Nontheist Friends

For three days I have been at the beautiful Powell House Quaker retreat center, up in Old Chatham, New York. I have been attending a workshop on “nontheist Quakers” led by Robin Alpern and Zach Alexander with about 16 other Quakers from around the northeast area.

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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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Note: New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) invited the author to write an essay from a nontheist perspective, for a special issue of the NYYM newsletter on Meeting for Worship.
Meeting for worship is a potent crucible for breaking the spell of time, the ego, the identity, our daily drama, the alluring vale of tears that our [...]

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“Os, at Radnor Meeting we accept atheists!” This was during an interview when, at 18 years of age, I was asked me to confirm my Quaker membership. God had no place in my personal religion but honesty did and I was fumbling with the questions that touched on Quaker doctrine. The kind Friend’s comment sustained [...]

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Presented at Twin Cities Friends Meeting (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA), spring 2000 or so
I received a list of questions to help me prepare for this morning’s talk. I understand it was just intended to help me approach the subject of my spiritual journey, and not as a set of directions.
I considered politely setting the list [...]

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