Daniel Seeger

Last updated

Daniel Andrew ("Dan") Seeger is a retired administrator of Friends' (Quaker) organizations and a writer on Friends' religion and social issues. He was earlier a defendant in a case on conscription of pacifists that was decided by the Supreme Court. [1]

Contents

Seeger had come from a Roman Catholic background, been heavily influenced by Quaker ideas, and volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). In 1958, he was denied conscientious-objector status under the 1948 military draft law, on grounds that his religious beliefs did not constitute "belief in a Supreme Being"; he was eventually ordered to enter the armed forces, and convicted of draft refusal. In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Seeger that his conviction was mistaken, because Congress, in its statutory language, "did not intend" using "the usual understanding" of "Supreme Being", but rather an interpretation that extended to Seeger's "compulsion" to "goodness".

Seeger made a career in the administration of the AFSC. In the 1980s and 90s he wrote four pamphlets [2] for publication by the Quaker Universalist Fellowship, and two [3] by the Quaker study-center publisher Pendle Hill. He retired in September 2000 from the role of executive director of Pendle Hill.

On April 1, 2010, Seeger stepped into the role of Interim General Secretary at the AFSC, pending the conclusion of the search for a permanent General Secretary, following the resignation of Mary Ellen McNish on March 31.

Further reading

https://quakervoice.org

Related Research Articles

A. J. Muste Christian pacifist and civil rights activist

Abraham Johannes Muste was a Dutch-born American clergyman and political activist. He is best remembered for his work in the labor movement, pacifist movement, antiwar movement, and civil rights movement.

James Reeb American activist and minister

James Joseph Reeb was an American Unitarian Universalist minister, pastor, and activist during the civil rights movement in Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts. While participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches actions in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, he was murdered by white segregationists, dying of head injuries in the hospital two days after being severely beaten. Three men were tried for Reeb's murder but were acquitted by an all-white jury. His murder remains officially unsolved.

How Can I Keep from Singing? American Christian hymn by Robert Lowry

"How Can I Keep From Singing?" is an American folksong originally composed as a Christian hymn by American Baptist minister Robert Lowry. The song is frequently, though erroneously, cited as a traditional Quaker or Shaker hymn. The original composition has now entered into the public domain, and appears in several hymnals and song collections, both in its original form and with a revised text that omits most of the explicitly Christian content and adds a verse about solidarity in the face of oppression. Though it was not originally a Quaker hymn, Quakers adopted it as their own in the twentieth century and use it widely today.

Within the Religious Society of Friends, a clerk is someone responsible for various administrative functions within a meeting for worship for church affairs or meeting for worship with attention to business. The clerk is responsible for recording the discernment which is arrived at during such a meeting, in a minute, and is responsible for sending and receiving correspondence on behalf of the meeting. Within some branches of the Religious Society of Friends, the clerk may also create an agenda and may facilitate the meeting.

The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is a Quaker organisation that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is in London. It has General Consultative NGO status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations since 2002. FWCC shares responsibility for the Quaker UN Office in Geneva and New York City with the American Friends Service Committee and Britain Yearly Meeting.

United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163 (1965), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that the exemption from the military draft for conscientious objectors could not be reserved only for those professing conformity with the moral directives of a supreme being, but also for those whose views on war derived from a "sincere and meaningful belief which occupies in the life of its possessor a place parallel to that filled by the God of those" who had routinely gotten the exemption.

Henry Cadbury American Quaker, biblical scholar, historian (1883–1974)

Henry Joel Cadbury was an American biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator.

Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation

Pendle Hill is a Quaker study, retreat, and conference center located on a 23-acre (9.3 ha) campus in suburban Wallingford, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. It was named for the hill in Lancashire, England, that the first Quaker preacher described as the site of his calling to ministry. Founded in 1930, Pendle Hill offers programs open to people of all faiths. These programs include online/residential study programs, short-term courses and retreats, conference services, publications, leadership training, and a walk-in bookstore. The online/residential study program includes a curriculum of worship, work, study, and service where people typically enrol for four weeks of online study and four weeks of residential study. Short-term courses of two to seven days are offered throughout the year on themes including introductory Quakerism, nonviolent change, sustainable living, arts and spirituality, and bodywork.

Quakers Family of Protestant religious movements

Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to experience the light within or see "that of God in every one". Some profess a priesthood of all believers inspired by the First Epistle of Peter. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity. There are also Nontheist Quakers, whose spiritual practice does not rely on the existence of God. To differing extents, the Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers worldwide. In 2017, there were 377,557 adult Quakers, 49 per cent of them in Africa.

The Quaker Universalist Fellowship is a religious organization serving predominantly individuals with an ongoing association with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), a universalist understanding of Quaker teachings and traditions, and a commitment to religious pluralism. It has published books and periodicals from Landenberg, Pennsylvania since the 1980s.

Howard Haines Brinton (1884–1973) was an author, professor and director whose work influenced the Religious Society of Friends movement for much of the 20th century. His books ranged from Quaker journal anthologies to philosophical and historical dissertations on the faith, establishing him as a prominent commentator on the Society of Friends.

John Lampen is a Quaker peace educator and writer. He is married to Diana Lampen. In 1987, he gave the Swarthmore Lecture, entitled Mending Hurts.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I. It continued to engage in relief action in Europe and the Soviet Union after the Armistice of 1918. By the mid-1920s it focused on improving racial relations in the U.S., as well as exploring ways to prevent the outbreak of another conflict before and after World War II. As the Cold War developed, it moved to employ more professionals rather than Quaker volunteers, over time attempting to broaden its appeal and respond more forcefully to racial injustice, women's issues, and demands of sexual minorities for equal treatment. Also they work for world peace.

Charles Coates Walker

Charles Coates Walker was an American Quaker activist and trainer for nonviolent direct action in both the civil rights and peace movements. He worked throughout his life to bring segregation, racial injustice, nuclear and biological weapons, and war to public awareness. He used Gandhian methods of nonviolence, writing training materials and organizing marches, vigils, protest demonstrations, conferences and campaigns in different parts of the world.

Henry Hodgkin

Henry Hodgkin (1877-1933) was a medical doctor and a British Quaker missionary who, in the course of his 55-year life, co-founded the West China Union University in Chengdu, co-founded and led the first Christian pacifist movement, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, and founded the Pendle Hill Quaker meeting and training center, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.

Clarence Evan Pickett (1884-1965) was an American religious leader, notable 20th century Quaker, and head of a non-governmental, humanitarian relief agency.

Anna Cox Brinton

Anna Shipley Cox Brinton was an American classics scholar, college administrator, writer, and Quaker leader, active with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Peter Hubert Klopfer is a German-born American zoologist, civil rights advocate and educator. He is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Duke University, where in 1966 he co-founded, with John Buettner-Janusch, the Duke Lemur Center. This facility houses the largest living collection of endangered primates in the world.

Elizabeth Grill Watson was an American Quaker minister, curator, and feminist theologian.

References

  1. Dan Seeger (Philadelphia: American Friends Service Committee, n.d.), as accessed January 22, 2019.
  2. "Index of Pendle Hill Pamphlets by Number" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  3. Quaker Universalist Fellowship pamphlets