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More about my religious roots....
Jan. 6th, 2006 01:45 pmDig around the roots of some trees, and you may find a nugget, or two, of gold.
When I was growing up, I really thought there was only one variety of Quaker. But then, encountering Quakers from the West (when we went to a peace converence in Whittier, California, many years ago), and here in the South, I've since found Quakers who actually have pastors who give sermons, and within that site I linked to the other day, there was even a link to an e-mail list for evangelical, missionary Quakers.
Now, this may not seem odd for most folks who grew up in a mainstream Christian church, but for me, it's like discovering that there is a subspecies of wild boar with feathery wings.
So, just now, I put "Religious Society of Friends" and denominations into Google, and found this site: Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) -- a thumbnail overview of the religion aimed at people who mostly know "Quaker" as that smiling man on the oatmeal box (it's a good historical overview, imnsho). But anyway, while reading the section on the North American history of the religion, I found this:
That's my Dad's meeting! He attended Germantown Friends' School in high school, and his dad taught there [correction: his dad was a university teacher, but was on the board of Germantown Friends' for over 30 years]. My aunt and uncle continued to attend Germantown Meeting, until shortly before my aunt's death, I think. I never knew the Germantown Friends were ever that influential (The Puritans get all the press in American History).
*Big Grin* my bleeding-heart liberalism has deep roots.
A little further on, I found a description of exactly the kind of Quakerism I grew up knowing:
So: "Christianity" without Original Sin, crucifixion and/or resurrection ... No wonder it was such an easy step for me to become Pagan. And now I know which branch of my religious family tree to follow when it branches off in the 1800's to get to me and my beliefs.
Yay!!
[ETA: my religious education, such as it was, was made up entirely of occassionally reading the issue of Friends Journal that came to our house every month for several years. On a whim, just now, I did a Google search, and discovered that it's still being published (so not all of my childhood has vanished into the ether, after all). You can read sample articles here.]
When I was growing up, I really thought there was only one variety of Quaker. But then, encountering Quakers from the West (when we went to a peace converence in Whittier, California, many years ago), and here in the South, I've since found Quakers who actually have pastors who give sermons, and within that site I linked to the other day, there was even a link to an e-mail list for evangelical, missionary Quakers.
Now, this may not seem odd for most folks who grew up in a mainstream Christian church, but for me, it's like discovering that there is a subspecies of wild boar with feathery wings.
So, just now, I put "Religious Society of Friends" and denominations into Google, and found this site: Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) -- a thumbnail overview of the religion aimed at people who mostly know "Quaker" as that smiling man on the oatmeal box (it's a good historical overview, imnsho). But anyway, while reading the section on the North American history of the religion, I found this:
- In 1688, a group of Friends in Germantown, PA took a public stand against slavery; this is believed to be the first stirrings within a religious organization of the abolitionist movement in America.
That's my Dad's meeting! He attended Germantown Friends' School in high school, and his dad taught there [correction: his dad was a university teacher, but was on the board of Germantown Friends' for over 30 years]. My aunt and uncle continued to attend Germantown Meeting, until shortly before my aunt's death, I think. I never knew the Germantown Friends were ever that influential (The Puritans get all the press in American History).
*Big Grin* my bleeding-heart liberalism has deep roots.
A little further on, I found a description of exactly the kind of Quakerism I grew up knowing:
- Early in the 19th Century, tensions increased within the movement over doctrinal matters. Elias Hicks from Long Island began preaching the primacy of the "Christ within" and the relative unimportance of the virgin birth, the crucifixion, resurrection and other fundamental Biblical beliefs.
So: "Christianity" without Original Sin, crucifixion and/or resurrection ... No wonder it was such an easy step for me to become Pagan. And now I know which branch of my religious family tree to follow when it branches off in the 1800's to get to me and my beliefs.
Yay!!
[ETA: my religious education, such as it was, was made up entirely of occassionally reading the issue of Friends Journal that came to our house every month for several years. On a whim, just now, I did a Google search, and discovered that it's still being published (so not all of my childhood has vanished into the ether, after all). You can read sample articles here.]
