Thank you, Langdon, for this clear explanation and excellent reminder of why our Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was founded: a recognition of the need to disconnect the power between religious institutions and governments. Regards, Joan Gabrie Haglong@aol.com wrote: > > Quakers and Baptists came from the Reform movement. (1600's). They didn't > believe in the Church heirarchy. They didn't want to create a new Church > structure that would become as corupt as the Roman or English Church, so each > Church could pretty much make up its own "rules" and authorities. There was > never a Pope/Bishop or other superior authority, as in the Roman or Church of > England. > Quakers and Baptists believed in the autonomy of the individual Churches. > Both later (1800's) formed loose Associations of Churches to share their > ideas - the Southern Baptist Convention and Monthly Meetings. > Both Baptists and Quakers believed that only "believers" could join the > Church. But here they were different: Quakers celebrate no sacraments - > like Baptism. Baptists believed that when you become a believer, you get > Baptised. But both denominations had a screening process to determine if a > person was sincere and able to officially join the Church. (Church of England > Baptized every member's > infant. > I guess you could say that Quakers believe that the divine authority is > God, as heard through being quiet and listening to the Spirit within. > Baptists believed that the divine authority was the Bible and one could know > God by reading it. Both denominations had ministers, not priests, and this > occupation was open to all believers. They believed in the separation of > Church and State and therefore their ministers had no strong authority. > Church authority in both denominations was left to members, - Baptists by > democratic vote, Quakers , by consensus. Both strongly believed in > "individual conscience", rather than elete individuals compeling a certain > doctrine or belief. They believed that each individual could discern the > voice of God for themselves and did not need an intermediary. Both > denominations believed that anyone who was a member of the Church should be > allowed to speak in public meetings or services. > Quakers took this a step further than their Baptist brethren and allowed > women full participation in the Church, including becoming ministers. > Although both denominations had men and women sitting on opposite sides of > the Church originally, Quakers recognized the religious authority of women as > much as men, and had many more active women preachers -in the church, not > just at meetings. This probably scandalized most of society, which didn't > believe women should speak in public. > Quakers eventually broke into Conservative and Liberal groups, and kept > separate monthly meetings of these groups. Baptists broke into many more > branches - General, Anabaptist, Particular, and later Southern and American. > Both groups experiences terrible persecution by the Church of England.- > at one time nearly every adult Quaker was in jail in England. After > experiencing some persecution in New England , some Baptists fled to Maine, > and had to leave Maine for the same reason. They went to Charleston, SC. > Quakers in Colonial VA were put in prison when they didn't attend Church of > England services - it was the law in Virginia that one must attend Church. > This is the opposite of the Baptist and Quakers who believed that the Church > should be made up of Believers. Quakers and Baptists were instrumental in > obtaining the clause of the Constitution granting Separation of Church and > State and allowing individual freedom "of and from" religion. > Hope this helps. Langdon > > ==== PAMONTGO Mailing List ==== > Support Rootsweb with a donation it will be used to keep > this Genealogy Resource online. > http://www.rootsweb.com > > ============================== > FREE UNLIMITED Web space at RootsWeb! > Any subject: genealogy, computers, pets! Get your Freepages account today: > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi