Does anyone know anything about the Quakers

[KitchenWitch]

This is a serious question.

[enigami]

1. I know they are pacifist

and make great furniture

[Justpat]

41. They are pacifists

but it is the Shakers who made the great furniture.

Shakers and Quakers were not the same religious sect.

[KitchenWitch]

2. My son is really interested in checking them out

I am willing to go with him.

[enigami]

6. You mean check them out as in live with them?n/t

[KitchenWitch]

7. Check them out as in an outlet for finding faith.

[enigami]

8. well I don't think they believe in computers/internet etc:

or maybe I am thinking of the Amish

[KitchenWitch]

10. That would be the Amish

[supernova]

14. That's the Amish

who want to live without modern technology.

Even the mennonites have gotten with the program on that score. :-)

[Az]

3. What do you want to know

I have had some experience with them.

[KitchenWitch]

5. What is the doctrine

How welcoming are they...etc.

[Az]

11. Tricky question

The primary idea behind Quakers is that your beliefs are your own. No other person can tell you how to relate to god. It is a relationship between you and him/her/it alone.

This is reflected in their services. Though it varies with denominations the ones I am familiar with consist of an unguided period of meditation where each person communes with god in their own way.

There is no head of the church and during services an individual is selected from the congregation to facilitate the service. Guiding communication about events and such and initiating meditations sessions.

They are a very welcoming group (to the point of welcoming this atheist during services). The only down side is if you want an interactive religion this is not it. They will support you on your journey of discovery but it is yours and no one else will tell you if you are doing it right or wrong. Services consist of long periods of silence. So if your spirituality is high maitenance it may not be the place for you.

[progmom]

18. this sounds beautiful

thanks!

[supernova]

20. This is one of the attractive things about them

to me.

I'm getting rather bored with the straight liturgy.

[JVS]

15. There are different branches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers

[KitchenWitch]

21. Thank you

Very good information.

[JVS]

4. The quakers are the reason that the informal "thou" left our language

The reason for this is that Quakers decided that they should address everyone with the familiar thou. Because people didn't want to be heard casually saying thou as a normal part of speech, and thus be mistaken for Quakers (who were incidentally not looked favorably upon/ persecuted by the Anglican church)everyone decided to use the formal and thou died out.

[SmokingJacket]

19. I knew a Quaker guy who still said "thou" at home.

Nicest guy you'll ever meet -- too nice -- cute too...

[China_cat]

31. Sorry, but you've been misinformed

In older English, you addressed equals and betters as 'you' and inferiors as 'thou'. George Fox, in his revalation on Pendle Hill, saw all as equals and decided to use the more familiar address for everyone.

Quakers using 'plain speech' have become very rare now that 'you' has become the normal address to everyone.

If you decide to read up on Quakers, give a pass to George Fox's journal. Seconal in book form, is that one.

[JVS]

32. What's your source?

I heard mine from a professor of linguistics

Also, you're wrong about using thou for strictly inferiors rather than equals too. Here is an obvious demonstration.

Take a look at the King James translation of Matthew 27:46. Do you really think that this is a case where one would address someone as an inferior? You may be right that in older English, it wouldn't mean an equal, but then you would also be going into an era before quakers.

"46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=46&version=9&context=verse

[tjwmason]

35. It was the same as tu vs. vous in French

and similar permutations across European languages.

I don't think that you can place the entire basis of the linguistic shift on one comparatively minor group.

Besides, thou is still alive and kicking (though being pushed out by the nasty growth of Estuary-English) in the local vernacular of parts of England - especially Yorkshire (God's own county) and Lancashire.

[China_cat]

36. Wikipedia for one. Being a Quaker and researching our history, for another

William Tyndale translated the Bible into English in the early 1500s,(English translator and Protestant martyr; his translation of the Bible into English later formed the basis for the King James Version) he sought to preserve the singular and plural distinctions he found in his Hebrew and Greek originals. Therefore, he consistently used thou for the singular and ye for the plural regardless of the relative status of the speaker and the addressee. By doing so, he probably saved thou from utter obscurity, and gave it an air of solemnity that sharply distinguished it from its French counterpart. Tyndale's usage was imitated in the King James Bible, and remained familiar because of that translation.

Quakers formerly used thee as an ordinary pronoun; the stereotype has them saying thee for both nominative and accusative cases. This was started by George Fox at the beginning of the Quaker movement as an attempt to preserve the egalitarian familiarity associated with the pronoun; it was not heard that way, and seemed instead to be an affected attempt at speaking like the King James Bible. Most Quakers have abandoned this usage. The dropping of the subjective case thou has also extended to their usage of the ye, the subjective 2nd person plural pronoun, which is a hypothesis of why "you" is missing its subjective case.

[Patiod]

43. Oo! Another Quaker on DU

Quakerfriend is the other one I know of - I sussed her out right away - Just call me Sherlock

[China_cat]

47. What meeting?

[supernova]

9. Quakers are pacifist and have a history of promoting

progressive points of view and social justice issues in this country.

http://www.quaker.org/#1

[KitchenWitch]

13. Very cool

May need to find a meeting...

This pagan may even convert LOL

[faithfulcitizen]

30. My town was founded by Quakers-Plainfield

They are still very active to this day. In fact, we just had the "Quaker Festival" last week. Our historic meetinghouse is also still active and has yearly meetings. I love this town, and it is a mini-dem haven amid a rabid red county (hendricks, Indiana)

[enigami]

12. Also, I am sure they don't approve of witches

not even the kitchen variety. Good luck though

[Az]

16. On the contrary

The Quakers I know are on very good terms with Pagans I know.

