Background to Quakerism

Who are the Quakers?

“Quakers” started as a nickname - their real name is the Religious Society of Friends - but they are quite happy to be called either Friends or Quakers.

Quakerism started in England in the 1650s, the time of the Commonwealth, when George Fox gathered groups of 'seekers' or dissidents together. They felt that the Churches over the centuries had led people
right away from the real aims of Christianity, and got bogged down with traditions and ritual and power politics. These seekers were much persecuted by the established church and the legal
establishment of the time and imprisonments were quite frequent.

Quakers were trying to lead a renewal - to see how they could live life more simply and truthfully, following Jesus' example more closely. The Society appears very different from any other Christian group, without
the usual priests, services, creeds and church buildings. The Religious Society of Friends is a small group (about 20,000 in Britain) with a special view of what religion means, and of Christianity in particular.

Anybody can attend the local Quaker Meeting for Worship

What do Quakers believe?

Friends talk of 'seeking for truth'. It is based on the experience that there is a real and direct relationship between each person and God.

Ultimately, though, all individuals have to find their own way to religious truth, being aware of God in their own lives, learning from the wisdom of the past as expressed in a variety of religious writings, and comparing their experiences with others in the Meeting. Because they feel there is 'something of God' in every one, Quakers aim to find that 'something' in all their dealings - with nice people and not-so-nice, with old and young, with black and white, with poor and rich, with men and women, gay and straight. They take this to be the meaning of 'love God and love one another'. They try to live a fairly simple life: not to get too involved with money, or possessions, or status, not to lose sight of what is really important.

The most obvious way Christianity should be worked out is by caring for one another, and for the world in which we live. From the start, Quakers have felt strong concerns to improve social conditions and the environment,: slaves, prisoners, mental patients, refugees, old people, and war casualties. Quakers say that if you follow the teaching and life of Jesus, you must rule out war and violence as a way of solving problems. So Friends have always worked for peace, refusing to contribute to war and military action.

What Quakers say

Religion is about the whole of life.

True religion leads to a respect for the Earth, and all life upon it.

We meet in silence to discover a deeper sense of God's presence.

We are committed to the ways of equality and non-violence.

We work through quiet processes for a world where justice builds true peace.

Each person is precious, unique, a child of God.

Origin of the name "Quaker"

There are two stories for where the name "Quaker" came from. The first is that it was an insult. George Fox reported in his journal that, in 1650, on one of the many times he was arrested, Justice Bennet of Derby "first called us Quakers because we bid them tremble at the word of God."

The second story is that Friends were observed to tremble from the emotion of providing
ministry to their meeting, and became Quakers

George Fox

...and here are some words from George Fox, (1624-1691), whom many regard as the founder of the Quakers. "Be patterns, be examples, in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one."