1923 | Religion
Religion
Aimee Semple McPherson dedicates Angelus Temple of the Four-Square Gospel at Los Angeles January 1 with a plaque overhead that reads, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever," and a large rotating illuminated cross visible for 50 miles (see 1918). McPherson uses special effects to produce thunder, lightning, and wind that illustrate her "foursquare gospel" and help fill her 5,300-seat auditorium (see 1926).
Nazi demagogue Julius Streicher, 38, begins publication at Nuremberg of the anti-Semitic weekly paper Der Sturmer. A close friend of Adolf Hitler, Streicher joined Hitler's National Socialist Party 2 years ago and will have tremendous influence on the party's policies, amassing great wealth through crooked business transactions, although his irresponsible behavior and sexual and sadistic excesses will alienate many party officials.
Turkey ceases to be an Islamic empire under its first president Mustafa Kemal, who tells a journalist just hours before being sworn in October 29 that popular Islam has become a morass of superstitions that will destroy those who profess it. "We will save them," he promises, but later generations will press for an end to secularism.