A Conservative Hicksite's Manifesto

A Romany "Gypsy" friend and I were sitting last night, discussing this and that - a project we are working on together. I asked him "Who are the biggest thieves in the world?" Without a moment's hesitation he said, "The American Gyzhen." The non-Romany Americans. "Exactly right..." I said. I had just come from a meeting of "progressive" Quakers where I watched them ... no, in point of fact, I walk out on them ... because they were in the process of buying and selling my faith.
As many of you know, New York Meetings are in turmoil over Friend's Seminary wishing to become a separate corporation. This school which excludes Quakers who are not smart enough to fit in, this school which ignores the Meeting when making millions of dollars of "improvements" to a building designed to be plain in my generation ... is being given what it asks for, "because if we don't they will take it anyway, so we have to come up with a plan that keeps us in the loop..." I am told. When I try and tell these Friends that "no" is also a Quakerly response, and begin to explain that our faith is one of the few which has a mix of traditional reactive thinking, as well as progressive proactive thinking, but it only works if we apply Quaker process - coming to unity... I am told that "no, this is the only plan." When I ask Friends to repeat back to me, what my point is, I am told, not only can they not do that, they have no intention to try and listen and understand. And so... I acknowledge, New Ageism, Progressivism, has robbed yet another culture, as Capitalist progressives stole Indian land, and then New Ageist robbed their spiritual traditions, the same thing is happening in New York Quaker Meetings.
I proclaim myself a traditionalist and a conservative. Not the phony new-age-I-just-discovered-Jesus-I-am-a-Wilberite silliness of the new jumping on the third reawakening band wagon of neo-Conservative Quakers... but, rather, I am a dyed in the wool, don't sell my faith OR my Meetinghouse Hicksite, and a rather pissed off one at that this morning.
Flame away...
In love and disgust
Lorcan
PS When the Friend's Seminary architect showed their plans for the re-building of parts of our Meetinghouse's room for worship, to accomodate STORAGE! for the schools stuff... the plans were titled "Renovation of Friend Seminary's Meetinghouse". Does that not just say it all? No only does the tail wag the dog, the tail is chewing the hair off the dog as well.