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Introduction
Although the Quakers are generally considered to be a peaceful religious group, there have been several challenges troubling their communities in the course of history. Before turning to a detailed account of the aforementioned challenges, it is necessary to provide a brief historical overview of Quakerism, or in other words the Religious Society of Friends.
The Beginnings of the Quaker Faith
Thomas D. Hamm in Quakers in America states that the religion was first established in England by George Fox in the mid-seventeenth century. The religious and social upheaval of the 1660s in England provided a fertile soil for new religions to appear. This was the period when Puritan views were flourishing and many worshippers were eager to challenge and purify the Protestant Reformed Church of England. Moreover, the civil war of 1642 between the monarch and the Parliament created a socially and politically unstable atmosphere as well. Fox began preaching in mostly Lancashire and Yorkshire, especially the moor regions (14).
Fox made various claims that fundamentally challenged the views of the Protestant Church. His main claim was that the Inner Light of Christ was present in every person. By following this Inward Light, true believers would lead a life without sin and would reach salvation (15). His second claim was concerning the clergy’s role in acting as intermediaries between worshippers and God. Fox was an advocate of immediate revelation, which meant that God spoke directly to people and the priest’s acting as intermediary was unnecessary (16). Consequently, the Religious Society of Friends did not have an official clergy, nor did they employ any ministers. Their views included the belief that every member of the Church is a minister by their own right and has the ability to preach (21). Fox also claims that women within the Church had more or less the same power and authority as men, which was a fundamentally progressive idea in the middle of the seventeenth century. It is important to point out however, that the early Quakers of this period did not support equal rights for women yet, but in connection to religion and church organization, women had more authority than in other churches (19). Another fundamental claim Fox makes concerns the rejection of sacraments. One of these sacraments was the physical communion Protestant churches performed, such as the belief that wine and bread referred to Christ’s blood and body. The other sacrament the Religious Society of Friends did not support was the sacrament of baptism with water (21). The Quakers of the seventeenth century, therefore, were fundamentally challenging the religious teachings of the Protestant Church, which led to open hostility towards the Friends.