Quakers Case Essay Example for Free

Quakers Case Essay This research paper will argue that the evangelicals were embraced mostly by blacks not only because it’s the nearest imitation of their African nature rituals but because they have given support to the abolition of slavery in the United States. Quakers were known to be the most vocal concerning their opposition to slavery; there were also other denominations that did not favor slavery. George Fox, founder of the Quaker group Society of Friends, preached against slavery in the late 16oo’s, but never really took action against it. Even though Fox, a major Quaker leader, was opposed to slavery, other Quaker leaders owned slaves. This was because they interpreted the doctrines of their religion to exclude slaves. The institution of slavery became a divided issue among Quakers in the Society. Benjamin Lay, for example, was against slavery. Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians were very vocal concerning their dissatisfaction with slavery. (1) However, the main concern was that large amounts of the population were not being exposed to God. They had to resolve whether the larger concern was to end slavery and thus allow many â€Å"unchristian people to go to hell after death, or to evangelize the slaves while letting the issue of slavery slide under the carpet. Subsequently, Methodists and Baptists also became the two denominations to achieve the earliest successes in proselytizing slaves (Lane 184). The first third of the nineteenth century was a significant time for antislavery. Haitian slaves had risen up and freed themselves from French rule in 1803. In England, decades of antislavery agitation led Parliament to abolish slavery in the British Empire by 1834 In the United States, sectional friction related to slavery began in earnest with the Missouri crisis of 1820. Nor were black voices silent. Free African American ministers sermonized against slavery’s cruelties. Periodic fears of slave violence came to a head in 1822 with the discovery of Denmark Vesey’s planned slave uprising (2). As the conflict over slavery heated up, and as news of the Vesey conspiracy broke in 1822, and word spread about the rebellion of Nat Turner in 1831, a great fear enveloped whites (5).   All these factors caused a few whites to begin to renew the spiritual struggle against slavery. The Reverend George Bourne, an Englishman who headed a Presbyterian congregation in Virginia, refused communion to slaveholders and excoriated slaveholding ministers. Way back 1784 Methodists were so bold as to say that they promised to excommunicate all Methodists not freeing their slaves within two years (5). Opposing racism is definitely amongst the strongest reasons for the abolition of slavery. This argument seems quite feasible, considering the fact that only Negroes were slaves. That is to say, skin color was the most deciding factor in whether somebody was a slave or a slaveholder (1). Catherine Meeks, professor of African American studies at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, says, It was the white control of the worship [on slave-holding plantations], the inability to accept blacks as equals, and the negation of black personhood that led to the separation of the black church from the white church and to the emergence of a black religious community. (4) Independent black churches—most of them Baptist or Methodist—were not separating themselves from whites because they held a different doctrinal view of Christianity, notes James H. Cone of Union Theological Seminary. Without exception, blacks used the same articles of faith and polity for their churches as the white denominations from which they separated. Separation, for blacks, meant that, they were rejecting racism that was based on the assumption that God created blacks inferior to whites. (5) Even though white Protestant denominations in the 1840s split over the issue of slavery, the congregations of northern Protestants remained just as closed to blacks who moved north. Given the increasing racial proscription in the mid-1800s, (9) Many Black preachers developed a significant following across the South among both whites and blacks. John Jasper of Virginia was one such man. Slaves would defer funeral ceremonies for as long as necessary to bring him to the plantation for the service. And Jasper was equally popular among whites. During the Civil War, Jasper won a warm response from the Confederate wounded to whom he preached and offered solace (9). A long history of antislavery and political activity among Northern black Protestants had convinced them that they could play a major role in the adjustment of the four million freed slaves to American life. In a massive missionary effort, Northern black leaders such as Daniel A. Payne and Theophilus Gould Steward established missions to their Southern counterparts, resulting in the dynamic growth of independent black churches in the Southern states between 1865 and 1900 (10). Predominantly white denominations, such as the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal churches, also sponsored missions, opened schools for freed slaves, and aided the general welfare of Southern blacks, but the majority of African-Americans chose to join the independent black denominations founded in the Northern states during the antebellum era. Within a decade the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) churches claimed Southern membership in the hundreds of thousands, far outstripping that of any other organizations. They were quickly joined in 1870 by a new Southern-based denomination, the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church, founded by indigenous Southern black leaders (11). The relentless evangelist figures were catalysts of the constitutional abolision of the slaves. They fought for the freedom through the exposure to God’s theoretical equality. Emancipation from slavery in 1863 posed distinctive religious challenges for African Americans in the South. When the Civil War finally brought freedom to previously enslaved peoples, the task of organizing religious communities was only one element of the larger need to create new livesto reunite