Difference between revisions of "Quakers"

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The '''Quakers''' or '''Society of Friends''' are a religious group or sect whose fundamental and distinctive belief is that everyone can have direct access to God and come to know the truth in matters of faith through inner experience, by listening carefully to their own deepest feelings or, as the '''Quakers''' themselves express it, by following the guidance of ‘the inner light’. They are a very small sect, with about 17,000 members in the United Kingdom and about 200,000 in other parts of the world.
 
The '''Quakers''' or '''Society of Friends''' are a religious group or sect whose fundamental and distinctive belief is that everyone can have direct access to God and come to know the truth in matters of faith through inner experience, by listening carefully to their own deepest feelings or, as the '''Quakers''' themselves express it, by following the guidance of ‘the inner light’. They are a very small sect, with about 17,000 members in the United Kingdom and about 200,000 in other parts of the world.
  
The '''Quakers''' owe their existence to George Fox (1624-1691), a person of intense seriousness who, after several years of looking in vain to the clergy for help in resolving his religious perplexities, became an itinerant preacher, visiting many parts of Britain and even travelling abroad to the Netherlands and North America. It was not Fox’s intention to establish a new sect, though he disagreed strongly both with the Established Church and with the Dissenters, but from c1650 groups of his followers began to meet and hold ‘services’ of a kind which reflected his views.
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The '''Quakers''' owe their existence to George Fox (1624-1691), a person of intense seriousness who, after several years of looking in vain to the clergy for help in resolving his religious perplexities, became an itinerant preacher, visiting many parts of Britain and even travelling abroad to the Netherlands and North America. It was not Fox’s intention to establish a new sect, though he disagreed strongly both with the [[Established Church]] and with the Dissenters, but from c1650 groups of his followers began to meet and hold ‘services’ of a kind which reflected his views.
  
 
The first '''Quakers''' were more confrontational and aggressive than their latter-day successors, sometimes interrupting church services and challenging strangers whom they chanced to meet, and no doubt partly for this reason they were often harshly persecuted. Fox himself served several terms of imprisonment – though he also had an audience in 1655 with Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), the Lord Protector, who gave him a sympathetic reception. To escape persecution some '''Quakers''' emigrated to North America, where the state of Pennsylvania was founded by, and named after, the Quaker William Penn (1644-1718). The '''Quakers''' were eventually granted freedom of worship in Britain under the 1689 Act of Toleration during the reign of William and Mary.
 
The first '''Quakers''' were more confrontational and aggressive than their latter-day successors, sometimes interrupting church services and challenging strangers whom they chanced to meet, and no doubt partly for this reason they were often harshly persecuted. Fox himself served several terms of imprisonment – though he also had an audience in 1655 with Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), the Lord Protector, who gave him a sympathetic reception. To escape persecution some '''Quakers''' emigrated to North America, where the state of Pennsylvania was founded by, and named after, the Quaker William Penn (1644-1718). The '''Quakers''' were eventually granted freedom of worship in Britain under the 1689 Act of Toleration during the reign of William and Mary.

Latest revision as of 10:54, 21 January 2020

The Quakers or Society of Friends are a religious group or sect whose fundamental and distinctive belief is that everyone can have direct access to God and come to know the truth in matters of faith through inner experience, by listening carefully to their own deepest feelings or, as the Quakers themselves express it, by following the guidance of ‘the inner light’. They are a very small sect, with about 17,000 members in the United Kingdom and about 200,000 in other parts of the world.

The Quakers owe their existence to George Fox (1624-1691), a person of intense seriousness who, after several years of looking in vain to the clergy for help in resolving his religious perplexities, became an itinerant preacher, visiting many parts of Britain and even travelling abroad to the Netherlands and North America. It was not Fox’s intention to establish a new sect, though he disagreed strongly both with the Established Church and with the Dissenters, but from c1650 groups of his followers began to meet and hold ‘services’ of a kind which reflected his views.

The first Quakers were more confrontational and aggressive than their latter-day successors, sometimes interrupting church services and challenging strangers whom they chanced to meet, and no doubt partly for this reason they were often harshly persecuted. Fox himself served several terms of imprisonment – though he also had an audience in 1655 with Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), the Lord Protector, who gave him a sympathetic reception. To escape persecution some Quakers emigrated to North America, where the state of Pennsylvania was founded by, and named after, the Quaker William Penn (1644-1718). The Quakers were eventually granted freedom of worship in Britain under the 1689 Act of Toleration during the reign of William and Mary.

