martin luther king jr essay contest 2021

MLK Celebration Sacramento

Pictured are the 2021 Essay Contest Winners with the Honorable Judge Vance Raye who presented the winners their awards.

Congratulations to the 2021 MLK Essay Contest Winners.

We are very pleased to announce the winners of the 8th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest in conjunction with the MLK Celebration event. The essay contest was created to further engage our youth with Dr. King's legacy, his vision, and leadership that inspired a nation.  The 2021 MLK Essay Contest Theme: With COVID-19 Health guidelines in mind, describe an injustice that you see in today’s society and what you can do to address the issue and advancement of John Lewis’ call to action. High School Hang Trinh , West Campus High School (Sacramento City Unified) - 1st Place Briseyda Olivares Rodriguez , Foothill High School (Twin Rivers Unified) - 2nd Place Ben-Israel Gurjar, Hiram W. Johnson High School (Sacramento City Unified) - 3rd Place

Middle School Jack Simon , Merryhill Midtown Sacramento - 1st Place Miles Scaife , Harriet G. Eddy Middle School (Elk Grove Unified) - 2nd Place Sofia Zotov , Martin Luther King Jr. Technology Academy (Twin Rivers Unified) - 3rd Place

High School Division Hang Trinh, 1st Place High School Division

In today’s society, adults often experience various forms of injustice at work and in public. Likewise, children also undergo injustice in the form of bullying at school. In the case of bullying, an individual with more power unfairly harms one who is more vulnerable. In primary school, while waiting for my parents, I witnessed a scenario where an older student picked on a younger student. Witnessing the unjust act, I told myself that I could not remain silent even if it meant involving myself in trouble. Thus, I intervened and explained to the older boy how his actions could profoundly hurt the younger boy. Taking in my words, the older boy understood and quietly walked away. The younger boy then headed towards me with a relieved face, embraced, and thanked me.

At home, I told my parents the story. Coming to my cousins’ house, I told them the same story and the injustice behind bullying. By talking to my cousins, I realized that I have the power to influence others to end such an act of injustice. From there, whenever witnessing bullying scenarios, I step in and intervene. When interacting with younger kids, I inform them about bullying and its consequences.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Congressman John Lewis selflessly risked their lives to advocate for equality. As I support their mission through the simple acts of continuing to intervene in bullying scenarios and spreading the word, I hope that you can join me in ending bullying as well as other acts of injustice. Amid this health crisis, remember to practice social distancing and put on your mask before taking action! Together, humanity can further Dr. King, John Lewis, and other heroic activists’ mission in promoting equality. May the end of injustice come in the near future.

Briseyda Olivares Rodriguez,  2nd Place, High School Division “Never be afraid to make some good noise and good trouble, necessary trouble.” John  Lewis’s famous words resonate with me as I reflect deeply on a human injustice that is often  overlooked: “modern-day slavery,” or human trafficking. The first time I was exposed to human  trafficking was a few weeks ago in my health class. I learned that millions of vulnerable people  are forced or brainwashed into having sex, being an object of pornography, or doing labor for  traffickers’ profit. Many are oblivious to this issue because it is not addressed as frequently as it  should be.    California and Florida require human trafficking education in schools but I think that this  should be a nationwide requirement. I followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis’s  teachings about taking action in the hope of making this a reality. I wrote to the U.S. Department  of Education to propose a law requiring human trafficking education in our nation’s schools. The  law should say that all schools need a set program to teach students in middle school and high  school about human trafficking, how to identify signs, and where to seek help. I am confident  that this will increase safety in our country, save people’s lives, encourage other countries to act,  and bring us one step closer to change. I truly hope that they find potential in this law and send it to Congress. I also motivated my school’s Friday Night Live Club to add human trafficking  information to the many issues we raise awareness about on social media. I firmly believe that it  is my duty to bring attention to this injustice in as many ways as possible. I am a small person in  a huge world but I know that these small steps can help us abolish this injustice. 

Ben-Israel Gurjar , 3rd Place High School Division

An injustice we see every day is racism. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis played their part to end it, and in 1964 the civil rights law superseded all state and local laws requiring segregation. Yet racism never really ended. It was removed from the system but not from the hearts of people. We see it every day, everywhere, inside the walls of the court, employment, neighborhood, shops, workplace, and public transports.

