LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY swisscelt)

I've been thinking a lot about this, and am hoping that, together, we can flesh this out a bit: Something happened, or perhaps some things happened, in American society circa 1925 (+/- 10 years) which caused the institution of radical Christianity in this country. Here's a partial list of the social phenomena which I think might be contributing factors:

• The Scopes trial, aka the Tennessee Monkey trial, which began exactly 78 years ago this week (ironic, as I didn't realize that until I started writing this entry).
  
• Commercial radio, and the dawn of broadcasting and the "mass media".
  
• The rise of what would become known as Christian "televangelism": The Moody Bible Institute aired its first program in 1925, and WMBI, the Institute's first radio station, went on the air the year following.
  
• The Great Depression.
  
• The death of the Appalachian native subculture: Radio introduced Appalachia to the mainstream American culture. At the same time, America was introduced to the Appalachian subculture vis a vis broadcasts from Nashville's WSM and "Jamboree" from Wheeling, WV's WWVA. This began the gradual homogenization of the Appalachias with the rest of the nation. Public works programs instituted under the New Deal hastened this process.
  
• The advent of internationalism, with Wilson's foreign policy and the League of Nations.
  
• The demonization of nation states, as the Fascists take over Italy in 1924 and Hitler gains control over the Nazi party in Germany in 1925.
  
• The decline of the British Empire, with the perceived loss to western civilization that entails.
  
• The Mafia, and the corresponding rise of anti-Catholic sentiment as demonstrated by organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.