Post 16

Towards the end of my "treasure hunt" on the Urban Experience in Chicago website, I finally found something substantial that clearly conveys Addams' religious views and how the Hull House is affected by religion. If you click on the "Historical Narrative" tab, then under "Beginnings of Settlement Life in Chicago" click "Henry Booth Settlement: An Ethical Culture Experiment", you can find the portion of the website I will be discussing.

I found it odd that discussion of religion and images involving religious practice or items are scarce to none. However, in this section of the website Jane Addams' apparently famous essay, titled "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements", covers her reasons for starting Hull House, and why other settlement houses should be created. Her first two reasons are clearly out of good nature and philanthropy, but with her third reason she explains that she has the "conviction to implement the moral precepts that came from religious faith." However, according to the website she goes on to say in her essay that these moral precepts can be based on "humanitarian rather than traditional Christian dogmatic teachings." So it is somewhat clear that Addam's was concerned with the basics of religion. It looks like she maintained strong religious tolerance as long as a person's actions were based on widely accepted ethics. So I guess in effect her philanthropist actions were, at their root, based on Addam's own religious precepts. The Ethical Culture Society was obviously thus a result of these humanitarian ethical beliefs.