The words should come from the soul - from the inner light - rather than the mind. Quakers know that even if the words they feel moved to speak have no particular meaning for themselves, they may carry a message from God to other people. There may be no outward response to the contribution from other people, but if there is it will be something that builds positively on the previous contribution. Discussion and argument are not part of the meeting.
If pressed to say what they are actually doing in a meeting for worship, many Quakers would probably say that they are waiting - waiting in their utmost hearts for the touch of something beyond their everyday selves. Some would call it 'listening to the quiet voice of God' - without trying to define the word.
Others would use more abstract terms: just 'listening' though no voice is heard , or 'looking inward' though no visions are seen , or 'pure attention' though nothing specific is attended to. The word 'inward' tends to recur as one gropes for explanations.
The silence in a meeting for worship isn't something that happens between the actual worship - the silence itself is part of the worship; it provides a space for people to separate themselves from the pressures and events of daily life and to get closer to God and each other. The people who are present try to create an internal silence - a silence inside their head. They do this by stopping everyday thoughts and anxieties. Quakers believe that if they wait silently for God in this way there will be times when God will speak directly to them.
A Quaker service is not a time of individual meditation, although the description above may make it sound like that. It is important that the waiting in silence and the listening are done as a group.
The people taking part are trying to become something more than just a collection of individuals; they want to become aware of being part of a 'we', rather than just a solitary 'I'. Some Quakers have adopted many of the practices of mainstream churches, and have pastors and use hymns in their worship.
Their services are usually like Methodist or Baptist services. Like many Christian groups, Quakers never intended to form a new denomination.
Their founder, George Fox, was trying to take belief and believers back to the original and pure form of Christianity. Fox was born in July in Leicestershire, England, and died in , by which time his movement had 50, followers. As Fox grew up he was puzzled by the inconsistency between what Christians said they believed and the way they behaved. He became a religious activist at the age of 19, and was imprisoned eight times for preaching views that annoyed the religious and political establishment of his time.
Fox got into political trouble because of his idea that there was something "of God in every person". This was a revolutionary attack on all discrimination by social class, wealth, race and gender and it had worrying implications for the social structure of his time. The political establishment did not take this lying down.
Quaker refusal to take oaths and to take off their hats before a magistrate, and their insistence on holding banned religious meetings in public, led to 6, Quakers being imprisoned between and Fox's aim was to inspire people to hear and obey the voice of God and become a community "renewed up again in God's image" by living the principles of their faith.
Fox believed that everyone should try to encounter God directly and to experience the Kingdom of Heaven as a present, living reality. He objected to the hierarchical structure and the rituals of the churches of his time, and rejected the idea that the Bible was always right.
But Fox went even further. He argued that God himself did not want churches. Churches were either unnecessary to get to God, or an obstruction Fox often referred to churches unkindly as "steeple-houses". Since believers should have a direct relationship with God, no one priests, for example and nothing like sacraments should come in between. Not surprisingly, these views infuriated the mainstream churches, and Quakers were persecuted in Britain on a large scale until Quaker missionaries arrived in the USA in They were persecuted at first, and four were executed.
However the movement appealed to many Americans, and it grew in strength, most famously in Pennsylvania which was founded in by William Penn as a community based on the principles of pacifism and religious tolerance. The origins of Christian abolitionism can be traced to the late 17th Century and the Quakers. Several of their founders, including George Fox and Benjamin Lay, encouraged fellow congregants to stop owning slaves.
By , Quakers in Pennsylvania officially declared their opposition to the importation of enslaved Africans into North America. Along with the Anglican Granville Sharp, Quakers established the first recognised anti-slavery movement in Britain in In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed.
Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. Quakers do not celebrate Christian festivals such as Easter and Christmas although Quaker families may mark Christmas as the secular festival it has largely become. They believe the events celebrated at such festivals e. Although Quaker meetings for worship generally take place on a Sunday, this is purely for convenience and not because Sunday is the Sabbath or a particularly holy day. Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts.
Trust them as the leadings of God whose Light shows us our darkness and brings us to new life. Are you honest and truthful in all you say and do? Do you maintain strict integrity in business transactions and in your dealings with individuals and organisations?
Do you use money and information entrusted to you with discretion and responsibility? Quakers avoid working for companies that manufacture weapons or other harmful products nor will they invest in such companies. They prefer to choose work that has positive benefits for the community. They maintain strict integrity in business transactions and in workplace dealings with individuals. Quakers have always treated men and women as equals, and were pioneers in the movement for female equality. Quakers oppose blood sports, and do not approve of businesses that exploit animals , such as circuses or zoos, or the fur trade.
