Changes

Sunday was criticized by the liberal clergy of the day. Left-leaning Leon Milton Birkhead called Sunday's theology "a mediaeval belief that Christianity somehow is a fire-escape from a future hell." In 1916 Unitarian minister Joel H. Metcalf said "I cannot see how any cultivated person can be other than terribly revolted by the extreme sensationalism, the coarse jokes, the super-slang, the bawd characterizations, the ribald Billingsgate, and the dancing dervish contortions of the revivalist, where perspiration seems to be confused with inspiration. No doubt most of it is intended for strictly advertising purposes. If people will not go to the church they may still be induced to go to a circus."<ref>[http://personal.tmlp.com/richard/1916.htm Liberalism and the Modern Revival], sermon by Joel H. Metcalf, Winchester Star (Winchester, VA), December 8, 1916</ref>  

Sunday was criticized by the liberal clergy of the day. Left-leaning Leon Milton Birkhead called Sunday's theology "a mediaeval belief that Christianity somehow is a fire-escape from a future hell." In 1916 Unitarian minister Joel H. Metcalf said "I cannot see how any cultivated person can be other than terribly revolted by the extreme sensationalism, the coarse jokes, the super-slang, the bawd characterizations, the ribald Billingsgate, and the dancing dervish contortions of the revivalist, where perspiration seems to be confused with inspiration. No doubt most of it is intended for strictly advertising purposes. If people will not go to the church they may still be induced to go to a circus."<ref>[http://personal.tmlp.com/richard/1916.htm Liberalism and the Modern Revival], sermon by Joel H. Metcalf, Winchester Star (Winchester, VA), December 8, 1916</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. (Sunday in turn referred to Lewis as "Satan's cohort."<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-elmer-gantry/intro.html Elmer Gantry study guide], bookrags.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. (Sunday in turn referred to Lewis as "Satan's cohort.")<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-elmer-gantry/intro.html Elmer Gantry study guide], bookrags.com.</ref>

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>

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>