The Realities
More than 1,000 followers with gold-embossed invitations to "The Marriage Feast of the Lamb" arrived in Philadelphia to help Father Divine, the self-proclaimed deity, celebrate the fifth anniversary of his wedding to Canadian-born Edna Rose Ritchings, whom he still proudly calls his "white, spotless virgin bride." For two days the "heavenly guests" shouted and sang as they waited a turn at the huge banquet table lighted with a neon sign: "God's Holy Communion Table of Unity Mission."
Back in the U.S. after spending 17 months in a Hungarian prison, Robert A. Vogeler...