Quakers and Non-theism Dan Christy Randazzo, in The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism 2018

 Ch 15 Quakers and Non-theism

by Dan Christy Randazzo

in The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism (2018)

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1] Introduction

Non-theism is a minority tradition within the worldwide Religious Society of Friends (RSOF), with the vast majority of self-defined non-theist Friends hailing from either Britain or the United States. The term 'non‑theism can best be understood as a compromise term, for it encompasses a very wide theological and conceptual tent, the members of which hold a dizzying array of positions on the existence of God, how 'God can be defined or understood, the main components of Quaker identity, and what level of priority to give each of those components for the construction of 'Quakerness. 

Nothing unites all non-theists except a sense that they do not view the construct of 'God' as a personal, monotheist deity. Non-theism is knowingly constructed as an undefined definition in an effort to be as inclusive as possible for all people who seek to claim a Quaker identity, yet who cannot ascribe to any form of personal monotheism. Many non-theist Friends use the label as shorthand for explaining their view of Quakerism, yet do so reluctantly, recognising that while there are non-theists in the RSOF, those non-theists often hold very different views from one another.

Non-theism is, at its core, a product of Liberal Quakerism, present throughout the world, wherever Liberal Quakerism exists. Non-theistic thought in Liberal Quakerism most often reflects the context of Britain Yearly Meeting, and the Friends General Conference in the United States, however, as the majority of non-theist writers are either British or North American.

The existence of non-theism within Liberal Quakerism is connected to the increased diversity of belief within Liberal Quakerism in the latter half of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the century, Liberal Quakers were generally Christocentric. Over time, and particularly by the middle of the century, Universalist theology took hold within Liberal Quakerism. This was met with significant critique at first; yet soon Universalism claimed space within Liberal Quakerism alongside Christocentrism. Eventually, Christocentrism was marginalised, as Liberal Quakerism became largely Universalist. This trend towards questioning the core assumptions of Liberal Quakerism has not been completed, and the current tension lies over the question of God.

This development is reflected in the development of Universalist groups in both Britain and the United States. As these groups developed and gained acceptance within Liberal Quakerism, non-theism embedded itself within the groups, as the only available outlet for non-theists to develop community within the RSOF.

 The groups provided a home for non-theists and aided in the development of both community and of non-theist thought. The relationships between non-theists and other Universalists were not always easy, however, due to the diversity inherent in Universalist Quaker theology.

 Yet, Universalist Friends were generally welcoming to non-theist members as well as giving space in their journals to the expression of non-theist voices. Thus, as Universalism developed as a distinct tradition within Liberal Quakerism, non-theism was also given space to develop.

Non-theism is therefore a tradition whose perspectives on the Religious Society of Friends, theological concerns and understanding of the fundamental priorities of Quakerism are coloured by Liberal Quaker theology and practice and have been shaped by the attempt to find a place in a religious tradition which places the presence of God within each person as its most fundamental theological claim.

 Non‑theist writing reflects these concerns, with a determined focus on demonstrating that the roots of non‑theism go deep within Quaker history and theology. This effort seeks to not only demonstrate that the theological openness of Liberal Quakerism allows space for non-theist theological interpretations, but that Liberal Quakerism should be mainly focused on practice and ethical concerns. Success in this endeavour would render differences on the existence or non-existence of God less meaningful for Quaker identity, leading to a new form of Quakerism which places the question of God as an interesting side aspect for a religious faith focused entirely on the present, lived reality.

This chapter sketches out these themes by focusing on non-theist perspectives, including non-theist publications as well as non-theist writings within Universalist publications. This chapter includes a discussion on ways which non-theists have chosen to define themselves; interpretations of Quaker history and identity; assessments of the priority of reason and Quaker practice as core aspects of both theist and non-theist Quakerism; and a potential outline for a unique a/theology for non-theism, including avenues where non-theist Friends have demonstrated efforts to bridge the theist/non-theist divide, and potential areas of future development in non-theist thought.

2] Definitions of Non-theism

Most Quaker non-theists tend to view 'God' as a human construct. They see Quakerism as a way of life shaped by the Testimonies, Quaker worship and business practice. Non-theists define religion as the means of placing these aspects of Quaker life within a certain community of meaning. The perspective of Quaker non-theism toward theistic belief can be placed on a spectrum of perspective from: 

• a dangerous superstition, 
• through a relatively harmless (if outmoded) silliness and 
• finally towards a legitimate and potentially powerful way of understanding human existence.

David Boulton, a noted non-theist Quaker, has made multiple attempts at establishing a common definition. He defines non-theism as 'the absence of belief in deity/ies, in the existence of God (where "existence" is understood in the realist, objective sense), especially belief in one supreme divine Creator' (Boulton 2006, 6). Boulton describes the development of the term as a process of accepting the 'least disliked option', where other terms, such as 'atheist', 'humanist' and 'naturalist' were all deemed either too controversial or as carrying unnecessary negative stigma, thus being ineffective umbrella terms for an option which Boulton sees as rejecting the theistic concept of 'God' (2006, 7). Boulton emphasises rejection in part because he does not view theistic constructions of God as real, instead proclaiming that God is a human construct, serving human needs. He proclaims that he has deep respect for the concept of 'God', in that within all expressions of 'God' are the symbolic and poetic metaphors which signify 'the sum of our human values, the imagined embodiment of our human ideals, the focus of our ultimate concern'. God is 'no more, but, gloriously, no less, than all that makes up the human spirit' (Boulton 2006, 8). However, he also stresses the need to reject theistic conceptions of God because he sees belief in such conceptions to be dangerous, leading to such harmful human behaviours as religiously based violence, exclusion, and intolerance (Boulton 2006, 9-10).

In this, he is in line with John Linton, the non-theist Universalist who established the Quaker Universalist Group (QUG) in Britain. In an early edition of The Universalist, the main journal for the QUG, Linton suggested that he was much better off for having given up his 'delusions' about the existence of God, along with his faith (1984,17). He then claimed that religious faith often causes more violence than what he termed 'reason', thus demonstrating the necessity for the RSOF, in particular, to give up all divisions based on religious faith. For Linton, this stemmed both from an aversion to Christian truth claims as well as a strong agnostic stance towards the question of 'Truth'. Thus, the openness and willingness to listen to all religious perspectives of Quaker Universalism appealed to him and inspired him to aid in the growth of Quaker Universalism. Yet, he viewed this pursuit as more than just an effort at greater inclusion within Liberal Quakerism as it existed. Instead, he sought to have Quakerism not only welcome agnostics especially, due to what Linton viewed as similar underlying attitudes and ethical viewpoints, but also as part of an overall turn in Quakerism towards ethical Universalism and specifically away from Christianity (Linton 1994, 74). 

Linton would therefore define Quaker non-theism as not only 

1. intellectually open and 
2. focused on ethics but also 
3. explicitly agnostic, Universalist and 
4. highly critical of Christianity. 

Notably, Linton desired that this change would occur as a natural evolution of the Society; Linton claimed, in terms of Universalists specifically, that 'QUG members don't seek a schism within Quakerism, nor to "twist the Society" to its view' (1979, 1).

Not all non-theists ascribe to this evangelistic impulse. Bowen Alpern, a self-described atheist Friend, views the theist/non-theist divide in Quakerism as by far the least important divide amongst Friends. In fact, he claims that the division caused by this divide is actually a distraction from the Quaker effort to help create the peaceable kingdom, which is so vitally important that the RSOF must quickly adapt so that it can become whole, growing as a community in such a way that it can transcend its divisions, all at a much more rapid pace than Quakers might be comfortable with (B. Alpern 2006,83-84). This reflects his core view that Quakerism is a way of life based on the ethics of peacemaking, which needs to adopt an 'all hands on deck' approach. He thus views theological diversity as a positive thing, as long as that diversity is rooted in the common purpose of the Quaker life. This reflects a common trend amongst non-theist Friends to define religion as those structures and practices which serve to connect people together in community. Robin Alpern suggests this definition of religion as the most appropriate, as the religious life both derives meaning and structure from, and provides the same to, a community of like-minded people seeking to live by a certain set of principles (R. Alpern 2006, 19).

A corollary to Bowen Alpern's vision of a theologically diverse and ethically unified Quakerism would be an emphasis on 

• the Quaker rejection of creeds, and 
• a resulting openness towards theological diversity and 
• insistence on privacy about individual belief, 

which have emerged in Liberal Quaker theological thought. A significant portion of non-theists emphasise the latter as key to their understanding of Quakerism.

 Representative of this trend, Tim Miles stated that this privacy renders the content of his individual religious belief irrelevant, meaning that his Quaker identity did not necessitate any agreement on issues of theology or belief with other Quakers (200o, 116).

This does not mean that theological belief is immaterial to non-theist Friends, however. A significant thread in non-theist discourse is the need to allow the contours of religious belief to be 'left up to mystery', as Hubert J. Morel-Seytoux argues (2006, 129). This emphasis on mystery runs counter to Boulton's stated certainty about the non-existence of God beyond a human construct, for mystery implies that there are, at least, areas of deliberate uncertainty in the minds of some non-theists regarding the concept of 'God'. 

The emphasis on building unity around Quaker Testimonies and business practice, particularly in Alpern's vision, also runs counter to Boulton's and Linton's desires to actively engage theistic belief with the intent of removing it from the RSOF. There exists at the heart of non-theism a potential paradox, therefore, for which some non-theists (including Linton) have suggested different ways of reconciling.

The end of the chapter revisits this question as it plots out a future for non-theists.


3] Non-theist Historiography

Non-theism emerged as a definable aspect of Quakerism with the rise of Universalism within Liberal Quakerism in the early twentieth century, yet non-theists claim a long heritage of religious scepticism, dating back to the mid-seventeenth century. Os Cresson, a Quaker naturalist, devoted a significant 
portion of his recent work Quaker and Naturalist Too to exploring what he terms the 'roots' (historical development of scepticism as a key aspect of Quaker thought) and 'flowers' (the resulting development of Quaker non-theism as a community and a school of thought) of Quaker non-theism. While Cresson acknowledges that the vast majority of people listed as 'roots' of non-theism likely held strongly theistic beliefs, the thinkers who he claims laid the foundation for Quaker scepticism held beliefs that aided in the expansion of the boundaries for Quaker identity and thus 'helped make Friends more inclusive' (2014, 65).

By expanding the bounds of Quaker non-theist history beyond explicitly non-theist thinkers, Cresson allows non-theists to lay claim to a significant portion of the Quaker heritage that might otherwise be reserved exclusively for theist Quakers. This kind of creative re-appropriation reflects many aspects of the creation of non-theist identity, in that non-theist Quakers are often forced to develop their own understanding of what it means to be Quaker in a tradition which places significant value on its earliest thinkers, all of whom were undeniably theist. Reflecting this, Boulton has made an attempt to suggest that George Fox's vision of God was 'more inner light than outer superman', a perspective which Boulton claims was denounced as 'atheism' by 'religious traditionalists' (2012, 2). When, and in what manner, these traditionalists made these statements is not expanded upon, however. Similarly, both Boulton and Cresson lay claim to other notable Friends and friends of Friends, with Gerrard Winstanley, the Diggers, the Manchester Free Friends, Lucretia Mott and Henry Cadbury mentioned most often in their writings.

These efforts have endured some critique from other Quakers who view some of these theories to be, at best, historically inaccurate. Representative of this trend, and referring to efforts to locate the modern Liberal Quaker willingness to 'seek' without a specific intent to find a particular vision of God, Patrick Nugent claims that just would not make sense in the past: the early Seekers wanted to find something specific, related to the conversion moment which occurred when the Seeker found and had a definitive transformation due to a 'definitive intervention by Jesus Christ' (2012, 53). Similarly, Nugent claims that non-theist efforts to locate even a proto-non-theism in George Fox's thought are incorrect. Nugent claims that Fox simply cannot be accused of atheism in the way that Boulton suggests. The same applies to Lucretia Mott: Nugent notes that non-theist attempts to locate within Mott's defence of Universalist belief a proto-non-theism does not take into account Mott's continued insistence, throughout her life, on the existence of God. Finally, Nugent argues that 'a thorough read of the first 150 years of Quaker history cannot sustain non-theism as authentically Quaker', meaning that non-theism cannot be rooted in early Quaker thought, and instead must be seen as a much more recent development (2012,5 1). This does not 
imply that Nugent fails to see value in non-theism; in fact, he claims that there is much theological potential with non-theism.

This also reflected the views of Kingdon Swayne (1920-2009), who was an influential non-theist Quaker Universalist and a member of the Quaker Universalist Fellowship (QUF), the main Quaker Universalist group in the United States. Swayne claimed that while he did not 'mean to cut us off from our roots', that the intense focus on locating Universalist beliefs (which he includes himself in), and thus gaining legitimacy from, the views of early Friends is unhelpful (1986, 10). This is due to what Swayne terms the 'enormous intellectual gulf standing between late twentieth-century Friends and the mid-seventeenth century. Not only has the modern world been shaped by intervening centuries of religious thought, Swayne argues, it would also be far too difficult to effectively, and accurately, translate complex religious concepts and language across that same divide. Modern Friends should therefore avoid adopting an 'idolatrous' attitude towards the early Friends and instead focus their efforts on building a modern Quakerism from modern thought.

