During the 1920s, intellectual battles waged between Christian fundamentalists and religious liberals (also called “modernists”), a controversy that ultimately transformed religious life in the United States. By reading the most important and lively original sources related to this historic debate, including sermons, tracts, and cartoons, you will come to understand that far more was at stake than simply theology or doctrine. At the heart of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy were disagreements about the relationship of the Christian faith to the most important issues of the day including social reform and politics. By analyzing the sources in this unit, you will gain a deeper awareness of the diversity of the American experience, a more complete understanding of the present in a historically based context, and an enhanced ability to interpret, assess, and contextualize primary sources. With these skills you will then be able to answer the central question: How did the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the wake of World War I transform religious belief and activism in the United States?