families, to find jobs, and to figure out what it would mean to live in the United States as citizens rather than property. Melville J. Herskovits has advanced the thesis that the success of Baptists in attracting blacks was rooted in the appeal of immersion which suggests a connection in the slaves mind with the river spirits in West African religions. Others have attacked this position including, the black scholar E. Franklin Frazier who argues that enslavement largely destroyed the social basis of religion among blacks, and that the appeal of Baptists to blacks concerns the emotional content of their worship. Stanley Elkins (whose views were heavily influenced by what took place in the concentration camps of World War II Europe), has arguedlike Frazierthat slavery was so demeaning that blacks (like the Jews in the camps) were eventually stripped of every shred of dignity and humanity, including their faith. John Blassingame, on the other hand, has provided a significant body of evidence that blacks hung on to their religion as a form of resistance (11). African-American religion dealt with life as blacks lived it. It was about pain and sorrow, sin and shortcoming, pardon and joy, praise and thanksgiving, grace and hope. This version of Evangelicalism provided a wonderful benefit; it was able to accomplish great things in their lives that were frequently shouted about. This transition coincided with the period of intense religious revivalism known as awakenings. In the Southern states beginning in the 1770s, increasing numbers of slaves converted to evangelical religions such as the Methodist and Baptist faiths. Many clergy within these denominations actively promoted the idea that all Christians were equal in the sight of God, a message that provided hope and sustenance to the slaves (12). Slave Spirituals became the creative group expression of these aspirations. The Ring Shout was the most distinctive expression of religious worship in the praise service, with African-derived dancing and body movement emphasized. The invisible religion of the slave quarters also included conjure, a system of spiritual influence that combined herbal medicine with magic and sometimes gave surprising authority to slave practitioners who believed they could affect whites as well as blacks (6). They also encouraged worship in ways that many Africans found to be similar, or at least adaptable, to African worship patterns, with enthusiastic singing, clapping, dancing, and even spirit-possession. It was here that the spirituals, with their double meanings of religious salvation and freedom from slavery, developed and flourished; and here, too, that black preachers, those who believed that God had called them to speak his Word, polished their chanted sermons, or rhythmic, intoned style of extemporaneous preaching. The closest replication of their religious belief was the evangelicals’ approach. African Americans, often termed as ‘blacks’, was so closely intertwined with their total life experience that the starting point in understanding the meaning of that religious life must be the total life experience. For them, before they were forced to become unwilling participants in one of the most oppressive systems of slavery that the world had witnessed, the ancestors of the African Americans in Africa were very much a religious people. In their native land the totality of their lives was informed by what in western Europe was defined as religion, but what, to them meant as a basic and integral part of life (Jones 1991).Thus, they brought that religion with them. Blacks responded to the evangelical message, though, for different reasons than those advanced by slave owner-sanctioned preachers. The potential for spiritual equality, and even the hope for earthly liberty, could be taken from evangelicalism, and that was a powerful appeal to slaves. (8) Evangelicalism’s informal, spirit-driven style of worship could evoke remembrances of the religious ecstasies of African dance religions, another reason to embrace the faith. Nowhere else in southern society did African Americans find the status that they could achieve as in churches. Some African Americans worshipped in separate black churches, but black Baptists and Methodists had shaped evolving Evangelicalism in general since the earliest revivals. Most slave worship was in biracial churches. Evangelicalism took root among African-Americans. Large numbers underwent conversion, baptism, instruction, worship, and lived the life of Christian even in face of oppression. Although, the development of their own religious institutions would await Emancipation and the wars end, there were many thousands of Negro Baptists and Methodists by 1850. Emancipation brought many tangible rewards. Among the most obvious was a significant increase in personal freedom that came with no longer being someone elses property: whatever hardships they faced, free blacks could not be forcibly sold away from their loved ones. But emancipation did not bring full equality, and many of the most striking gains of Reconstruction — including the substantial political power that African Americans were briefly able to exercise — were soon lost. In the decades after Reconstruction African Americans experienced continued poverty and exploitation and a rising tide of violence at the hands of whites determined to re-impose black subordination. They also experienced new forms of discrimination, spearheaded by a variety of state laws that instituted rigid racial segregation in virtually all areas of life and that (in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments) effectively disfranchised black voters. The struggle to overcome the bitter legacy of slavery would be long and arduous. Many abolitionists belonged to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ). AMEZ became a platform for preaching against slavery. The ministry was by far the most common occupation of the black leaders in the abolitionist movement (Sorin 101). AMEZ enabled people like Denmark Vesey to plan revolts. Pennington traveled as far as Europe to preach against slavery. He wrote, If the New Testament sanctions slavery, it authorizes the enslavement