Following Swayne's guidance, focusing on the development of non-theist thought in the twentieth century reveals a fascinating heritage. Non-theists have identified certain Quakers as either influential on later non-theism or whose own non-theist writing contributed to the development of non-theist thought. Most prominent amongst these was Henry Cadbury (Boulton and Cresson 2006, 98). While Cadbury was quiet about his scepticism of theistic belief during his career, he would give his classes a copy of a paper he had written defending non-supernatural experience within Quakerism. Cadbury took pains to fully acknowledge that many, even a majority of Quakers can have experiences of a supernatural God. Yet, he admitted that he had rarely, if ever, had such an experience. Instead, he developed what he understood to be his own way of being Quaker, based on Quaker values, leading to a 'way of life' (Cadbury 2000, 30).

The first non-theist organisation which sought to align itself with Quakerism was the Humanist Society of Friends (HSOF), begun by Lowell Coate, in 1939. The HSOF was not explicitly Quaker, yet it included numerous Friends amongst its members and intentionally strove to align itself with Liberal Quaker values. Strong emphasis was placed on humanism as the core philosophy for the group, with a concomitant emphasis on peace, reflecting the strong influence of the Quaker members. The HSOF offered a vision of religious humanism which was 'scientific' and 'intensely focused' on the current situation of people's lives. As leader, and editor of the HSOF newsletter The Humanist Friend, Coate offered 
a definition for religion as devotion to a principle, an ideal, without belief in dogmas. Coate emphasised the necessity of having a list of 'superior and ideal human characteristics' which manifested themselves in work for social change (1939, 1). Demonstrating the seriousness with which HSOF held its Quaker connection, The Humanist Friend would reprint letters from notable Friends on issues of concern. Representative of this trend is a letter from Rufus Jones on the humanitarian crisis presented by the Second World War, and the challenge for Friends to focus not on abstract ideologies but on the practical changes that Friends could make to the lives of people affected by war (Jones 1939, 7). Notably, the HSOF sought to maintain its connection with Friends over the next seventy years. It was not until 2003 that the HSOF board decided to remove 'Of Friends' from its title, due to a desire to demonstrate how its mission had gradually evolved into serving the wider humanist community (http://thehumanistsociety.org/about/history!).

The most prominent discussions of non-theism, until at least 1976, were mainly critical of non-the‑ism. 

They include two Pendle Hill Pamphlets (Carol R. Murphy's 1946 pamphlet, 

1. The Faith of An Ex-Agnos‑tic, number 46, and Alexander C. Purdy's 1967 pamphlet, 
2. The Reality of God: Thoughts on the 'Death of God' Controversy, number 154), and 
3. one Swarthmore Lecture (William Homan Thorpe's 1968 lecture, Quakers and Humanists). 

All three volumes are especially insistent upon the incompatibility of Quakerism to non‑theism in any form. 

Several Swarthmore Lectures were given which introduced non-theist concerns and issues, however, and have been noted as having been greatly influential on the development of non-theist thought. 

Particularly influential were Arthur Stanley Eddington's 1929 lecture, Science and the Unseen World, as it demonstrated the inherent amenability of Quaker thought to scientific method and thought;

John MacMurray's 1965 lecture, Search for Reality in Religion, as it sought to apply a rationalist philosophy perspective on Quakerism, which MacMurray noted was a generally experiential religion; and Richard S. Peters's 1972 lecture, Reason, Morality and Religion, as it demonstrated that reason could be utilised to develop a religion focused on structuring the present life around reasonable moral values.

By the late 1970s, Universalism was beginning to receive a greater level of acceptance amongst Liberal Friends, with non-theists at the forefront of the development of both the QUG and the QUF. Corresponding with this trend was Janet Scott's 1980 lecture What Canst Thou Say? Towards a Quaker Theology, noted as the first time that Christianity was decentred as the sole focus of Liberal Quaker theology (Davie 1997, 218). These movements, in tandem, emboldened Universalists, and by extension, non-theists, to reimagine Quaker theological possibilities.

The first official recognition and effort to serve the needs of non-theist Friends occurred with the first non-theist workshop, entitled 'Nontheistic Friends', held at Friends General Conference (FGC) Annual Gathering in 1976 (Boulton 2012, 35). No any other official RSOF acknowledgement of non-theism occurred until the 1996 FGC Annual Gathering, when one workshop, entitled 'Nontheism Amongst Friends', was held. 

At least one workshop on a non-theist topic was held annually until 2012, which was also the year that Nontheist Friends Fellowship was established in Britain. Other seminars and conferences were held from 1996 to 2012, at both Pendle Hill in the United States and Woodbrooke Quaker Studies Centre in Britain, which solidified the sense of non-theism as not only a valid expression of but also a valid theological alternative to theism for Liberal Friends (Buglass 2011, 31-33).

4] Non-theist Interpretation of Quaker Identity

There is no one unifying interpretation of Quaker identity, and expression of the importance of that identity amongst non-theists, beyond the fact that they all feel as if they are Quaker. Some non-theist Friends state it as a plain correlation: their values align with what those of the RSOF; they feel at home amongst Quakers; and Quaker worship gives them a sense of connection, community and meaning. As these are the most important markers of Quaker identity for these Friends, they believe these markers are sufficient. They are Quaker by dint of the fact that they 'feel' like a Quaker (Filiacci 2006, 117). An unspoken aspect of this approach is that they are not troubled by the existence and testimony of theist Friends in meeting. Other non-theist Friends feel more compelled to insist on proclaiming either the value of non-theist perspectives or the challenges they encounter with theistic belief.

Marian Kaplan Shapiro is representative of this perspective. Shapiro claims that she views Jesus as an effective moral teacher yet is deeply uncomfortable with any language which expresses the value of following Jesus as 'Christ', 'Lord' or any other honorific related to his status as 'messiah' or as supernatural deity. This extends to testimony in meeting to that effect, to which she feels compelled to respond by 'speaking her truth' about its inherent dangers (Shapiro 2006, 132). Despite this, Shapiro has experienced two seemingly paradoxical realities: not only has she consistently been treated well and welcomed by theists in meeting, she also has been forced to acknowledge that she is envious of the security that theism seems to provide believers. Shapiro has chosen to simply allow this paradox to exist, proclaiming simply that 'I am a Friend' (2006, 132).

Many non-theist Friends have not experienced such an untroubled welcome as non-theists, however.

For Robin and Bowen Alpern, this is related to a negative experience of being asked to leave their meeting after proclaiming their non-theism publicly (R. Alpern 2006, 24). Yet, for others their trouble resides with the seeming paradox at the heart of Quaker non-theism: how can a person who does not ascribe to a belief 
in God or deity/ies be a full member of a religious society which holds as its central theological tenet that all people can experience a direct and transforming experience of God? As with all aspects of Quaker non‑theism, there is a vast diversity of ways non-theists have approached this problem.

Kingdon Swayne approaches it by laying out what he views as the five concepts which can be utilised in an effort to unite all Liberal Quakers: 

1. responsiveness to a religious impulse and a desire to engage in religious community; 
2. personal freedom following a religious impulse; 
3. acceptance of meeting for worship as a core element of Quaker spirituality;
4.  tolerance for diversity of religious metaphorical language; and,
5. finally, having 'one's life speak' in an active way (Swayne 1987, 10). 

In this way, he is able to effectively dodge the question of belief by focusing on the performance of Quakerism, which in Swayne's construction, depends on both a desire to be in community (one can assume that this includes theists) as well as 
an insistence on tolerance for theological diversity. In this way, Swayne can reverse the direction of critical inquiry back towards theists and claim that theist Friends must follow the same rules as non-theist Friends.

Robin Alpern provided an effective demonstration of taking this tactic - reversing the critical mirror - to react to the most common response to her claiming a non-theist identity, 'Why Not Join the Unitarians? This question is presented as both a straightforward query as well as a dismissive suggestion about the supposed blasé attitude which Unitarians are assumed to take towards theological content, a stance which the imaginary interlocutor appears to claim Alpern holds as well. This challenge is often presented as a theist critique of non-theism: if you desire to remain Quaker, you must present an argument which effectively deals with the centredness of theist belief in Liberal Quaker theology. 

Alpern elects to respond to this question by changing the terms of the question. She claims that far from being a diversion from Quaker belief, her non-theism is actually a response to her training and formation as a Quaker, most especially in both Quaker practice and the values which undergird it (Alpern 199/, 24). 

She then lists core Quaker values and practices, and the way that each one has led her towards non-theism. She refers to the impact of plain speech on her theology, in that it led her to query the concept of 'God as potentially too complex to be truly 'Quaker. She extends this willingness to critically engage authority to her critique, and eventual rejection, of the teachings of George Fox as well. 

This develops into a thoroughgoing house clearing, as she follows the Quaker teaching to shun empty forms and to live a true life and proclaims that everything be swept away, including long-standing traditions - even belief in God - if shown to be empty. 

She views talk about God as inherently empty, as such talk does not specifically lead to the direct act of making a better world.

Thus she demonstrates her command of Swayne's technique of using some Quaker essentials to critique other essentials. She argues that as she was taught that communal discernment is essential, that her development of these beliefs while engaged in communal discernment leads to the inescapable conclusion that they must, in fact, be 'true', at least in some sense. She claims that as all humans desire companionship and community, her unwillingness to speak the language of God in worship does not nec essarily mean that she and by extension all atheists and agnostics are not able to understand truly being 'gathered in worship. She then attacks the core aspect of that assumption by stating that rejecting her religious potential is to deny her humanity. 

She completes the reversal of the critical mirror by claims that the true 'parasites (an epithet that she claims has been directed her way previously) are not non-theists who gain a sense of the religious by being members of Quakers but are instead those theists whose belief in God only exists because they are amongst company who believe. By not contributing their doubts about God to the community, she suggests that theists want to feed off the good feelings of general agreement, thus avoiding the discomfort of controversy. Finally, she claims that when one states a final belief that he or she has arrived at through seeking, one stops seeking and thus the belief causes that person to become ossified.

In this, Alpern argues that taking continuing revelation to its logical conclusion demands that Quakers should never settle on a final belief, especially belief in 'God. The obvious response is whether this includes the lack of belief in a deity, however. While Alpern does demonstrate how reversing the critical mirror and engaging with core Liberal Quaker concepts can create new theological possibilities, and also develop non-theist expressions of Quaker identity, her methodological approach rests on a potentially challenging core assumption: that everyone has doubts about the existence of God. Quaker theists firmly claiming a faith in Gods existence, unmarked by doubt, might prove challenging to her methodology.


5] The A/Theology of Non-theism

This chapter has provided examples of non-theist theological engagement, including constructions of who, or what, the concept of 'God' might mean to individual non-theist Friends. Effectively, if any theological language can be imagined that is not belief in God, a personal, interventionist monotheist supernatural non-theism has the potential of engaging with it.

This does not leave non-theist theology at an impasse, forever forced to listen to new and different visions of an individual's experience, or lack of experience, with 'God', and failing to develop any cohesive critical language to bring to bear. Quaker philosopher Jeffrey Dudiak offers a potential way forward by continuing the method established in this chapter of reversing the question at hand: whether, in fact, theism and a/theism are binary. He begins his engagement by unsettling the modern assumption of a binary by reframing the question in terms of pre-modern religious language. He claims that atheism and theism, in their modern forms, are only possible in a secular, modern world where faith ('surrendered immersion in a world of ineluctable meanings', as he defines it) has lost meaning (Dudiak ZUIz, 26).

The possibility that one can either 'possess' belief or unbelief, and that this is first a vitally important question, or even an option to humans, arose in a modern, secular age (Dudiak 2012, 26). Faith is now de‑pendent on both belief and unbelief. Dudiak admits that the age of reason did offer liberation from often crushing religious structures, yet he insists that some things have been lost in this transition.

• First amongst these is a change in the focus of subjectivity. 
• In the pre-modern religious imaginary, to be a subject was to be 'subject to', a passive being upon whom forces acted which were transcendent. 
• Now, subject is the external 'subject of, an object to be perceived or acted upon.
•  What 'exists' is no longer lived as gift but is dependent upon the judgement of thought and reason, which in turn gauges its existence/non-existence as well as its value. 
• Dudiak claims that this is a shift from a medieval focus on ontology to a modernist focus on epistemology; recast, this is the shift from faith to belief, as belief is inherently a question of assent to a statement of fact. 
• The emphasis is also no longer on the place which the knower has within the world, but what the meaning of world is over against the knower. 
• A result of this shift is that belief in God is prerequisite for finding selves in God's world. 
• A corollary to this is a shift from faith as trusting immersion in a world which gives meaning, as context for belief, to belief (and thus knowledge and assent) as prerequisite for faith. 
• Thus, it is now foolish to have faith in God without belief. The result of this shift is the creation of a/theism, which places the highest priority on reason and the ability to answer to reason, for a focus on belief implies a focus on knowledge, which in turn necessitates reason.

