Leon Milton Birkhead Explained

Rev. Leon Milton Birkhead (April 28, 1885– Dec. 1, 1954) was an American Unitarian minister who founded the Friends of Democracy in 1937 "after two trips to Germany had caused him alarm over the growth of the Nazi movement and what he believed to be its associations in the United States."^[1] He opposed Nazi sympathizers in America in the 1930s.^[2] He was in dispute with Gerald Burton Winrod from the 1920s.^[3] As the author of The Religion of Free Man (1929) he suggested dropping "God out of consideration," and represented the humanist rather than theist wing of the modern Unitarian church.^[4]

For additional information see "Leon Milton Birkhead" by Jim Grebe in the Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography. https://www.uudb.org/birkhead-leon-milton/

Notes and References

1. "Rev. Leon M. Birkhead Dies Here at 69; Founded and Led Friends of Democracy," The New York Times, Dec. 12, 1954, p. 31; https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/12/02/84441605.html?pageNumber=31
2. America views the Holocaust, 1933-1945: a brief documentary history - Page 47 Robert H. Abzug - 1999 "Reverend LM Birkhead, an American Unitarian minister, sought out the Nazi Jew-baiter Julius Streicher while on a fact-finding visit to Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union. He was struck by the reach and extremism of the Nazi ..."
3. Hollywood and anti-semitism: a cultural history up to World War II - Page 118 Steven Alan Carr - 2001 "... Winrod faced stiff opposition from the Reverend LM Birkhead, a Unitarian minister from nearby Kansas City, Missouri. ... the minister founded Friends of Democracy, an organization to fight indigenous American fascism. Birkhead chose ."
4. Man the measure: an essay on humanism as religion Arthur Hazard Dakin - 1939 "been powerful enough to threaten a rift between theists and non-theists in American Unitarianism. 18 Humanist centers ... Baltimore Ave., Kansas City, Mo.; LM Birkhead, minister; 1185 nominal members, ..."