| May 31, 2006 @ 2:29 PM |
Religions that are no more.
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,833
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The other evening my husband and I got to talking about the different religions of my family. His are all Catholic except him.
My Grandfather used to tell me I was Penn. dutch when I was little. So, this made me wonder about the religions that the Pilgrims were, also how these religions branched out to be other ones.
Ya, my husband is a walking encyclopedia.... 
He informed me all about the Puritans and how they lost thierselves here in about 150 years.
So, what other Christian religions have go to the road side? And why do you suppose they did?
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| May 31, 2006 @ 3:50 PM |
Religions that are no more. |
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raykl
Posts: 566
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The Puritans and Pilgrims began a slow demise through a complex road. Without
going into a long historical  explanation, I'll skip to the highlights, or lowlights if you prefer.
Salem Trials were the beginnings of disatisfaction.
Many branched over to become Quakers.
The South's use of their ideology to uphold slavery, particularly in Virginia.
They became a force behind Prohibition.
This carried over to McCarthyism in the 50's- which more or less sealed their fate.
Pockets of their ideology still exist, but they have, thankfully, become a non-factor.
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| May 31, 2006 @ 6:25 PM |
Religions that are no more.
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,833
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Yes, this is one religion that is better off gone.
The Quakers on the other hand,,,,I think they are a religion that alot of people don't know much about. Are they pretty close to the Amish or Mennonites?
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| May 31, 2006 @ 6:39 PM |
Religions that are no more. |
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raykl
Posts: 566
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Located a little more to the east of the other two groups- Philadelphia area.
Fairly similar with minor differences.
Richard Nixon is the most notable.
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| May 31, 2006 @ 8:41 PM |
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,833
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Richard Nixon was a Quaker?
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| May 31, 2006 @ 9:11 PM |
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Angel54214
Posts: 19,018
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I am Quaker descent. The Quaker history is extraordinary. Being born and raised in New England, many Quakers still reside to this day.
In the beginning, they originally migrated from England to America 1642-1649. This move was due to the Civil wars taking place in England.
Upon arrival of these settlers, they found they were without a leader. George Fox , the father of Quakeism became their leader. Quakers at that time were known as the "Seekers".
They were a strong, loyal and spiritual sect of people. The population slowed down about 1660 or so due to the restoration of the Enland Monarchy. It brought persacution to one group called the "Friends". 5,000 out of 50,000 Quakers were imprisoned. By 1690 the persacution diminished.
The Quakers were the first group to take action against African American and Indian mistreatment. When the Civil war in America broke out, some started to migrate towards the west.
By 1820 disagreements arised between them concerning theology and unified beliefs. They began splitting into 3 major groups; Hicksites (librals), Gurneyites (activists) and Wilburites (Conservatives).
The conflict between these divided groups caused a great reduction growth within their society.
They still exist in very small groups around the whole country. In fact the town I grew up in, the last Quaker decent died about 3 years ago. The community has been a museum for the public to visit.
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| May 31, 2006 @ 9:54 PM |
Religions that are no more.
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raykl
Posts: 566
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Richard Nixon was a Quaker?
I seem to remember that he was, but you know how age and memory go 
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| May 31, 2006 @ 9:59 PM |
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Angel54214
Posts: 19,018
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Yup, R. Nixon was raised in Quaker heritage and also born in California.
[Edited on 5
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| Jun 1, 2006 @ 11:23 AM |
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,833
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Lol, It just surprised me thats all. Richard Nixon being a Quaker.
Oh and Angel, thanks for the info on the Quakers.
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| Jul 28, 2006 @ 11:34 PM |
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Angel54214
Posts: 19,018
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Your very welcome "Katt"
This thread got left behind, but I do have contribution on a Religion No More...
Druidism:
Here's a little story;
Intro:
Teachings of "Sacred Trees" were not exclusively limited to Babylon, Assyria and Baal Worshippers. These customs were widespread throughout ancient cultures.
THE CREATION
Of Old there was nothing,
Nor sand, nor sea, nor cool waves.
No earth, no heaven above,
Only the yawning chasm.
The sun knew not her dwelling,
Nor the moon his realm.
The stars has not their places.
But the chasm, tremendous through it was, did not extend everywhere. Far to the north was Niflheim, the cold realm of death, and far to the south, was Muspelheim, the land of fire.