Dudiak suggests that modernity therefore places the 'knowing subject-known object' as foundational, and limits ways of understanding God (2012, 30). 

This occurs because modernism has led both theism and non-theism to accept the natural/supernatural distinction, meaning that any construction of 'God' must fall along this binary. 

• A denial of supernatural reduces God to a human projection in the form of a metaphor or story (immanent naturalism), whereas limiting God to a supernatural object means transcendent theism is the only way to imagine a theistic God. 
• This supernatural transcendent creates theistic claims that are literally in-credible, in that they are non-credible and irrational, and thus impossible to believe.
• The end result is that both sides wind up failing to have a vision of God worth spending any time or attention dealing with.
• Dudiak argues that the most productive way forward would be to dismiss the modern binary as foundational to any God-talk or relationship. 
• Instead, Quakers should decentre human emphasis on 'seeing', or understanding (judging the credibility of objective facts), and commit to being called by 'hearing' the voice of God.

Shannon Craigo-Snell suggests that Quakerism already possesses a number of elements which bridge the division between modern and pre-modern concerns, which could provide the kind of bridging theology/atheology which non-theists argue is essential for the future of a Liberal Quakerism with non-theism as an integral component (2012, 49). 

Most pertinent of her suggestions are these: 

• experience and reasoning (pre-modern and modern ways of engaging with one's place in the world) are both already present in Quaker worship, 
• a reluctance to separate private from public (thus, 'having one's life speak) and the corollary insistence that religion extends to every sphere of personal and communal life.
•  I would argue that a final component that brings these aspects together is a rejection of the personal/communal binary, relating to the Light: as the Light Within is available to each individual person, it is thus also available to the entire community, binding together the community in an interdependent web.

Resonances of this exist within the narratives of non-theist a/theology, even in those narratives which seem most antithetical to a theistic perspective. The two themes which present the most potential for interlocking with this effort include 'God as cosmos and 'God as human values. 

Non-theist visions of the cosmos are varied, yet generally encompass the entirety of what is known to exist in the physical universe. 

Non-theist Friends who focus on God as 'cosmos emphasise the experience of interconnection and mystery that they feel when they attempt to reside within the entire creation. 

Carolyn Nicholson Terrell relates a story from childhood which has continued to shape her perspective in this overpowering sense of overwhelm, which she claims inspires the sense of awe theists relate when they worship God. She claims that she heard a voice saying that God 'didn't create the world, he came along with it (Terrell 2006, 114). 

She has always interpreted the message as teaching that God is all of the creation, the energy that existed from the beginning of time. There are interesting overlaps here with pantheism, with God as the forces which move the universe and give it life. Similar to that is David B. Lawrence's perspective, which he terms 'hylozoism. He defines it as the idea that life/consciousness pervades everything in the cosmos. God is thus whatever essence or force animates all life in the universe.

This force is still entirely physical, and a manifestation of the physical world, yet is still awe-inspiring (Lawrence 2006, 119).

Gudron Moller (a Quaker from Aotearo a/New Zealand Yearly Meeting) references the interconnection amongst all beings yet adds an emphasis on human evolution. 

Moller claims an identity as an agnostic humanist rather than non-theist as the emphasis on the 'unknown/uncertain in agnosticism leaves space open to new ideas (2006, 127). 

Moller pushes against giving Fox's terminology for God (including, one may assume, Fox's vision of the 'Light) the greatest weight as doing so limits the horizons for new formulations and conceptions of 'God. 

Moller stresses a seeming paradox between God as wholly human and God as a mystical, transforming power which resides in humans and gives humans strength to see a new world. 

This power is linked to the interconnection between all beings and is something which likely evolved with humanity. 

Moller references British Quaker Alex Wildwood's ideas of human evolution and maturation away from external, supernatural God towards something which celebrates the human connection with earth in life-giving creative expression.

Finally, George Amoss Jr. has taken as his theological project the development of ways of repurposing traditional Quaker language, including Christian language, in ways that bridge the seeming gap between non-theism and theism, in an effort to honour the experience of theists while also honouring his own.

Reflecting this, Amoss references the construct of the Light in a way that is suggestive of interdependent presence. Amoss stresses that the Light is not a possession, or something to believe in (reflecting Dudiaks concerns) but is instead an experience to reside within. Residing in this Light will result in transformation for both our personal lives as well as our communal lives. We are then capable of leading to a way of life demonstrative of this same Light within (Amoss 19891 21-24).

Amoss has developed this theme in significant detail since 1989, cataloguing his work on his website, Postmodern Quaker. Amoss has applied his method to his most recent project, Quaker Faith and Practice for the 21 st Century. This document retains traditional Quaker Christological language, while interpreting  that language through the lens of both Liberal Quaker theology and Amosss vision of non-theism within Liberal Quakerism. Amoss expressly seeks to develop a methodology which respects and reflects the experience of both theism and non-theism (2016). He develops a construct of the Light as an experience to reside within, which will result in both individual and communal transformation. He utilises Christian language to describe the experience of Light, and the manner of the resulting transformation, without actually claiming any 'Christological' meaning.

Roland Warren suggests a way to bridge both the vision of 'God' as cosmos as well as 'God' as human value. Warren suggests that God is something 'created' by humans to explain the relation between humans and their experience of objective circumstances (2002, 6). God is what we create to explain the relationships that we experience between ourselves, our world, and the transcendent ideals that we hew to. God is therefore a product of the human mind, but not only so, in that God does not exist for humans outside of human perception. In other words, God is a framework applied to a set of experiences, circumstances and objective realities to make sense of our world, as well as the inexplicable. At its core, this is the 'religious experience'. Warren claims that while everyone has the potential for a religious experience, not everyone develops the hermeneutic for framing and understanding the experience in relation to a 'God'.

In this sense, he reflects the concerns of Boulton, Linton and other non-theists who stress that 'God' is purely a human construct.

Warren offers something new, however, when he suggests that the root of sentience and conscious‑ness cannot be found within the physical world. Instead, it seems to lie in another plane of existence, while of course being very present in the physical world, and rooted to it: when the physical body is dead, consciousness goes away. The natural world includes both the physical world and the realm of conscious‑ ness, mental processes and ideas. Reflecting Moller and Wildwood, Warren suggests that the experience of encountering the 'transcendent' or feeling a deep connection to God could simply be another step

along the path of human evolution. Humans are therefore already evolved enough to engage in encountering these extra-physical planes of existence. This need not be the supernatural, per se; it could just be another plane of existence in the natural world, the realm of 'spirit', which humans are trying to grope their way towards understanding (Warren 2002, 16). 'Religion' has laid claim to this realm, but it can be understood in other ways.

This section suggested multiple avenues for future development in non-theist thought, in terms of both the creation of a uniquely Quaker non-theist a/theology and dialogue with Quaker theists (including Christian theists). Dudiak's suggestion that theism and non-theism have a common path forward within Liberal Quakerism framed this discussion, demonstrating that both theists and non-theists have 
the potential to gain from engagement with each other. Warren presents a vision for engagement which places the concerns of non-theists as a priority in the encounter, while Amoss presents the vision most concerned with seeking an equal space within Quakerism for the concerns and perspectives of both theists and non-theists.

6] Conclusion

This chapter has proposed future avenues for non-theism to grow: its self-definition, historiography and approach to history; interpretations of Quaker identity which engage in critical readings of a non‑theistic Quaker imaginary; and the engagement of both non-theism and theism as equal partners in the development of Liberal Quaker theology. Non-theism is a complex umbrella term encapsulating multiple spectra: the value of theistic constructions within Liberal Quakerism, the role of belief in the definition of non-theist identity and meaning, and the capacity of non-theism to craft its own theological thought.

Non-theism has not only already made contributions to the development of Liberal Quaker theology, especially in the role it played in the development of Universalist Quakerism, but it also has the potential for building bridges with Christocentric Liberal Quakerism in terms of a common theological language and imaginary. Moving forward, however, non-theism can only continue to make effective contributions to the development of Liberal Quakerism if it remains in dialogue with both Universalist and Christian Liberal Quakerism; following voices rejecting the value of theism will divorce non-theism from the rich theological history of Liberal Quakerism and imperil future development of non-theism within Liberal Quakerism.

-------

Suggested Further Reading

1. Amoss, George. The Postmodern Quaker, https://postmodernquaker.wordpress.com/ 
2. Boulton, David (ed.). (2006). Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism, Dent: Dales Histori­cal Monographs.
3. Cresson, 0. (2014). Quaker and Naturalist Too, Iowa City: Morning Walk Press. Website of Nontheist Friends, www.nontheistfriends.org/

Quakers - Wikipedia

Quakers - Wikipedia

Quakers
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Religious Society of Friends

Symbol used by Friends' service organizations since the late 19th century
Theology Variable; depends on meeting
Polity Congregational
Distinct fellowships Friends World Committee for Consultation
Associations Britain Yearly Meeting, Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends Church International, Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, Conservative Friends, Friends General Conference, Beanite Quakerism
Founder George Fox
Origin Mid-17th century
England
Separated from Church of England
Separations Shakers[1]
"Quaker" redirects here. For other uses, see Quaker (disambiguation).
"Society of Friends" redirects here. For the Greek movement for independence, see Filiki Eteria.

Quakers, also called Friends, belong to a historically Christian (Protestant) denomination known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.[2] Members of the various Quaker movements are all generally united by their belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access the light within, or "that of God in every one".[3]

Some profess the priesthood of all believers, a doctrine derived from the First Epistle of Peter.[4][5][6][7] They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity. 

There are also Nontheist Quakers whose spiritual practice is not reliant on the existence of God. To differing extents, the movements making up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures.[8] In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers worldwide.[9] In 2017, there were 377,557 adult Quakers, 49 per cent of them being in Africa.[10]

Some 89 per cent of Quakers worldwide belong to "evangelical" and "programmed" branches of Quakerism,[11] which worship in services with singing and a prepared message from the Bible, coordinated by a pastor. Some 11 per cent practise waiting worship, or unprogrammed worship (more commonly known today as Meeting for Worship), where the order of service is not planned in advance, is predominantly silent, and may include unprepared vocal ministry from those present.[12] Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers present – Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry.[13]

The first Quakers lived in mid-17th-century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, breaking away from the established Church of England. 

The Quakers, especially the ones known as the Valiant Sixty, attempted to convert others to their understanding of Christianity, travelling both throughout Great Britain and overseas, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Some of these early Quaker ministers were women.[14] 

They based their message on the religious belief that "Christ has come to teach his people himself", stressing the importance of a direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and a direct religious belief in the universal priesthood of all believers.[15] 

They emphasized a personal and direct religious experience of Christ, 

acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible.[16] 

Quakers focused their private lives on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God.[17]

In the past, Quakers were known for 

• their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, 
• refusal to participate in war, 
• plain dress,
• refusal to swear oaths, 
• opposition to slavery, and 
• teetotalism.[18] 

Some Quakers founded banks and financial institutions, including Barclays, Lloyds, and Friends Provident; manufacturing companies, including shoe retailer C. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry; and 

philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, and social justice projects.[19] 

In 1947, the Quakers, represented by the British Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[20][21]


Contents
1History
1.1Beginnings in England
1.2Immigration into North America
1.3Quietism
1.4Splits
1.4.1Hicksite–Orthodox split
1.4.2Beaconite controversy
1.4.3Rise of Gurneyite Quakerism, and the Gurneyite–Conservative split
1.5Richmond Declaration
1.6Missions to Asia and Africa
1.7Theory of evolution
1.8Quaker Renaissance
1.9Conscientious objection
1.10World Committee for Consultation
1.11Evangelical Friends
1.12Role of women
1.13Friends in business
1.14International development
1.15Friends in education
1.16Friends and slavery

2Theology
2.1Conservatives
2.2Evangelical
2.3Gurneyites
2.4Holiness
2.5Liberal
2.6Universalist
2.7Non-theists

3Practical theology
3.1Calendar and church holidays

4Worship
4.1Programmed worship
4.2Unprogrammed worship

5Governance and organisation
5.1Organisational government and polity
5.2International organization
5.3Yearly meetings
5.4Membership

6Meetings for worship for specific tasks
6.1Memorial services
6.2Marriage

7National and international divisions and organisation
7.1Africa
7.2Australia and New Zealand
7.3Asia
7.4Europe
7.5Middle East
7.6North and South America

8Relations with other churches and faiths
8.1Ecumenical relations
8.2Relations with other faiths

9See also

10References
11Further reading
11.1Primary sources
11.2Children's books
12External links

History[edit]
Main article: History of the Quakers
Beginnings in England[edit]
See also: Britain Yearly Meeting § History

George Fox, an early Quaker

During and after the English Civil War (1642–1651) many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man, George Fox, was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and nonconformists. He had a revelation that "there is one, even, Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition",[22] and became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ without the aid of ordained clergy. In 1652 he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that "the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered".[22] Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands,[23] and Barbados[24] preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith. The central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself.[22] Fox considered himself to be restoring a true, "pure" Christian church.[25]

In 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to Fox's autobiography, Bennet "was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord".[22]:125 It is thought that Fox was referring to Isaiah 66:2 or Ezra 9:4. Thus the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing Fox's admonition, but became widely accepted and used by some Quakers.[26] Quakers also described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Saints, Children of the Light, and Friends of the Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early Christian church.

