The modern, pluralistic world began in 1919 when photographs of a solar eclipse confirmed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Although Einstein argued only for the relativity of space and time, others argued for the relativity of goodness and truth. Old certainties of God, nation, and family were poured by the champions of relativity into a caldron from which arose the steam of numerous moralities, numerous theologies, numerous isms. The isms competed for the loyalty of Americans, while the variety of theologies confused their minds and the variety of moralities confounded their lives. Leaders of fads announced that depending upon circumstances, celibacy and promiscuity, heterosexuality and homosexuality, faithfulness and adultery were equally good. All of which moved Methodist Bishop Francis J. McConnell to highlight the spiritual climate of the twentieth century by saying, "The preaching of the divine fatherhood has become the preaching of the divine grandfatherhood--with all the suggestiveness of a grandfather's doddering inability to mark sharp distinctions between right and wrong."

In addition to the pluralism of rights and wrongs, the past 75 years have witnessed the quest by diverse racial and ethnic groups for control over their own destinies and a voice in society commensurate with their numbers. Claiming the American assertion that all persons are created equal, minorities have called for, worked for, and suffered for truly inclusive secular and religious institutions.

Diversity, then, is one of the dominant features of the tide of pluralism. Some elements of this diversity--racial and ethnic pluralism and theological variety--have been accepted by the churches that now compose The United Methodist Church. But if they had only worked for the acceptance of diversity, The United Methodist Church would not have come into existence in 1968. What made the new denomination possible was the quest for unity along with the acceptance of diversity.

This linking of unity and diversity is the trademark of the tide of pluralism. As the Methodist, Evangelical, and United Brethren churches rode this tide, they reached their highwater mark. In 1930 their share of the United States population was 6.48 percent. Since then, however, it has been declining and at the time of the Bicentennial of American Methodism stands at approximately 4.2 percent. Behind these statistics are a host of historical events, beginning with the war to end all war, the First World War.

Americans supported President Woodrow Wilson in his efforts to keep the United States out of the mud and moral muck in which Britain, France, and Germany had become mired after French troops halted Germany's drive toward Paris. This support for neutrality during the first years of World War I was based on the pacifism that washed over America between the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 and 1917 when Congress declared war on Germany. But as soon as war was declared, a storm of patriotism swept over the land. Church papers criticized Quakers and other conscientious objectors to war. An Evangelical bishop declared, "He who is neutral in this country is a traitor: and he who is silent is disloyal." Sermons contrasted the just and noble cause of the Allies with the greedy and unholy ambition of Germany to conquer the world. Sauerkraut was renamed "Liberty cabbage," German measles became "Liberty measles," and even German Christmas legends and customs were considered unpatriotic.

The war became a holy crusade to end war, and Americans gloried in the idealistic notion that all-out fighting would make the world safe for democracy. One Methodist conference answered the question, "When will the war close?" by saying, "When Germany is whipped out of all semblances of militarism into Christian democracy!" Another conference, after declaring that "men in khaki and blue and white are filling up the measure of the sufferings of Christ," said, "But 'tis a morning storm, preluding a new day for man. And we are grateful for the honor of a part in this air-clearing tempest of war.''

Tempest of war there was, but the air had not been cleared by the time the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919. Indeed, the seeds of a more devastating conflict were sown by that treaty, just as the seeds of disillusionment had been sown by the illusion that war could be overcome by war. But for the time being, Methodists and Evangelicals were too busy with their own crusades to notice early signs of disillusionment.

http://www.drew.edu/books/200Years/part4/062.htm