The incident with George Floyd proved that we weren’t far from step one. There was still a long way to go in this fight against racism. John Lewis encouraged non-violence and peaceful protests, but how can you fight something that is hidden? You cannot see inside someone’s heart.

The first step you can take to stop this is to teach your children. Children are like empty vessels. You choose what to fill them with. They will follow the path you show them. Show your children the right path, so when they are old, they may not depart from it.

Step two is to stand up. Racism is hard to spot. If you see it, stand up and don’t be afraid. Do what is right, even if you have to do it alone. There is no neutral side in this war. If you are silent, then you are just part of the problem.

Step three is to stop judging an entire race depending on one person’s action. Learn to see, without seeing the race. Taking these steps is how we will shape the future that we can all look forward to. A future where people will not be judged by their race but by their character. In that, Dr. King’s dream will be fulfilled. 

Middle School Jack Simon, 1st  Place Middle School Division

Since the importation of African slaves early in America’s history, an implicit bias of Black Americans was created. Currently, racism appears as violent killings of unarmed African American men and women. Additionally, the struggle to get necessary PPE to Black Americans to survive the Covid-19 pandemic safely is a symptom of racism. Racism has sparked mostly peaceful protests across our country like the Black Lives Matter movement.

Today, racism continues to be an injustice, which is commonly fought within peaceful protests. The Covid-19 pandemic was just appearing in the US when the news of the killing of Ahmaud Aubrey surfaced. He was simply on a jog when he was shot by two white males in a pickup truck. In the summer, an iPhone video was released of three police officers on top of George Floyd, which resulted in his death. There were large marches to honor George Floyd and for people to voice their opinions about systemic racism in America. With Covid-19 roaring, the protests of George Floyd’s death against racism set an example of peaceful and safe protests. Many protestors wore masks and other PPE, setting an example for others to stand up for what is right, but also to protect fellow Americans. Just like MLK and John Lewis, peaceful and safe protests are the key to fixing what is wrong in our country.

T he legalization of gay marriage and other LGBTQ+ rights resulted from peaceful protests. What I can do to combat racism is to attend peaceful protests and other forums against racism. The countless protests against the killings of unarmed black men and women have led to laws being created to outlaw chokehold and no-knock warrants. Therefore, I should join peaceful and safe protests to combat racism in my community.

Miles Scaife, 2nd Place Middle School Division "You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way... to get in the way." This quote by John Lewis is something that everyone should try to live up to. He preached “get in trouble, necessary trouble” without violence just like Martin Luther King, Jr., and they both fought to end legalized racial segregation. He had extraordinary courageousness and leadership that helped with several protests to uphold the rights of colored US citizens. If we try to live up to John Lewis’s great words, then we should start small and work our way up to something bigger. Something small during these tough times would be interacting with lonely elderly people. There are multiple things that we can do to help in this small problem, but there are some that are more effective than others.

One way we can help elderly people during these tough times is to send them cards or video chat with them. For example, recently my grandpa was stuck in the hospital for 5 days, and for half of the time he was there he had no glasses, no way to contact anyone outside of the hospital and no entertainment. One could imagine that this is pretty lonely. My mom would make us call him everyday to check up on him and see if he’s okay, even if we didn’t want to. In the end, we made him feel a lot better since we interacted with him. If we just put a little joy in elderly people’s hearts by talking to them, then we can make them feel better. If we continue to follow the path of people like John Lewis or Martin Luther King, Jr., then we will fulfill a lot in life. The world would change for the better and people would act differently.

Sofia Zotov, 3rd  Place Middle School Division

In July 2018, John Lewis sent out a tweet with the hashtag #goodtrouble. Lewis stated, “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” Lewis epitomizes this and encourages us to not be silent. Lewis taught us persistence. He taught us that when a person has transformative ideas, they should not taper those ideas. Instead, they should push those ideas until others get on board. This is what John Lewis meant by #goodtrouble. Lewis also teaches us that age is nothing but a number and that young people have to be the change they want to see by pushing for equitable change, even if it means informing and standing up to older generations.