James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader, being pilloried and whipped

Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, not least among women. An address "To the Reader" by Mary Forster accompanied a Petition to the Parliament of England presented on 20 May 1659, expressing the opposition of over 7000 women to "the oppression of Tithes".[27] The overall number of Quakers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680[28] (1.15 per cent of the population of England and Wales).[28] But the dominant discourse of Protestantism viewed the Quakers as a blasphemous challenge to social and political order,[29] leading to official persecution in England and Wales under the Quaker Act 1662 and the Conventicle Act 1664. This persecution of Dissenters was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence (1687–1688) and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689.

One modern view of Quakerism at this time was that the direct relationship with Christ was encouraged through spiritualisation of human relations, and "the redefinition of the Quakers as a holy tribe, 'the family and household of God'".[30] Together with Margaret Fell, the wife of Thomas Fell, who was the vice-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and an eminent judge, Fox developed new conceptions of family and community that emphasised "holy conversation": speech and behaviour that reflected piety, faith, and love.[31] With the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women; Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing "holy conversation" in her children and husband.[30] Quaker women were also responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in "meetings" that regulated marriage and domestic behaviour.[32]
Immigration into North America[edit]
See also: History of the Quakers § William Penn and settlement in colonial Pennsylvania

The persecution of Quakers in North America began in July 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and Ann Austin began preaching in Boston.[33] They were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner light. They were imprisoned for five weeks and banished[33] by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their books were burned,[33] and most of their property confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported.[34]

Quaker Mary Dyer led to execution on Boston Common, 1 June 1660

In 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged near[35] Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony.[36] She was one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs. In 1661, King Charles II forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.[37] In 1684, England revoked the Massachusetts charter, sent over a royal governor to enforce English laws in 1686 and, in 1689, passed a broad Toleration Act.[37]

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and West Jersey, as a young man

Some Friends immigrated to what is now the north-eastern region of the United States in the 1660s in search of economic opportunities and a more tolerant environment in which to build communities of "holy conversation".[38] In 1665 Quakers established a meeting in Shrewsbury, New Jersey (now Monmouth County), and built a meeting house in 1672 that was visited by George Fox in the same year.[39] They were able to establish thriving communities in the Delaware Valley, although they continued to experience persecution in some areas, such as New England. The three colonies that tolerated Quakers at this time were West Jersey, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, where Quakers established themselves politically. In Rhode Island, 36 governors in the first 100 years were Quakers. West Jersey and Pennsylvania were established by affluent Quaker William Penn in 1676 and 1682 respectively, with Pennsylvania as an American commonwealth run under Quaker principles. William Penn signed a peace treaty with Tammany, leader of the Delaware tribe,[40] and other treaties followed between Quakers and Native Americans.[25] This peace endured almost a century, until the Penn's Creek Massacre of 1755.[41] Early colonial Quakers also established communities and meeting houses in North Carolina and Maryland, after fleeing persecution by the Anglican Church in Virginia.[42]

In a 2007 interview, author David Yount (How the Quakers Invented America) said that Quakers first introduced many ideas that later became mainstream, such as democracy in the Pennsylvania legislature, the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution from Rhode Island Quakers, trial by jury, equal rights for men and women, and public education. The Liberty Bell was cast by Quakers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[43]
Quietism[edit]
See also: Quietism (Christian philosophy)

Early Quakerism tolerated boisterous behaviour that challenged conventional etiquette, but by 1700, they no longer supported disruptive and unruly behaviour.[44] During the 18th century, Quakers entered the Quietist period in the history of their church, becoming more inward-looking spiritually and less active in converting others. Marrying outside the Society was outlawed. Numbers dwindled, dropping to 19,800 in England and Wales by 1800 (0.21 per cent of the population),[28] and 13,859 by 1860 (0.07 per cent of population).[28] The formal name "Religious Society of Friends" dates from this period and was probably derived from the appellations "Friends of the Light" and "Friends of the Truth".[45]

Divisions of the Religious Society of Friends


Showing the divisions of Quakers occurring in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Splits[edit]

Divisions of the Religious Society of Friends

Orthodox     Wilburite Conservative Conservative Friends     Gurneyite   Gurneyite Friends United Meeting   Evangelical Evangelical Friends International             Beaconite     Hicksite Friends General Conference Friends General Conference

Showing the divisions of Quakers occurring in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Around the time of the American Revolutionary War, some American Quakers split from the main Society of Friends over issues such as support for the war, forming groups such as the Free Quakers and the Universal Friends.[46] Later, in the 19th century, there was a diversification of theological beliefs in the Religious Society of Friends, and this led to several larger splits within the movement.
Hicksite–Orthodox split[edit]

The Hicksite–Orthodox split arose out of both ideological and socioeconomic tensions. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Hicksites tended to be agrarian and poorer than the more urban, wealthier, Orthodox Quakers. With increasing financial success, Orthodox Quakers wanted to "make the Society a more respectable body – to transform their sect into a church – by adopting mainstream Protestant orthodoxy".[47] Hicksites, though they held a variety of views, generally saw the market economy as corrupting, and believed Orthodox Quakers had sacrificed their orthodox Christian spirituality for material success. Hicksites viewed the Bible as secondary to the individual cultivation of God's light within.[48]

With Gurneyite Quakers' shift toward Protestant principles and away from the spiritualisation of human relations, women's role as promoters of "holy conversation" started to decrease. Conversely, within the Hicksite movement the rejection of the market economy and the continuing focus on community and family bonds tended to encourage women to retain their role as powerful arbiters.

Elias Hicks's religious views were claimed to be universalist and to contradict Quakers' historical orthodox Christian beliefs and practices. Hicks' Gospel preaching and teaching precipitated the Great Separation of 1827, which resulted in a parallel system of Yearly Meetings in America, joined by Friends from Philadelphia, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Baltimore. They were referred to by opponents as Hicksites and by others and sometimes themselves as Orthodox. Quakers in Britain recognised only the Orthodox Quakers and refused to correspond with the Hicksites.
Beaconite controversy[edit]

Isaac Crewdson was a Recorded Minister in Manchester, UK. His 1835 book A Beacon to the Society of Friends insisted that the inner light was at odds with a religious belief in salvation by the atonement of Christ.[49](p155) This Christian controversy led to Crewdson's resignation from the Religious Society of Friends, along with 48 fellow members of Manchester Meeting and about 250 other British Quakers in 1836–1837. Some of these joined the Plymouth Brethren.
Rise of Gurneyite Quakerism, and the Gurneyite–Conservative split[edit]

Joseph John Gurney was a prominent 19th-century British Friend and a strong proponent of evangelical views

Orthodox Friends became more evangelical during the 19th century[50] and were influenced by the Second Great Awakening. This movement was led by British Quaker Joseph John Gurney. Christian Friends held Revival meetings in America and became involved in the Holiness movement of churches. Quakers such as Hannah Whitall Smith and Robert Pearsall Smith became speakers in the religious movement and introduced Quaker phrases and practices to it.[49](p157) British Friends became involved with the Higher Life movement, with Robert Wilson from Cockermouth meeting founding the Keswick Convention.[49](p157) From the 1870s it became common in Britain to have "home mission meetings" on Sunday evening with Christian hymns and a Bible-based sermon, alongside the silent meetings for worship on Sunday morning.[49](p155)

The Quaker Yearly Meetings supporting the religious beliefs of Joseph John Gurney were known as Gurneyite yearly meetings. Many eventually collectively became the Five Years Meeting and then the Friends United Meeting, although London Yearly Meeting, which had been strongly Gurneyite in the 19th century, did not join either of these. Such Quaker yearly meetings make up the largest proportion of Quakers in the world today.

Some Orthodox Quakers in America disliked the move towards evangelical Christianity and saw it as a dilution of Friends' traditional orthodox Christian belief in being inwardly led by the Holy Spirit. These Friends were headed by John Wilbur, who was expelled from his yearly meeting in 1842. He and his supporters formed their own Conservative Friends Yearly Meeting. Some UK Friends broke away from the London Yearly Meeting for the same reason in 1865. They formed a separate body of Friends called Fritchley General Meeting, which remained distinct and separate from London Yearly Meeting until 1968. Similar splits took place in Canada. The Yearly Meetings that supported John Wilbur's religious beliefs were known there as Conservative Friends.
Richmond Declaration[edit]

In 1887, a Gurneyite Quaker of British descent, Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, proposed to Friends a statement of faith known as the Richmond Declaration. This statement of faith was agreed to by 95 of the representatives at a meeting of Five Years Meeting Friends, but unexpectedly the Richmond Declaration was not adopted by London Yearly Meeting because a vocal minority, including Edward Grubb, opposed it.[51]
Missions to Asia and Africa[edit]

Friends' Syrian Mission, 1874, built this mission house in Ramallah

Following the Christian revivals in the mid-19th century, Friends in Great Britain sought also to start missionary activity overseas. The first missionaries were sent to Benares (Varanasi), in India, in 1866. The Friends Foreign Mission Association was formed in 1868 and sent missionaries to Madhya Pradesh, India, forming what is now the Mid-India Yearly Meeting. Later it spread to Madagascar from 1867, China from 1896, Sri Lanka from 1896, and Pemba Island from 1897.[52]

The Friends Syrian Mission was established in 1874, which among other institutions ran the Ramallah Friends Schools, which still exist today. The Swiss missionary Theophilus Waldmeier founded Brummana High School in Lebanon in 1873,[52] Evangelical Friends Churches from Ohio Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to India in 1896,[53] forming what is now Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting. Cleveland Friends went to Mombasa, Kenya, and started what became the most successful Friends' mission. Their Quakerism spread within Kenya and to Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda.

Theory of evolution[edit]
Main article: Quakers in science

The theory of evolution described by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species (1859) was opposed by many Quakers in the 19th century,[54] particularly by older evangelical Quakers who dominated the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain. These religious leaders were suspicious of Darwin's theory, and they believed that natural selection needed to be supplemented by another process.[55] For example, influential British Quaker scientist Edward Newman[56] said that the theory was "not compatible with our notions of creation as delivered from the hands of a Creator".

However, some young Friends such as John Wilhelm Rowntree and Edward Grubb supported Darwin's theories, adopting a doctrine of progressive revelation with evolutionary ideas.[55] In the United States, Joseph Moore taught the theory of evolution at the Quaker Earlham College as early as 1861.[57] He was probably one of the first teachers in the Midwest to do so.[58] Acceptance of the theory of evolution became more widespread in those Yearly Meetings, which moved toward liberal Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries,[59] while a belief in creationism persists within evangelical Friends Churches, particularly in East Africa and parts of the United States.

Quaker Renaissance[edit]

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the so-called Quaker Renaissance movement began within London Yearly Meeting. Young Friends in London Yearly Meeting at this time moved away from evangelicalism and towards liberal Christianity.[60] This movement was particularly influenced by Rowntree, Grubb, and Rufus Jones. Such Liberal Friends promoted the theory of evolution, modern biblical criticism, and the social meaning of Christ's teaching – encouraging Friends to follow the New Testament example of Christ by performing good works. These men downplayed the evangelical Quaker belief in the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary.[60] After the Manchester Conference in England in 1895, one thousand British Friends met to consider the future of British Quakerism, and as a result, Liberal Quaker thought gradually increased within the London Yearly Meeting.[61]
Conscientious objection[edit]

FAU ambulance and driver, Germany, 1945

During World War I and World War II, Friends' opposition to war was put to the test. Many Friends became conscientious objectors and some formed the Friends Ambulance Unit, aiming at "co-operating with others to build up a new world rather than fighting to destroy the old", as did the American Friends Service Committee. Birmingham in England had a strong Quaker community during the war.[62] Many British Quakers were conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps during both world wars.

World Committee for Consultation[edit]

After the two world wars had brought the different Quaker strands closer together, Friends from different yearly meetings – many having served together in the Friends Ambulance Unit or the American Friends Service Committee, or in other relief work – later held several Quaker World Conferences. This brought about a standing body of Friends: the Friends World Committee for Consultation.
Evangelical Friends[edit]

A growing desire for a more fundamentalist approach among some Friends after the First World War began a split among Five Years Meetings. In 1926, Oregon Yearly Meeting seceded from the Five Years Meeting, bringing together several other yearly meetings and scattered monthly meetings.

