Quaker????

Question

Who is a Quaker and what do they do? What are their beliefs? I can't find sufficient information on this subject...please help....

Answer 1

I am a Friend. The RSOF (Religious Society of Friends) encompasses a fairly wide range of beliefs, but I can tell you a little about it.

The RSOF began back in the 1650's when George Fox felt that the Protestant Reformation didn't go far enough towards fixing what he felt was wrong with the Catholic church. He tried to push for more changes from within, but eventually split off from the Anglican church in order to practice a more primitive Christianity without all the bells and whistles he saw in the churches around him. This became the RSOF.

By "primitive", we mean that we believe that just as in biblical times, there is a living God, that He is accessible to every one of us, and that He continually guides us in our lives and spritual growth through revelation if we allow Him. We have no creed/dogma because such statements don't allow for this continuing revelation of God which broadens our understanding of Him, and we avoid symbols and rituals because it is easy for them to become empty and followed for their own sake. We believe that Scripture is very important, but that our direct experience of God is primary.

We hold several Testimonies in common:
*Peace (in word, thought, and action)
*Simplicity (in speech, dress, lifestyle)
*Equality (of the sexes, races, etc.)
*Integrity (ensuring that all our beliefs are reflected in how we live our lives every day).
Some Friends add testimonies on environmentalism and community, too.

There are 3 main groupings of Friends:
*conservative (Wilburite), whose practices are Christ-centric and probably the most similar to the first Friends. Most Plain Friends are conservatives.
*liberal (Hicksite) Friends, who have the greatest spread of beliefs, including even those who are not Christian.
*evangelical Friends, who have church services similar to those of other Protestant faiths, but usually with a period of silent worship, too.

I have no experience with evangelical Friends, but Liberal and conservative Friends generally have silent waiting worship. We go to a meeting house (not church -- we consider ourselves, the people, to be the church; the building isn't really important) on First Day (Sunday). Meeting houses are simple so that there are no distractions. There are benches or chairs arranged to face each other. There is no altar, no decorations or crucifixes, no statues, no minister or priest. We sit in silence and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We don't prepare anything in advance because we believe our ministry must come from the Spirit in the moment. If any of us is given something to say by the Spirit, we stand and say it as simply as we can. No one answers (many people don't even look up -- they just listen in silence). Sometimes no one speaks during the whole meeting. Sometimes 3 or 4 speak.

Meeting is over when someone (usually an elder) shakes hands with someone else; then we all greet each other, have announcements and introductions for the visitors, and go have some refreshments and chat. Once a month we also have a business meeting to handle all the day-to-day matters of the meeting: the roof needs to be fixed, somebody's getting married, what should we do about xyz, etc.

Sorry for the long post. If you want to know more, there's a lot available online. I see that others have posted some helpful links; here are a couple more: http://www.quaker.org/ and http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p045.html. And visitors are always welcome to attend a meeting just to see what it's like. If you are interested and you live in the US, you can find a meeting near you here: http://www.quakerfinder.org/

Thank you for your interest in Friends.

Answer 2

Try searching under the Religious Society of Friends. Also try these sites:

http://www.quakerinfo.org/quakerism/beliefs.html
http://www.fum.org/FAQs.htm

Answer 3

Quakers are more commonly known these days as
"The Universal Friends Church" of simply, "Friends Church."
There is much information on them through google.

Answer 4

Wikipedia, it has everything. then books to build on top of that, or at least that is how I would go about it.

Answer 5

http://www.quaker.org/ MAYBE THIS WILL HELP

Answer 6

quaker is the guy that invented oatmeal