A Friendly Letter

A Hidden Piece of (Quaker) Women’s History: Leadership in The Ku Klux Klan

Historian Leonard Moore’s analysis of the 1920s KKK membership list for Wayne County, Indiana — home of the city of Richmond, numerous Quakers, and the Quaker Earlham College — offers a startling (to modern Friends) disclosure:

The religious affiliations . . . also closely approximated the city’s Protestant spectrum . . . . The large, traditionally evangelical denominations (Methodist, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, and Presbyterian) were strongly represented, but so too were the equally consequential German (Lutheran and United Brethren) and Quaker churches.

That is, Indiana Quakers were just as likely to join the 1920s Indiana Klan as any other churches; and many did.

And Daisy Douglass Barr was their star. She served as pastor in at least two prominent Friends churches, and preached in many more, over many years.
Daisy Douglass Barr in a 1922 newsclip (her maiden name was spelled Douglass, not Douglas, as here.)
She also used her notoriety and her Klan office to make money. The profit came mainly from selling Klan women’s robes and other paraphernalia. When the Indiana Klan could boast several hundred thousand members, and draw tens of thousands to its (white) family-friendly mass rallies, the paraphernalia business was good; nay, it was a goldmine.

LGBTs & Western Evangelical Quakers: A Reflection

CEF: I was really struck by what has been called the faculty gag rule at George Fox University. It also sounds as if there’s double-talk (or for the Orwellian-minded, Doublespeak) about it — administration officials say there is NOT a gag rule, but faculty members say there is — or at least they say that in private, not for attribution (as people would do if there really was a gag rule intact, regardless of what was “said” about it). What’s your sense? And is this kind of censorship spreading on college campuses generally, or is GFU something “special”?

ANGELL: The president of GFU, Robin Baker, who I quote in the article, says there is no “gag rule.” He says academic freedom is guaranteed for GFU professors. On some issues that are controversial in some evangelical Christian circles, e.g., climate change, it is clear to me that GFU employees are free to speak their minds. See, for example, this interesting work by George Fox Evangelical Seminary [GFES} professors: Daniel Brunner, Jennifer L. Butler, and A. J. Swoboda, Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology, intro. by Bill McKibben (Baker Publishing Group, 2014).

It is also clear to me, however, that academic freedom at GFU does not extend to discussion of matters concerning human sexuality. And that it cannot, as long as the current lifestyle standards of the University are in place (and, as I state in my article, there are no plans to change or even to reconsider them at this point).

This is an increasing problem for GFU professors and staff; in this most unchurched of states (Oregon) where same-sex marriage is legal and increasingly mainstream, GFES and GFU professors are in danger of finding their relevance circumscribed because of an inability to candidly express their views on matters of human sexuality. This specific issue is most severe at the so-called Christian colleges, although faculty at other seminaries and universities could do much more to engage matters of human sexuality in a constructive manner, especially in print.

Norman Morrison: November 2, 1965

50 years ago, November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison, a Quaker from Baltimore, drove to the Pentagon, and walked across its broad lawns to a spot very near the office of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. McNamara was busy making decisions about the burgeoning U.S. war in Vietnam, a war that Morrison despised.

In one arm Morrison carried his daughter, Emily, age 11 months; in the other, a wine jug.
He opened the jug, poured the contents over himself, and lit a match.

The jug was full of kerosene. The flames shot into the air. Norman Morrison quickly burned to death. Emily was unharmed.

Why did he do it?

The next day a letter arrived addressed to his wife.

Memorial Minute for Katharine “Kat” Royal

In Lumberton NC they lived near a trailer park populated by people of modest circumstances. Kat made friends with many residents there, including a woman named Lori and her daughter Christie. One day in late 2006 or 2007, Christie knocked at the door to say a dying dog had been abandoned nearby. The animal was bloody, with cuts around its neck and ears, and so weak it couldn’t stand up.

What had happened? In the area around Lumberton, dog-fighting is widely practiced, and it appeared this dog had been bred to fight, but refused to do so; hence the abuse and abandonment. We can’t keep it, the neighbor explained: the landlord won’t stand for it. But he’s so sweet: will you take him?

Kat had already purchased a young German Shepherd, hoping to train it as a service dog; and their trailer was small. But she took in the nearly comatose canine anyway.

Among their other neighbors was an Iraqi family, refugees from the wars there. They were devout Muslims, and the woman of the house was studying to become a veterinary technician. Hearing of Kat’s new dog and its desperate condition, she came by and spent many hours helping save its life and nurse it back to health, all while steadfastly refusing any payment.

Kat often told this story in her sermons, or when she heard other so-called Christians bashing Muslims: here was a Muslim practicing their faith as kindness, Kat said, and providing a more representative example of it that the violent stereotypes fed to the American public day after day.

Thus arrived in their lives the dog many of us know as Isaiah, or Zay-Zay as Kat often called him. And as Isaiah recovered, a surprising pattern developed: the German Shepherd, which Kat was working to train, paid no attention to the commands she repeated and repeated. But soon, Isaiah did start following them, unbidden, and began to take up the role the shepherd so adamantly refused. Before long the shepherd had been passed on to a new home, and Isaiah had found a new family, in which he had a vital place.

Exclusive Interview: CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — Part 3

AFL: Do you talk about politics? If so, considering the various presidential candidates: several have made comments about torture. What do you make of what you’ve heard from them so far? And related, do you think the Senate Intelligence report can survive the efforts of NC Senator Richard Burr to kill it and bury it?

John Kiriakou: I’m a big fan of Bernie Sanders, who said in an email to a constituent that had “done the country a great service.” I think that in the unlikely event that Bernie is elected president, he would pardon me. So would Rand Paul. He’s my favorite among the Republicans, although his positions on social issues frighten me.
To tell you the truth, I cast my final, pre-felony conviction vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for president. He’s been a great supporter of mine. I also like the Green Party’s Jill Stein very much.
Of the other presidential candidates, I’m not really sure I trust any of them on torture, even Hillary. On the Republican side, I’m comfortable calling just about all of them “pro-torture.” This, in my view, disqualifies them to be president.