of whites as well as us (Voices of Triumph 127). Ward was born into a slave family that escaped in 1820. He lived in upstate New York and was an agent for the American Anti-slavery Society. Ward actively protested the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. He was also an assistant to fugitive slaves (Voices of Triumph 145) (9). Over one hundred and thirty years after Nat Turner was hanged, black theology emerged as a formal discipline. Beginning with the black power movement in 1966, black clergy in many major denominations began to reassess the relationship of the Christian church to the black community. Black caucuses developed in the Catholic, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches. The central thrust of these new groups was to redefine the meaning and role of the church and religion in the lives of black people. Out of this reexamination has come what some have called a Black Theology’. (10) The secret meetings of praise† of the former slaves was later institutionalized and these assemblies gave rise to independent churches. The first religious institution primarily controlled and administered by blacks was established at Silver Bluff, South Carolina in the 1770s.The Free African Society of Philadelphia, established in 1778 by two former slaves, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones was an example of one of the earliest formal organizational activity- more frequent among the free blacks in the urban North (Woodson 1922). Most of such groups were quasi-religious bodies and churches frequently came into existence from the membership of these societies. The Free African Society of Philadelphia, that newly created independent body, was the mother of two African Amertican churches- St. Thomas African Episcopal Church (later named the St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church) established in 1794, and the Bethel African Church (later becoming an independent organization known as the African Methodist Episcopal Church), which was the first black congregation in the Philadelphia Methodist Conference. In 1894 black Baptists formed the National Baptist Convention, an organization that is currently the largest black religious organization in the United States. There may be several reasons that evangelist were able to convert slaves, some would argue that this may be attributed to the verity that the slaves saw religion as the nearest observable fact to freedom. Still, it is quite notable that the evangelist were able to gather members not only because the African- Americans see their way of teaching as the nearest to their old rituals but also because of the evangelists’ unerring efforts to abolish slavery in the United States.

Deep Ecology Essay -- essays research papers

Deep Ecology/Ecosophy The ideas behind deep ecology have major implications today. They allow people to think more profoundly about the environment and possibly come to a better understanding of their own meaning. People are intensely concerned about the world’s technological adolescence, massive consumerism, and overpopulation. A man named Arne Naess, former head of the philosophy department at the University of Oslo founded an idea that can direct people’s anxiety away from their "shallow" notion of the problem to one that is much "deeper." "Deep ecology goes beyond the limited piecemeal shallow approach to environmental problems and attempts to articulate a comprehensive religious and philosophical worldview." (EE p.145) In its most basic form, deep ecology is a wisdom, an ecosophy, which requires humans to see themselves as part of the bigger picture. Naess, Devall, and Sessions outline basic principles of deep ecology in their writing. Furthermor e, they address the roles that scientific ecology plays as well as the concept of self-realization. Aside from these ideas, ecosabotage needs to be discussed in terms of how it fits with the practice of deep ecology. The basic principles of deep ecology as characterized by the authors mentioned, show us what is supposedly wrong with the world and also give us a framework by which we can make a change. In fact, Naess and Sessions went camping in Death Valley, California in order to gain a different perspective. They condensed fifteen years their thought on the topic of deep ecology in an effort to make it appeal to people from all kinds of backgrounds. They also emphasize that these principles must all be considered together. The first principle states that the value of life, human or non-human, is intrinsic. This means that everything about it is valuable, including individuals, species, populations, habitat, and culture. When considering non-human life, it important to remember that deep ecology likes to include that which can be classified as non-living such as bodies of water and landscapes. Essentially, "the presence of inherent value in a natural object is independent of any awareness, interest, or appreciation of it by a conscious being." (EE p.147)  ... ...sp;Deep ecology makes a good deal of sense. Before learning about this, shallow ecology seemed legitimate. Clearly, the principles behind deep ecology could be far more productive than anything practiced today. Some will argue that complete acceptance of deep ecology is absurd. Completely neglecting our anthropocentric perspective means that we have forgotten where we stand in the whole picture. We have been around a short while in comparison with life of the earth. It could easily go through another dramatic climatic shift and we would be history, and probably succeeded by a new form of life. The point is that humans share something valuable. Of course it is anthropocentric and it is worth saving. The other issue that seems debatable is the current state of economics and the market. These writing by Naess and company are somewhat dated and much has changed since then with the advent of the Internet. Is global village really such a bad thing if we use it properly? Deep ecology wa nts to preserve cultures and independent economies. I do not know which side to join at this point in time. I want to believe in most of what deep ecology holds true, however some issues make me uncertain.

