Don Wildman

And by the way, Quakers are also confused with the Amish.

It's a popular misconception.

How do you compare the two?

There you go.

Let it be said, no similarity whatsoever.

One last theological question, and then we'll move on to the notion of utopianism.

Is this a Bible-based practice?

Are they following Christian ideals, or is this in worship of their own and Lee?

It is so fascinating to me that American history is really created by this kind of pluralistic idea of things, you know, these challenges of norms all over the place at this period of time, especially.

And yet we so nostalgically look back to when things were simple and people went to church.

No, they went to church and they challenged the very nature of church.

All over the place.

I'm not just talking about the Shakers, the Quakers, you name it.

They were all over the place.

The Mormons, everything at this time, this certainly burned over area of New York, which we need to talk about, was an extraordinary revolution in not only religious practice, but also society itself.

And that's really the fertile ground of American history when you get right down to it.

At the time, of course, we're coming out of the revolution.

And so this whole throwing off of tyranny and suddenly the freedom of expressing ourselves as a nation feeds into this religious ferment.

Like so many new religions, there's persecution involved, right?

What did the Shakers face in the United States?