Quaker history

George Fox ©
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 1624 in Leicestershire, England, and died in 1691, by which time his movement had 50,000 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 and social issues
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, to take off their hats before a magistrate, and their insistence on holding banned religious meetings in public led to 6,000 Quakers being imprisoned between 1662 and 1670.

Fox and religious issues
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 1689.

USA
Quaker missionaries arrived in the USA in 1656. 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 1681 by William Penn as a community based on the principles of pacifism and religious tolerance.

Quakers and slavery
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 1696, 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 1787.

Clifford Longley on Quakers, slavery and abolition (2:59 mins)
Thought for the Day, Monday 26 February 2007, Radio 4

Famous Quakers

Chocolate manufacturers Joseph Rowntree and George Cadbury were both Quakers
George Fox (1624-1691) - founder of Quakerism
William Penn (1621-1670) - friend of George Fox, founder of Pennsylvania
John Woolman (1720-1772) - an American Quaker involved in the abolition of slavery
John Dalton (1766-1844) - British scientist who invented the atomic theory of matter
Edward Pease (1767-1858) - first Quaker member of Parliament
Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) - British prison reformer
John Bright (1811-1889) - British politician
Joseph Rowntree (1837-1925) - Chocolate manufacturer
George Cadbury (1839-1922) - Chocolate manufacturer
Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) - physicist
Paul Eddington (1927-1995) - actor
James Dean (1931-1955) - actor
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born 1943) - astronomer, discoverer of pulsars
Bonnie Raitt (born 1949) - popular musician
Tom Robinson (born 1950) - popular musician


Holy days
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.g. the resurrection and the incarnation) should be kept in mind throughout the year.

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.

Quaker ethics
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.
Advices and Queries
Personal integrity
Quakers try to live up to high standards of honesty, as set out in this series of questions:

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?
Advices and Queries
Work and business
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.

Gender issues
Quakers have always treated men and women as equals, and were pioneers in the movement for female equality.

Animal rights
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.

...as by his breath the flame of life was kindled in all animal and sensitive creatures, to say we love God ... and at the same time exercise cruelty toward the least creature ... was a contradiction in itself.
John Woolman, 1772
Gambling
Quakers do not gamble.


Alcohol and tobacco are not forbidden
Alcohol and tobacco
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.

Many Quakers took an active role in the Temperance Movement of Victorian times.

Sex
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.
Towards a Quaker view of sex, 1963
No relationship can be a right one which makes use of another person through selfish desire.
Advices, 1964
Homosexuality
The same thinking applies to the Quaker attitude to homosexuality.

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.
Towards a Quaker view of sex, 1963
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.
Britain Yearly Meeting
Abortion
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.

Contraception
Quakers don't have a collective view on the rightness or wrongness of contraception. Many Quakers do use artificial methods of birth control.

Euthanasia
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.


Quakers at a peace march ©
Justice, politics and society
Quakers are active in politics and in working for justice in the world.

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.
Meeting for Sufferings' Statement of Intent on Racism, 1988
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.
Quaker Faith and Practice
Quakers have played a part in:

criminal law reform
prison reform - particularly through the work of Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)
reducing poverty
ending the slave trade
ending the opium trade
women's rights
anti-racism
human rights
and many other campaigns. Quakers are active in many charities.

Oaths
Quakers will not swear oaths in court (or elsewhere) but will only affirm.

Pacifism and violence
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.
Quaker statement to King Charles II, 1660
A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it.
William Penn, 1693
War, in our view, involves the surrender of the Christian ideal and the denial of human brotherhood.
London Yearly Meeting, 1916
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.
London Yearly Meeting, 1915
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.
Kathleen Lonsdale, 1953
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.

Environment

Quakers believe in protecting the environment ©
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 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 affect 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.
John Woolman (1720-1772)
Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of great strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effect your style of living is having on the global economy and environment?
Advices and Queries
Richard J Foster set down some principles that Quakers can follow to live simple lives:

Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you
Develop a habit of giving things away - de-accumulate
Refuse to be propagandised by the custodians of modern gadgetry
Learn to enjoy things without owning them
Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation
Look with a healthy scepticism at all 'buy now, pay later' schemes
Obey Jesus' injunction about plain, honest speech
Reject anything that will breed the oppression of others
Shun whatever would distract you from your main goal

Quaker marriage
Quakers strongly believe in the sanctity of marriage but also recognise the value of non-marital relationships and the single life.

Their weddings are very informal compared to those from other traditions and there is no priest or minister to lead the couple as they make their vows.

When a Quaker couple decide to marry, they make a commitment to each other in the presence of God, their family and friends.

Quakers believe that no one but God can join a couple in matrimony. They see marriage as more than a legal contract - it is a religious commitment.

The right joining in marriage is the work of the Lord only, and not the priest's or magistrate's; for it is God's ordinance and not man's...we marry none; it is the Lord's work, and we are but witnesses.
George Fox, 1669
The couple promise to be loving companions and take each other as lifelong partners in a spirit of freedom and equality.