They object to experiments on animals for trivial purposes such as cosmetics, and are divided as to whether animal experimentation should be allowed for medical research. Quakers are not forbidden from using alcohol or tobacco although these substances are banned from Quaker Meeting Houses , but most Quakers avoid them, or consume them moderately.
Quakers are non-judgemental about sex, which they see as a gift of God. Their attention is focused on the way in which it is used in human relationships. Sexual activity is essentially neither good nor evil; it is a normal biological activity which, like most other human activities, can be indulged in destructively or creatively.
An act which for example expresses true affection between two individuals and gives pleasure to them both, does not seem to us to be sinful by reason alone of the fact that it is homosexual. Quakers were one of the first churches to talk openly about sexuality.
Since we try to live our lives respecting 'that of God' in everyone we would want to treat all people equally. We feel that the quality and depth of feeling between two people is the most important part of a loving relationship, not their gender or sexual orientation. Quakers don't have a united view on abortion but regard it as a matter of individual conscience. Philosophically there is no Quaker doctrine of when a person becomes a person.
The movement has difficulty reconciling the principle of non-violence, which could argue against abortion, and the wish that women should be able to play a full part in society, which might sometimes justify abortion. Quakers don't have a collective view on the rightness or wrongness of contraception. Many Quakers do use artificial methods of birth control. Quakers don't have a united view on euthanasia.
Some Quakers make 'living wills', requesting that if they become ill to the point of being incapable of living without artificial life support systems or inappropriate medical intervention, they be allowed to die naturally and with dignity. This comes partly from their belief that there is something of God in every human being, and that they should respect the worth and dignity of each person, and partly from following Christ's own example of social activism.
At the centre of Friends' religious experience is the repeatedly and consistently expressed belief in the fundamental equality of all members of the human race. Our common humanity transcends our differences. The duty of the Society of Friends is to be the voice of the oppressed but [also] to be conscious that we ourselves are part of that oppression.
Quakers believe that war and conflict are against God's wishes and so they are dedicated to pacifism and non-violence. And from a practical point of view they think that force nearly always creates more problems than it solves.
We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatsoever, and this is our testimony to the whole world. War, in our view, involves the surrender of the Christian ideal and the denial of human brotherhood. Christ demands of us that we adhere, without swerving, to the methods of love, and therefore, if a seeming conflict should arise between the claims of His service and those of the State, it is to Christ that our supreme loyalty must be given, whatever the consequences.
Many conscientious objectors those who refuse to join the armed forces are Quakers, but Quaker pacifism is not simply the refusal to fight: it includes working actively to bring about or preserve peace, by removing the causes of conflict. Quakers, like other pacifists, are sometimes accused of being willing to give in to evil regimes rather than fight against them.
They disagree, and say that they fight by non-violent means. All forms of non-violent resistance are certainly much better than appeasement, which has come to mean the avoidance of violence by a surrender to injustice at the expense of the sufferings of others and not of one's self, by the giving away of something that is not ours to give. Quakers are not just opposed to war, but to all forms of violence. George Fox was personally opposed to the use of violence. He refused to defend himself when he was attacked and often, when the violence was over, had kind words or actions for his attackers.
Quakers believe that human beings are stewards of the earth, and should care for it to ensure that each generation passes on to the next generation a world as good as or better than it received. Quakers think that the environmental crisis is a spiritual and religious crisis as well as a practical one. Quakers say that environmental issues are also a matter of social justice: they acknowledge that those living in Britain or the USA are largely insulated from the effects of environmental problems and that such issues have a much more serious effect on the world's poor.
The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.
Try to live simply. This oppression led to the Quaker migration to America. The Quakers would not escape persecution in the New World. They were deemed heretics because of their emphasis on personal submission to the Inner Light. They were jailed and exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
She was one of the four hung Quakers known as the Boston martyrs. Some Friends migrated to the Northeastern region of the United States in the early s in quest of economic opportunities and a more receptive setting in which to establish communities of "holy conversation". They were able to build flourishing areas in the Delaware Valley, although they continued to endure oppression in some regions, such as New England.
Quaker Missionary activity over the centuries has had three focuses — 1 spreading the Quaker message to non-Friends 2 visiting and strengthening existing Friends, and 3 service with education, health, etc. These focuses have often been mixed, with differing concentrations at various times and places, but all three continue to the present day.
