Jane Addams: Religiously-motivated intentions or not?

To begin, I do not think Jane Addams was religiously motivated. I think she religiously adored her father and was motivated to be just like him in ever way BUT religion (ex. wanting her thumb to be flattened).

The first example of Addams' father teaching her about equality was when she was wearing a pretty cloak and her father asked her to change it in order to not make "the other girls feel badly." You can see a parallel of this teaching when Addams is choosing furniture for the Hull-House, "While all the new furniture which was bought was enduring in quality, we were careful to keep it in character with the fine old residence." Addams asked her father if equality could ever be achieved, her dad responded "people might be equal in things that mattered much more than clothes, the affairs of education and religion, for instance." This was quite a lesson, since the young girl loved her beautiful cloak, but the seed was planted that there were more important things that material possessions, such as equality which is necessary and could be achieved.

Her father also taught her "not to pretend to understand", but instead that "mental integrity [should be] above everything else." Although this example came from her father's own religious practices, he was also teaching her a life-long lesson that I think influenced her decision as to where she placed the settlement house, who she allowed in, and the community she formed within the house.

It's also interesting to observe her comparison of "free-ranging country children" and "city children" in which (at such a young age) she recognizes and empathizes with city children's constant interruption of imaginary play that leads them to involve themselves in other activities like "rude horseplay."

All the wisdom given and learned in a Quaker environment was bound to effect Addams' character and morals, but in no way do I see her practicing a specific religion, but instead religiously working for equality for all. She talks about companionship: "it gives a form of expression that has peculiar value." One could relate this to a religious aspect, such as church fellowship being apart of the "body" and the power of community, but instead, Addams takes much pride in the community she has made within the Hull-House. She explains that "many people who were formerly residents of the vicinity, but whom prosperity has carried into more desirable neighborhoods, come back to these meetings and often confess to each other that they have never since found such kindness as in early Chicago when all its citizens came together in mutual enterprises."

Addams' purpose really stands out to me at the end of chapter 5. Addams gives an example of a man questioning the "foreign views on our walls", mind you with no description of religious affiliation; she responds: " I endeavored to set forth our hope that the pictures might afford a familiar island to the immigrants in a sea of new and strange impressions." Addams is trying her best to ease people into a system that clearly is not supportive of their circumstances.

Why build the Hull-House in the inner-city? It's "not strange but natural. If it is natural to feed the hungry and care for the sick, it is certainly natural to give pleasure to the young, comfort to the aged, and to minister to the deep-seated craving for social intercourse that all men feel." The reward? The feeling of gratitude or spontaneous vitality- no strings attached. In my opinion, sometimes religion gets lost in the world of man. Quotes like this become pushed back by politics and greed. Maybe Addams was on to something.