Quaker weddings
Quaker weddings do not have to take place in registered buildings but they must be held indoors.

Most couples will book their local Quaker meeting house although some may choose to hold their wedding at home or another alternative venue.

A Quaker marriage is a community celebration and not just a ceremony for the couple. Therefore the style of worship at the wedding service must be acceptable to the wider community.

The wedding ceremony is usually held within a simple meeting for worship. It has no set order of service or sermon.

In most cases, the finer details of the ceremony are decided through discussion with the marriage registering officers and community elders.

A couple may decide to include readings and even a hymn. But music is, on the whole, rare.

If both parties are Quakers or regularly attend monthly meetings, they may marry in a Quaker marriage ceremony.

Couples who are registered as 'attenders' but not yet members of the Religious Society of Friends would be expected to have attended meetings for a number of months before making an application for marriage.

Where one member of the couple is not a Quaker, or divorced, two adult members of the Society must give written permission before the marriage can take place.

Marriage preparation
The first step in the official process is a meeting for clearness. (Clearness in this context means helping the couple affirm their decision to marry.)

The meeting gives them the chance to discuss their relationship with other members of the community.

At least six weeks before the wedding date, the couple must make an application to the registering officer of the monthly meeting where the marriage ceremony is due to be held.

The monthly meeting must approve the application before the registering officer, who is recognised by law, makes arrangements for the public notices and other legal requirements.

The monthly meeting then holds a Meeting for Worship for the Solemnisation of Marriage to confirm that the wedding can go ahead.

Quaker marriages can be held at any time of day. Public notice of the wedding is posted on the door of the venue a week before the wedding.

The wedding day
Guests are greeted by a door keeper when they arrive for the marriage ceremony.

The bride is not usually given away by her father. Neither is it customary to have a best man or bridesmaids.

The bride and groom will normally enter the meeting room together with friends and then quietly take their seats.

Sometimes they may come in when everyone else is seated. In the past, guests used to stand as the couple entered but these days this rarely happens.

The couple will sit next to a table with the Quaker wedding certificate and a pen.

Wedding attire
Quaker worship and ceremonies are relaxed so the bride, groom and their guests will usually dress smartly but informally.

Some brides may choose to wear white but, in most cases, the outfit is kept simple.

Guests need to be careful to strike the right balance too.

Men, for example, may wear a jacket or tie, but will often dress more informally. Women may choose a skirt or other reasonably smart clothes.

The ceremony
Like other Quaker meetings, the wedding service is mostly held in silence but anyone who feels moved by the Spirit can speak or pray.

Most ceremonies will follow the basic structure below:

A volunteer, usually a Quaker elder, will stand to explain how the service will proceed.
After an initial period of silence of about 10 to 15 minutes, the couple will rise and exchange their vows. The vows are handed down from the Quaker tradition and can be modified.
Holding hands, the couple take it in turns to make declarations based on the following: "Friends, I take this my friend...to be my wife/husband, promising divine assistance to be unto her/him a loving and faithful husband/wife so long as we both on earth shall live." It does not matter which order the bride and groom speak.
The Registering Officer calls upon the couple to sign the Quaker Marriage Certificate which records their vows. Two witnesses also sign.
The Registering Officer reads the certificate aloud.
There is a further period of silence.
The meeting is terminated by two elders who shake hands, inviting the rest of the congregation to do the same.
Members of the congregation sign the Quaker Marriage Certificate as a witness to both their presence and support for the marriage. The certificate, in the form of a scroll or a book, has no legal standing but it reminds the couple of their friends' happiness and hopes for the success of their marriage.
After the meeting the couple and the two witnesses sign the civil register. Rings are often exchanged at this point.
Divorce and remarriage
Divorced people may be allowed to remarry at the discretion of the members of the monthly meeting.

Quakers believe that those who are divorced need to be given the chance of a new start.

Blessings for same-sex couples
Quakers are tolerant of same-sex relationships although same-sex marriage is not usually recognised.

Quakers were the first member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland to allow the official blessing of same-sex relationships.

The blessing ceremony follows a similar format to a Quaker wedding.

Since the Civil Partnership Act came into force in December 2005, same-sex couples who share Quaker beliefs may opt for a blessing after entering into a civil partnership.

Quaker funerals
A Quaker funeral has two particular aims: to thank God for the life that has been lived, and to help the mourners feel a deep sense of God's presence.

Because they are thankful for having known the dead person, Quaker mourners tend not to wear black.

The funeral can follow the normal silent pattern of Quaker worship, or it can include programmed elements. At a meeting following the silent pattern the contributions are likely to include memories as well as prayers or readings. A senior person will normally begin the meeting with a brief explanation of Quaker worship if there are many non-Quakers present.

In addition to the funeral there can be a "meeting for worship on the occasion of the death of our Friend".

Quakers can be buried or cremated.


*SMILES* LOVE & PEACE TO ALL