Category Archives: Hard-Core Quaker

North Carolina YM Split: Stick A Fork In It

Two big benefits of this decision were immediately evident, at least to this writer: for the liberals, it seemed to definitively squash the purge effort. Stuck a fork in it. They can now stop wasting their time wondering if they’ll be kicked out of NCYM in a month or two.

For the uneasy evangelicals, they finally got some space, some daylight, between them and the liberals: they won’t have their own YM, but they will have their own brand. Now when questions come up about such strange liberal notions as, say, being friendly to LGBTs, or against the newest wars, they can simply jerk a thumb leftward and say, “That’s not us, it’s those Prius Friends. We’re with the Pickup Quakes.” (Or would it be the NPR Quakes and the Fox fans? UNC or Duke? Kale or collards? Ketchup or vinegar? Texas Pete or Sriracha? I must be hungry. Send us your suggestions!)

Carolina Quakers: One Creed? Two Creeds? Or None?

In North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM), the ongoing effort to purge liberal meetings currently takes the form of an effort to “divide” the body into two “new” YMs, (This “plan” is described in detail, with links to the relevant documents, here.)

The NCYM Ministry & Counsel has prepared a draft of the “Doctrinal Basis for Two Yearly Meetings,” which is copied in full below. “Doctrinal Basis” amounts to a summary creed.

But this summary creed fails to address the real pointed at issue in this struggle.

Bait & Switch – The Carolina Quaker Steamroller Cranks Up

Actually, my sense is that it already is a done deal. That the fix was in became evident when strong dissents were voiced by three EC members to the initial plan in June, they were shouldered aside.
Who are we kidding? The dice are loaded; the deck is stacked.

And the fix was in well before June. It surfaced last November, as reported here, when the same Executive Committee ( http://wp.me/p5FGIu-14w ) stated to the Representatives that:

“Past years and particularly the events of the last fourteen months have made it increasingly clear that positions and actions adopted by a very few meetings are serving to create much of the discord and unrest that we experience in North Carolina Yearly Meeting. These continued statements, positions and actions are threatening the very existence of North Carolina Yearly Meeting as we know it today.”

That is to say, the EC repeated and joined the push from Yadkin Quarter and other like-minded groups, which had surfaced in the summer of 2014, demanding the exclusion of “liberal” Friends and the “progressive” meetings.

Step Up for The Best Quaker Job There Is!

My crystal ball app got accidentally deleted from my phone, so this is only speculation. But consider:

— The current election pits a loose cannon ignoramus, against a supporter of the Iraq war, the Libya overthrow, and more, with ties to war-loving Neo-cons. Like them or hate them, I predict that one of them will win.

— And by next summer, the winner’s minions will be settling in at the Pentagon, the CIA, and the many other secret war agencies.

So I also predict (wait for it) . . . Quaker House will still be plenty busy.

Cloudy Skies for Friends General Conference — Part 1

for Friends General Conference — Part 1

Early in July, I was at the 2016 Gathering of Friends General Conference in Minnesota. And not long afterward, a Quaker I’ll call “Goodfriend” sent me an email, passing on a message from another, Friend, called here “Onequake.”

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Chuck—I thought you might be interested in this email. It’s from a member of our Meeting . . . .Do you know anything about racial tensions at FGC?

Begin forwarded message:

From: Onequake
Subject: FGC and race

Hi all,

This morning we attended [a Meeting far from home]. We heard that there were racial incidents at [the] FGC [Gathering in Minnesota early in July]. And that the area of MN chosen for the gathering is well-known for racial problems.