[supernova]

17. Where did you hear that?

:shrug:

edit: Replying to enigmani, not you Az. Sorry. :crazy:

[Patiod]

46. Well, honestly, there IS some discomfort amont older mbrs

We have had Buddhists ask to use our meetinghouse, and we allowed it. We had pagens ask, and there was too much discomfort with the idea among older Friends, and we never went ahead and said okay.

If we were a voting group, it would have passed, because many of the younger Friends have Pagen friends from all their mutual activities in environmental, animal, and peace groups. But we do the consensus thing, and there were a few folks who were deeply uncomfortable with it, so we tabled the request.

If you think we didn't handle that well, it was relatively minor compared to a two-year battle that's been going on about what to do with the Meetinghouse clock.

A wonderful religion in theory, but sometimes trying in Practice.

[SmokingJacket]

22. I've been to Quaker meetings, and it's an experience.

No minister, no preacher.

Just a room full of people sitting quietly with their thoughts.

After a while, someone might stand up and share their thoughts for a few minutes, then sit down.

Silence again.

Really -- how rare is it to get a room full of people, and no one trying to convince anyone of anything, just content to be together in silence?

Another thing I like about Quakers is their belief that there's a little seed of God inside everyone. ANd they call each other "friends" which is nice.

(I'm not very spiritual, and would rather just read the paper on Sunday mornings, but if I had to be religious, it would be the Q's)

[kick-ass-bob]

37. Many more than Quakers believe God is in all of us.

A lot of the "New Thought Religions" are that way as well, that we are inseperable from "God"

[bridgit]

23. i love their oatmeal...

Quakers Proper, are otherwise good people who live by 'the book' as should we all, as right-wing republicans pretend to live...nixon was said to be a quaker though, so there's that :shrug:

[BikeWriter]

24. Cool hats, too.

[KitchenWitch]

28. I can picture you on your Hawg with a Quaker hat on!

It looks cool!

[Hugin]

45. It wouldn't be a serious religion without outrageous head gear.

Now, would it?

;)

[GRLMGC]

25. Nixon was a Quaker

haha. Seriously, he was

[enigami]

26. That's right. I had forgotten

[NoPasaran]

38. I think Nixon was from the branch of Quakers

That shot oats from guns.

[Pendrench]

39. So was Herbert Hoover n/t

[politicat]

27. My mom and her family are Quaker.

It's a good faith if you can handle the small, still voice inside; they don't mind my atheism, my sister's apathetic agnosticism, or my other sister's paganism. As a faith system, it allowed all of us to grow up in a safe, religiously comforting space that was very good for our interior development (even as I was being raised Catholic, due to my father's faith, and my sisters were being raised Methodist, due to their father's faith.).

It also made us very aware of peace and social justice issues - mom took us to feminist rallies and anti-ICBM rallies from the time I was 3 months old until she went back to work when I was eight.

If forced to pick a branch of Christianity to belong to, Friends have my 1st vote, with Swedenborgians my second, and Episcopalians my third.

[OxQQme]

29. Hi. I'm kinda new here

in the lounge.
A friend is a Quaker.
She went with me to a Buddhist gathering.
We were amazed at the similarities.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Count the breaths.

Let the Kundalini flow in a line from the earthmother, up through the 'one point', consciously (underlined) pass it through the body, and continue on to the heavens through the crown of the head.
Or vice-versa, depending.
Let the light fill the body and head all the way out to the underside of the skin. Every nook and cranny. Feel it go there.

We talked with some of the 'Friends' at the Quaker meet-up about the same-ness. One of them said she had experienced that also, going the other way.
Deep into Buddhism, there is a 'creator/ess'.

ps. the 'one point' is below the navel about 2 inches

[RedCloud]

33. Their oats are too expensive!

exploiters of the hungry!

[no name no slogan]

34. I have several Quaker friends

...and am planning on going to a meeting one of these days, in the Twin Cities, if I ever get off my lazy butt. It's one of the few Christian churches I would consider joining.

www.quaker.org is a very good Quaker-run website. I've found it helpful for finding info about the Society of Friends.

Best of luck to you-- and PM me if you're thinking about attending a meeting in the TC area. I may tag along with you! :hi:

[SoCalDem]

40. They make oatmeal

:shrug:

[Justpat]

42. The thing I like best about Friends

is the silent worship and the concept that we are all ministers
and that it is our duty to minister to one another. This is in
stark contrast to the fundamentalist stuff now in charge of our
government and attempting to be in charge of every aspect of our
lives.

I was raised a Catholic but jumped ship about 30 years ago and
have never regretted it. I love the Society of Friends. Quakers
have been responsible for the many advances in modern thought
such as the humane treatment of prisoners in England before
they migrated here. Then they organized the underground railroad
during the Civil War. They have always believed in the rights
of self determination for women.

[Patiod]

44. PM me if you want to know anything more specific

The "quaker.org" link that was provided is an excellent one.

There are three kinds of Quaker,

Friends General Conference - unprogrammed, mostly East Coast
Friends United Meeting - more programmed, mostly Midwest
Evangelical Friends International - more fundamentalist, West Coast

they kind of become more conservative and traditionally Protestant as you move West. The FCG and FUM Quakers are still pacifist, but I notice the "what we believe" for the EFI doesn't even mention war or peace, but sounds like traditional conservative evangelical doctrine. I think Nixon's mom was an EFI-type Quaker.

Oh, and the FGC type Quakers don't evangelize, which is probably why our numbers are decreasing....

I'm a Quaker - I've been attending for about 10 years, and just joined officially this year. Feel free to email me if you want.

Oh, and for anyone with a child of military recruitment age, they are a great resource for helping anyone who is a conscience objector document that fact for the future....