William Penn and the Quakers :: essays research papers

William Penn and the Quakers The Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends was religious group that founded Pennsylvania. William Penn, one of the leaders, worked with the Quakers, Indians and the other population to make an ideal world for him, his followers, and the other people in his environment. With his efforts, and the help of others, the Quakers left a huge impact on Pennsylvania and the entire nation. The Quakers are a religion that originated in England in protest of the Anglican Church's practices. The man in charge of this religious revolution was George Fox.1 He believed that God didn't live in churches as much as he lived in people's hearts.2 In that state of mind, he went out into the world in search of his true religion. He argued with priests, slept in fields, and spent days and nights trying to find followers. His first followers were mostly young people and women. Besides freedom of religion, they wanted freedom of speech, worship and assembly, refusal to go to war or take oath, and equality of the sexes and social classes.3 In England, between the years of 1650 and 1700, more than 15,000 Quakers were fined and/or imprisoned; 366 were killed.4 The reason why the Quakers were put through such torture was because their beliefs and culture was different from the Anglican Church. At that time, any religion that was practiced in England other than the Anglican Church would be persecuted. They believed that religion shouldn't be practiced in a church as much as in your heart. The differences that were between the Quakers and the Anglican Christians was that the Anglicans practiced strict discipline in their prayers. They would go to prayer every morning, and ask for forgiveness of their sins. They believed that the sacred authority was the Bible, the only way to make your way to heaven was to go to sermon; they should glorify God in the world; and pay no attention to the irrationality of God. They didn't believe men could achieve anything for themselves; only God could do that. The Quakers, on the other hand, believed that God should be in your spirit, not in sermon, and that your sacred authority shouldn't be a book, it should be your inner light, the force that drives you through you life. They believed you shouldn't be servants of God, but to be friends of God.