The Tidal Wave

One of the dangers of the "religious" preoccupations is that they can come to substitute for real concern about the condition of people in the world. This despite William Penn's famous observation that (if I recall the quote rightly) "True godliness don't turn men away from the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it."

I've been told that the minutes of New York Yearly Meeting in the 1770s and 1780s make no mention of the Revolutionary War, but contain some lengthy deliberations on the proper height of tombstones in Friends' cemeteries. This may be questionable history as I haven't researched the actual minutes to find out. However, it does seem plausible, given the way that Quakers sometimes think.

Note, for example, that this blog and my other one have serenely been devoted to discussions of various religious services, plain or not-plain clothing, and my current reading list, while it was being revealed in the popular press that from twenty to forty thousand people have been killed and perhaps a million more been rendered homeless by a tidal wave in the area of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South India, and others.) Many thanks to Christopher, whose blog is called Bending the Rule for providing some links to some organizations that can use help in responding to this disaster, namely: The Salvation Army and Oxfam. To this, I will add a link to American Friends Service Committee Asia Relief.