8.4: Sex and the Second Coming

In Western New York's "burned over district" a series of religious movements rose up with apocalyptic visions. In this episode, we discuss two post-apocalyptic groups: the Shakers or Shaking Quakers, led by Mother Ann Lee, and the Perfectionists at the Oneida Community led by John Humphrey Noyes. Both believed that Christ's Second Coming had already happened and both argued for a complete overhaul of the way human beings had or didn't have sex.