Walking with Wolf is a book I've been reading with my class , it's a book about families moving to Costa Rica to get away from the wars and to be able to believe in what religion they'd like.In the mid 1600's a man named George Fox founded a group called Friends of the Truth. Friends of the Truth was a group followed by people who had an alternative method of worship. I found Fox to be a very interesting guy because I appreciated his methods and how he presented himself. George believed that you didn't have to go to church or a place of worship to believe in God. He believed that if you believed and if God was real he would be with you anywhere you chose to pray. I'm not a Quaker but I agree with parts of Quakerism. I think it's a very respectable religion.
In 1650 Justice Bennet charged Fox with blasphemy. Bennet called Foxes followers Quakers as meaning the synonym of tremble , because supposedly they tremble at the word of God. Bennet's beliefs were not only offensive to me but outrageous. Just because George didn't believe the same as him he became the total outcast. Fox didn't push any religion or belief upon anyone, so why does anyone have the right to do that towards him or anyone else. This is exactly why we made the 1st Amendment. We all have rights, even if your not an American I believe that you deserve your rights just as much as the next guy. Nobody has the right to take away someones religion. I think Bennet was scared that Fox might have been different than him, and anyone different is a menace.
Fox and his followers were not only beaten for believing differently but imprisoned for not changing their minds about their beliefs. That is so sickening to me, it seems very prejudice. Just because something is different than you, it's wrong or weird. In reality different is change. Friends of the Truth believed in Peace, Equality, Integrity, and Simplicity . I believe that those are all the qualities that it takes to be truly be happy, and enjoy life, those are the values I live by.
Kristine,
ReplyDeleteTo support your thoughts, that the actions towards George Fox's religion was unfair,and was a form of religious intolerance. I have to share something I just read. Recently I had some reading to do for a class and the setting is the same time as George Fox, the early 1600's. It is about the "Puritan Migration" to Massachusetts. An interesting fact was that not all people who came across the ocean to settle in Massachusetts, could stay. This is sort of new information to me but aligns with what you were reading about. The American Colonies were like a big social group, and if you were not with the "in crowd" then you were banished from the colony or sent back to England. Some colonists had to provide letters of recommendation, to the leaders of the colony, that they were of "good character". There is a lot more that goes into it but like you point out, it was a pretty unfair time.