upon which these industries depended. similarly, in the mountain region resort tourism became an economic mainstay, but one that found itself in conflict with proponents of economic growth for the region. Demographic changes were apparent too as the state’s chronic problem of out-migration eventually gave way to an in-migration of retirees and persons hoping for new and enhanced opportunities for their lives. Presbyterians in the state felt these changes. Controversies in society raised questions for the church, distinctive understandings of the role of the church and state met tremendous resistance, and institutions that were traditionally understood as regional and specific were challenged to become national, multiethnic, and open. By the midpoint of the twentieth century in North Carolina, it no longer made sense to think of the Presbyterian Church in terms of three regions, for the challenges were broader than the regions and the search for many of the solutions would bind North Carolinians together into one body. A New Church in a New era 190 Coming Home The mood in the nation as well as in North Carolina in the aftermath of World War II was one of relief that the war was over, together with the wish for a peaceful and prosperous future. There was also a deep desire to make up for lost time and opportunity. White GIs returned with deferred hopes—the aspirations for education, career, and family that had been interrupted by wartime service. fueled by government assistance, these ex-servicemen entered colleges and universities throughout the nation, purchased homes, and began families. soon they produced the baby-boom generation, with its 76 million children born between 1946 and 1964, a population increase that swelled public schools, strained health care, precipitated the development of a new suburban landscape, and transformed American society in myriad ways. other measures—growth of the middle class, rise in the gross national product , stable employment despite massive demobilization of soldiers, even extension of life span due to new medicines—suggested a confident time in American society. yet this confidence coexisted with fear and suspicion. Coming off of a decade of war and the lead up to it, Americans had become used to thinking in terms of evil enemies. No sooner had the surrender of Japan occurred than it seemed that conflict with communism, first in the cold war with Russia and then eventually in the hot war in Korea, was under way. If Americans were now a people of plenty, then, paradoxically, loyalty oaths, subversive plots, and charges of enemy infiltration accompanied the abundance. Was another war on the horizon , one which would try America’s confidence and destroy all of her material prosperity? North Carolina experienced its own variation of these dynamics. of the 15 million Americans who served in the armed forces, more than 2 million trained in North Carolina, most of them in bases in the southeastern part of the state. Many of these soldiers enjoyed their time in North Carolina and came back after the war to join native-born North Carolinians returning to resume their lives. According to the federal census, the population of North Carolina grew from 3.5 million in 1940, to 4 million in 1950, and to 4.5 million in 1960. North Carolina also saw its own baby boom, with slightly more than 1.9 million children born between 1946 and 1964. The more than 100,000 babies born in 1946 was the lowest number for the period, with the roughly 116,000 in 1956 being the highest; however , the number each...

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