Quaker persecution for their libertarian belief system has been a staple of English life. The English in particular Cromwell's Puritans loved to persecute them. Many fled to America.
Given how violent human nature can be, it is amazing that any of us are alive to talk about the experience let alone continue to advocate the same tolerance as part of the 400 year long peace and prosperity agenda that has been radically persecuted but from which stem almost every right enjoyed by every person in the United States. What is even more amazing is that many of these ideas form the bedrock of the American psyche and they really do not know much about their origin.
I am sure the English still would like torture us like prisoners in Gitmo, or maybe even Bush would like to do the same because we will not bow to power and are not afraid of it. We will not make an oath to power, but will affirm that power exists. Strange and simple, in a modern world obsessed with its own ego, many Quakers carry a way of thinking that is more modern than the most modernist thinkers.
Everyone here needs to read this book: http://www.questia.com/library/book/william-penn-and-our-liberties-by-william-wistar-comfort.jsp?CRID=william-penn-and-our-liberties-by-william-wistar-comfort&OFFID=se2qbp&KEY=William%20Penn%20Liberty
And this article: http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html
They explain very clearly how Penn developed this system of thought and how it came to be embraced by a nation. What they do not explain is what this system of thought can do for the people by unleashing the potential inside of them by expanding their thought and thought patterns.
In America, in the Puritan colonies they were persecuted in radical and often barbaric ways.
Even William Penn, and his kids- John Penn and the others- founders of Pennsylvania, spent most of their lives dealing with legal troubles or being thrown into jail for their libertarian beliefs. My family was the same, with some even dying for the practice of libertarian values. It is a thought that makes me humble.
Given how violent human nature can be, it is amazing that any of us are alive to talk about the experience let alone continue to advocate the same tolerance as part of the 400 year long peace and prosperity agenda that has been radically persecuted but from which stem almost every right enjoyed by every person in the United States. What is even more amazing is that many of these ideas form the bedrock of the American psyche and they really do not know much about their origin.
I am sure the English still would like torture us like prisoners in Gitmo, or maybe even Bush would like to do the same because we will not bow to power and are not afraid of it. We will not make an oath to power, but will affirm that power exists. Strange and simple, in a modern world obsessed with its own ego, many Quakers carry a way of thinking that is more modern than the most modernist thinkers.
Everyone here needs to read this book: http://www.questia.com/library/book/william-penn-and-our-liberties-by-william-wistar-comfort.jsp?CRID=william-penn-and-our-liberties-by-william-wistar-comfort&OFFID=se2qbp&KEY=William%20Penn%20Liberty
And this article: http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html
They explain very clearly how Penn developed this system of thought and how it came to be embraced by a nation. What they do not explain is what this system of thought can do for the people by unleashing the potential inside of them by expanding their thought and thought patterns.
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