Nontheist Friends

Getting Beyond the Words: Nontheist Friends Network at Britain Yearly Meeting Gathering Canterbury 2011

Miriam Yagud — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:30:05 +0000

Report by Miriam Yagud We expected a lot of interest at this Yearly Meeting, in exploring issues raised by nontheist Friends And there was. The nontheist Friends conference at Woodbrooke last February has stimulated a rich and energetic discussion about nontheism and theological diversity among Friends. Some of this has been reflected in the pages of “The [...]

Identity Creation: Nontheist Quaker

Liberty Britton — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:26:54 +0000

The creation of an identity is often a long process, some of which is conscious and some of which happens through experience. In many ways it is similar to the French art form of bricolage, using found pieces of whatever is around to create a unique piece of artwork. Identity work is constrained by the [...]

New Nontheist Friends Network in Britain

Nontheist Friends — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:03:56 +0000

A meeting in February of 40 nontheist Friends at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, England, decided to organise with a view to becoming a recognised special interest group of Britain Yearly Meeting. A steering group of six Friends was appointed to take the work forward. The steering group resolved to call the new organisation the Nontheist [...]

What Next for Quaker Nontheism?

Nontheist Friends — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:47:42 +0000

Minute and Epistle of the gathering of nontheist Friends at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Britain, Feb 18-20 2011 “There are nontheist Friends… Friends who might be called agnostics, atheists, sceptics, but would nevertheless describe themselves as reverent seekers.” So began the report of the first formal workshop for nontheist Friends, held in New York State [...]

In Search of Religious Radicalism

Charley Earp — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:42:46 +0000

By Charley Earp - part 1 - The Radicalization of a Preacher’s Kid

Doctrinally Open Membership in the Religious Society of Friends

Os Cresson — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 15:36:53 +0000

Doctrinally open membership is becoming more accepted by Friends. What is this method of arriving at membership decisions? How does it affect other areas of Quaker life and what does this imply for the future of the Religious Society of Friends? The Method Consider a typical Friends meeting. Members gather in silent worship. They cooperate [...]

Roots and Flowers of Quaker Nontheism

Os Cresson — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:32:13 +0000

PART I: ROOTS OF QUAKER NONTHEISM This is a look at the roots of Quaker nontheism today. Nontheist Friends are powerfully drawn to Quaker practices but they do not accompany this with a faith in God. Nontheist is an umbrella term covering atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, pantheists and wiccaists. You can combine nontheist [...]

One nontheist’s understanding of “the light” of Quakerism

James Riemermann — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:51:27 +0000

To seek to live in the light is essentially a value, a principle of living, rather than a belief. We need no theology, nor even a particular conception of “the light” as a distinct quality, in order to seek to live by it. Perhaps it would help me to clarify my point, if I described my own quirky, incomplete, and mostly psychological sense of where “the light” comes from

Chanticleer’s Call: Religion as a Naturalist Views It

Os Cresson — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:00:38 +0000

(from Godless for God’s Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism, David Boulton ed., Dent UK: Dales Historical Monographs, 2006, pp. 43-48; available at quakerbooks.org) We move. Sometimes we are moved and sometimes it results from our earlier movements. Some movements are private, only noticeable to the person moving. Some barely feel like motion. Talking and remembering [...]

Henry Joel Cadbury: No Assurance of God or Immortality, With Added Notes

Os Cresson — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:29:20 +0000

What follows is a biographical essay about Henry Cadbury plus notes that are mainly excerpts from his writings. The essay, without notes, is in “Godless for God’s Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism” edited by David Boulton, published in 2006 by Dales Historical Monographs (ISBN 0-9511578-6-8). That book is available from the publisher (Hobsons Farm, Dent, Cumbria LA10 5RF, [...]

Minute from FGC workshop, 2009

David Boulton — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:47:44 +0000

MINUTE of the workshop on “Quaker Identity and the Heart of our Faith” at the FGC Gathering, Blacksburg VA, July 2009 28 Friends (26 from USA and one each from Britain and Canada) have participated in this workshop. We have met together on six successive mornings from June 28 to July 3 2009 to tackle [...]

On Quaker Unity

Os Cresson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:55:17 +0000

Unity during meeting for worship for attention to business is familiar to Quakers. It is a commitment to move forward together and, significantly, it does not mean we have to hold the same views. This method of doing business has long been characteristic of Quakers.

Intellect and Spirituality

James Riemermann — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:27:28 +0000

...I don’t mean that everyone should engage in or care about this kind of intellectual wrestling, and I certainly don’t mean that our worship should become intellectual debate or performance–yuck. But the widespread fear of and distaste for intellect, as if the search for understanding could possibly be a bad thing, does not serve us well...

Waking up Dead

Peter Schogol — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:11:53 +0000

I don’t recall the first time I woke up dead, having done so many times since. Each time feels like the first time, so maybe it’s an ongoing thing — waking up dead. There are days when I wake up fully alive, and those are the cruelest of all. Those are the days when I [...]

Nontheism Among Friends at Powell House, January 2-4, 2009

Robin Alpern — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:08:39 +0000

One person attended because of the laughter from the nontheism workshop at the Friends General Conference Gathering. Another came because a fellow Meeting member who attended in 2007 was so impressed. A third signed up because he questioned whether Quakers could be nontheist. A teenager brought her dad.

Zach Alexander (Cambridge MM, NEYM) and I, co-leaders for this weekend, met for the first time at the 2008 FGC Gathering, 5 minutes before we were scheduled to facilitate an interest group together. The interest group went well, and we agreed to pair up again.