Great Expectations Essay

As part of my GCSE coursework, I have read two novels written by Charles Dickens. The first novel is ‘Oliver Twist’, from, whwhich I will look at a villain called Bill Sikes who is a thief, a housebreaker, a murderer and one of Ddickens’ most menacing characters. I will look at how Dickens characterises him as a villain. s makes him a villain. The second book I read was ‘Great Expectations’, infrom which I will look at another villain called Magwitch who bullies a young boy named Pip into helping him q. escaping from prison. I will also look at how Dickens characterises himmakes him as a villain.. I will then compare Bboth characters will then be compared and contrasted in my study. . The first person I will look at is Bill Sikes who is a murderer, a thief, a housebreaker, a bully and is part of Fagan’s gang. Before we meet Sikes, Dickens dDescribes his environment. Firstly it is described as an ‘obscure parlour of a low public house’, a ‘dark and gloomy den’, ‘in the filthiest part of Little Saffron Hill’ and ‘where no ray of sun ever shone in the summer’. Adjectives such as obscure, low, dark gloomy and filthiest are all negative and suggest to me a very unpleasant and rough environment. The place being described as ‘where no ray of sun ever shone in the summer’, suggests to me further of the place’s depravity and that the public house is set in a back ally. The room Sikes is situated in is called a ‘Den’, A den is a place where animals usually live, so it suggests to me that this is an inhuman place, not suitable for a persons habitation. Over all I can say that the atmosphere is excessively bleak and miserable, the setting is used to reflect character and to create atmosphere suggestingand Sikes is in part, athe product of his own environment. Sikes is said to have been ‘brooding’, this suggests that Sikes had been in deep thought, scheming and plotting evil things. Sikes is described as ‘strongly impregnated with the smell of liquor’, this suggests to me that he we was highly intoxicated and the result, would mean that he would be grumpy, and irrational. He wares ‘a velvet coat, drab shorts, half-boots and stockings. As you can see his clothing is very drabmonotonous and this suggests to the reader the obscure and sinister nature of Sikes and the world he inhabits. ity Sikes of which Sikes can possess. Sikes is described as ‘even by that dim light, no inexperienced agent of police would have hesitated for one instant as Mr. William Sikes’. This suggests to the reader that Sikes is well known by the police and is obviously a common criminal. Sikes’ dog is described as being ‘red-eyed’. This is symbolic of depression and anger and many other negative emotions, so it is apparent that the dog is symbolic to the negativity in Sikes’ environment and is also a product of bad environment may be symbolic that the dog is symbolic of the harsh environment. The dog sits at his mastersmaster’s feet, this shows the relationship between the dog and his master as being close and intermit and proves Sikes’ ownership of the animal. Later the ‘unoffending’ dog is attacked and by Sikes, this shows that Sikes is very volatile, unpredictable, unstable and dangerous because he attacks his dog for no cause and acts very spontaneously with his aggressiveness. After the attacking, the dog avenges his attack it, by attacking Sikes’ half-boots. This shows that the dog has a bad temper and has a lot in common with his master. This eventually leads to a fight and Sikes’ attempted murder of the dog. This shows how malevolentsatanic Sikes’ can be. Sikes is a very aggressive man in his language, he ‘blasphemes’ and ‘curses’, ‘thrusts’ and ‘swears’ This type of language is rather unpleasant, shows negative emotions to a reader. This sort of dictionspeech gives a sense of violence to the reader. When Sikes speaks to his dog he says ‘Keep quiet, you warmint! Keep quiet! ‘ Here he commands and insults, so it shows that he is violent when he talks. We know this because Dickens has used exclamation marks to show that he was talking in anger. This can also be seen when he talks to Fagan for example ‘you white-livered thief! ‘ This shows the anger in the voice with the use of insults and exclamatoryion phrases. marks. Sikes also seeksspeaks to Fagian with a ‘fierce gesture’gesture’; this adds to Sikes’ sinister character because it suggests that again Sikes is angry and violent with his oral expression. Sikes’ often ‘growled’, had a ‘fierce sneer’ and speaks ‘savage like’. This further makes him look obnoxious and unhappy. These details present him as brutal, animalistic and primitive. Sikes speaks with the ‘harshest key of a very harsh voice’. This suggests that he is very unpleasant when he usually speaks. Therefore I would say that the way in which Sikes’ speaks shows that cruelty and ill-intent of his character. Thus from this extract we are given the impression that Sikes is incredibly evil, menacing, he is unhappy, intimidating, ferocious and volatile. This impression is reinforced later in the novel in which we look at Sikes killing his prostitute lover Nancy and the events leading up to it. It begins with Noah, repeating what he told Fagin to Sikes. Fagin ‘cries’, and says ‘Tell him that, tell him that.