One person that has been encouraging me and teaching me to get into good trouble is my mother. The reason I chose my mother was because she always finds a way to connect and encourage me when I make a mistake. My mother always told me “No matter how tough the world is, never give up and to always forgive and always forget”. What my mother meant is that we are living in a very dangerous time right now. Even though it is tough right now, because of her advice, I will never give up. This world is dangerous and unpredictable, especially since there is a lot of harassment and racism between many people. Since Covid-19 started, people are starting to forget that America is a free country with a lot of opportunities. These include the voices of the young people to stand up and take charge. I am glad to have a mother that can speak to me and help me make the right decisions in my life.

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news Inspired

Read the winning entries in an MLK essay contest for Richardson students

‘we are all people who were put in this world to make a difference,’ wrote one student..

By Teri Webster

4:13 PM on Mar 2, 2021 CST

Richardson has announced the winners of the inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest for students in grades 3 through 12. Students were asked to write an essay about how to use King’s teachings to support diversity and inclusion.

Here are the winners and some excerpts from their entries:

Clara Eves won in this division for her essay that included examples on how to make people feel included and welcome.

“I can make everyone feel included by being kind, standing up for others, and by helping people. If I do all these things I will make more friends in my school community,” she wrote.

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Sara Heiser’s winning entry was titled “The Art of Including Others.”

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, in Washington, D.C on August 28, 1963, ‘I have a dream…[that] little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers.’” she wrote. “I think that there are many ways to promote Dr. King’s dream of inclusion in the city of Richardson, and if everyone works together toward this dream we can become a diverse community in which people include others that are not like themselves.”

Grades 9-12

Grace Brantley wrote about the diversity of Richardson in her winning entry.

“We can use the teachings of MLK to realize that just because someone looks different than you doesn’t mean you cannot be friends or that they are lesser than you,” she wrote. “We are all people who were put in this world to make a difference. We are all unique, yet we are also similar in so many ways. No one should ever be punished or bullied because of how they look.”

Each winner will receive $100. Their essays will also be published in various city communication outlets. Additionally, the students will be recognized at an upcoming city council meeting.

The winning essays are posted online .

The contest was open to students in grades 3-12 who live in Richardson or attend a Richardson ISD or Plano ISD school in Richardson. The contest was sponsored by the city council, Richardson ISD, Plano ISD and the University of Texas at Dallas.

Related: Richardson opens up internship opportunities for students this summer

Teri Webster , Special Contributor . Teri Webster is a freelancer covering Plano for The Dallas Morning News. She has worked as a staff writer and freelancer for several area news outlets and is a regular contributor to Fort Worth Weekly. Email story tips to [email protected].

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr./Black History Month essay contest winners announced

BROOKINGS – The Brookings Human Rights Commission has announced the winners of its 2021 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr./Black History Month Essay Contest.   Dr. King was a supporter of human rights and freedoms for all citizens.

The contest is designed for students to reflect on Dr. King’s ideas and the effect on our community through their contest entry.  

This year’s theme was from one of Dr. King’s quotes, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right,” or any topic relating to Black history.

The contest winners received their award recognition from Mayor Keith Corbett at the Brookings City Council meeting on March 9.  

The award ceremony can be viewed and essays can be read by visiting www.cityofbrookings-sd.gov/392/Dr-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Day-Contest.

Essay – Middle School

• Kendis Sackreiter

First place –   $100

Mickelson Middle School

•  Shae Lefers

Second place   – $75

•  Alex Kidangathazhe

Third place – $50

Essay – High School

•  Zoey Henderson

Brookings High School

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Art Contest Winners

Click here to view all art contest finalists at MLKofNorthTexas.org .

Essay Contest Winners

Selections chosen from each winning essay, 4th grade: auspyn kubasta, mill street elementary, ms. nicholson, 5th grade: zoya tapia, hebron valley elementary, mrs. nelson, 6th grade: tanvi padala, mckamy middle school, mrs. edge, 7th grade: thiyanah nimallan, mckamy middle school, mrs. warriner, 8th grade: lara makkapati, lamar middle school, mrs. reynolds.