In 1947, the Association of Evangelical Friends was formed, with triennial meetings until 1970. In 1965, this was replaced by the Evangelical Friends Alliance, which in 1989 became Evangelical Friends Church International.[63]
Role of women[edit]

Sugar Grove Conservative Friends Meeting House, built in 1870 in Indiana, with an openable partition between male and female sections

In the 1650s, individual Quaker women prophesied and preached publicly, developing charismatic personae and spreading the sect. This practice was bolstered by the movement's firm concept of spiritual equality for men and women.[64] Moreover, Quakerism initially was propelled by the nonconformist behaviours of its followers, especially women who broke from social norms.[65] By the 1660s, the movement had gained a more structured organisation, which led to separate women's meetings.[66] Through the women's meetings, women oversaw domestic and community life, including marriage.[32] From the beginning, Quaker women, notably Margaret Fell, played an important role in defining Quakerism.[67][68] Others active in proselytising included Mary Penington, Mary Mollineux and Barbara Blaugdone.[69] Quaker women published at least 220 texts during the 17th century.[70] However, some Quakers resented the power of women in the community. In the early years of Quakerism, George Fox faced resistance in developing and establishing women's meetings. As controversy increased, Fox did not fully adhere to his agenda. For example, he established the London Six Weeks Meeting in 1671 as a regulatory body, led by 35 women and 49 men.[71] Even so, conflict culminated in the Wilkinson–Story split, in which a portion of the Quaker community left to worship independently in protest at women's meetings.[72] After several years, this schism became largely resolved, testifying to the resistance of some within the Quaker community and to the spiritual role of women that Fox and Margaret Fell had encouraged. Particularly within the relatively prosperous Quaker communities of the eastern United States, the focus on the child and "holy conversation" gave women unusual community power, although they were largely excluded from the market economy. With the Hicksite–Orthodox split of 1827–1828, Orthodox women found their spiritual role decreased, while Hicksite women retained greater influence.

Friends in business[edit]

English Quaker John Cadbury founded Cadbury in Birmingham, England in 1824, selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate.

Described as "natural capitalists" by the BBC, with their business policy Quakers gained success in business matters.[19][73] This included ironmaking by Abraham Darby I (which played an important role in the Industrial Revolution that commenced in Britain),[74][75] and his family; banking, including Lloyds Banking Group (founded by Sampson Lloyd),[75] Barclays PLC,[75] Backhouse's Bank and Gurney's Bank; life assurance (Friends Provident); shipbuilding by John Wigham Richardson forming part of Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson; pharmaceuticals (Allen & Hanburys[75]); chocolate (Cadbury,[75] Terry's, Fry's[75]); confectionery (Rowntree[75]); biscuit manufacturing (Huntley & Palmers[75]); match manufacture (Bryant & May, Francis May and William Bryant) and shoe manufacturing (Clarks). Promising potential shareholders a five per cent return on their investment at a public meeting in Darlington, north-east England on 13 November 1818, Edward Pease was the main promoter of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, which opened in 1825.[73]

In the United States, the prominent department store chain Strawbridge & Clothier of Philadelphia was owned by Quakers.
International development[edit]

International volunteering organisations such as Service Civil International and International Voluntary Service were founded by leading Quakers. Eric Baker, a prominent Quaker, was one of the founders of Amnesty International and of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.[76]

The Quaker Edith Pye established a national Famine Relief Committee in May 1942, encouraging a network of local famine relief committees, among the most energetic of which was the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, Oxfam.[77] Irving and Dorothy Stowe co-founded Greenpeace with many other environmental activists in 1971, shortly after becoming Quakers.

Friends in education[edit]

Initially, Quakers had no ordained clergy, and so needed no seminaries for theological training. In England, Quaker schools sprang up, with Friends School Saffron Walden being the most prominent.[78] Quaker schools in the UK and Ireland are still supported by The Friends' Schools' Council.[79]

Quakers in America founded the William Penn Charter School (1689), Abington Friends School (1697), Wilmington Friends School (1748),[80] Moses Brown School (1784) Moorestown Friends School (1785), Westtown School (1799), Germantown Friends School (1845), Scattergood Friends School (1890), Haverford College (1833),[81] Guilford College (1837), Olney Friends School (1837), Pickering College (1842), Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion (1847), Swarthmore College (1864), Wilmington College (Ohio) (1870), Penn College (Iowa) (1873), Bryn Mawr College (1885), Friends Pacific Academy (now George Fox University, 1885), Cleveland Bible College (now Malone University, 1892),[82] George School (1893), Friends University (1898), Training School for Christian Workers (now Azusa Pacific University, 1899),[83] Whittier College (1901), and Friends Bible College (now Barclay College, 1917).[84]

In Australia, the Friends' School, Hobart founded in 1887 has grown into the largest Quaker school in the world. 

In Britain, Woodbrooke College was organised in 1903. 

In Kenya, Quakers founded the Friends Bible Institute (now Friends Theological College) in Kaimosi, Kenya, in 1942.

Friends and slavery[edit]

Some Quakers in America and Britain became known for their involvement in the abolitionist movement. But until the American Revolutionary War, it was fairly common for Friends in Colonial America to own slaves. During the early to mid-1700s, disquiet about this practice arose among Friends, best exemplified by the testimonies of Benjamin Lay, Anthony Benezet and John Woolman, and this resulted in an abolition movement among Friends. By the beginning of the American Revolution few Friends owned slaves. At the war's end in 1783, Yarnall family members along with fellow Meeting House Friends made a failed petition to the Continental Congress to abolish slavery in the United States. In 1790, the Society of Friends petitioned the United States Congress to abolish slavery, resulting in them being the first organization to take a collective stand against slavery and the slave trade.

One example of a reversal in sentiment about slavery took place in the life of Moses Brown, one of four Rhode Island brothers who, in 1764, organized and funded the tragic and fateful voyage of the slave ship Sally.[85] Brown broke away from his three brothers, became an abolitionist, and converted to Christian Quakerism. During the 19th century, Quakers such as Levi Coffin and Isaac Hopper, played a major role in helping enslaved people escape through the Underground Railroad.[86] Black Quaker Paul Cuffe, a sea captain and businessman, was active in the abolitionist and resettlement movement in the early part of that century.[87] Quaker Laura Smith Haviland, with her husband, established the first station on the Underground Railroad in Michigan. Later, Haviland befriended Sojourner Truth, who called her the Superintendent of the Underground Railroad.[88]

However, in the 1830s, the abolitionist Grimké sisters dissociated themselves from the Quakers "when they saw that Negro Quakers were segregated in separate pews in the Philadelphia meeting house."[89]

Theology[edit]

Quakers' theological beliefs vary considerably. Tolerance of dissent widely varies among yearly meetings.[90] Most Friends believe in continuing revelation: that God continuously reveals truth directly to individuals. George Fox, an "early Friend", said, "Christ has come to teach His people Himself."[22] Friends often focus on trying to hear God. As Isaac Penington wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thing – to feel him to be my root, my life, and my foundation..."[91] Quakers reject the idea of priests, believing in the priesthood of all believers. Some express their concept of God using phrases such as "the inner light", "inward light of Christ", or "Holy Spirit".

See also: Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends Church International, and Central Yearly Meeting of Friends

Diverse theological beliefs, understandings of the "leading of the Holy Spirit" and statements of "faith and practice" have always existed among Friends.[92] Due in part to the emphasis on immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, Quaker doctrines have only at times been codified as statements of faith, confessions or theological texts. Those that exist include the Letter to the Governor of Barbados (Fox, 1671),[93] An Apology for the True Christian Divinity (Barclay, 1678),[94] A Catechism and Confession of Faith (Barclay, 1690),[95] The Testimony of the Society of Friends on the Continent of America (adopted jointly by all Orthodox yearly meetings in the United States, 1830),[96] the Richmond Declaration of Faith (adopted by Five Years Meeting, 1887),[97] and Essential Truths (Jones and Wood, adopted by Five Years Meeting, 1922).[98] Most yearly meetings make a public statement of faith in their own Book of Discipline, expressing Christian discipleship within the experience of Friends in that yearly meeting.

Conservatives[edit]

Conservative Friends worshipping in London in 1809. Friends are in traditional plain dress. At the front of the meeting house, the Recorded Ministers sit on a raised ministers' gallery facing the rest of the meeting, with the elders sitting on the bench in front of them, also facing the meeting. Men and women are segregated, but both are able to minister.

Main article: Conservative Friends

Conservative Friends (also known as "Wilburites" after their founder, John Wilbur), share some of the beliefs of Fox and the Early Friends. Many Wilburites see themselves as the Quakers whose beliefs are truest to original Quaker doctrine, arguing that the majority of Friends "broke away" from the Wilburites in the 19th and 20th centuries (rather than vice versa). Conservative Friends place their trust in the immediate guidance of God.[99] They reject all forms of religious symbolism and outward sacraments, such as the Eucharist and water baptism. Conservative Friends do not believe in relying upon the practice of outward rites and sacraments in their living relationship with God through Christ, believing that holiness can exist in all of the activities of one's daily life – and that all of life is sacred in God. Many believe that a meal held with others can become a form of communion with God and with one another.

Conservative Friends in the United States are part of three small Quaker Yearly Meetings in Ohio, North Carolina and Iowa. Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) is generally considered the most Bible-centred of the three, retaining Christian Quakers who use plain language, wear plain dress, and are more likely to live in villages or rural areas than the Conservative Friends from their other two Yearly Meetings.[100]

In 2007, total membership of such Yearly Meetings was around 1642,[101] making them around 0.4 per cent of the world family of Quakers.

Evangelical[edit]
See also: Evangelical Friends Church International

Sign at entrance of Phoenix Friends Church

Evangelical Friends regard Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour,[99] and have similar religious beliefs to other evangelical Christians. They believe in and hold a high regard for penal substitution of the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary, biblical infallibility, and the need for all to experience a relationship with God personally.[102] They believe that the Evangelical Friends Church is intended to evangelise the unsaved of the world, to transform them spiritually through God's love and through social service to others.[102] They regard the Bible as the infallible, self-authenticating Word of God. The statement of faith of Evangelical Friends International is comparable to that of other Evangelical churches. Those who are members of Evangelical Friends International are mainly located in the United States, Central America and Asia.

Beginning in the 1880s, some Friends began using outward sacraments in their Sunday services, first in Evangelical Friends Church–Eastern Region (then known as Ohio Yearly Meeting [Damascus]). Friends Church–Southwest Region also approved such a practice. In places where Evangelical Friends engage in missionary work, such as Africa, Latin America and Asia, adult baptism by immersion in water occurs. In this they differ from most other branches of the Religious Society of Friends. EFCI in 2014 was claiming to represent more than 140,000 Friends,[103] some 39 per cent of the total number of Friends worldwide.

Gurneyites[edit]
See also: Friends United Meeting

Gurneyite Friends (also known as Friends United Meeting Friends) are modern followers of the Evangelical Quaker theology specified by Joseph John Gurney, a 19th-century British Friend. They make up 49 per cent of the total number of Quakers worldwide.[90] They see Jesus Christ as their Teacher and Lord[99] and favour close work with other Protestant Christian churches. Gurneyite Friends balance the Bible's authority as inspired words of God with personal, direct experience of God in their lives. Both children and adults take part in religious education, which emphasises orthodox Christian teaching from the Bible, in relation to both orthodox Christian Quaker history and Quaker testimonies. Gurneyite Friends subscribe to a set of orthodox Christian doctrines, such as those found in the Richmond Declaration of faith. In later years conflict arose among Gurneyite Friends over the Richmond Declaration of faith, but after a while, it was adopted by nearly all of Gurneyite yearly meetings. The Five Years Meeting of Friends reaffirmed its loyalty to the Richmond Declaration of faith in 1912, but specified that it was not to constitute a Christian creed. Although Gurneyism was the main form of Quakerism in 19th-century Britain, Gurneyite Friends today are found also in America, Ireland, Africa and India. Many Gurneyite Friends combine "waiting" (unprogrammed) worship with practices commonly found in other Protestant Christian churches, such as readings from the Bible and singing hymns. A small minority of Gurneyite Friends practice wholly unprogrammed worship.[104]
Holiness[edit]
See also: Central Yearly Meeting of Friends

Holiness Friends are heavily influenced by the Holiness movement, in particular John Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection, also called "entire sanctification". This states that loving God and humanity totally, as exemplified by Christ, enables believers to rid themselves of voluntary sin. This was a dominant view within Quakerism in the United Kingdom and United States in the 19th century, and influenced other branches of Quakerism. Holiness Friends argue (leaning on writings that include George Fox's message of perfection) that early Friends had this understanding of holiness.[105]

Today, some Friends hold holiness beliefs within most yearly meetings, but it is the predominant theological view of Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, (founded in 1926 specifically to promote holiness theology) and the Holiness Mission of the Bolivian Evangelical Friends Church (founded by missionaries from that meeting in 1919, the largest group of Friends in Bolivia).[106]
Liberal[edit]
See also: Friends General Conference, Britain Yearly Meeting, and Beanite Quakerism

Liberal Quakerism generally refers to Friends who take ideas from liberal Christianity, often sharing a similar mix of ideas, such as more critical Biblical hermeneutics, often with a focus on the social gospel. The ideas of that of God in everyone and the inner light were popularised by the American Friend Rufus Jones in the early 20th century, he and John Wilhelm Rowntree originating the movement. Liberal Friends predominated in Britain in the 20th century, among US meetings affiliated to Friends General Conference, and some meetings in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

These ideas remain important in Liberal Friends' understanding of God. They highlight the importance of good works, particularly living a life that upholds the virtues preached by Jesus. They often emphasise pacifism, treating others equally, living simply, and telling the truth.[90]

Like Conservative Friends, Liberal Friends reject religious symbolism and sacraments such as water baptism and the Eucharist. While Liberal Friends recognise the potential of these outward forms for awakening experiences of the Inward Light of Christ, they are not part of their worship and are thought unnecessary to authentic Christian spirituality.