From Niflheim twelve rivers poured which flowed into the chasm and freezing there filled it slowly up with ice. From Muspelheim came fiery clouds and turned the ice to mist. Drops of water fell from the mist and out of them there were formed the frost maidens and YMIR, the first Giant. His son was Odin's Father, whose mother and wife were frost maidens.
Odin and his two brothers killed Ymir. They made the earth and sky from him, the sea from his blood, the earth from his body, the heavens from his skull. They took sparks from Muspelheim and placed them in the sky as the sun, moon and stars. The earth was round and encircled by the sea. A great wall which the gods built out of Ymir's eyebrows defended the place where mankind was to live. The space within was called Midgard. Here the first man and woman were created from trees, the man from an ash, the woman from the elm. They were the parents of all mankind.
A wondrous ash-tree, Yggdrasil, supported the universe. It struck its root through the worlds.
Three roots there are to Yggdrasil
Hel lives beneath the first.
beneath the second, the frost-giants.
and men beneath the third.
It is also said that "one of the roots goes up to Asgard." Beside this root was a well of white water. Urda's Well. so holy that none might drink of it. The three Norns guarded it, who...
Allot their lives to the sons of men,
And assign to them their fate.
The three were Urda (The Past), Verdandi (The Present), and Skuld (The Future). Here each day the gods came, passing over the quivering rainbow bridge to sit beside the well and pass judgment on the deeds of men. Another well beneath another root was the Well of Knowledge, guarded by Mimar the Wise.
Over Yggdrasil, as over Asgard, hung the threat of destruction. Like the gods it was doomed to die. A serpent and his brood gnawed continually at the root beside Niflheim, Hel's home. Some day they would succeed in killing the tree, and the universe would come crashing down.
Though mythologies differ on creation accounts, a clear association is demonstrated here, as in Genesis, with relation between a tree and knowledge, as well as a tree or trees of life.
Odin paid a special price. Odin plucked out his eye and threw it into the well and thus won the privilege of drinking the magical water, gaining future sight and special knowledge of the Ragnarok. Thereafter, Odin left Asgard to wander the earth among humans in the guise of a beggar until the day when he would lead the Gods and dead warriors in the battle between good and evil at the end of time.
Druidism, the religious faith of ancient Celtic inhabitants of Gaul (q.v.) and the British Isles. It flourished from the 2nd century B.C. until the 2nd century A.D., but in parts of Britain which the Romans did not invade, druidism survived until it was supplanted by Christianity two or three centuries later.
The tenets of this religion included a belief in the immortality of the soul, which, upon the death of an individual, was believed to pass into the body of a new-born child. According to the writings of Julius Ceasar, which are the principal source of information on this subject, the followers of druidism believed themselves descended from a Supreme Being, and, in common with the Romans, worshipped such deities as Mercury, Apollo and Mars.
The druids were also versed in astrology, magic, and the mysterious powers of plants and animals; they held the oak tree and the mistletoe, especially when the latter grew on oak trees, in great reverence; and they customarily conducted their rituals in oak forests.
End Note: The superior military strength of the Romans, combined with subsequent conversions to Christianity, led to the disappearance of the religion.
Quite a story huh? 
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| Jul 29, 2006 @ 9:19 AM |
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8Knots
Posts: 2,710
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Driuds have started to thrive again.
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| Jul 29, 2006 @ 12:39 PM |
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,833
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Thank you Angel.I find that fasinating don't you?
I will have to reread it again soon too.
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| Jul 29, 2006 @ 12:46 PM |
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Heaveninawildflower
Posts: 19,373
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I think the Shakers are fascinating...
I believe there are still a few left (actually, I read there are 7 still living), but since they're not admitting new members, and actually believe in total celibacy, marriage or not, it's unlikely that it will continue beyond them. The essence of their belief is/was that we are living in the end times (as everyone has believed for the past two thousand years, from what I've read), our sole purpose in life is to prepare for the end.
Following is a quote:
The Shakers are one of the few success stories resulting from the proliferation of communitarian and millenarian groups in eighteenth and nineteeenth century Europe and America. They splintered from a Quaker community in Manchester, England (Gidley and Bowles 1990). James Wardley, its preacher, had absorbed the teachings of the millenial French Prophets and his community began to evolve around 1746 (Melton 1992). The members were known as the Shaking Quakers and were viewed as radical for their communion with the spirits of the dead and impassioned shaking that would occur at their services (Horgan, 1982; Robinson 1975). As radicals, all the members were harrassed, including a young married woman named Ann Lee. Fervent from a young age, Ann had a revelation during a long imprisonment that she was the Second Coming of Christ, the vital female component of God the Father-Mother (Bainbridge 1997; Gidley and Bowles 1990; Horgan 1982; Robinson 1975).
