Yes, even Hitler.

"There is that of God within every one." This is what I feel is the core of Quaker Faith. What I think informs all of our other testimonies and beliefs.

Since is spend so much time around people of faith who are not Friends. I frequently get asked what Quakers believe. 

A question that is unfortunately easier to answer in the negative with Hicksite Friends, with what we don't believe and do. There is a very good reason for this, and one that I hold as a positive. It is because we recognize that people's individual spiritual journey is just that, individual. Unlike other Denominations, we are not defined by whether or not we believe in the Trinity, the Divinity of Jesus, or what we consider sinful. We are more defined by our commitments to Integrity, Peace, Justice, Equality, and caring for the world.

Since I have been asked so many times "What do Quakers believe" my response has been refined to "There is so much variety between Quakers that isn't really an answerable question. However, I can tell you that our core belief is that there is that of God within every one." Weirdly enough, I've been asked more than once. "What, even Hitler?" I do have a ready answer to that. "Sometimes they make it really hard to see."

On the whole, everyone has trouble recognizing That of the Light in challenging people. We look at someone who we see as irredeemably evil... and our minds just won't let us see the better aspects of them. 

We also let this happen when we are dealing with people we just don't agree with. We decide that because we think they are wrong, there is nothing worthy about them, but that is a topic for another day.

Getting back to my original point. Yes Adolf Hitler had The Inner Light (another name for That of God). He chose to ignore his Light. The same can be said of many other people. Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, just about any American CEO or Hedge Fund manager, and one person whose name I'm sure will spring to everyone's mind by my not naming him.

While everyone does have a measure of the Light within them, listening to the Light and following it is a choice. We also have what I think of as The Inner Dark, what I have heard Evangelical's refer to as The Voice of Satan. In psychological terms it is the collection of biases, prejudices, hatreds, self centered beliefs, and personal aggrandizement that we all fall prey to. 

It would be so easy to give a long list of examples of people who followed the Light, and those who followed the Dark. Examples that would give the idea that it is an either or binary choice. Instead, I'm going to talk about a much more complicated figure.

In America Mahatma Gandhi is viewed as the ultimate Holy Man. A figure of inspiration when it comes to peace and nonviolence. Gandhi is an inspiration to many Generations of Friends (a specific positive example). I cannot speak to how he is viewed in India, but I am fairly certain that he is a national hero. 

So, imagine my surprise when I read about an effort inspired by the American movement to remove statues of controversial racist figures from public view. In Ghana, my Sister-in-Law's home country, the students were fighting to remove a statue of Mahatma Gandhi from their campus. 

Mahatma Gandhi was a lawyer originally, who worked in Africa... on the side of oppression. It would be fair to characterize  Gandhi's work in South Africa as about elevating Indians above the native African population. (For more on this subject I recommend this article Was Mahatma Gandhi a Racist) 

In Mahatma Gandhi I see a figure who both gave in to his Inner Dark, but then redeemed himself and followed the Inner Light.

While I am definitely no apologist for Adolf Hitler. I'm sure that there were many points in his life where Hitler could have chosen to follow his Inner Light... He never made that choice. Instead he followed his Inner Dark to the point where he is the example of The Ultimate Evil that everyone has in their hearts. Including mine.

In short, yes, even Hitler had That of God within him... Hitler chose not to listen.

I Know What Is Going On.

I can't believe how bad it is getting.

Every day there is a new outrage in the news. Something more awful than the day before. 

Committed in our names by the leadership of our country.

I have immigrants in my family. From Asia and Africa.While I myself may be blindingly Caucasian, that is definitely not true for all of my family. I myself have always been told that I have Seneca blood many generations back. I have friends whose families come from every corner of the Earth...

I was a child during the tail end of the Cold War. I was told that we were better than the USSR, because we were more moral. The Russians did things that we would never dream of.

Now, nearly 30 years after the end of the Cold War....

Things have gotten bad enough that my 85 year old grandmother, who I have never discussed politics with in my entire life... Brought up everything that has been happening, and how upsetting it is. Until this week, I didn't even know whether or not Grandma was registered to vote. My mother told me she didn't like to discuss politics decades ago, so I never brought it up.

