Changes

Some questioned the permanence of Sunday's "conversions." Following the famous 1917 revival in New York, the Federal Council of Churches found that only 200 of the 68,000 were permanent converts.<ref name=nytobit/> In 1921, a commentator wrote:

Some questioned the permanence of Sunday's "conversions." Following the famous 1917 revival in New York, the Federal Council of Churches found that only 200 of the 68,000 were permanent converts.<ref name=nytobit/> In 1921, a commentator wrote:

:In spite of the thousands that have hit the sawdust trail, however, it is difficult to believe that more than a tiny proportion of his auditors are religiously affected by him. Very few give any signs of seriousness or "conversion." The great majority of those who hit the trail are merely people who want to shake his hand.... His audiences are curious to see him and hear him. He is a remarkable public entertainer, and much that he says has keen humor and verbal art and horse sense. But ... he leaves an impression of being at once violent and incommunicative, a salesman for Christianity but not a guide or friend.<ref>Hackett, Francis (1921), ''The Invisible Censor,''  B.W. Huebsch, Inc.; [http://books.google.com/books?id=ln1ixFuVoUsC&pg=PA23&ots=a2iRPCJG_X&dq=%22billy+sunday%22+shaking+shake+hand&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=hNWhl_TXHcL53rx0MTSo9CUmPHs#PPA30,M1 p. 30] (of reprint)</ref>

:In spite of the thousands that have hit the sawdust trail, however, it is difficult to believe that more than a tiny proportion of his auditors are religiously affected by him. Very few give any signs of seriousness or "conversion." The great majority of those who hit the trail are merely people who want to shake his hand.... His audiences are curious to see him and hear him. He is a remarkable public entertainer, and much that he says has keen humor and verbal art and horse sense. But ... he leaves an impression of being at once violent and incommunicative, a salesman for Christianity but not a guide or friend.<ref>Hackett, Francis (1921), ''The Invisible Censor,''  B.W. Huebsch, Inc.; [http://books.google.com/books?id=ln1ixFuVoUsC&pg=PA23&ots=a2iRPCJG_X&dq=%22billy+sunday%22+shaking+shake+hand&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=hNWhl_TXHcL53rx0MTSo9CUmPHs#PPA30,M1 p. 30] (of reprint)</ref>

Sunday fascinated the liberal intelligentsia of the time, who often made him a target of their mockery. [[Sinclair Lewis]]' novel [[Babbitt]] includes a character named Mike Monday, "the distinguished evangelist, the best-known Protestant pontiff in America.... As a prize-fighter he gained nothing but his crooked nose, his celebrated vocabulary, and his stage-presence. The service of the Lord had been more profitable." In his novel, a visit by Monday is opposed by "certain Episcopalian and Congregationalist ministers," whom Monday calls "a bunch of gospel-pushers with dish-water instead of blood, a gang of squealers that need more dust on the knees of their pants and more hair on their skinny old chests." Later, Lewis was to write [[Elmer Gantry]], a novel about an evangelical preacher with resemblances to Sunday. C. E. S. Wood in ''Heavenly Discourse'' depicts Billy Sunday as going to Heaven, addressing St. Michael and God as "Hello, Mike. Howdy, Pardner," and offering to conduct a revival there: "I can pack heaven so tight the fleas will squeal, and all I want is the gate-receipts for the last performance." [[Carl Sandburg]]'s poem, "To A Contemporary Bunkshooter," attacked Sunday using demotic speech similar to Sunday's own.<ref>Sandburg, Carl (1916), ''Chicago Poems,'' [http://www.bartleby.com/165/54.html To A Contemporary Bunkshooter], online text at Bartleby.com</ref>

Sunday fascinated the liberal intelligentsia of the time, who often made him a target of their mockery. [[Sinclair Lewis]]' novel [[Babbitt]] includes a character named Mike Monday, "the distinguished evangelist, the best-known Protestant pontiff in America.... As a prize-fighter he gained nothing but his crooked nose, his celebrated vocabulary, and his stage-presence. The service of the Lord had been more profitable." In his novel, a visit by Monday is opposed by "certain Episcopalian and Congregationalist ministers," whom Monday calls "a bunch of gospel-pushers with dish-water instead of blood, a gang of squealers that need more dust on the knees of their pants and more hair on their skinny old chests." Later, Lewis was to write [[Elmer Gantry]], a novel about an evangelical preacher with resemblances to Sunday. C. E. S. Wood in ''Heavenly Discourse'' depicts Billy Sunday as going to Heaven, addressing St. Michael and God as "Hello, Mike. Howdy, Pardner," and offering to conduct a revival there: "I can pack heaven so tight the fleas will squeal, and all I want is the gate-receipts for the last performance." [[Carl Sandburg]]'s poem, "To A Contemporary Bunkshooter," attacked Sunday using demotic speech similar to Sunday's own.<ref>Sandburg, Carl (1916), ''Chicago Poems,'' [http://www.bartleby.com/165/54.html To A Contemporary Bunkshooter], online text at Bartleby.com</ref>