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Greetings:<br><br>
I wrote my Thanksgiving column early so that I could relax for Tofu
Turkey Day.<br><br>
While I did this research I also gathered material on the Salem Witch
Trials. Some may not know that in addition to writing favorably
about Southern slave owners, Wilson & Co. also took a more positive
view of executing witches. In the same way that Wilson declared
that Christians should not be ashamed about what the Bible says about
slavery, he also takes very seriously the Biblical injunction that
"one should not suffer a witch to live." And for them
witches are very real. Stay tuned for a column on this
topic.<br><br>
Proud Intolerista,<br><br>
Nick Gier<br><br>
<div align="center"><b>THE PERSECUTION OF QUAKERS: <br>
SHAME ON OUR PURITAN FOREFATHERS<br>
<br>
</b>by Nick Gier<br>
<br>
I would carry fire in one hand and faggots <br>
in the other to burn all the Quakers in the world. <br>
<br>
–Boston preacher John Norton<br>
<br>
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This is the time
of year to honor a small band of persecuted English Christians, who first
sought refuge in Holland and then decided to set sail for the New
World. With the aid of friendly Indians they were able to survive
their first year in America. We celebrate the Pilgrims of Plymouth
because of their yearning for religious liberty and their desire to
worship freely in their own way. What we don't always recognize,
however, is the fact that they denied that freedom to those with whom
they disagreed.<br><br>
All residents of the Plymouth colony had to pay a church tax and attend
the established church every Sunday. Because Quakers refused to do
this, their males were not "admitted as free men" and could not
"be employed in any place of trust." Quakers believed that they
were not subject to civil authorities, and they refused to take oaths or
serve in the military. They also rejected all religious dogma, preferring
to follow the internal light of Christ than a literal reading of the
Bible.<br><br>
In 1658
eight Quakers were arrested on a ship arriving in Boston Harbor.
Their leader, Christopher Holder, stumped the Puritan magistrates when he
pointed out that they had no law proscribing Quaker belief. Laws
were quickly passed with increasing severity: the first offense was to
have one ear cut off, and offending a second time would cost Quaker males
the other ear. Quaker women were to be whipped instead. If
Quakers, male and female, had not their lesson by the third time,
"their tongues would be bored through with a hot iron."
Christopher Holder kept coming back to Boston to preach and to debate
Puritan leaders, so on July 17, 1658 Holder and two other Quakers had
their ears cut off, whipped twice a week for nine weeks before they chose
to return to England.<br><br>
Five Quaker women left the safety of Rhode Island, where Roger Williams
had established religious liberty in America for the first time, and came
to Boston to support their oppressed comrades. As soon as they arrived
they were thrown in jail with the others.<br><br>
The Bay Colony Puritans concluded that Satan had sent them this Quaker
scourge, so on October 19, 1658 the General Court of Boston passed a law
stating that any Quaker refusing banishment would be executed. The
result was that Quakers kept coming back to Boston with more zeal than
ever. Mary Dyer, one of the women from Rhode Island, and two men were
tried under the new law and they were convicted. The men were
hanged but Mary Dyer was rescued by her son riding on a white house with
a reprieve from the governor in his hand.<br><br>
When Mary Dyer learned that the Boston Puritans were boasting to the
English Parliament about their mercy in her case, she was determined to
confront them and she returned to demand that the laws against Quakers be
appealed. It was decided that no new trial was necessary, and after
refusing to recant, Dyer was led to the gallows once again and she died
there on June 1, 1660. One more Quaker would be hanged before a new
charter from England forced the Boston Puritans to protect all Christians
except Catholics.<br><br>
I was raised in an evangelical Quaker church in Medford, Oregon, and
their peaceful meditative Christianity had a profound influence on my
life. I was recruited but declined to attend George Fox College, now a
reputable small University in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley. Every
spring the religious scholars of the Pacific Northwest meet, and the
George Fox faculty always present excellent papers.<br><br>
American Quakers are now a small but widely respected part of the
nation's spiritual life. The American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC) has an international reputation for aiding people in need and
insisting on nonviolent solutions to international problems. Their early
American predecessors would definitely have been surprised, if not
shocked, to learn that the AFSC now supports gay and lesbian
rights.<br><br>
Barack and Michelle Obama have also chosen a Quaker school in Washington,
DC for their two daughters. I'm sure that they will receive the
same character education that I did as a young boy at the Medford
Friend's Church.<br><br>
Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for
31 years<br>
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