Quaker is the common name for a member of the Religious Society of Friends. Members of the Society call each other Friends; outsiders call them Quakers. Friends can be divided into three groups: Pastoral, Conservative, and Liberal (Quakersonline). This article will focus on Liberal Friends, who generally live in North America, and constitute only 20% of the 300,000 Quakers, worldwide.
A Quaker’s Fundamental Belief
Friends believe that God communicates with each and every individual. This belief is central to their faith and is shared by many religions. When a Catholic child is told that he has a guardian angel who will protect him, is he not being told that God cares about him and will guide him throughout his life? What distinguishes Friends from other denominations is that they emphasize this aspect of faith, at the expense of others.
In 1693, William Penn wrote, “That which the people called Quakers lay down as a main fundamental in religion is this, that God through Christ hath placed a principle in every man to inform him of his duty, and to enable him to do it; and that those that live up to this principle are the people of God, and those that live in disobedience to it are not God’s people, whatever name they may bear or profession they may make of religion (North Pacific Yearly Meeting p. 12).”
Penn was saying that it didn’t matter if a person called himself Catholic, Protestant, or practiced Native American spirituality. If Penn were alive today, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and atheist would be added to the list. God enlightens everyone, regardless of the faith they profess, and the manner in which an individual treats his fellow man is more important than his religious affiliations.
Friends commonly use the word Light when speaking of a Deity. Friends encourage a wide range of expression when speaking about the Light within them. A modern Friend, Mary Barnett wrote in 1983, “I am just now beginning to feel comfortable with the realization of a Feminine Spirit as a personal presence. I will continue to work toward centering in Worship, to be open to the Light, its peace and comfort, and maybe then, its message through her voice. I do not search for her. I just know her as the source of my Light (North Pacific Yearly Meeting p. 11).”
Friend’s Meeting for Worship
The Friend’s Meeting for Worship is held in a plain room of moderate size. There are no pictures on the walls, no statues, no pulpit and no alter. Chairs are arranged in a circle, with no seat standing out from any other. Individuals drift in and sit in silence. Quakers and regular attenders dress as if they were on the campus of a community college or at the ball park. Anyone in their “Sunday Best” is a first timer. Children attend First Day (Sunday) school, and typically partake in the last five minutes of the adult meeting.
There are no hymns, no readings, and no sermon. Some meetings pass in total silence. If someone in the meeting feels inspired, he or she will rise and speak. Historically, individuals were expected to remain silent throughout the meeting. Members, feeling compelled by their inner Light, would literally shake with anxiety before rising. This is the origin of the word Quaker.
Today, both members and non-members speak more freely and without noticeable anxiety. If someone advances a concept which is not believed by other members, no Friend will correct him or her. It is also unlikely that any regular attender will confront the speaker. Friends have faith in the Light, and faith that God does not need help to illuminate a person’s inner-spirit.
Newcomers and visitors need to understand this about a Friend’s meeting. The spoken word may not convey the sense of the meeting. The speaker may not be a member or even agree with Quaker principles. Friends come to a meeting in order to listen to God, not to each other.
Quakers Have Had Their Faults
Not all Friends have been perfect role models; some early Friends, including William Penn, held slaves (Slavery In America). God moved a New Jersey Friend, John Woolman, to preach against slavery. From Woolman’s 1762 tract, Considerations on Keeping Negroes, “The color of a man avails nothing, in the matter’s [sic] of right and equality." Woolman gained his insight about the equality of Afro-Americans while traveling with his friend, Isaac Andrews, throughout Maryland, Virginia and Carolina. God also gave John the courage to speak out against the pro-slavery beliefs which were widely held by both his religion and his nation. Woolman died of small pox on October 1, 1772, but he had successfully completed God’s assignment. Four years after Woolman’s death, Pennsylvania Friends declared slaveholding an offense against Christianity (Woodson). The Religious Society of Friends became an abolitionist organization the year the Declaration of Independence was signed and 85 years before the Battle of Fort Sumter, which started the American Civil War.
Women Activists
Quaker women have been activists since the earliest days of the Society. Becky Roberg writes, “Considering the fact that imprisonment was almost inevitable for Quakers, prisons became a sort of gathering places to preach the Quaker tradition (Roberg).” Becky reports that twenty-one Friends died from mistreatment in prison by 1659. She quotes Barbara Blaugdone, “the Sheriff came with a Beadle, and had me into a Room, and Whipt me till the Blood ran down my Back”. Today, Friends are still concerned with prison conditions and oppose the death penalty.
The work of Friend Lucretia Coffin Mott (Neiderer), Friend Susan B. Anthony (Linder), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (University of Rochester) contributed to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote. Unfortunately, none of these women lived to see their life’s goal become a reality.
Not all female activists were Friends. Rosa Parks, who launched the American Civil Rights Movement by refusing, in 1955, to give up her seat to a white male, joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development).
The Light Continues to Modify Friend's Beliefs
The Liberal Friend’s view of same-gender relationships is still in a period of transition, as many Friends are coming to view same-gender relationships in the same light as mixed-gender relationships (North Pacific Yearly Meeting 20). This view of same-gender relationships is not shared by Pastoral and Conservative Friends.
How God View’s Quakers?
Friends believe that their society holds no special place in the eyes of God. They believe that God speaks to everyone, Quaker and non-Quaker, theist and atheist. Friends believe that an individual must look inside himself for the Light, and then turn his convictions into action.
About the Photo
Friend Edward Hicks (1780-1849) painted over a hundred versions of Peacable Kingdom. The painting was inspired by the words of Isaiah, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb…”
Sources:
- Linder, Doug. Susan B. Anthony: A Biography. 2001. University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law. August 2011.
- Neiderer, Sarah K. Mott, Lucretia (Coffin). n.d. Pennsylvania Center for the Book. August 2011.
- North Pacific Yearly Meeting. Faith and Practice. 2009.
- Quakersonline. Who are the Quakers? n.d. Quakersonline. August 2011.
- Roberg, Becky. Imprisonment and Persecution of Quakers. n.d. Cornell College. August 2011.
- Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. Rosa Louise Parks Biography. n.d. Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. August 2011.
- Slavery In America. Pennssylvania Slave Law and Record. n.d. Slavery In America. August 2011.
- University of Rochester. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. n.d. Rochester History Resources. August 2011
- Woodson, Carter G. The Journal of Negro History Volume II. Lancaster PA and Washington D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History Inc., 1917.
Richard Walloch - Don't believe me because of my education or professional experience. Believe me because of the evidence and arguments I advance.