The vision had a great impact on the congregation and "Mother" Ann became the official leader of the group in 1772. With a distinctly new version of the Second Coming and other beliefs contradictory to mainstream Christian ideology, it was at this juncture that the Shaking Quakers became known as the Shakers (Gidley and Bowles 1990). These radical views increased the Shakers' persecution and a small group composed of her brother, niece, husband and five others followed Mother Ann's vision of a holy sanctuary in the New World to New York in May,1774 (Bainbridge 1997; Horgan 1982; Robinson 1975). They struggled for five years to survive, gaining few converts, on a communal farm in Watervliet, NY (Bainbridge 1997; Robinson 1975). During this period they faced great persecution for being both English and pacifistic in the middle of the Revolutionary War (Horgan 1982).
The turning point was a wave of religious revivalism called the New Light Stir that swept across New England between 1776 and 1783 (Gidley and Bowles 1990), bringing in new converts from other millenial groups and allowing the Shakers to safely proselytize. In 1779 Joseph Meacham and his followers joined the Shakers, becoming their first converts (Gidley and Bowles 1990). The Shaker mission in New England ended in 1784 -- the same year as Mother Ann's death (Gidley and Bowles 1990; Horgan 1982; Humez 1993) -- though they later missioned in Kentucky and Ohio during the Kentucky Revival of 1797-1805. Most of this expansion happened under Joseph Meacham's leadership, which began with Father John Whittaker's death in 1787. Meacham organized the communities and made New Lebanon, NY the Parent Ministry from which came both spiritual and commercial leadership (Horgan 1982; Melton 1992). These industries would become both the sustaining income for the Shakers and a form of recruiting and publicity as their simple, functional furniture designs, music and dancing, and self-published books became popular in secular culture (Andrews 1972; Morse 1987). By the mid-1800's they reached their peak membership and peak popularity, becoming a sort of tourist attraction that outsiders (known as The World's People) could observe in their communities on Saturday evenings (Morse 1987; Gifford 1989).
The Civil War ended the American fascination with the many millenarian, communitarian and utopian social experiments of the early nineteenth century and replaced it with an emphasis on class struggle in an increasingly industrial and urban society (Horgan 1982). Industrialization made Shaker crafts obsolete and depleted even further the attraction of a way of life already made less tasteful by the emphasis on celibacy and severe simplicity (Gidley and Bowles 1990; Horgan 1982; Robinson 1975). Between this decline in attraction and the society's inability to create a new generation of believers, the communities steadily declined and disbanded.
Little is known of the 20th Century Shakers besides their decline because they closed even their journals -- previously released in order to further spread first person witness of Shaker beliefs -- to the outside world in the first decades of this century (Stein 1992). In 1965 this deterioration was speeded by a group decision to admit no new members (Melton 1992). Today only the Canterbury, New Hampshire, and Sabbath Day Lake, Maine, communities remain and even then the members live on small plots of the properties while the rest is devoted to historic preservation and museums like those found at Pleasant Hill, KY , and South Union, KY (Gidley and Bowles 1990; Melton 1992). The Sabbath Day Lake group did recently admit three new members but they weren't recognized by the other remaining original members (Melton 1992).
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| Jul 29, 2006 @ 1:01 PM |
Religions that are no more. |
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Angel54214
Posts: 19,018
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Heaven...the Shakers have all died in Canterbury NH, cause I lived near there. The last woman alive of the Shakers died in the late 1990's. The property is owned by the Historical Society and is seasoned toured. Beautiful place to visit in the summer and fall. It's on Shaker Road....lol. I remember when there was 3 of them left. One man and 2 women. Here is some history and photos.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/shaker/shakers.htm
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| Oct 1, 2006 @ 11:11 PM |
Religions that are no more.
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ThorinTheSkald
Posts: 81
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Ummm....it was good to see the Norse creation story here....sorry, but that was NOT a Druid story. Take it from someone who follows the Norse Way/Asatru path. You may be supprised to know that most if not all religions have similarities....such as a Creation story, a Tree of life, a Ressurection story, an End of the World tale, etc. Just goes to show ya that no matter WHAT you call the Divine, it's all the same in the end. JMO
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