Our current world is split by this ocean. One side containing wealthy civilization - The other, scattered with the unable who are manipulated by the self-righteous. I look from the edge of the coast, across this ocean and see nothing but the dark waves of the future knowing most of my life was built on the foundation of oppression.  Oblivious to a world where my worth can be defined by my appearance and my status.  MLK wanted to change this. MLK had an unbreakable faith that America could reach his goals of love, peace and equality among everyone as long as we follow his philosophy and take a stand against the Triple Evils.  As citizens it is our duty to discard our kaleidoscope.  Instead MLK would encourage you to put the world under a microscope, everyday.  To see how you can drain the ocean of oppression to unite the landmass once divided.

9th Grade: Abhijay Kodali, Flower Mound 9 High School, Mrs. Greenlaw

10th grade: valerie parada, lhs harmon, mrs. phillips, 11th grade: lahari guduru, flower mound high school, mrs. figueredo, 12th grade: advika rajeev, flower mound high school, ms. bowen.

Click here to view all essay contest finalists at MLKofNorthTexas.org .

Photography Contest Winners

Click here to view all photography contest finalists at MLKofNorthTexas.org .

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• Dec 10, 2020

2021 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Essay Contest

The City of Dallas is pleased to announce the 2021 high school senior and college freshmen essay contest! The contest will award six scholarships up to $5,000 (per award) to graduating high school seniors or first-year students accepted into a college-level educational institution (two-year college, four-year college, or trade school).

Essay Contest Rules & Eligibility

The 2021 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest is open to; 1. High School Seniors attending a City of Dallas High School; and 2. First-Year students (must have a permanent address within the City of Dallas) accepted into a collegiate educational institution (two-year college, four- year college, or trade school). These Scholarships are to help defray the cost of tuition, books, room and board, etc. Winners will be formally recognized at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship & Awards Gala on Saturday, January 23, 2021.

Submission Deadline: Thursday, December 31, 2020, at 5:00 p.m . via submission portal.

One essay per student. Essays must be original, typed, and double-spaced; high school essays should not exceed 1,000 words and college essays should not exceed 1,500 words.

The cover sheet must contain the student’s name, school, home/cellular phone number, address, and email address (do not include this information in the body of the essay).

Essays will be judged based on organization, content, voice, creativity, and grammatical structure.

Prior scholarship winners are ineligible to apply.

Essay Theme: “The Fierce Urgency of Now”

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

Essay Prompt

Describe a social justice problem, concern, or issue you would like to solve as it relates to “The Fierce Urgency of Now.” It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance. Explain its significance to you and what steps you can take to identify a solution.

Incomplete applications WILL NOT be considered. Link to online application: https://app.keysurvey.com/f/41535034/5720

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Meet Richardson’s Inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay Contest Winners

Mar 26, 2021

RICHARDSON – Winners were recently selected for Richardson’s inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay Contest which received hundreds of entries.

“I was screaming, and I was excited to tell everyone about it,” said fourth grader Clara Eves, who remembered the moment she learned she was selected as one of winners of the Essay Contest.

Students who participated in the contest were asked to share how they would promote, embrace, and celebrate diversity and inclusion in Richardson.

“We can be the ones to determine that everyone is equal. We can choose to look at the inside of a person rather than their physical appearance,” said nineth grader, Grace Brantley.

Winners of the Essay Contest hope people who read their work can learn what Dr. King taught, to love others, dream big, persevere, work hard, and stand up for what is right. The

Essay Contest was presented by the Richardson City Council and sponsored by RISD, PISD and UTD along with a Black History Month Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion Art Contest.

“Before judging people by what they look like, we should take the time to introduce ourselves, get to know them and I think a lot of people will realize it really does not matter what you look like, it’s what’s inside that counts,” said seventh grader Sara Heiser.

Winners of all contests will be recognized in April.

Visit www.cor.net/artandessaycontest to read all three winning entries.  

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Contest

Dr. martin luther king, jr. writing, speech and art contests 2021-22.

Celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist committed to peace, justice, and equality. As a visionary leader of the civil rights movement, King fought for racial and economic justice for the oppressed. His driving forces were nonviolence, love, the importance of family and self-respect.

This year’s theme is “We Must Speak,” from Dr. King’s address “A Time to Break Silence” given at New York’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967.

“And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but We Must Speak .”

Students can reflect on these words and how they relate to themselves or others in their families, schools, neighborhoods or the world.

Writing Contest | Sponsored by the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Speech Contest | Sponsored by We Energies

Art Contest  | Sponsored by the Milwaukee Public Schools and the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

This year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration will be held virtually by Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, January 17, 2022 at 1pm. The winners of the speech, art, and writing contests will be recognized at this event. 

Please visit MarcusCenter.org/MLK for more event details.

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How public attitudes toward martin luther king jr. have changed since the 1960s.

About eight-in-ten American adults (81%) say civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. has had a positive impact on the United States, according to a Pew Research Center report that comes ahead of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . This majority includes nearly half of Americans (47%) who say King’s impact has been very positive. Just 3% say his impact on the country has been negative.

Sixty years after Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to determine how views of King have changed over time in the United States.

This analysis uses data from a 2023 Center survey as well as data from Gallup surveys conducted in May 1963, August 1964, May 1965, August 1966, May 1969 and August 2011. The Center survey polled 5,073 U.S. adults from April 10 to April 16, 2023. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Address-based sampling ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the Pew Research Center survey questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

However, views of King haven’t always been so positive.

In May 1963, only about four-in-ten Americans (41%) had a favorable opinion of King, according to a Gallup survey . That included just 16% who viewed him highly favorably, rating him +4 or +5 on a scale of -5 (most unfavorable) to +5 (most favorable). The survey was conducted shortly after King’s Birmingham Campaign , which led the Alabama city to remove signs enforcing segregation of restrooms and drinking fountains and to desegregate lunch counters.

King’s favorable ratings remained about the same in Gallup surveys conducted in 1964 and 1965. But by August 1966, only a third of Americans had a favorable view of the civil rights leader. More than six-in-ten (63%) viewed him unfavorably, including 44% who viewed him highly unfavorably.

Gallup’s survey questions about King between 1963 and 1966 coincided with his civil rights work in a variety of areas:

• In August 1963, King delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.
• In June 1964, he demanded equal treatment at a segregated Florida restaurant, an act that led to his arrest.
• In December 1964, he received the Nobel Peace Prize and pledged the full financial award to civil rights efforts.
• In March 1965, he led a civil rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery.
• In June 1966, he completed fellow civil rights leader James Meredith’s March Against Fear after Meredith was wounded by a White gunman.
• In August 1966, he was hit by a rock while marching through an all-White neighborhood in Chicago as part of the Chicago Freedom Movement. The movement sought to expand civil rights work to northern U.S. cities.

King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Gallup did not ask Americans to rate King again until August 2011, when the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was officially dedicated in Washington, D.C. By then, views of King had changed dramatically, as 94% of Americans had a favorable opinion of him. Americans were also broadly supportive of the memorial: 91% approved of it and 70% were at least somewhat interested in visiting it, according to the Gallup survey.

Racial differences in views of King

Throughout the mid-1960s, Black Americans had much more favorable views of King than White Americans did. In the May 1963 Gallup survey, for example, 92% of Black Americans but only 35% of White Americans had a favorable opinion of the civil rights leader.

As more White Americans learned who King was over the next three years, a higher share of them viewed him unfavorably. Around four-in-ten White adults (41%) had an unfavorable view of King in May 1963 – a figure that rose to 69% by August 1966.

In 1969, Gallup asked Black adults in the U.S. whether they thought King’s beliefs about nonviolence had gained or lost support since his assassination a year earlier. About half of Black Americans (52%) said they thought King’s beliefs had lost support, while 30% said his beliefs had gained support.

By 2011, White Americans’ attitudes toward King had become much more positive. Fully 100% of Black adults and 93% of White adults had a favorable opinion of him, and majorities of both Black and White Americans (96% and 65%, respectively) had highly favorable views of him.

Views of racial equality after King

More than 40 years after King’s assassination, Americans were still divided on whether his dream of racial equality had been realized. In the 2011 Gallup survey, 51% of Americans said King’s dream had been realized, while 49% said it had not.