The Bible remains central to most Liberal Friends' worship. Almost all meetings make it available in the meeting house, (often on a table in the centre of the room), which attendees may read privately or publicly during worship. But Liberal Friends decided that the Scriptures should give way to God's lead, if God leads them in a way contrary to the Bible. Many Friends are also influenced by liberal Christian theologians and modern Biblical criticism. They often adopt non-propositional Biblical hermeneutics, such as believing that the Bible is an anthology of human authors' beliefs and feelings about God, rather than Holy Writ, and that multiple interpretations of the Scriptures are acceptable.

Liberal Friends believe that a corporate confession of faith would be an obstacle – both to authentic listening and to new insight. As a non-creed form of Christianity, Liberal Quakerism is receptive to a wide range of understandings of religious. Most Liberal Quaker Yearly Meetings publish a Faith and Practice containing a range of religious experiences of what it means to be a Friend in that Yearly Meeting.

Universalist[edit]
Main article: Quaker Universalist Fellowship

Universalist Friends affirm religious pluralism: there are many different paths to God and understandings of the divine reached through non-Christian religious experiences, which are as valid as Christian understandings. The group was founded in the late 1970s by John Linton, who had worshipped with the Delhi Worship Group in India (an independent meeting unaffiliated to any yearly meeting or wider Quaker group) with Christians, Muslims and Hindus worshipping together.[107] After moving to Britain, he founded the Quaker Universalist Fellowship in 1978. Later his views spread to the United States, where the Quaker Universalist Fellowship was founded in 1983.[107] Most of the Friends who joined these two fellowships were Liberal Friends from the Britain Yearly Meeting in the United Kingdom and from Friends General Conference in the United States. Interest in Quaker Universalism is low among Friends from other Yearly meetings. The views of the Universalists provoked controversy in the 1980s[citation needed] among themselves and Christian Quakers within the Britain Yearly Meeting, and within Friends General Conference. Despite the label, Quaker Universalists are not necessarily Christian Universalists, embracing the doctrine of universal reconciliation.

Non-theists[edit]
Main article: Nontheist Quakers

A minority of Friends have views similar to post-Christian non-theists in other churches such as the Sea of Faith, which emerged from the Anglican church. They are predominantly atheists, agnostics and humanists who still value membership in a religious organization. The first organisation for non-theist Friends was the Humanistic Society of Friends, founded in Los Angeles in 1939. This remained small and was absorbed into the American Humanist Association.[108] More recently, interest in non-theism resurfaced, particularly under the British Friend David Boulton, who founded the 40-member Nontheist Friends Network in 2011.[109] Non-theism is controversial, leading some Christian Quakers from within Britain Yearly Meeting to call for non-theists to be denied membership.[110] In one study of Friends in the Britain Yearly Meeting, some 30 per cent of Quakers had views described as non-theistic, agnostic, or atheist.[111][112] Another study found that 75.1 per cent of the 727 members of the Religious Society of Friends who completed the survey said that they consider themselves to be Christian and 17.6 per cent that they did not, while 7.3 per cent either did not answer or circled both answers.[113]:p.41 A further 22 per cent of Quakers did not consider themselves Christian, but fulfilled a definition of being a Christian in that they said that they devoutly followed the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.[113]:p.52 In the same survey, 86.9 per cent said they believed in God.[113]
Practical theology[edit]

In 1688, at this table in Germantown, Philadelphia, Quakers and Mennonites signed a common declaration denouncing slavery

Quakers bear witness or testify to their religious beliefs in their spiritual lives,[114] drawing on the James advice that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.[115] This religious witness is rooted in their immediate experience of God and verified by the Bible, especially in Jesus Christ's life and teachings. They may bear witness in many ways, according to how they believe God is leading them. Although Quakers share how they relate to God and the world, mirroring Christian ethical codes, for example the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain, Friends argue that they feel personally moved by God rather than following an ethical code.

Some theologians classify Friends' religious witness into categories—known by some Friends as testimonies. These Friends believe these principles and practices testify to, witness to, or provide evidence for God's truth. No categorisation is universally accepted.[116]

In East Africa, Friends teach peace and non-violence, simplicity, honesty, equality, humility, marriage and sexual ethics (defining marriage as lifelong between one man and one woman), sanctity of life (opposition to abortion), cultural conflicts and Christian life.[117]

In the United States, the acronym SPICES is often used by many Yearly Meetings (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Stewardship). Stewardship is not recognised as a Testimony by all Yearly Meetings. Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting Friends put their faith in action through living their lives by the following principles: prayer, personal integrity, stewardship (which includes giving away minimum of 10% income and refraining from lotteries), marriage and family (lifelong commitment), regard for mind and body (refraining from certain amusements, propriety and modesty of dress, abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and drugs), peace and non-violence (including refusing to participate in war), abortion (opposition to abortion, practical ministry to women with unwanted pregnancy and promotion of adoption), human sexuality, the Christian and state (look to God for authority, not the government), capital punishment (find alternatives), human equality, women in ministry (recognising women and men have an equal part to play in ministry).[118] The Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association lists as testimonies: Integrity, Peace, Simplicity, Equality and Community; Areas of witness lists Children, Education, Government, Sexuality and Harmony with Nature.[119]

In the UK, the acronym STEP or PEST is used (Peace, Equality, Simplicity and Truth). In his book Quaker Speak, British Friend Alastair Heron, lists the following ways in which British Friends testify to God:[120] Opposition to betting and gambling, capital punishment, conscription, hat honour (the largely historical practice of dipping one's hat toward social superiors), oaths, slavery, times and seasons, and tithing. Promotion of integrity (or truth), peace, penal reform, plain language, relief of suffering, simplicity, social order, Sunday observance, sustainability, temperance and moderation.

Coanwood Friends Meeting House
Calendar and church holidays[edit]

Quakers traditionally use numbers to denominate the names of the months and days of the week, something they call the plain calendar. This does not use names of calendar units derived from the names of pagan deities. The week begins with First Day (Sunday) and ends with Seventh Day (Saturday). Months run from First (January) to Twelfth (December). This rests on the terms used in the Bible: e. g., that Jesus Christ's followers went to the tomb early on the First Day.[121] The plain calendar emerged in the 17th century in England in the Puritan movement, but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s, and was commonly employed into the 20th century. It is less commonly found today. The term First Day School is commonly used for what is called by other churches Sunday School.

Like other Christian denominations derived from 16th-century Puritanism, many Friends eschew religious festivals (e.g. Christmas, Lent, or Easter), but believe that Christ's birth, crucifixion and resurrection, should be marked every day of the year. For example, many Quakers feel that fasting in Lent, but then eating in excess at other times of the year is hypocrisy. Many Quakers, rather than observing Lent, live a simple lifestyle all the year round (see testimony of simplicity). Such practices are called the testimony against times and seasons.

Some Friends are non-Sabbatarians, holding that "every day is the Lord's day," and that what should be done on a First Day should be done every day of the week, although Meeting for Worship is usually held on a First Day, after the advice first issued by elders in 1656.[122]

Worship[edit]
See also: Meeting for worship

Most groups of Quakers meet for regular worship. There are two main types of worship worldwide: programmed worship and waiting worship.

Programmed worship[edit]
See also: Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends Church International, and Central Yearly Meeting of Friends

West Mansfield Friends Church, Ohio, affiliated with the Evangelical Friends Church International

In programmed worship there is often a prepared Biblical message, which may be delivered by an individual with theological training from a Bible College. There may be hymns, a sermon, Bible readings, joint prayers and a period of silent worship. The worship resembles the church services of other Protestant denominations, although in most cases does not include the Eucharist. A paid pastor may be responsible for pastoral care. Worship of this kind is celebrated by about 89 per cent of Friends worldwide.[90](p5–6) It is found in many Yearly Meetings in Africa, Asia and parts of the US (central and southern), and is common in programmed meetings affiliated to Friends United Meeting, (who make up around 49 per cent of worldwide membership[90](p5)), and evangelical meetings, including those affiliated to Evangelical Friends International, (who make up at least 40 per cent of Friends worldwide.[90](p5–6)) The religious event is sometimes called a Quaker meeting for worship or sometimes a Friends church service. This tradition arose among Friends in the United States in the 19th century, and in response to many converts to Christian Quakerism during the national spiritual revival of the time. Friends meetings in Africa and Latin America were generally started by Orthodox Friends from programmed elements of the Society, so that most African and Latin American Friends worship in a programmed style.

Some Friends hold Semi-Programmed Worship, which brings programmed elements such as hymns and readings into an otherwise unprogrammed service of worship.
Unprogrammed worship[edit]
See also: Conservative Friends, Friends General Conference, Britain Yearly Meeting, and Beanite Quakerism
External video

What to Expect in Quaker Meeting for Worship, QuakerSpeak[123]


Unprogrammed worship (also known as waiting worship, "silent worship", or holy communion in the manner of Friends) rests on the practices of George Fox and Early Friends, who based their beliefs and practices on their interpretation of how early Christians worshipped God their Heavenly Father. Friends gather together in "expectant waiting upon God" to experience his still small voice leading them from within. There is no plan on how the meeting will proceed, and practice varies widely between Meetings and individual worship services. Friends believe that God plans what will happen, with his spirit leading people to speak. When a participant who feels led to speak will stand and share a spoken message of ("vocal ministry") in front of others. When this happens, Quakers believe that the spirit of God is speaking through the speaker. After someone has spoken, it is customary to allow a few minutes to pass in silence for reflection on what was said, before further vocal ministry is given. Sometimes a meeting is quite silent, sometimes many speak. These meetings lasted for several hours in George Fox's day. Modern meetings are often limited to an hour, ending when two people (usually the elders) exchange the sign of peace by a handshake. This handshake is often shared by the others. This style of worship is the norm in Britain, Ireland, the continent of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Africa, Canada, and parts of the United States (particularly yearly meetings associated with Friends General Conference and Beanite Quakerism)—constituting about 11 per cent[90]:page 5 of Quakers. Those who worship in this way hold each person to be equal before God and capable of knowing the light of God directly. Anyone present may speak if felt led to do so. Traditionally, Recorded Ministers were recognised for their particular gift in vocal ministry. This practice continues among Conservative Friends and Liberal Friends (e.g. New York Yearly Meeting,[124]), but many meetings where Liberal Friends predominate abolished this practice. London Yearly Meeting of Friends abolished the acknowledging and recording of Recorded Ministers in 1924.

Governance and organisation[edit]
Organisational government and polity[edit]

Quaker Business Meeting in York

Governance and decision-making are conducted at a special meeting for worship – often called a meeting for worship with a concern for business or meeting for worship for church affairs, where all members can attend, as in a Congregational church. Quakers consider this a form of worship, conducted in the manner of meeting for worship. They believe it is a gathering of believers who wait upon the Lord to discover God's will, believing they are not making their own decisions. They seek to understand God's will for the religious community, via the actions of the Holy Spirit within the meeting.[125]

As in a meeting for worship, each member is expected to listen to God, and if led by Him, stand up and contribute. In some business meetings, Friends wait for the clerk to acknowledge them before speaking. Direct replies to someone's contribution are not permitted, with an aim of seeking truth rather than debate. A decision is reached when the meeting as a whole feels that the "way forward" has been discerned (also called "coming to unity"). There is no voting. On some occasions Friends may delay a decision because they feel the meeting is not following God's will. Others (especially non-Friends) may describe this as consensus decision-making; however, Friends in general continue to seek God's will. It is assumed that if everyone is attuned to God's spirit, the way forward becomes clear.

International organization[edit]
Main article: Friends World Committee for Consultation

Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the international Quaker organization that loosely unifies the different religious traditions of Quakers; FWCC brings together the largest variety of Friends in the world. Friends World Committee for Consultation is divided into four sections to represent different regions of the world: Africa, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East, and the Americas.[126]

Various organizations associated with Friends include a United States' lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C. called the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL); service organizations such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Quaker United Nations Offices, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Friends Committee on Scouting, the Quaker Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, and the Alternatives to Violence Project.