Well, there is a reason why I have been keeping the Daily Outrages out of my blog. Not because I do not see what is happening. Not because I do not care about our Nation.

I actually am a very strong patriot. In the mold of Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas K. Beecher. I do everything I can to make this a better Nation, for everyone who lives here. I even sacrifice several days a year to help keep our democracy running.

However, there is a real problem with fighting the Daily Outrage. Getting upset about every horrible thing that happens. If you do that with no breaks ever. You run serious risk of Empathy Fatigue.

Empathy Fatigue is something that happens to Social Workers, Civil Rights Lawyers, Teachers, and even Police Officers. After a while you see so much awful, your sense of Empathy begins to dull. The human mind can only handle so much before it starts to give up.

In order to avoid Empathy Fatigue I have been keeping my blog focused on how to deepen my Faith. Somewhat as a way to remind myself that I can be a good Quaker and a good person. That Faith is not the property of the Religious Right, that the Religious Left is heir to our traditions as well.

My sense of Justice is tied up with my Faith. After all, I am a Friend, and Quakers have a long history of being Moral Crusaders.

I am a Feminist and a Socialist (please don't confuse that term with Communist). I am against Mass Incarceration, LGBTQ+ discrimination, Racism, and Anti-Immigrant sentiment.

I stand for destroying Income Inequality. Ensuring that all Americans have their needs met. That everyone has Health Care, Food, Affordable Housing, the Education they desire, and the chance for a decent life. Working for a society that works for everyone. Not just some people.

In other words, I stand for things that I see in Quaker tradition, and in the Bible. God belongs to no political party.

I Want to Be Thomas K. Beecher When I Grow Up.

In my post Hometown Heroes I mentioned that I wanted to know more about Thomas K. Beecher. If only because one of my ancestors helped create the statue of Rev. Beecher.

Since that blog I have gotten the chance to tour the Park Church downtown. I discovered that Rev. Beecher was the sort of man that all Christians should aspire to be

Rev. Beecher has a bad case of more famous older sibling. His older sister Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Which of course is still required reading in many schools today, over 150 years after it was published. Like her, he was an abolitionist.

The Park Church that Rev. Beecher was pastor of was actually founded by abolitionists. Quite a few of the members were active conductors on the Underground Railroad before the end of the Civil War. At least 800 fugitive slaves passed through Elmira on their way to Canada. I'm positive that he had a hand in some of those activities.

Rev. Beecher was also close friends with another literary giant. He would play billiards and debate with his buddy Sam regularly. Sam wasn't the church going type (I've read his "Letters From The Earth" so I totally understand that), but his wife and daughters were members of the Park Church. Why Rev. Beecher even performed Sam's marriage to his wife Olivia in her family's mansion (the current site of which is a strip mall, take that as you will). Sam is better known by his pen-name, Mark Twain. I can't help but envy Rev. Beecher's friendship with Mark Twain. I have long wished I could have gotten to know Mark Twain personally.

Rev. Beecher gave the "indigent" a place to clean up and rest (which tells me how old my town's homeless population is). His study was my City's first library. He helped create the local school system. He was even a carpenter and helped the townspeople build and repair their homes. A fixer, a creator, a caretaker, an educator, and a spiritual leader. From his talents and actions, you can see that he was a man that tried very hard to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

When Rev. Beecher retired as the pastor of the Park Church, he handpicked his successor and hired her himself. Yes, that is correct. In the 1890's he hired the first female pastor ordained in his denomination Annis Eastman and her husband to oversee the church he had built.

Rev. Thomas K. Beecher was such an influence that even the placement of his statue was symbolic and purposeful. With his church standing behind him, and him watching out and over the town.

I see so much of what I admire in a man of Faith in Rev. Beecher. I am somewhat awestruck at what I learned on the tour. While he and I are from different denominations, we both belong to the same religion. I am inspired to be a better Christian in the way he was. To do as much good, and bring as much love and kindness into the world.

I know that Quakers have so many stories in our past that are as vibrant and inspiring as Rev. Beecher's is for the Congregationalists. I can't help but wonder where that spark is now for the Religious Left? Shouldn't every Friend and Progressive Christian try to be as devoted and giving as he was? Shouldn't everyone no matter their Faith or lack thereof try to live up to this example?