The Quakers’ conviction that there is ‘something of God’, a divine element, in every human being, and that through this, our ‘inner light’, each of us has direct, unmediated access to religious truth, underlies and explains other aspects of their religious beliefs and practice, for example:

  • Quakers do not accept any sacred text or holy book as an infallible source of religious truth: while they acknowledge that we may have much to learn from, e.g., the Bible, they insist that its claims are subject to assessment and must be accepted or rejected according to the deliverances of each person’s ‘inner light’.
  • There is no Quaker creed, i.e., no formal statement of a set of beliefs to which all Quakers are expected to give their assent.
  • There are no clergy, i.e., individuals appointed as ministers, priests, or pastors: Quakers do not recognise any members of their group as having authority over any of the others.
  • Quaker services or ‘meetings for worship’ do not follow a set programme or ‘order of service’ and are devoid of all ritual: those present sit in silence until one of their number is ‘moved by the Spirit’ to speak. It is noteworthy that from the beginning women have been no less entitled than men to contribute to Quaker meetings.

The conviction that there is ‘something of God’, a divine element, in every human being and hence that every individual has unique value also provides the foundation of the Quakers’ distinctive ethical outlook, their simplicity of lifestyle, and gentleness of manner. More particularly, it serves to explain and justify their commitment to pacifism: Quakers have always been ‘conscientious objectors’, refusing on principle to join their country’s armed services or to fight in a war – though perfectly willing to serve as doctors or nurses in caring for the wounded.

Quakers are also strongly motivated to engage in public or social action in order to remedy injustice or promote some philanthropic objective; and over the centuries - and disproportionately to their small numbers - they have contributed to securing many beneficial social changes in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In particular:

  • Quakers were prominent among those who campaigned to abolish slavery and the slave trade. In Britain they helped to secure the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire (with the 1807 Slave Trade Act) and the abolition of slavery itself (with the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act). In America Quakers petitioned Congress in 1790 for the abolition of slavery, which was finally achieved in 1865.
  • Quakers have been concerned to improve working conditions in factories and, as employers, to protect and enhance the quality of life of their employees. A conspicuous example among many is Joseph Rowntree (1836-1925), the owner of a chocolate factory in York, who in 1901 built houses for his employees on a special site where they could access medical services, take advantage of leisure facilities, and enjoy other amenities.
  • When he was in prison, George Fox was shocked at the inhumane treatment of his fellow prisoners and the squalid conditions in which they were confined; and Quakers have always had a particular interest in the state of prisons and the operation of the penal system. As well as helping individual prisoners through, e.g., prison visiting, they have campaigned for legal reform, urging in particular that the primary aim of punishment should be reformative rather than retributive.
  • Quakers have always recognised the value of education both for its own sake and for the opportunity it provides to pass on the Quaker ethos to new generations. George Fox himself founded a number of schools, as did many other Quakers after him. Almost all these schools have now closed or been incorporated into other institutions, but a small number still survive: two of the best-known in the United Kingdom are both in York: - The Mount School, a day and boarding school for girls, founded in 1785; and Bootham School, a co-educational day and boarding school, founded in 1823.

Whether Quakers should be considered to be Christians has been disputed. On the one hand, the movement had its origins in (Protestant) Christianity; its founder, George Fox, and his followers, the first Quakers, were all Christians, regarding their movement not as a departure from but a development within Christianity; and the Quaker ethos undeniably reflects the ethical values of the New Testament. On the other hand, Quakers are not required or expected to assent to any of Christianity’s fundamental claims, e.g., about Jesus’ divine nature; and some Quakers would explicitly disavow any commitment to Christianity.

Etymological note: How the word ‘Quaker’ came to be used to refer to a member of the Society of Friends is not certain. According to some, it arose out of a remark made by the judge at George Fox’s trial for blasphemy at Derby in 1650. When Fox was found guilty and responded defiantly to the sentence of imprisonment by urging the judge to ‘tremble at the word of the Lord’, the latter responded mockingly by referring to Fox and his followers as ‘quakers’ (i.e., tremblers). However, according to an alternative account the use of the word derives from the tendency of some Quakers when in the grip of religious fervour to tremble (i.e., quake) with the strength of their feelings.