BS: The Quakers

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 05:06 PM

Sounds good, CapriUni :-)

PoppaGator, the Sandy Spring Friends School is Quaker. It's associated with the Sandy Spring Friends (Quaker) Meeting, which I have attended.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 05:02 PM

That comes across so well in your writings and artwork, CU.

I found we had Quaker ancestors, some very recently, on my mom's side. I've written about one of them on here. He went into Ohio territory alone with his horse, no weapon. When asked how he expected to survive the "Indians" he made some comment about him coming with good intentions, etc. and after returning said his horse was more scared than he and he'd had no problems.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: CapriUni
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 04:50 PM

CarolC: Like I said, we'd never go to Meeting, much, when I was growing up. But as a kid, I just extended the concept of Inner Light to all living things (not just humans), and went outside and had Silent, Unprogrammed, Meetings with the trees.

:-)

That's how I became Pagan Quaker.

Since then, my meditations have led me to the idea that the Inner Light is inherent in all matter in the universe, without any Divine Point of Origin.

That's how I became a non-theist Quaker.

I'm not a "non-believer," though (really dislike that term). I believe in many things: first among them that Life is basically Good. And that the World is Beautiful.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: PoppaGator
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 04:45 PM

The Society of Friends (i.e. Quakers) in the US founded a number of excellent schools and colleges over the years. I have no idea which ones might still be under Quaker jurisdiction and which are currently secular and only historically Quaker.

A number of expensive private K-12 and 9-12 schools include the word "Friends" in their names, almost as many as include the words "Country Day." One prominent example is the Washington, D.C. area school attended by the President's daughters (and the offspring of other recent Presidents as well, e.g., Chelsea Clinton).

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: Becca72
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 03:17 PM

LOL Jack

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 02:55 PM

Correction, Sandy Spring Friends School.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 02:53 PM

I think the one I went to was one of the more eccentric ones, CapriUni. ;-)

We used to meet at the home of someone who didn't drive, and who had no indoor plumbing. They had an old converted chicken coop that was used as an outhouse. It was dubbed, "The Gloria Memorial Outhouse" in honor of one of the chickens who once lived in it.

But maybe you're right. There might be one out there in which I might feel at home. Probably not here where I live, though.

My brother and his wife and their kids live on the campus of the Sandy Springs Friends School, in Olney, Maryland. She's in charge of IT there, and he drives one of their school buses. I don't know if they're Quakers or not, but their kids go to the school, which is an excellent school.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 02:47 PM

My paternal ancestry is Quaker, but genealogical research shows us getting thrown out a lot, usually for having way too much fun.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: CapriUni
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 02:39 PM

CarolC: There are many flavors of Quakers, and some of them are quite.. eccentric. If you were too strange for one Meeting, you might just fit in perfectly with another.

I myself was raised (vaguely) Quaker; my father's family attended Germantown Monthly (and Weekly, iirc) Meeting in Pennsylvania, which was/is Orthodox. His sister Jean left to attend a Hicksite Meeting (less Christo-centric, more socially-active).

By the time I came along, he'd stopped attending meetings altogether, but I was taught the Friends' philosophy of Inner Light, and how that connects to the Peace and Simplicity testimonies. And we subscribed to Friends Journal, for a while.

I'm now a member of a Quaker-Pagan mailing list on Yahoo.

And yes, about Quakers and Chocolate: Quakers were opposed to alchohol because it tended to lead to violence, and people getting into fights in bars. So they promoted drinking Chocolate as a substitute: Just as addictive ;-), and something to do socially, but without the lapses in judgement and black eyes that follow.

Now, I have a craving for Mother's brownies, for which she always used Baker's unsweetened (and she also used it in making hot drinking chocolate -- not cocoa. Chocolate, which she would sprinkle with nutmeg.).

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 02:06 PM

I like their oats.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: GUEST,Q as guest
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 02:00 PM

Baker Chocolate Company also started by them, in 1765, in Massachusetts. Now absorbed by Kraft who have retained the name for choclate used in cooking and candy-making.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 01:39 PM

I used to be a Quaker by convincement, and attended a weekly Meeting for Worship for a few years with my then-husband and my son. But I found that I was too weird even for the Quakers, so I stopped.

Subject: RE: BS: The Quakers
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 11:54 AM

:0) Er...that is, John started the chocolate, not the thread...LOL

Subject: BS: The Quakers
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 12 Jan 10 - 11:53 AM

Follwing on from the thread about Cadbury's Chocolate, which was started by John Cadbury, a Quaker....I thought the Quakers deserved a thread of their own, as I'm sure they have much interesting history...

It was only a few years back when I was lucky enough to see The Quaker Tapestries whilst they were in an exhibition in Exeter Cathedral. They were extremely beautiful and I'd urge anyone to go and see them if ever they're being exhibited close to you. Their home is in Kendal, in the Lake District...and here is their excellent website...

The Quaker Tapestries