Quakers pacifist4/10/2023 The core beliefs among American Friends in the 21st century are worship that is based on the leading of the Spirit the ministry of all believers decision making through the traditional Quaker business process simplicity as a basic philosophy of life and a commitment to education as a manifestation of Quaker faith. The Friends' World Committee for Consultation maintains a small permanent office and organises a triennial conference. ĭespite the wide variation in beliefs in different traditions, they do communicate with each other. Overseas missions, starting in 1903, were most successful in Africa, especially Kenya, which has 300,000 Quakers in 15 Yearly Meetings. A majority are affiliated with the Society of Friends (Five Years Meeting) others belong to the smaller Religious Society of Friends (General Conference), the Religious Society of Friends (Conservative), and the more fundamentalist Association of Evangelical Friends.Ībout 20,000 Quakers now live in the United Kingdom, and several thousand in Canada. They are well known for their support of liberal arts colleges including Haverford College and Swarthmore College (near Philadelphia) and Earlham College (in Richmond, Indiana). The Quakers are heavily involved with the Peace Testimony, support for "People of Color", the American Friends Service Committee, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Hamm (2003) identifies seven currently contested issues-the centrality of Christ, leadership, religious authority, sexuality, identity, unity, and growth. There are about 100,000 Quakers in the United States today. A Quaker wedding, for example, may choose to have an unprogrammed time, during which anyone present may speak, or not. Nowadays, not all Meetings belong to the unprogrammed tradition, but even if they don't always do it, there will likely be occasions in which a sustained silence occurs in the crowded congregation room. On other occasions, though, several or even many people may decide to speak for a while those are affectionately termed "popcorn meetings". Some meetings may be utterly silent, which can be startling to a newcomer-to sit in a room full of people with no one saying or doing anything. It is customary, if someone wants to say something during a Quaker meeting, for the person about to speak to stand up first, then sit down when done speaking. Any in attendance may speak if they wish, but sometimes, no one at all speaks, and the assembly sits quietly in contemplation for the duration of the service. In some cases, Quaker meetings do not feature a designated speaker. Facilities too one can say, for example, "She attends the Shrewsbury Meeting". Quakers do not tend to call their facilities "churches" instead, they call them "meeting houses", and the group of Quakers who attend at a certain meeting house will refer to their group as a whole as "the Meeting". Some Quakers who did choose to participate in defending themselves ended up, ironically, facing sanction from other Quakers after the war had ended. During the American Revolutionary war, Quakers who were staunch pacifists found themselves faced with tough choices, caught between friends, relatives and neighbors needing defense during the war and their own deep-seated preference for avoiding violence. It is perhaps appropriate to speak of majority opinions related to Quakerism, and in doing so, a general belief in pacifism would probably be appropriate, as well as peace, nonviolence, social justice, respect for all, etc. If one tries to generalize about "all Quakers", at least one Quaker will take exception. Quakerism today is perhaps unique among Protestant denominations in lacking a written dogma describing what all Quakers believe. Famous Quakers include founder George Fox, feminist Lucretia Mott, John Woolman, Presidents of the United States Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon and others. There were active Quaker leaders in many American reform movements past and present, especially abolition of slavery, Native Americans' rights, prohibition, women's rights, civil rights, prison reform, hospital reform, and world peace. They earned the name "Quakers" for how members shook, or "quaked", reflecting their struggle against their inner motives "under the Light." Many migrated to America in the 1600's, especially to New Jersey and the region around Philadelphia in the colony of Pennsylvania, which was owned by Quaker leader William Penn. The Quakers, formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, is a Protestant (Christian) denomination formed during the religious upheaval in 17th century England who sought the revival of what they considered to be original Christianity.
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