Pew Research Center’s new report, which uses survey data from April 2023, finds that Americans are similarly divided today about whether the U.S. has made progress on racial equality over the last 60 years.

About half of U.S. adults (52%) say that the country has made a great deal or a fair amount of progress, while 33% say it has made some progress and 15% say it has not made much or any progress. But Black Americans are more pessimistic: Just 30% say the U.S. has made a great deal or a fair amount of progress, compared with 58% of White adults. And 32% of Black adults say the country has made little or no progress, compared with 11% of White adults.

Note: Here are the Pew Research Center survey questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

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Public sees black people, women, gays and lesbians gaining influence in biden era, economy and covid-19 top the public’s policy agenda for 2021, 20 striking findings from 2020, our favorite pew research center data visualizations of 2019, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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22 February 2018

The quaker movement: decline and persistence.

Whether our dream is to bring peace and justice to the world, to "make God more real", to answer that of God in everyone, to spread the everlasting Gospel to the ends of the earth, or merely to survive in our present poor state, we just can't get there from here . At the present trend, which shows no sign of reversal and which has held steady over at least 30 years, we will be out of business as a Yearly Meeting in a generation.

• Donald W. McCormick, " Can Quakerism Survive? "
• C. Wess Daniels, " As The Seed Falls: Building a Generative, Convergent Quakerism "
• If Friends continue to fade quietly from the scene, will Jesus be less able to reach people in bondage? Or have we already become irrelevant to those who've not yet heard of us? 
• Given that we are a microscopic percentage of the world Christian movement, do we have an inflated sense of our own importance? Or, to put it more positively, could we rest contented that our influence on Christian discipleship will last beyond our institutional survival?
• In today's world, much of organizational Christianity is repelling potential converts instead of attracting them. Are Friends doing anything to counter this phenomenon? Or, as I sometimes fear, are we too distracted by self-satisfaction (in some places) or squabbling among ourselves (in other places) to offer a better way in?
• For a research project at Woodbrooke in England a few years ago, I divided Friends outreach into two broad categories -- those who emphasize Friends discipleship (the testimonies of peace, simplicity, equality, prayer-based group decisionmaking) and those who emphasize the Gospel invitation to repent and believe the Good News. Neither group denies the other's goal; it's an argument about approaches and priorities. I argued that both approaches were valid. Can we forge creative alliances between their practitioners instead of their traditional one-upping of each other? Or is this just too optimistic?
• Can we learn from the newer Quaker yearly meetings in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, including their own conversations on tradition and context, and their own struggles with finances , rigidity, and authoritarianism? How will we do this?

John Punshon once divided Western religious people into two groups with two characteristic questions: the children of the Enlightenment (“How can I know what is true?”) and the children of the Reformation (“Where will I spend eternity?”). People in one group often talk right past those in the other group, and neither has much native sympathy for the other, even though they actually share important spiritual and ethical concerns. In my questionnaire [in preparation for writing this article], I asked what God wanted to do in Europe specifically through Friends. Several responded that (for example) “this isn’t phrased in language I would use.” To what extent are we talking past each other? Would an inter-Quaker “Enlightenment/Reformation” dialogue increase our capacity to speak to a wider range of non-Quakers? If we neglect this dialogue, I worry that the Quaker movement in Europe could divide into two streams: a limited chaplaincy for an individualistic, intellectual, highly ethical stream of Quakerism that is weak on transcendent motivation but unlikely to disappear altogether because it is persistently attractive to a tiny sector of the public; and a more public form of Protestant-flavored Quakerism that is more transparent and accessible, with a wider emotional range, yet is poorer for lack of fellowship with the first stream. Is such a bifurcated future to be welcomed, or to be avoided?

