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 | Friends believe that there exists element of God's spirit in every human soul. Thus all persons have inherent worth, independent of their gender, race, age, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation. Their opposition to sexism, racism, religious intolerance, warfare and the death penalty comes from this belief. | ||||||||||||||
| Simplicity, pacifism, and inner revelation are long standing Quaker beliefs. Their religion does not consist of accepting specific beliefs or of engaging in certain practices; it involves each person's direct experience of God. | ||||||||||||||
| There is a strong mystical component to Quaker belief. In the moving words of one reviewer of this essay, "In Meeting for Worship, God is there. God is probably always there, but in Meeting, I am able to slow down enough to see God. The Light becomes tangible for me, a blanket of love, a hope made living." | ||||||||||||||
| They do not have a specific creed; however, many of the coordinating groups have created
statements of faith. The statement by the largest Quaker body, the Friends United
Meeting includes the beliefs in:
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| Many do not regard the Bible as the only source of belief and conduct. They rely upon their Inner Light to resolve what they perceive as the Bible's many contradictions. They also feel free to take advantage of scientific and philosophical findings from other sources. | ||||||||||||||
| Individual Quakers hold diverse views concerning life after death. Few believe in the eternal punishment of individuals in a Hell. | ||||||||||||||
| All aspects of life are sacramental; they do not differentiate between the secular and the religious. No one day or one place or one activity is any more spiritual than any other. | ||||||||||||||
| Quakers have had a tradition of opposing war. They have followed the beliefs of the early Christian movement which was strongly pacifist. Early Christians even refused to bring charges against others if there was a possibility of the death penalty being exercised. Together with the Amish, Church of the Brethren, and Mennonites, they made it possible for men to be classified as conscientious objectors. |
Practices:
| On a per-capita basis, they have probably contributed more in the promotion of tolerance, peace and justice than any other Christian denomination. They have been influential beyond what their numbers would suggest in many areas: promotion of world peace, abolition of slavery, fair treatment of Native Americans, universal suffrage, prison reform, improvement in mental hospitals, etc. |
| Some of the Yearly Meetings publish a Book of Discipline or a book on Faith and Practice. These are not sets of strict rules. They are general guidelines for living and include Quaker history, excerpts from the journals of old and weighty Friends and poetry. Also included are monthly queries, which the individual member and meetings can use to explore what they are doing to make a positive impact on the world. The New York Yearly Meeting's Faith & Practice document can be seen at: http://www.nyym.org/quakerism/fnp/ |
| Quakers do not simply seek a consensus, as many people believe. They seek the will of God by following the leading of the Spirit to resolve differences. One of their documents states: "In all our meetings for church affairs we need to listen together to the Holy Spirit. We do not seek consensus; we are seeking the will of God. The unity of the meeting lies more in the unity of the search than in the decision which is reached. We must not be distressed if our listening involves waiting, perhaps in confusion, until we feel clear what it is God wants done." 1 |
| Women obtained equal status to men throughout most of the Quaker movement early in its history - centuries earlier than in most other denominations. |
| Most meetings are unprogrammed. That is, they are held in silence. Attendees speak when moved to do so. Elsewhere, services have programmed orders of worship, usually led by a pastor. |
| They usually arrange the congregation in a square or circle, so that each person is aware of everyone else, yet no one person appears raised above another in status. |
| Programmed services may be composed of prayer, readings from the Bible, readings from the Book of Discipline, a sermon, hymn singing, music, and "free worship based upon silent waiting," |
| They do not have a ritual of baptism. Rather, they believe in the "inward baptism of the Holy Spirit" described in Ephesians 4:4-5. |
| Throughout their history, Quakers have refused to take oaths. Their belief is that one should tell the truth at all times. Taking an oath implies that there are two types of truthfulness: one for ordinary life and another for special occasions. |
| The common names of the days of the week and of the months of the year were originally derived from Pagan deities or were numbered using a Pagan Roman notation. For example Wednesday is a corruption of Woden's Day; Monday was once Moon Day. January was named after the Roman God Janus, while December was the Tenth Month. Quakers in olden times replaced the names with numbers. Sunday was called First Day; Saturday was Seventh Day; January was called First Month, while December became Twelfth Month. Early in the 20th century, they began to revert to the common names, because they felt that the public had long forgotten their Pagan origin. |
Reference used:
- The "Quaker Faith & Practice" of the Britain Yearly Meeting - Paragraph 2.89.
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Copyright © 1996 to 2006 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-FEB-07
Author: B.A. Robinson
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