Talk:Religious Society of Friends

Are Quakers predominantly liberals today?

In particular, are Quaker schools very liberal today? A parent wants to know before sending a child there.--Aschlafly 23:12, 12 April 2007 (EDT)

Well, they are pacifists, at least. MountainDew 23:17, 12 April 2007 (EDT)

Yes, and I suspect that implies many other left-of-center positions. Anti-death penalty is a given of course, and I would also expect them to be pro-gun control. Other policies may flow from there, like higher taxes and more regulations.

I wonder about some of the socially conservative issues, like abortion. One person told me that the Quakers actually ran an underground network to provide abortion in the old days.--Aschlafly 02:26, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

I have no idea about that. The only other thing I know about them, other than that the organization is in my family background somewhere, is that they have traditionally been among the most feminist of denominations. MountainDew 02:31, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

I read this article on Quakers and thought it was very well done. Then I read this discussion page and your question spurred my curiosity about this issue. I found two links which give more information: [1] and [2] --Taj 03:11, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

1) A rough guide might be the positions taken by the Quaker lobby, Friends Committee on National Legislation which does not officially speak for Quakers.

2) Some awfully good small liberal arts schools (Haverford, Swarthmore) were historically Quaker, and I think Quakers operate several some very good prep schools.

3) In the United States there are two main Quaker religious organizations. Friends General Conference is more or less Eastern, generally has "unprogrammed" (no sermons) services, and is more liberal; Friends United Meeting is more Midwest ern and Western, generally is more conservative, and more closely resembles "ordinary" churches with some kind of minister, not sure what he/she is called, who gives something like a traditional sermon. Dpbsmith 06:53, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

Many Quakers today recognize such distinctions as traditional, evangelical, Bible-centered, Christ-centered, etc. Quakers come in lots of flavors. "Unprogrammed" meetings (in silence, no pastor) are more common in the East; "programmed" meetings resemble Congregationalist (or United Church of Christ) service (minimal liturgy, sermon by a pastor) and are more common in the Midwest and West. However, there are many meetings that hold both kinds of meetings for worship, often silent (unprogrammed) early on Sunday (First Day) a.m. and programmed later on in the morning. Either form of worship can represent a more liberal or a more conservative meeting. I would guess that the majority of Quakers would describe themselves as liberal or at least left-of-center, but you'd probably find lots of differing positions on any one issue (such as abortion). The one common statement you might make of Quakers is that each one follows his/her conscience, and that differs a lot.

If you're really interested, try this: http://www.pym.org/exhibit/p045.html Or, if you're REALLY interested, this one: http://www.quakerinfo.com/qi_list.shtml Leansleft 10:28, 10 August 2007 (EDT)