Any thoughts on the Quakers?

[no-cults-4-me]

Even after 35 years of bailing out of the CoC I've been scared to death of organized religion. But I wanna go out a good Christian man. What about the Quakers? It seems like a deep and quiet sort of religion. Have any of you had any experience with The Society of Friends?

[Shane R]

I worked as the custodian at a private school run by the Friends last year and came to learn a bit about them. Naturally, they tried to recruit me to join the church since I was a staff member of the school. They have something like an 80/20 split between the mainline friends and the hardcore traditionalists (much like mainline vs. NI in CoC). Their Wednesday evening gatherings overlapped the end of my shift and I have seen what their worship services looked like. The building and the service were essentially interchangeable with any older Baptist church in town. They had a band and the pastor usually wore some kind of sweater and talked for at least 30 minutes. Their church library was stocked with all of the standard titles from the American Evangelical community.

I talked to a number of their young people at various times and they reported something of a dark underbelly and a culture of shame. There were lots of rules that no one really followed but if you spurned them too openly you were shunned. And the elders of that church all gave me a vibe that was not at all comfortable. In short, I don't think it would be very different from returning to the CoC.

[FinallyFree]

I have never known any Quakers. Wasn’t Nixon a Quaker?

[no-cults-4-me]

Yeah, Nixon claimed to be a Quaker.

[B.H.]

Yeah, Nixon claimed to be a Quaker.

The Quaker on the Quaker Oats box is a Quaker.


GMan was a Quaker I miss Gman.

[FinallyFree]

I googled Quakers to find out about what they believe. They have some non-traditional Christian beliefs (kind of like CofC). They don’t do baptisms or have communion. I would not like that.

[Shane R]

I googled Quakers to find out about what they believe. They have some non-traditional Christian beliefs (kind of like CofC). They don’t do baptisms or have communion. I would not like that.

That is not true of the Evangelical Friends, which is the 80% group that I mentioned previously. In fact, the church attached to the school where I worked had a baptistry (which had not been used in ages - but I live on the coast and its trendy to do baptisms at the beach right now). They also had communion, though only monthly. They also had stained glass portraying Biblical scenes in their sanctuary. Most of the staff of the school couldn't identify all 12 panes correctly, which was disheartening, but it was there.

[FinallyFree]

Thanks for that info, Shane. That makes them sound more “normal”.

[Ivy]

Our beautiful soul Gman was a Quaker. If you knew Gman, that would tell you a lot about the Quaker / Friends faith.

[Ivy]

GMan was a Quaker I miss Gman.

Me too, BH.