What Are The Religious Society of Friends (The Quakers)?

Sections of the Religious Society of Orthodox Friends Wilburites Conservatives Friends of the Gurneites Friends of the Gurneys United Evangelical Meeting Evangelical Friends International Beaconites General Conference of Hicksite Friends Shows the division of Quakers that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Religious Society of Friends, also called the Quaker Movement, was founded in England in the 17th century by George Fox.

The Quakers, or Religious Society of Friends, came into being when people in the Anglican Church saw growing corruption and false teaching in the 1750s. The Quaker originated in England in the 17th century, during a period of rapid political and religious change, as a form of Christianity that emphasized a direct connection between people and God. Such a cult arose among friends in the United States in the 19th century and in response to many Christian Quaker converts during the national spiritual awakening of that time.


The type of Quaker faith and worship described here is only one variety. Other branches of Quakers have shepherds and a more structured cult, and their beliefs are more biblical. As a result, modern Quakers represent a wide range of spiritual beliefs, from biblical evangelical Christianity to a more spiritual and agnostic approach.

Many other Quakers derive spiritual support from various religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and natural religions. Do Quakers separate religious life from secular life and believe that all life should be lived in spirit.

In practice, Quakers differ in their exact beliefs (there are also universalist friends and Quakers with multiple members, such as Buddhist Quakers or even Pagan Quakers) and the language they use to describe them Different, but most people agree to experience more in themselves. .While the Friends of Religion is generally considered a Christian denomination by outsiders, not all Quakers consider themselves Christians. Some see themselves (for historical reasons) as members of a universal religion with many Christian elements. This leads to a different understanding of the scriptures by each Quaker, and while the ideology of all Quakers is still fairly similar, they have different names and different values ​​in the Friends of Religion Association. Unplanned friends refer to their meetings as “reunions,” while planned Quakers use the terms “reunions” and “church” to refer to their meetings.

In the United States, other branches of Quakers are more likely to be affiliated with the Friends United Meeting or Friends International Evangelical Church umbrella organizations rather than the Friends General Conference. Some friends no longer believe in God but participate because they love silence and fellowship, others are liberal socially and theologically, some are evangelical in their theology, there are also conservative Quakers, those who try to keep the old ways of friends. While many in the area were lifelong friends, others were originally from other religions and found a new spiritual home in the Quakers.

Witnessing for the most part the beliefs of friends in the Philadelphia area today through social action and the testimonies of friends, a historically important part of Quaker, continues to be the most public expression of Quaker beliefs. Quaker testimonies – what Friends have publicly presented as a form of religious witness – stem from their central belief in the essential unity and equality of all human beings. The Quaker Way is simply how best friends (for all their differences) put their deepest beliefs into action. Speaking truth to one another in love, like Christian neighbors, would be a Quaker way for friends—with all their variations—to feel like “members of one another”.

Modern Quakers probably would not use the word “God” and would not find traditional notions of divinity useful (these Quakers were called “non-theistic friends”). Why are you called a “Quaker” The term “Quaker” originated as a popular nickname used to mock this new religious group when it emerged in 17th century England. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is a movement within Christianity that originated in England in 1650.

Introduction Quakers – Religious Society of Friends – The Quakers are members of a group with Christian roots that originated in England in the 1650s. Founded in England in the 17th century, the Religious Society of Friends is a Christian religious sect of people who are dissatisfied with existing denominations and Christian denominations. Quaker Faith and Practice is a collection of Quaker experiences and ideas from the founding of the Friends of Friends in the 17th century to the present day.

Most Liberal Quaker annual meetings publish a faith and practice that contains a series of religious experiences about what it means to be a friend at that annual meeting. There are now some 900,000 Quakers (who also use the name Religious Society of Friends or simply Friends) worldwide, most of whom live in Africa and the Americas, and among us there is a marked variety of religious practices and words used to express spiritual experience. However, in recent years there has been a new grassroots “open door” movement, “Quaker Quest”, which originated in England to specifically invite the public to attend meetings of friends and consider becoming members. Children born in Quaker homes and raised in a congregation/church of friends may eventually be accepted as adult members.

If one of the two members is not a Quaker or is divorced, two adult members of the Religious Society of Friends must give written permission prior to marriage. When a Quaker couple decides to marry, they commit each other to the presence of God, family and friends.

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