Civil Disobedience in Henry David Thoreaus essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 612 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/05/14 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Civil Disobedience Essay Did you like this example? Harlan Ellison is exceptionally frank and to-the-point when developing Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman as an example of the true value of civil disobedience and deviation. Ellison starts by informing the reader of his intent, leading into the overall moral of the story. While doing so, Ellison includes a long quote from Henry David Thoreaus essay, Civil Disobedience, describing how very few men serve the state with a consciousness; as doing so would force them into a resistance of the state. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Civil Disobedience in Henry David Thoreaus essay" essay for you Create order In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau argues that people have a duty to refuse to cause evil. There are very few people in society who actually preform this duty, Thoreau says; especially those serving the state. However, he also argues that it isnt your responsibility to go out and try to fix the preexisting evil in the world. Most dont think for themselves, and because of this, an agenda of apathy and callousness is promoted. Those few who actually refuse to conform to such an agenda are the heros, or martyrs, of the world. Compared to the rest of society, whose color and life has been drained, the Harlequins vibrancy makes him stick out like a sore thumb. With his stark red hair, elvish ears, and tanned skin, the Harlequin is created by Ellison to represent individuality and deviation from society. In one instance, to rebel against the Ticktockman, the Harlequin drops 150,000 dollars worth of jelly beans onto the automatic sidewalks, disrupting the routine and causing the schedule to be delayed by several minutes. This small deviation from the schedule, while seeming insignificant, was viewed as an absolute catastrophe. In a society where time is the new currency, any small deviation from order and unity is considered a disaster of major importance. Not only is this a story of the Harlequin deviating from his societys norms, but the author deviates from his as well. Ellison starts the story with a note to the reader, laying out the theme, outline, and contents of the story. The way Harlan Ellison wrote Repent Harlequin disregarded any common way of writing a short story. He completely ignores proper grammar and punctuation, often including very long and drawn out sentences. Ellison does this to support his tales theme; deviation. If he were to follow the typical story structure, he himself would be conforming to society, something that the entire story is prominently against. While illustrating the robotic lives of the general population, Ellison wrote that , He could hear the metronomic left- right-left of the 2:47 PM shift, entering the Timkin roller-bearing plant in their sneakers, and the softer right-left-right of the 5:00 AM formation, going home. This quote shows the punctuality and obsessive nature this society has over time. Instead of 2:50, or 3:00, the beginning shift starts exactly at 2:47. No sooner, no later. In addition, the arriving workers walked from left-right-left, while the workers who were going home walked right-left-right. This unnecessary distinction between the two groups shows exactly how over-organized the population truly is. Eventually, the Harlequin is caught and brought to the Ticktockman, who demands he repent. When the Harlequin smugly refuses, he is brainwashed without any regards to character development and plot. As said by Ellison, You cant make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. In the end, the Harlequin was actually just some guy named Everett C. Marm who never had an inkling for time. Yet, despite being destroyed, it is prominent that the Harlequin has caused a difference. In an ironic twist of events, the Ticktockman himself is jokingly late by three minutes. Ellison does this to show the reader that there is a breakdown in order. The world will be different because of the Harlequin.