3 comments:

Johan, I wish you could come send some time with North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative.) In the terms that you have set in your article, between the politically liberal, individualistic, not-scripturally-centered "boutique" style of Quakerism vs the evangelical, typically pastoral type, we are an anomaly. Or a paradox. Not sure which. We are scripturally based, we are not the kind of Quakers who reprimand people for speaking about Christ, and yet we are socially progressive and practice obedient waiting on the Lord in the tradition of early Friends (so-called "silent meeting.") Most importantly, we are not individualistic; we are members of a body, in the fullest sense, and this has significant outcomes for our faith and practice. You could read Lloyd Lee Wilson's book on Gospel Order to get a taste of it. Not the whole story, but a good take.

Hello, Bruce! Although I've read Lloyd Lee Wilson's book (and remember him personally), I'm sorry that I've not had nearly as much contact with North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) as I've had with Ohio Yearly Meeting. I've never been to a monthly or yearly meeting, for example, although I count a couple of your members as dear friends. I also treasure memories of Louise Wilson as a retreat leader. My impressions of Conservative Friends generally are along the lines of William Rushby's words, "Sometimes, it seems that the Conservative Quaker tradition is a vision in search of a people!" Why is it that such an attractive combination of grace and simplicity cannot attract more actual practitioners!? In my first years as a Friend, my mentor was a woman, Deborah Haight, who grew up in Canada (Conservative) Yearly Meeting, and now that segment of Canadian Quakerism is nearly extinct, despite its extraordinary history. Even so, I remain incredibly grateful for her influence, and her tradition's influence, on me. When the Quaker US-USSR Committee began publishing Friends literature in Russian, one of their first pamphlets came from the Conservative world: William Taber's The Prophetic Stream . I remember a former clerk of Moscow Meeting saying to me that he thought the Conservative heritage might be more helpful to Russian Friends than some of the other quakerly models vying for influence in Russia at the time. You are quite right to say that North Carolina presents a Friendly way that is different from the broad-brush categorizations in my post. Potentially it does offer that direct and honest Christian invitation that seems to me to be so more classically Quaker than the compromises that I usually see. How will you break out of that sectarian specialness and become scalable? Should we be asking each other for help?

I am so delighted to hear someone remembering Deborah Haight with fondness. I only met her a few times but she left a lasting impression on me.

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Victor Mukhin

• Scientific Program

Title : Active carbons as nanoporous materials for solving of environmental problems

However, up to now, the main carriers of catalytic additives have been mineral sorbents: silica gels, alumogels. This is obviously due to the fact that they consist of pure homogeneous components SiO2 and Al2O3, respectively. It is generally known that impurities, especially the ash elements, are catalytic poisons that reduce the effectiveness of the catalyst. Therefore, carbon sorbents with 5-15% by weight of ash elements in their composition are not used in the above mentioned technologies. However, in such an important field as a gas-mask technique, carbon sorbents (active carbons) are carriers of catalytic additives, providing effective protection of a person against any types of potent poisonous substances (PPS). In ESPE “JSC "Neorganika" there has been developed the technology of unique ashless spherical carbon carrier-catalysts by the method of liquid forming of furfural copolymers with subsequent gas-vapor activation, brand PAC. Active carbons PAC have 100% qualitative characteristics of the three main properties of carbon sorbents: strength - 100%, the proportion of sorbing pores in the pore space – 100%, purity - 100% (ash content is close to zero). A particularly outstanding feature of active PAC carbons is their uniquely high mechanical compressive strength of 740 ± 40 MPa, which is 3-7 times larger than that of  such materials as granite, quartzite, electric coal, and is comparable to the value for cast iron - 400-1000 MPa. This allows the PAC to operate under severe conditions in moving and fluidized beds.  Obviously, it is time to actively develop catalysts based on PAC sorbents for oil refining, petrochemicals, gas processing and various technologies of organic synthesis.

Victor M. Mukhin was born in 1946 in the town of Orsk, Russia. In 1970 he graduated the Technological Institute in Leningrad. Victor M. Mukhin was directed to work to the scientific-industrial organization "Neorganika" (Elektrostal, Moscow region) where he is working during 47 years, at present as the head of the laboratory of carbon sorbents.     Victor M. Mukhin defended a Ph. D. thesis and a doctoral thesis at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (in 1979 and 1997 accordingly). Professor of Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. Scientific interests: production, investigation and application of active carbons, technological and ecological carbon-adsorptive processes, environmental protection, production of ecologically clean food.   

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