Yearly meetings[edit]
Main article: Yearly Meeting

Quakers today are organised into independent and regional, national bodies called Yearly Meetings, which have often split from one another over doctrinal differences. Several such unite Quakers who share similar religious beliefs – for example Evangelical Friends Church International unites evangelical Christian Friends;[127] Friends United Meeting unites Friends into "fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved and obeyed as Teacher and Lord;"[128] and Friends General Conference links Quakers with non-creed, liberal religious beliefs. Many Quaker Yearly Meetings also belong to the Friends World Committee for Consultation, an international fellowship of Yearly Meetings from different Quaker traditions.

Membership[edit]

A Friend is a member of a Yearly Meeting, usually beginning with membership in a local monthly meeting. Means of acquiring membership vary. For example, in most Kenyan yearly meetings, attenders who wish to become members must take part in some two years' adult education, memorising key Bible passages, and learning about the history of orthodox Christianity and of Christian Quakerism. Within the Britain Yearly Meeting, membership is acquired through a process of peer review, where a potential member is visited by several members, who report to the other members before a decision is reached.

Within some Friends Churches in the Evangelical Friends Church – in particular in Rwanda, Burundi, and parts of the United States – an adult believer's baptism by immersion in water is optional. Within Liberal Friends, Conservative Friends, and Pastoral Friends Churches, Friends do not practise water baptism, Christening, or other initiation ceremonies to admit a new member or a newborn baby. Children are often welcomed into the meeting at their first attendance. Formerly, children born to Quaker parents automatically became members (sometimes called birthright membership), but this no longer applies in many areas. Some parents apply for membership on behalf of their children, while others allow children to decide whether to be a member when they are ready and older in age. Some meetings adopt a policy that children, some time after becoming young adults, must apply independently for membership.

Meetings for worship for specific tasks[edit]
Memorial services[edit]

The Quaker testimony of simplicity extends to memorialisation as well. Founder George Fox is remembered with a simple grave marker at Quaker Gardens, Islington.

Traditional Quaker memorial services are held as a form of worship and known as memorial meetings. Friends gather for worship and offer remembrances of the deceased. In some Quaker traditions, the coffin or ashes are not present. Memorial meetings may be held many weeks after the death, which can enable wider attendance, replacement of grief with spiritual reflection, and celebration of life to dominate. Memorial meetings can last over an hour, particularly if many people attend. Memorial services give all a chance to remember the lost individual in their own way, comforting those present and re-affirming the love of the people in the wider community.[citation needed]

Marriage[edit]
Main article: Quaker wedding


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A meeting for worship for the solemnisation of marriage in an unprogrammed Friends meeting is similar to any other unprogrammed meeting for worship.[129] The pair exchange vows before God and gathered witnesses, and the meeting returns to open worship. At the rise of meeting, the witnesses, including the youngest children, are asked to sign the wedding certificate as a record. In Britain, Quakers keep a separate record of the union and notify the General Register Office.

In the early days of the United States, there was doubt whether a marriage solemnised in that way was entitled to legal recognition. Over the years, each state has set rules for the procedure. Most states expect the marriage document to be signed by a single officiant (a priest, rabbi, minister, Justice of the Peace, etc.) Quakers routinely modify the document to allow three or four Friends to sign as officiant. Often these are the members of a committee of ministry and oversight, who have helped the couple to plan their marriage. Usually, a separate document containing the vows and signatures of all present is kept by the couple and often displayed prominently in their home.

In many Friends meetings, the couple meet with a clearness committee before the wedding. Its purpose is to discuss with the couple the many aspects of marriage and life as a couple. If the couple seem ready, the marriage is recommended to the meeting.

As in wider society, there is a diversity of views among Friends on the issue of same-sex marriage. Various Friends meetings around the world have voiced support for and recognised same-sex marriages. In 1986, Hartford Friends Meeting in Connecticut reached a decision that "the Meeting recognised a committed union in a celebration of marriage, under the care of the Meeting. The same loving care and consideration should be given to both homosexual and heterosexual applicants as outlined in Faith and Practice."[130] Since then, other meetings of liberal and progressive Friends from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, parts of North America, and other countries have recognised marriage between partners of the same sex. In jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is not recognised by civil authorities, some meetings follow the practice of early Quakers in overseeing the union without reference to the state. There are also Friends who do not support same-sex marriage. Some Evangelical and Pastoral yearly meetings in the United States have issued public statements stating that homosexuality is a sin.[130]
National and international divisions and organisation[edit]

Like many religious movements, the Religious Society of Friends has evolved, changed, and split into sub-groups.

Quakerism started in England and Wales, and quickly spread to Ireland, the Netherlands,[23] Barbados[24] and North America. In 2012, there were 146,300 Quakers in Kenya, 76,360 in the United States, 35,000 in Burundi and 22,300 in Bolivia. Other countries with over 5,000 Quakers were Guatemala, the United Kingdom, Nepal, Taiwan and Uganda.[131] Although the total number of Quakers is around 377,000 worldwide,[131] Quaker influence is concentrated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kaimosi, Kenya; Newberg, Oregon; Greenleaf, Idaho; Whittier, California; Richmond, Indiana; Friendswood, Texas; Birmingham, England; Ramallah, Palestine, and Greensboro, North Carolina.

Africa[edit]
Quakers in Africa (2012)[131]CountryNumber of Quakers

Quakers in Africa (2012)^[131]

Country	Number of Quakers
Burundi	35,000
South Africa	140
Congo (Republic of)	10
Congo (Democratic Republic of)	3,000
Kenya	146,300
Madagascar	20
Nigeria	20
Rwanda	4,200
Tanzania	3,100
Uganda	5,000

Main article: Religious Society of Friends in Africa

The highest concentration of Quakers is in Africa[132] The Friends of East Africa were at one time part of a single East Africa Yearly Meeting, then the world's largest. Today, the region is served by several distinct yearly meetings. Most are affiliated with the Friends United Meeting, practise programmed worship and employ pastors. Friends meet in Rwanda and Burundi; new work is beginning in North Africa. Small unprogrammed meetings exist also in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

In 2012, there were 196,800 adult Quakers in Africa.[131]

Australia and New Zealand[edit]

Friends in Australia and New Zealand follow the unprogrammed tradition, similar to that of the Britain Yearly Meeting.
Quakers in Australia and New Zealand (2012)CountryNumber of Quakers
Australia
1,000
New Zealand
660


Considerable distances between the colonies and small numbers of Quakers meant that Australia Friends were dependent on London until the 20th century. The Society remained unprogrammed and is named Australia Yearly Meeting, with local organizations around seven Regional Meetings: Canberra (which extends into southern New South Wales), New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia (which extends into Northern Territory), Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.[133] The Friends' School is found in Hobart. An annual meeting each January, is hosted by a different Regional Meeting over a seven-year cycle, with a Standing Committee each July or August. The Australia Yearly Meeting published This We Can Say: Australian Quaker Life, Faith and Thought in 2003.

Meetings for worship in New Zealand started in Nelson in 1842 and in Auckland in 1885. In 1889 it was estimated that there were about 30 Quakers in Auckland.[134] The New Zealand Yearly Meeting, today consists of nine monthly meetings.[135] The Yearly Meeting published Quaker Faith and Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand, in 2003.

Asia[edit]

---
Quakers in Asia (2012)[131]

Country/Number of Quakers

Quakers in Asia (2012)^[131]

Country	Number of Quakers
Bangladesh	475
Bhutan	800
Cambodia	410
China	100
India	4,300
Indonesia	1,800
Japan	140
Korea	50
Nepal	6,000
Philippines	2,500
Singapore	10
Taiwan	5,000

---

Quaker meetings occur in India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Japan and Nepal.

India has four yearly meetings – the unprogrammed Mid-India Yearly Meeting, programmed Bhopal Yearly Meeting, and the Mahoba Yearly Meeting. Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting is an evangelical Friends Church affiliated to Evangelical Friends International. 

Other programmed and unprogrammed worship groups are not affiliated to any yearly meeting.

Evangelical Friends Churches exist in the Philippines and Nepal and are affiliated to Evangelical Friends International.

Europe[edit]
Main article: Quakers in Europe
Quakers in Europe (2012)[131]CountryNumber of Quakers

Quakers in Europe (2012)^[131]

Country	Number of Quakers
Albania	380
Belgium & Luxembourg	40
Croatia	50
Denmark	30
Finland	20
France	70
Georgia	20
Germany & Austria	340
Hungary	4,000
Ireland	1,600
Italy	20
Netherlands	120
Norway	150
Romania	920
Russia	30
Serbia	50
Spain	20
Sweden	100
Switzerland	100
United Kingdom	15,775

In the United Kingdom, the predominantly liberal and unprogrammed Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, has 478 local meetings,[136] and 14,260 adult members,[136] with an additional 8,560 non-member adults who attend worship[136] and 2,251 children.[136] The number has declined steadily since the mid-20th century.[136] Programmed meetings occur, including in Wem[137] and London.[138] Small groups of Conservative Friends meet in Ripley and Greenwich in England, and Arbroath in Scotland,[139] who follow Ohio Yearly Meeting's Book of Discipline.[140]

Evangelical Friends Central Europe Yearly Meeting has 4,306 members[131] across six nations,[141] including Albania, Hungary and Romania.[131]

Ireland Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and more conservative than Britain Yearly Meeting. It has 1,591 members[131] in 28 meetings.[142] across the Republic of Ireland, and in Northern Ireland

German Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and liberal and has 340 members,[131] worshipping in 31 meetings in Germany and Austria.

Small groups of Friends in Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, and Ukraine attend meetings for worship there.[131]

Middle East[edit]
Quakers in the Middle East (2012)[131]CountryNumber of Quakers
Lebanon / Palestine
70


Middle East Yearly Meeting has meetings in Lebanon and Palestine.

There has been an active and vibrant Palestinian Quaker community in Ramallah since the late 1800s. In 1910 this community built the Ramallah Friends Meetinghouse and later added another building that was used for community outreach. The Ramallah Friends Meeting has always played a vital role in the community. In 1948 the buildings and grounds became home to many Palestinian refugees. Throughout the years, the members of the Ramallah Friends Meeting organised numerous community programmes such as the Children's Play Centre, the First Day School, and women's activities.

By the early 1990s the Meetinghouse and Annex, which housed meeting rooms and bathroom facilities, fell into disrepair as a result of damage inflicted by time and the impact of conflict. So serious was the deterioration of the meetinghouse that by the middle 1990s it was impossible to use the building at all. A further blow to the Friends and the wider Palestinian community was the high level of emigration brought on by the economic situation and the hardships arising from continuing Israeli military occupation. The Meetinghouse, which had served as a place of worship for the Friends in Ramallah could no longer be used as such and the Annex could no longer be used for community outreach.

In 2002 a committee consisting of members of the Religious Society of Friends in the US and the Clerk of the Ramallah Meeting began to raise funds for the renovations of the buildings and grounds of the Meetinghouse. By November 2004 the renovations were complete, and on 6 March 2005, exactly 95 years to the day after the dedication, the Meetinghouse and Annex were rededicated as a Quaker and community resource. Friends meet every Sunday morning at 10:30 for unprogrammed Meeting for Worship. Everyone is welcome to attend.

North and South America[edit]
See also: Quakers in North America and Quakers in Latin America
Quakers in the Americas (2016)[143]CountryNumber of Quakers

Quakers in the Americas (2016)^[143]

Country	Number of Quakers
Bolivia	23,300
Canada	1,300
Chile	15
Colombia	10
Costa Rica	72
Cuba	900
Dominican Republic	110
El Salvador	1,600
Guatemala	19,620
Haiti	1,000
Honduras	2,500
Jamaica	2,100
Mexico	1,400
Nicaragua	200
Peru	3,500
United States	76,360

Quakers can be found throughout Canada. Some of the largest concentrations are in Southern Ontario.[citation needed]

Friends in the United States have diverse worship styles and differences of theology, vocabulary, and practice.

A local congregation in the unprogrammed tradition is called a meeting, or a monthly meeting (e.g., Smalltown Meeting or Smalltown Monthly Meeting). The reference to "monthly" is because the meeting meets monthly to conduct the group's business. Most "monthly meetings" meet for worship at least once a week; some meetings have several worship meetings during the week. In programmed traditions, local congregations are often referred to as "Friends Churches" or "Meetings".

Monthly meetings are often part of a regional group called a quarterly meeting, which is usually part of an even larger group called a yearly meeting; with the adjectives "quarterly" and "yearly" referring specifically to the frequency of meetings for worship with a concern for business.

Some yearly meetings, like Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, belong to larger organisations to help maintain order and communication within the Society. The three chief ones are Friends General Conference (FGC), Friends United Meeting (FUM), and Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI). In all three groups, most member organisations, though not necessarily members, are from the United States. FGC is theologically the most liberal of the three groups, while EFCI is the most evangelical. FUM is the largest. Friends United Meeting was originally known as "Five Years Meeting". Some monthly meetings belong to more than one larger organisation, while others are fully independent.

