Men and Religion Forward Movement

Cofounded by Fred Smith and Henry Rood in September 1911 as a nationwide campaign, the Men and Religion Forward Movement (MRFM) emerged out of the cooperation between evangelical churches and religious agencies such as the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ, the Young Men's Christian Association, and the Presbyterian Labor Temple. The movement aimed to draw men to Christ and into church membership, as well as to remasculinize Christianity and evangelical churches and to diminish the role that women were increasingly playing in church affairs.

Although the movement never endorsed any political or civic-reform campaign, it adopted an agenda of issues shared by contemporary Social Gospel advocates and Progressive reformers, including social justice, wholesome recreation, better homes, and the elimination of prostitution and saloons. The ...