Latest revision: October 9, 2009
My name is Roger Burns and I attend the Friends Meeting of Washington, i.e. the Florida Avenue meeting of Washington, DC. Below are important issues and resources that I recommend to others.
"The Light" is a Quaker term that is usually thought of as being a poetic metaphor. However, George Fox and early Friends used "the Light" to refer to something specific that happens within prayerful silence: I urge every Friend to look at Prof. Rex Ambler's short booklet Light to Live By. The knowledge and practice of this view of "the Light" has been extremely important to me in understanding Quakerism. For a further discussion of this, go to this page. The Experiment With Light
Chuck Fager is an activist and writer. He once worked for and shared a jail cell with Dr. Martin Luther King, and he currently serves as the director of Quaker House of Fayetteville, NC, a center for peace and for the rights of those who serve in the military. Chuck Fager and the
Hundred Years' War to END WARFager is calling upon American Friends to join in a campaign to end war as a policy of the U.S. government. He notes that about one hundred years after John Woolman started to preach against slavery, the practice came to an end in the United States. Similarly, about one hundred years after efforts were started to secure equal rights for women, women were given the right to vote. Fager says that if we resolve now to end war, we as a society will achieve that goal even though the task may seem daunting. History is on our side.
Fager's essay on the war against war can be seen online at:
www.quakerhouse.org/declaration-01.htm To obtain a videotape of Chuck presenting his lecture about ending war, telephone Chuck at 1-910-323-3912 during regular business hours Eastern Time.
Some of Fager's books are available at FGC Quaker Books. Also see his own publishing house, Kimo Press. Some of Fager's writings are available only at Pendle Hill.
A brief biography of Chuck is available from the Quaker House web site, and also at Wikipedia.
America commemorates Martin Luther King with a national holiday. However, a number of civil rights leaders say that as a nation we have come to celebrate a version of Dr. King that is oversimplified, as a convenient hero who was no more than a moderate integrationist. These critics say that Dr. King's true message is being lost. Dr. King
Although most of Dr. King's accomplishments were focused on civil rights campaigns, his ultimate message to America, in his own words, was that it is vital that we correct not one but three major faults of our nation, specifically:
Dr. King commented on the importance of facing these challenges, using words that in retrospect appear to be prophetic:
Poet Carl Wendell Himes, Jr. wrote after King's death:
For a good book about Dr. King's legacy, read Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero by King's colleague Vincent Harding. For a good general biography of King from his childhood years through his education and his public career fighting racial injustice, poverty and war, read Let the Trumpet Sound by Stephen B. Oates.
Other resources
A More Perfect Union - statement on race by
candidate Barack Obama, March 18, 2008
Roger can be contacted at rogerburns@att.net
