brenda g. kent

I happen to know many witches that also consider themselves Quakers. What
is the Quaker "line" on this? ....or is there any such thing as a Quaker
line?

Bren.

paul m davis

Yeah. Quakers are historically opposed to witchcraft. Some were actually
tried as witches and hung for it, but Quakers consistently denied the
charge. The Puritan view was that any spiritual experience outside their
narrow theology had to be motivated by the Devil and was therefore
witchcraft. Quakers proclaimed that spiritual experience outside the bounds
of narrow Puritan theology was the work of God, not the Devil.

Modern "witchcraft" is somewhat disingenuous in that it has no actual
connection to "witchcraft" of the middle ages, but is akin to religious
humanism. It is a wholly modern fabrication with a made up or borrowed
history. But, since some modern Quakers are also essentially religious
humanists, that would be the potential point of common ground with the
modern version of "witchcraft". Both camps are well outside of traditional
and historic Quaker theological thought, however.

kbhouck

you might be interested to know that William Penn presided over
Pennsylvania's only witchcraft trial. It had parallels to the Salem
trials in that the accussed was of the old faction, the Swedes, and the
testimony was largely accusation of things though to happen in her
presence added to by a rather pugnatious personality.

Bond was set to guaranty good behavior and the trial ended any further
charges.

Kenneth

timothy travis

there is no such thing as a Quaker line. Wiccans are welcome in
some Friend's places, and not welcome in others.

there are many Wiccans who are attenders at (and even members of)
liberal meetings. There are some who attend my meeting. They are
people who participate in the life of the meeting, organize things,
carry the load and are dear souls.

As a Christian Friend, i do not have an intellectual orientation in
common with them, and yet their practice certainly seems to be moving
them along toward a spritual maturity that is consistent with Quaker
testimonies.

I am far less theological than some Friends, being more concerned
about the quality of my connection with God/The Spirit/the
Transcendent Reality than I am with "doctrine" and "notions." My
experience is that my connection is more enhanced by right practice
than by a "right" set of intellectual beliefs.

As for me, those whose life and practice bears the fruit described as
that of the Spirit--regardless of their spiritual orientation-- are
dear to me and cherished.

Because it is about the Fruit, not the forms. It's about how the Holy
Spirit moves in one's life, and where it moves one's life, that seems
to me to determine whether one's practice adds to or detracts from
Gospel Order, toward God's plan.

peace

Timothy

timothy travis

I had never heard of this. Do you have a source where I can find out
more about this?

thanks

Peace

Timothy

engineer

The Quakers of 300 years ago had a different view because there was a
common societal belief that we no longer hold. Many people believed
that infant deaths, crop failures, falling off a horse and breaking
a leg, etc. were caused by a person in league with the Devil - a
"witch." The symptoms of being a witch were pretty much what we now
believe to be mental illness, just as we now believe that germs killed
the baby, lack of rain killed the crops, and carelessness caused the
broken leg. If there really were people who caused all of those
things, it would be rational to use force to stop them.

Today's witches are another thing altogether. Ask them if they are
in league with the Devil and they will point out that the Devil is a
concept from another religion that they don't practice.


--
It must be obvious that liberty necessarily means freedom to
choose foolishly as well as wisely; freedom to choose evil
as well as good; freedom to enjoy the rewards of good judgment,
and freedom to suffer the penalties of bad judgment. If this
is not true, the word "freedom" has no meaning." - Ben Moreell

bill

I'm sorry, but I had to post this as a response:

"If... she... weighs... the same as a duck... "

hehehehehe

[for the whole scene about witches:
http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail-05.htm ]

delightdarling

brenda, i have only known 3 witches at 3 diff. times in my life and none
of them would even think quakerism had anything they needed.

one was a white witch and did her own thing alone...

one was a witch in a coven and it was them and no more...

one was a witch/pagan/goddess/biker all rolled into one...

i do know a few people both male and female that think they are jesus
but i guess thats beside the point lol....f.

http://community.webtv.net/delightda...memoriesfrommy

marshall massey

Timothy Travis writes,

I feel sure you believe that sincerely. But I note that your posts
*here* are often very heavily loaded with theological assertions and
arguments -- whereas I have met many Friends who almost never say
such things. (We even have many such here in this newsgroup --
Friends whose posts are seldom about anything but politics or
economics, or whose posts are seldom about anything but personal
news and relationships.) I would say you are *much* more
theologically minded than the average Friend I've met.

This itself is a theological assertion.

So is this.

An anti-theory position is as theological as a pro-theory
position if it is about God, or religion, or salvation, or the
"Right Path" vis-à-vis such things.

With all good wishes,
Marshall Massey <mmassey@earthwitness.org>

wsamuel

Perhaps one could, but I'm not sure if that was more than one! There
were those present prone to such hysteria, but I didn't perceive there
to be many of them. I think there were plenty of level-headed people
in the room who would not have been swayed to that sort of thing. But
then we perceived things differently much more than not during the
entire time we both were Baltimore YM representatives to FUM, and
there were certainly times when our constituency wondered if we
attended the same meetings when we reported back. They were the same
meetings, but we often perceived them quite differently.

However, you certainly did contribute to a very sober, balanced minute
which clearly separated FUM from those prone to hysteria on either end
of the spectrum, and I appreciated your work in that regard. It was
one matter on which we were united.

Bill Samuel, Silver Spring, MD, USA, wsamuel[at]mail.com
http://www.quakerinfo.com/ http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wsamuel/
Friends in Christ, Maryland, USA, http://www.friendsinchrist.net/
Member, Adelphi Monthly Meeting, Baltimore YM (FGC/FUM)
affiliate member, Rockingham Monthly Meeting, Ohio YM (Cons.)
"There is One, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition."