Mary Dyer

Mary Dyer being led
to her execution on June 1, 1660
(unknown 19th-century artist)

Mary Dyer (c. 1611–1660) was a Puritan‑turned‑Quaker who became one of the most famous martyrs of early American religious intolerance. Her execution on June 1, 1660, on Boston Common, was the culmination of a long conflict between the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Puritan authorities and the emerging, radically egalitarian Quaker movement. 

Born Mary Barrett in England around 1611. Mary emigrated to Boston in 1635 with her husband, William Dyer.  

Initially a Puritan, she became involved in the Antinomian Controversy supporting Anne Hutchinson. After Hutchinson’s banishment, Dyer was also excommunicated and banished, moving to Rhode Island. 

Mary returned to England (1651–1657) and encountered the Society of Friends (Quakers) and embraced their teachings. Quakers were considered dangerous heretics by Puritan leaders because they rejected clergy, emphasized the “Inner Light,” allowed women to preach, and refused to show deference to civil authorities.

When she returned to New England in 1657, she immediately faced persecution. 

By the late 1650s, Massachusetts had enacted severe laws that provided for the banishment of Quakers on pain of death, imprisonment for returning, and execution for repeat offenders.

Dyer was imprisoned in 1657, banished twice, and threatened with execution if she returned.

She returned anyway, multiple times, believing obedience to God outweighed obedience to the colony’s laws. 

Her Final Defiance and Execution

In 1659, Dyer returned to Boston to support imprisoned Quakers. She was sentenced to death but reprieved at the gallows due to her son’s intervention. She was warned never to return.

In May 1660, she returned again, deliberately choosing martyrdom.  

When offered a final chance to recant, she replied:

“Nay, I cannot; for in obedience to the will of the Lord God I came, and in his will I abide faithful to the death.” 

She was hanged on June 1, 1660, becoming one of the four “Boston Martyrs.”

Her martyrdom is widely credited with helping shift public sentiment toward religious toleration, especially in New England. 

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

Thoughts on 10 Commandments in Public Schools

 

 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

A new law was just passed in Louisiana that will require a poster of the 10 Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. It looks like it will be challenged constitutionally in the courts as a violation of the First Amendment.

Back in the early 70’s school officials at my High School tried to suppress the Jesus People Movement. We had Christian underground newspapers confiscated and I was personally threatened with expulsion for holding Bible studies on campus during our lunch breaks. The Dean of Students said that if our Bible study grew too large he would force it to be shut it down. The Dean’s reasoning was that if we were allowed to hold Bible studies, then he would also have to allow Satanists and Wiccans to hold their own gatherings. I explained to the Dean that I had no problem with Satanists and Wiccans being allowed to gather during lunch time because the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment gave every student the right to freely exercise their religion. Seeing that I had the Constitution on my side the Dean was left with no other choice but to allow us to continue our lunch time Bible studies.

Long Haired Hippie Jesus Freaks were born out of the anti-establishment, anti-war, don’t trust anyone over thirty, home grown everything, free lifestyle mindset. So, standing up to school officials and resisting the suppression of our free exercise of religion just came natural.

The pendulum is trying to swing the other way now and they want to force religion down kid’s throats. I think that this new Louisiana law should be challenged and repealed.

Beware, living in a theocracy is not a good thing!

 

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate." ~ Ronald Reagan

 

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

 

Jesus Flipping Out

"Jesus Overturning" by David Hayward

(image used with permission)

When I see politicians peddling Bibles I can't help but think of this illustration by David Hayward titled "Jesus Overturning".

Jesus wasn't very tolerant of financial and political power mingling with the religious system of his day.

We would do well to keep in mind whose tables Jesus flipped over and whose tables he ate at.

Peace, Love and Light!

Kevin (Cloud)

("Jesus Overturning" by David Hayward, copyright nakedpastor.com)

God in America - Part 3

Last night was the final two hours of the PBS special God in America.

In Part 3 of God in America the dance of politics and religion in America continues with the fight against "Godless Communism" in the 1950's and '60's and abortion in the 1970's and '80's. The church's focus shifts from spreading the Gospel to political activism. Hot-button issues are used to mobilize christians as single-issue-voters.

But at the beginning of the 21st Century we are starting to see a new view of politics and religion, one in which all religions are respected and political action is guided by the "Golden Rule" rather than by hot-button issues.

The challenge to religious liberty continues, but if the church can regain its position as an agent of Christ's love and forgiveness, rather than an agent for political action, the Gospel's relevance will prevail.

You can find more info on the PBS God in America website. If you miss any of it you can watch it online or order a dvd copy.

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

God In America - Part 2

Last night the PBS special God in America provided two more hours of interesting, and sometimes a little less known, historical information about God and the American experience.

On one hand PBS went into great detail about Lincoln's personal religious struggles along with those of a divided nation during the Civil War... but on the other hand, as in Part 1, only a casual mention of the contributions made by the Quakers. There was also a great deal of material about the Jewish reform movement in the United States which I really had no knowledge of prior to last night.

In Part 2 of God in America it was clear that during the Civil War (as in all other wars before and after), the church was co-opted to be the mouthpiece of the government, both for the Union and for the Confederacy. Not a good thing to be in my opinion, the church is to be the mouthpiece of God!

The one take-away-point from last night was that religion in America was and is ever changing, yet never becoming a uniform system of belief for the whole nation. The Constitution protects and thereby fosters diverse religious expression in America... Thank God!

I am going to watch the last two hours tonight. You can find more info on the PBS God in America website. If you miss any of it you can watch it online or order a dvd copy.

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

PBS Special "God In America" - Part 1

The first two hours of God in America, a six-hour documentary series on PBS, aired last night.

My thoughts while watching the first part of God in America was God bless Anne Hutchinson and all of the other brave men and women who were led by the Spirit to challenge the Church-State power elite. We are truly a diverse nation of believers and thank God that our Constitution provides the place and protection for all us us to practice our personal faiths as our conscience dictates.

I am going to watch the next two hours tonight. You can find more info on the PBS God in America website. If you miss any of it you can watch it online or order a dvd copy.

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

God in America - PBS Special

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, FRONTLINE presents God in America.

October 11-13, 2010, 9-11PM ET on PBS.

First-of-its kind, six-hour documentary series explores 400-year history of religion in the public life of the United States.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

I am going to watch it! You can find more info on the PBS God in America website. If you miss the special, you can order a dvd copy for your self too.

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

America's True History of Religious Tolerance

In the October 2010 issue of Smithsonian Magazine author/historian Kenneth C. Davis goes into great detail illuminating America's True History of Religious Tolerance. The lead in to the Smithsonian article makes a bold (and perhaps unpopular) statement... "The idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring—and utterly at odds with the historical record". Mr. Davis begins by questioning a long standing notion...

"Wading into the controversy surrounding an Islamic center planned for a site near New York City’s Ground Zero memorial this past August, President Obama declared: “This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.” In doing so, he paid homage to a vision that politicians and preachers have extolled for more than two centuries—that America historically has been a place of religious tolerance. It was a sentiment George Washington voiced shortly after taking the oath of office just a few blocks from Ground Zero.

But is it so?"

Kenneth Davis' article in the October 2010 Smithsonian Magazine states, in a much better way, what I posted here on Friday September 10, 2010 in my blog post Religious Intolerance.

Read the complete Smithsonian article: America's True History of Religious Tolerance

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

Religious Intolerance

I just finished reading A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution and Martyrdom of the People of God, called Quakers, in New-England, for the Worshipping of God written in 1661 by Edward Burrough. The introduction by Paul Royster gives an overview of the events in Colonial Massachusetts:

"From 1656 through 1661, the Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced an “invasion” of Quaker missionaries, who were not deterred by the increasingly severe punishments enacted and inflicted by the colonial authorities. In October 1659, two (William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson) were hanged at Boston; in June 1660, Mary Dyar (or Dyer) became the third; in March 1661, William Leddra became the fourth (and last) to suffer capital punishment or “martyrdom” for their Quaker beliefs."

How 'Christian' was it for the authorities in both Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony to whip, jail, fine, and kill innocent men and women because their beliefs were not the same as the state approved religion? After reading about the religious intolerance of colonial government I had to find out if the United States of America was truly established as a 'Christian' nation.

A great set of articles over on Helium tackles the question of the Founding Fathers' original intent. One in particular by Michael Ellement is well worth the read... Non-Religious Founding of the US: Exposing America's Christian Foundation Myth. While it is true that the colonies were set up, in varying degrees, as religious settlements and that most of the colonial settlers were Christians, Michael brings out one important distinction, that the founding of the Colonies was not the founding our our Nation.

It is an undeniable truth that religion and faith played an important role in seventeenth and eighteenth century America, but by the time our nation's founding documents were being drafted a growing understanding of the importance of religious tolerance was emerging. In the Declaration of Independence, July 1776, God is only mentioned three times:

"...the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God..."

And...

"...that they are endowed by their Creator..."

And...