In the early 19th Century, a fresh evangelical zeal took hold across many Christian denominations, including Quakers. Additionally, global communications were beginning, so Quakers became more conscious of areas past Europe and North America. These two factors drove Quakers and many other denominations to re-enter the mission realm.
All three Missionary focuses utilized - Friends traveled with their Bibles to new lands, growing their Quaker faith, traveling ministers commonly visited new and well-established meetings, and schools were set up at numerous missions.
They supported current missions and generated new ones - Cuba in , Kenya in , Bolivia in , and Burundi in Pictured above is the Ramallah Quaker Mission School , photographed in His theory was disputed by many Quakers in the 19th century, especially by older evangelical Quakers who controlled the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain. These Quaker leaders were skeptical of Darwin's theory and believed that natural selection needed to be completed by another means.
Even though Quakers were known for their opposition to authority, they did not, however, lack self control. Their simplicity of dress and plain language were examples of restraint that were uncommon in the seventeenth century, Their commitment to and belief in non-violent practices and refusal to bear arms would undoubtedly require immense self control in a time when there seemed to be ongoing conflicts. Later, however, there would be Quakers known as Free Quakers who would bear arms in the War for Independence.
Quaker communities were a very tight-knit, supportive group interested in the well-being of one another. This spread throughout Quakers everywhere.
Quakers were committed to traveling and visiting other Quakers throughout the world preaching the word. This strength of character of the Quakers and Penn would give Pennsylvania much advantage toward success Nash. Quakers were also responsible for Pennsylvania's financial success. Quakers believed in being thrifty, frugal, and working hard. At the same time, they were against frivolity and extravagance. Because of their work ethic and financial restraint, Philadelphia Quakers became wealthy.
With this wealth, however, some Quakers did increase their standard of living by building city homes, country homes, and sometimes plantations where they would entertain visitors.
However, they would not indulge in idle extravagances such as gambling, dancing, art, music and theater Bacon. Pennsylvania's economic success ranks at the top with only a few in colonial history during its first twenty years. Pennsylvania's momentum started with Penn's effective emigration promotion. From the start, the colony had highly skilled craftsmen and Quaker merchants who were established, well-respected men. Pennsylvania owes the success of its birth and the first two decades to the presence, industry, and financial sensibility of the Friends.
The Quakers not only contributed to the success of Pennsylvania, but have been in the forefront of many social reforms. Quakers in England were the first in the world to recognize that the mentally insane were receiving inhumane treatment and deserved better care.
Quakers helped found Pennsylvania Hospital, which was the first institution in the New World that offered medical and occupational care for the insane. Quaker advancement in the treatment of the insane was unparalleled due to their humane attitude and their insight into future psychiatric treatments.
Prison reform and care for the poor were very relevant and close the heart of Quakers. Early Quakers had been persecuted and imprisoned leaving their families impoverished, so they knew the mistreatment of prisoners first hand by the prison systems and felt the sufferings of the poor. The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons was established by Quakers to improve conditions of sanitation, shelter, and treatment of imprisoned. Meetings for sufferings were established for Quakers to care for their own poor and widows.
Quaker belief in equality was inherent from the inception of the religion, so women were always treated as equals in the home, the schoolroom and the meeting house. It was not so surprising that Quakers were interested in the women's rights movement. However, Quaker women involved did not act as the other feminists, wearing bloomers, smoking cigars, or calling attention to themselves.
Their approach was quiet and feminine yet determined and strong while working on and often succeeding on human rights for all. Their belief in equality also encompassed race; therefore, Quakers found slavery abhorrent and were deeply entrenched in the movement for the abolition of slavery. The Quakers staunch commitment to their beliefs cements them into important social reforms in history.
The strength of character possessed by early Quakers in England enabled them to endure brutal persecution and, then, carried them forward to the New World where they would flourish and ultimately become the cornerstone of a new colony, Pennsylvania. Although Quakerism is based on the concept of simplicity and their meetings sometimes were a serene silence, their early history leaves an impression of a complex and resounding people.
Bacon, Margaret H. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Bronner, Edwin B. Philadelphia: Temple University Publications. Comfort, William Wistar. Fantel, Hans. William Penn: Apostle of Dissent. Frost, J. Nash, Gary B. Quakers in Politics: Pennsylvania
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