Close-up of the statue of Mary Dyer. Photo: Greg Peverill-Conti / flickr CC.
New England Quakers remember Mary Dyer
Friends in New England honour Mary Dyer on Religious Freedom Day
New England Quakers celebrated Religious Freedom Day last week (16 January) by paying tribute to Mary Dyer, a Quaker hung in Boston, Massachusetts, for her religious beliefs for repeatedly defying a law banning Friends entering the colony in the 1650s.
Writing on Twitter, New England Quakers quoted Mary Dyer’s reported last words: ‘Nay, I came to keep bloodguiltiness from you, desireing [sic] you to repeal the unrighteous and unjust law made against the innocent servants of the Lord.’
The statue of Mary Dyer, which stands at Friends Center, Philadelphia is an identical casting of a statue in the grounds of the Massachusetts State House, across from Boston Common, where she was hung in 1660. It was created in 1959 by Quaker sculptor Sylvia Shaw Judson.
According to the Friends Center website, the statue represents ‘the Quaker idea of committed action grounded in quiet worship. Her presence at the entrance of the building silently conveys to all who pass through Friends Center’s doors that it is a place of both conviction and contemplation.’