"...with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence..."

The Articles of Confederation, the first document forming the government of the United States of America on November 15, 1777, only mentions God twice:

"And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union."

And...

"...in the Year of our Lord..."

Thomas Jefferson drafted The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom in 1779, just three years after he wrote the Declaration of Independence and eight years before the convening of the Constitutional Convention. Although this document was drafted for the state of Virginia, it gives us insight to the Founder's intent and the framework for our religious freedom later enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

"...That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

It soon became clear that the Articles of Confederation was not a strong enough document for the new nation, so the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. The Convention gave us our nation's Constitution on September 17, 1787. God is not mentioned in the Constitution except for the common practice of expressing the date as "...in the Year of our Lord...", which was used in both religious and secular contexts.

The only religious provision in the Constitution is the prohibition of the use of any religious tests for holding office in the United States:

"...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

The first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, were all ratified at once on December 15, 1791. The First Amendment to the Constitution includes the "Establishment Clause" preventing the government from any involvement in religion and the "Free Exercise Clause" providing our cherished freedom of religion:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

We are a nation that is neither uniformly, nor exclusively, "Christian". What we do have is a nation where the freedom to believe and worship how one chooses is guaranteed without the involvement of the government, and I for one would not want it any other way!

"I do only what the Lord God requires of me. Do not mourn my passing, for I am filled with happiness. I am already in Heaven." ~Mary Dyer, Martyred for her faith June 1660

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally

Well I watched the Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally on c-span yesterday... all 4+ hours... not that I am a Beck fan, but I had to see what all the hubbub was about. Mr. Beck was much different at the Restoring Honor Rally than his usual radio and television persona. He was more evangelist than the "blood-squirting-out-of-my-eyes" wild man that we all have come to know him as.

I can't fault much of what transpired during those four hours. I was pleased to here Mr. Beck urge us to seek God and his guidance in pursuit of "Faith, Hope, and Charity" in our daily lives, the apparent theme of the rally.

I do have a cautious attitude about the mix of religion and politics that Glenn Beck seems to be promoting. I am worried about a resurgence of the Theocratic Right. I believe that our political choices and our daily actions must be directed by our religious values, but I fear the move to create a Theocracy in America is on the rise again as a backlash to the Obama Presidency.

The last time we mixed religion and politics here in America it was 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, and that didn't go well for one of my wife's ancestors and nineteen others who were convicted of witchcraft. I am sure no one at the rally would accept Sharia Law or the Taliban, but those are examples of what a Theocracy looks like.

"At a time when we see around the world the violent consequences of the assumption of religious authority by the government, Americans may count themselves fortunate... Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?"
~Sandra Day O'Conner, Supreme Court Justice

"Be afraid! Be very afraid!"
~Wednesday Addams, The Addams Family movie

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

The Most High Does Not Dwell In Temples

I support the First Amendment right of any and all faith groups to worship where and how they choose, given that they do not practice human or animal sacrifice, which are prohibited by US Supreme Court rulings.

Now, having said that, my personal belief is that building any place of worship, be it Christan, Bahia, Buddhist, Universalist, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, or what ever, is a total waste of money! Look at the price tag of any of these edifices and ask yourself "Could those funds have been used more wisely?"

Would not the cause of any religion be better served if the poor were fed and housed rather than a house of worship built? Would not the sick and the lame think more highly of one's god if there were a hospital to get well in rather than a church to pray in? How many more hearts and minds would be won if scriptures were printed in one's native language rather than a shinny new church with neatly arranged song books lined up in each pew?

"However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?'" ~Saint Stephen, Acts 7:48-50

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" ~The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:16

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)

The First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, is the keystone document of our free society. Over the years they have been dragged through the courts in various attempts to interpret, expand, or limit the scope of their application. I am amazed at the current situation in our country where some are concerned that their Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms" is in danger of being taken away, but at the same time advocating the suspension of the First Amendment right to "free exercise" of religion for Muslims.

My Quaker ancestors came to America in the 1600's to escape religious intolerance. The Bill of Rights was written to protect those freedoms my ancestors came here to find, the same freedoms my father and my grandfather thought they were fighting to protect in two world wars. Now the fear mongers want to selectively apply those freedoms.

The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to protect the citizens from the government, the job of the government is to protect its citizens! I say keep the First Amendment intact for all, regardless of the collective pain brought on by September 11th, and let Homeland Security, the FBI, and New York's finest do their job of protecting us from possible terrorists.

"You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom." ~Clarence Darrow

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" ~Jesus, Matthew 7:12

Peace, Love, and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)