Relations with other churches and faiths[edit]

Ecumenical relations[edit]

Quakers prior to the 20th century considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, but many did not feel that their religious faith fit within the categories of Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.[144] Many Conservative Friends, while fully seeing themselves as orthodox Christians, choose to remain separate from other Christian groups.

Many Friends in Liberal Friends' meetings are actively involved in the ecumenical movement, often working closely with other Mainline Protestant and liberal Christian churches, with whom they share common religious ground. 

A concern for peace and social justice often brings Friends together with other Christian churches and other Christian groups. Some Liberal Quaker yearly meetings are members of ecumenical pan-Christian organisations, which include Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches—for example 

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a member of the National Council of Churches.[145]

Britain Yearly Meeting is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Friends General Conference is a member of the World Council of Churches.[146]

Guerneyite Friends would typically see themselves as part of an orthodox Christian movement and work closely with other Christian groups. Friends United Meeting (the international organisation of Gurneyite yearly meetings) is a member of the National Council of Churches[145] and the World Council of Churches,[146] which are pan-Christian organisations, which include Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican churches.

Evangelical Friends work closely with other evangelical churches from other Christian traditions. The North American branch of Evangelical Friends Church International is a member church of the National Association of Evangelicals. Evangelical Friends tend to be less involved with non-evangelical churches and are not members of the World Council of Churches or National Council of Churches.

The majority of other Christian groups recognise Friends among their fellow-Christians.[144] 

Some people who attend Quaker Meetings assume that Quakers are not Christians, when they do not hear overtly Christian language during the meeting for worship.[147]

Relations with other faiths[edit]

Relationships between Quakers and non-Christians vary considerably, according to sect, geography, and history.

Early Quakers distanced themselves from practices that they saw as pagan. For instance, they refused to use the usual names of the days of the week, since they were derived from the names of pagan deities.[148] They refused to celebrate Christmas because they believed it was based on pagan festivities.[149]

Early Friends called on adherents of other world religions to turn to the 'Light of Christ within' that they believed was present in all people born into the world.[150] For example, George Fox wrote a number of open letters to Jews and Muslims, in which he encouraged them to turn to Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation (e.g. A Visitation to the Jews,[151] To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, and all that are under his authority, to read this over, which concerns their salvation[152][153] and To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria).[154] In the letters to Muslim readers, Fox is exceptional for his time in his sympathetic and wide-ranging use of the Qur'an, and his belief that its contents were consonant with Christian scripture.[155]

Mary Fisher probably preached the same message when she appeared before the Muslim Mehmed IV (the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire) in 1658.[156]

In 1870, Richard Price Hallowell argued that the logical extension of Christian Quakerism is a universal Church, which demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of one or the other.[157]

Since the late 20th century, some attenders at Liberal Quaker Meetings have actively identified with world faiths other than Christianity, such as Judaism, Islam,[158] Buddhism[159] and Paganism.

See also[edit]
List of Christian denominations
The Light upon the Candlestick – a 17th-century tract which was popular among English Quakers
Testimony of simplicity – Behavioural practice of Quakers
Testimony of integrity – Behavioural code of Quakers
Testimony of equality
Peace Testimony
David Cooper and Anthony Benezet – Quakers active in the 18th century abolitionist movement

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^ Meggitt, Justin J. 2016. ‘Mary Fisher’. In Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 8. Northern and Eastern Europe (1600-1700), edited by David Thomas and John Chesworth, 367–74. Leiden: Brill.
^ Richard Price Hollowell (1870). The Quakers in New England: An Essay. Merrihew & Son, Printers. p. 26.
^ Brett Miller-White (2004) The Journeyman – The Making of a Muslim Quaker Archived 18 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine Quaker Theology, 10
^ Valerie Brown (2006) The Mindful Quaker
Further reading[edit]

Abbott, Margery; Chijioke, Mary Ellen; Dandelion, Pink; Oliver, John William, eds. (June 2003). Historical Dictionary of The Friends (Quakers). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4483-4.
Bacon, Margaret Hope (April 2000). The Quiet Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America. Pendle Hill Publications. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-87574-935-8.
Margaret Hope Bacon, "Quakers and Colonization" Quaker History. 95 (Spring 2006), 26–43
Hugh Barbour and J. William Frost, The Quakers. (1988), 412 pp.; historical survey, including many capsule biographies online edition
Barbour, Hugh (October 1985). The Quakers in Puritan England. Friends United Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-913408-87-2.
Philip Benjamin, Philadelphia Quakers in an Age of Industrialism, 1870–1920 (1976)
J. Brent Bill, Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality ISBN 1-55725-420-6
David Boulton, ed., 2006, Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism Dales Historical Monographs. ISBN 0-9511578-6-8
Michael L. Birkel, Silence and Witness: The Quaker Tradition ISBN 1-57075-518-3 (in the UK, ISBN 0-232-52448-3)
William C. Braithwaite, The Beginnings of Quakerism. (1912); revised by Henry J. Cadbury (1955) online edition
William C. Braithwaite, Second Period of Quakerism. (1919); revised by Henry Cadbury (1961), covers 1660 to 1720s in Britain
Howard H. Brinton, Friends for 350 Years ISBN 0-87574-903-8
Peter Brock, Pioneers of the Peaceable Kingdom. (1968) on Peace Testimony from the 1650s to 1900
Edwin B. Bronner, William Penn's Holy Experiment (1962)
G. B. Burnet, Story of Quakerism in Scotland. The Lutterworth Press 2007, Cambridge ISBN 978-0-7188-9176-3
Jennifer Connerley, Friendly Americans: Representing Quakers in the United States, 1850–1920 PhD dissertation U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 2006. 277 pp. Citation: DAI 2006 67(2): 600-A. DA3207363 online at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Wilmer A. Cooper, A Living Faith: An Historical and Comparative Study of Quaker Beliefs 2nd ed. ISBN 0-944350-53-4
A. Glenn Crothers, Quakers Living in the Lion's Mouth: The Society of Friends in Northern Virginia, 1730–1865. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2012
Pink Dandelion, A Sociological Analysis of the Theology of the Quakers: The Silent Revolution (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996) ISBN 0-7734-8807-3
Pink Dandelion, The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction ISBN 978-0-19-920679-7
Adrian Davies, The Quakers in English Society, 1655–1725 (2000) 261 pp.
Robert Doherty, The Hicksite Separation. (1967), uses the new social history to inquire who joined which side
Mary Maples Dunn, William Penn: Politics and Conscience (1967)
J. William Frost, The Quaker Family in Colonial America: A Portrait of the Society of Friends. (1973), emphasis on social structure and family life
J. William Frost, "The Origins of the Quaker Crusade against Slavery: A Review of Recent Literature", Quaker History 67 (1978): 42–58. JSTOR 41946850
Jonathan Fryer, ed., George Fox and the Children of the Light (London: Kyle Cathie, 1991) ISBN 1-85626-024-0
Harvey Gillman, A Light that is Shining: Introduction to the Quakers ISBN 0-85245-213-6
George H. Gorman, Introducing Quakers. (3rd revised reprint) (London: Quaker Home Service, 1981) ISBN 0-85245-005-2
Gerard Guiton, The Growth and Development of Quaker Testimony ISBN 0-7734-6002-0
Thomas Hamm, The Quakers in America. (2003). 293 pp., strong analysis of current situation, with brief history
Thomas Hamm, TheTransformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800–1907. (1988), looks at the impact of the Holiness movement on the Orthodox faction
Thomas D. Hamm, Earlham College: A History, 1847–1997. (1997) 448 pp.
Jean Hatton, Betsy: The Dramatic Biography of Prison Reformer Elizabeth Fry (2005) ISBN 1-85424-705-0 and ISBN 0-8254-6092-1
Jean Hatton, George Fox: Founder of the Quakers (2007) ISBN 1854247530 and ISBN 978-0-8254-6106-4
Hubbard, Geoffrey, Quaker by Convincement. ISBN 0-85245-189-X and ISBN 0-14-021663-4
Joseph E. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania: A History. 1976. online edition
H. Larry Ingle, First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism ISBN 0-19-507803-9 and ISBN 0-19-510117-0
H. Larry Ingle, Nixon's First Cover-up: The Religious Life of a Quaker President ISBN 978-0-8262-2042-4
H. Larry Ingle, Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation ISBN 0-87574-926-7
Sydney James, A People among Peoples: Quaker Benevolence in Eighteenth-Century America. (1963), broad-ranging study that remains the best history in America before 1800
Rufus M. Jones, Amelia M. Gummere and Isaac Sharpless. Quakers in the American Colonies (1911), history to 1775 online edition
Rufus M. Jones, Later Periods of Quakerism. 2 vols. (1921), covers England and America until World War I.
Rufus M. Jones, The Story of George Fox. (1919) 169 pages online edition
Rufus M. Jones, A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917–1919 (1922) online edition
Ryan Jordan, "The Dilemma of Quaker Pacifism in a Slaveholding Republic, 1833–1865", Civil War History Vol. 53, 2007 online edition
Ryan Jordan, Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820–1865. (2007) 191 pp.
Thomas C. Kennedy, British Quakerism, 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. (2001). 477 pp.
Rebecca Larson, Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700–1775 (1999) 399 pp.
James David LeShana, "'Heavenly Plantations': Quakers in Colonial North Carolina." PhD dissertation: U. of California, Riverside 1998. 362 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 2005-A. DA9974014 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Mark Minear, Richmond, 1887: A Quaker Drama Unfolds ISBN 9780913408988
Rosemary Moore, The Light in Their Consciences: The Early Quakers in Britain 1646–1666 (2000) 314 pp. ISBN 0-271-01989-1
John A. Moretta, William Penn and the Quaker Legacy ISBN 0-321-16392-3
Michael Mullet, ed., New Light on George Fox ISBN 1-85072-142-4
Gary Nash, Quakers and Politis: Pennsylvania, 1680–1726 (1968)
John Punshon, Portrait in Grey : A Short History of the Quakers (2nd ed.) (London: Quaker Books, 2006) ISBN 0-85245-399-X
Ane Marie Bak Rasmussen, A History of the Quaker Movement in Africa (1994) 168 pp.
Elbert Russell, The History of Quakerism (1942) online edition
Harold Smuck, Friends in East Africa (Richmond, Indiana: 1987)
Douglas Steere, 1967 On Being Present Where You Are Wallingford, Pa: Pendle Hill Pamphlet No. 151
Frederick B. Tolles, Meeting House and Counting House (1948), on Quaker businessmen in colonial Philadelphia
Frederick B. Tolles, Quakers and the Atlantic Culture (1960)
D. Elton Trueblood The People Called Quakers (1966)
John Michael Vlach, "Quaker Tradition and the Paintings of Edward Hicks: A Strategy for the Study of Folk Art", Journal of American Folklore Vol. 94, 1981 doi:10.2307/540122 JSTOR 540122
Karen Anna Vogel, Christmas Union: Quaker Abolitionists of Chester County, PA. Murray Pura's Cry of Freedom Series, Volume 5
James Walvin, The Quakers: Money and Morals (1997) 243 pp.
Clarence H. Yarrow, The Quaker Experience in International Conciliation (1979) for post-1945
Primary sources[edit]

J. Brent Bill, Imagination and Spirit: A Contemporary Quaker Reader ISBN 0-944350-61-5
Amelia Gummere, ed. The Journal and Essays of John Woolman (1922) online edition
Rufus M. Jones, ed. The Journal of George Fox: An Autobiography online edition
Lucretia Coffin Mott, ed. Beverly Wilson Palmer, Selected Letters of Lucretia Coffin Mott, U. of Illinois Press, 2002, 580 pp.
Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom ISBN 0-688-17233-4
Jessamyn West, ed. The Quaker Reader (1962) ISBN 0-87574-916-X collection of essays by Fox, Penn and other notable Quakers
Children's books[edit]

Marguerite De Angeli, Thee, Hannah! ISBN 0-8361-9106-4
Katherine Milhous
The Egg Tree ISBN 978-0-689-71568-6
Appolonia's Valentine ISBN 978-0-684-92306-2
Brinton Turkle,
The Adventures of Obadiah ISBN 0-670-10614-3
Obadiah the Bold ISBN 1-893103-19-6
Rachel and Obadiah ISBN 1-893103-18-8
Thy Friend, Obadiah ISBN 0-14-050393-5
External links[edit]
Quakersat Wikipedia's sister projects
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Wikimedia Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Data from Wikidata
Friends of the Light in England
Friends in Christ in Scotland
Friends of Jesus Fellowship in America
Evangelical Quakers
Quakers at Curlie
Digital Quaker Collection: – a list of Christian Quaker literature
Post Reformation Digital Library: a library of early modern Quaker texts
Quaker Heritage Press publishes etexts of rare and out-of-print Quaker documents.
Works by Quakers at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Society of Friends at Internet Archive
Society of Friends Church history collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library

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BNF: cb118665342 (data)
GND: 1162588810
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