Besides a large Indian heritage here on Long Island, we also have the remnants of the Quakers. Towns like Jericho, Bethpage, Plainview, and Hicksville (named after the family of preacher Elias Hicks) testify that they were once huge on the island. I believe the oldest, continually used meeting house is here as well. Although there was a spike in membership in the 1960’s due to the anti-war movement, the Quakers have been in serious decline. They may join the Shakers as a protestant movement that contributing greatly to the culture of America but then died out. I thought of these groups when I first read a statement about heresies, either by Belloc or Chesterton (does it matter?). A heresy is taking one article of the Catholic faith, and either denying it completely or blowing it up to become the whole of the faith itself. The simplicity, asceticism, peacefulness of Quakers are all a part of Christianity but not the sum of it. I like this definition and it would explain how movements based on heresy would die out, since only part of the faith is not enough. But then, explain the Amish. Last I heard, not only are they not in decline, but their communities, Amish and Mennonites are growing. Is it a cultural thing or religious thing that keeps ‘em going? Why would the Quakers decline so greatly and not the Amish?