They too are Quakers: A Survey of 199 Nontheist Friends
David Rush
The Woodbrooke Journal
No. 11, Winter 2002
Published by
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
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Doug Gwyn
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Editorial
Following Peggy Heeks issue last summer, ‘British Quakers and the Bible Today’ (Issue
No. 10), we continue with fresh research of contemporary Quaker attitudes. Along with
Peggy, David Rush was an Eva Koch Fellow here in 2001. His work on nontheism
among Friends covers both Britain and the United States. It is an important piece of fresh
research on a growing phenomenon in the liberal branch of Quakerism over the past
several years. As with Peggy’s excellent work, the opportunity to hear Quaker voices
speaking their experiences and convictions adds an important qualitative dimension to
the quantitative sifting David has done from his survey. So, generous quotation, along
with a number of helpful graphs, give us a helpful portrait. Certainly this essay adds to
the path-breaking research of Ben Pink Dandelion (cited by Rush) and hopefully will
lead on to future work. I happily commend it to readers- nontheist and theist.
Douglas Gwyn
Quaker Studies tutor
Woodbrooke Quaker Studies Centre
December 2002
