Nontheist Friends

At Friends General Conference earlier this month, in addition to Robin Alpern and David Boulton’s workshop on nontheist Friends and discernment (previously posted here), there were a number of one-off scheduled events at the “Nontheist Friends Center,” on topics like nontheistic spirituality and theological diversity.

And in addition to those, three or four more events were arranged on-site to meet what seemed like a demand for them. I might be forgetting any that happened earlier in the week before I arrived, but Wednesday afternoon there was a meeting for worship, followed by a screening of a film about Gerrard Winstanley, who according to some was the first Quaker nontheist.

And on Thursday, Chuck Fager arranged the following debate conversation between himself and David Boulton, complete with lurid posters billing it “The Theist-Nontheist Conversational Smackdown of 2008″ and promising “thrills, chills and (nonviolent) spills,” if memory serves.

The questions they discussed were “Are Quakers a chosen people?” and “Is David Boulton a closet theist?” Thanks perhaps to the posters, it took place before a packed-out room of about 110 people, with a number of (un-chosen?) people listening in the hall.

Click the green “play” arrow below to hear my recording of the event, or click here to download the mp3 file, and look under the cut for another photo and a thought.

(By the way, David’s opening joke refers to the poster, which described the participants as Chuck “Without Apology” Fager and David “The Trouble with God” Boulton.)

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In this book edited by British Friend and author David Boulton, 27 Quakers from 4 countries and 13 yearly meetings tell how they combine active and committed membership in the Religious Society of Friends with rejection of traditional belief [...]

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