I’ve been doing a bit of reading about this. I knew nothing about Quakers and I was surprised that they seem to be extremely varied in their beliefs. Some do not class themselves as Christian and others believe that ‘God’ is really the forces of nature or describe it as ‘energy’ or ‘the universe’. Some have no interest in any bible or religious book yet others read them regularly. All seem to agree that God comes from within each person, which to me seems similar to the humanist belief that humans themselves are moral and good, and do not need a church to tell them what to do.
There also seems to be a bit of an overlap with humanism in that they both see the importance of listening to your conscience and not just going along with the crowd. Also beliefs about respect and tolerance for others regardless of their beliefs, the desire to help those less fortunate, the philosophical way of looking inward for guidance or answers and the desire to be always open minded, learning and growing spiritually. Also the pacifism applies to both to some degree. I’ve read that some Quakers have served in the military but most won’t.
I’m really curious about this. I’d be interested in hearing any opinions. Could a person be both a humanist and a Quaker?
I am not a Quaker, but my wife and kids are, and I participate in some of their activities occasionally.
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) do not have a strong central organization to determine their practices so there are a lot of varieties. They are also very accepting of different concepts of religion so you’ll find Quakers who consider themselves non-Christian, and I met some atheist Quakers also. However, the religion considers itself a Christian religion. Quakers can be people who profess to practice the religion (or believe in it), or more formally a Quaker would be someone who belongs to a Meeting, the local establishment of fellow Quakers.
In terms of military service there is a tradition of Quakers not participating in war, but during wars in the past Quakers have been asked to use their own conscience to determine their choice and many Quakers have served in the military, sometimes as chaplins or medics, but often in combat voluntarily as well. The long practice of Quakers not participating in war has some recognition for Conscientious Objector status in the military, but still must be backed up with a history of participation in the religion, not just a conversion when the draft notice shows up.
There are two large divisions among US Quakers now, those who attend the traditional meetings of silent meditation, speaking only when moved by God to do so (which makes me wonder who was moving those atheist Quakers to talk so much) and no clergy. The second group has adapted to a service resembling other American protestant religions with a pastor, and recitals of prayers, music, etc. The Meeting I associate with has both formats. Some of this division was part of the westward expansion of the country and Quakers in new settlements would start by attending other local churches before forming their own meetings.
I don’t know enough about Humanism in particular to compare them. The general Quaker belief is that God is experienced through an inner light. Local Quaker meetings are tied together through regional and worldwide meetings and they maintain a guide to Faith and Practices, but this is not binding on individuals or meetings, and often controversial. Quakers have tradition of finding consensus so controversial usually means a lot of talking saying the same things over and over again until enough people preventing consensus join in, or are otherwise no longer contributing.
That’s interesting Tripolar. It does become a bit confusing that someone who is non Christian could be considered themselves part of a Christian religion, and be accepted as such. I think that’s great though, that they accept different beliefs. I guess the atheists you mention were speaking from their conscience, perhaps similar to meditating or perhaps ‘mindfulness’.
I think there could be a clash with humanism in that Quakers believe God comes from within whereas humanists believe the same ‘feeling’ ( it’s hard to find the right word!) comes from the person alone, without any seperate/exterior God. Sort of that the person themselves has a moral code within them and a God is not necessary for them to be good, kind people.
Even as Christians their beliefs differ from those held by many other Christians. I can’t tell you anything about their belief in the Trinity, but they do not hinge Christianity on the existence of Jesus as a real person and speak about something I think they call the ‘Christ time’, a time when the understanding of Christianity arose among people.
It’s difficult to say anything specific about Quakers. For instance each Meeting determines who their members are. Some Meetings might accept an atheist as a member, others might not allow it. There are many people of different religions who attend some of the silent Quaker meetings, it can be standing room only at popular Meetings, I couldn’t tell you why they do it but I go to a Meeting occasionally with my family because it’s nice quiet time to read a book about the history of Quaker philosophy which is quite interesting to me.