Society of Friends

[[File:AssemblyOfQuakers.jpg|thumb|right|165px|"Quaker Meeting in London: A female Quaker preaches" by  Bernard Picard, c. 1723]]
{{christianity}}
The '''Religious Society of Friends''', better known as the '''Quakers''', is 
a brand of oatmeal
 nominally a [[Christianity|Christian]] group, though not all Quakers see themselves as Christians. There are roughly a quarter of a million Quakers worldwide.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/quakers_1.shtml Quakers - the Religious Society of Friends]</ref> Quakers are broadly divided into three or four groups: Evangelical and Pastoral Quakers, which vary quite a bit in their beliefs and theological consevatism/liberalism but are distinguished from other Quakers by the fact that their worship is programmed with pastors, sermons, etc. as opposed to the unprogrammed worship of other Quakers; Conservative Quakers, so named because they want to conserve the religious practices of the original Quakers but are still typically liberal compared to most other Christian denominations; and Liberal Quakers, who tend to be similar to [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]].<ref>[https://quakerpodcast.org/quaker-branches/ Quaker Branches], Mackenzie, ''Quaker Faith and Podcast'' 8 May 2017</ref>

The Society of Friends was founded in [[England]] in 1648 as a breakaway from [[Puritanism]]. [[Pacifism]] is one of their major tenets and they have consistently opposed war. Their prayer meetings involve sitting quietly.

Quakers believe that all people are created equal in the eyes of [[God]]. They were some of the first to value [[Religious leaders#Women in Clergy|women as important ministers]] and to campaign for women's rights; they became leaders in the [[Abolition|anti-slavery]] movement, and were among the first to pioneer for humane treatment of prisoners and individuals with mental disorders. Today, they still campaign actively for peace and against the arms trade.<ref>[https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/peace/arms-trade Ending the arms trade], Our Work, Quakers in Britain, accessed 18 Feb 2020</ref>

== Not known for fun ==
The essence of Quaker spirituality, as seen in the history of the movement, is a form of Christian mysticism known as quietism, understood as 'the direct experience of God culminating in divine union.' The Quaker innovation is to undergo this "direct experience of God" in a group setting, which answers the [[Roman Catholic]] objections to quietism as undermining Church discipline and unity. Quietism was a target of the Roman Inquisition well into the 1700s.

Quakers don't go in for much of the trappings of religion, hence their focus on the current life and humanitarian work. They usually do not celebrate [[Christmas]], [[Easter]], or other Christian festivals, i.e. there are no special services for Christmas or Easter. However, most liberal Friends have the trappings of Christmas and Easter in their homes. They don't have a settled opinion on the existence or nature of the [[afterlife]]. They believe that [[the Bible]], while a mighty fine book, is not the word of God or anything divine.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/quakers_1.shtml Quakers], BBC Religion, accessed 18 Feb 2020</ref>

==Persecution==
The good citizens of [[Massachusetts]] banned the Society of Friends from their colony for many years — and hanged {{wpl|Mary Dyer}} in 1660 for going back there to preach her beliefs. This ban eventually led to the founding (1681) of [[Pennsylvania]] as a safe home for Quakers. Quakers were not allowed to sit in the [[Great Britain|British]] parliament from 1698 to 1833. Many Quakers have been imprisoned as conscientious objectors in wartime.

A famous trial in England in 1670 involved the prosecution of {{wpl|William Penn}} for preaching a Quaker sermon — an illegal act at the time. The jury found him not guilty; the judge then imprisoned the jury and informed them they would remain in jail until they changed their verdict. The jury refused to change their verdict, and fighting their own case from jail, won their freedom using a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' (a legal procedure — first recorded in England in 1305 — seeking injunction against unlawful imprisonment).<ref>{{wpa|Bushel's Case}}</ref> Jurists often regard this as a precedent-setting case — affirming the use of ''habeas corpus'' as well as establishing that jurors cannot be prosecuted for their decisions in cases where [[jury nullification]] occurs or is perceived to have occurred. William Penn would later go on to receive a charter for a new American colony, Pennsylvania (1681), and to found the city of [[Philadelphia]] (1682).

==The Klan==
In the 1920s, many southern Indiana Quakers joined the [[Ku Klux Klan]], e.g. Quaker minister {{wpl|Daisy Douglas Barr||.}}<ref>http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/27791471 Daisy Douglas Barr: From Quaker to Klan Kluckeress</ref><ref>http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/qr-klan.htm Quakers and the Ku Klux Klan</ref>

==Honours==
The Society was collectively awarded the [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1947. The Quaker and prison reformer Elizabeth Fry was from 2002 to 2016 pictured on the Bank of England five pound note.<ref>https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/the-people-on-the-notes-elizabeth-fry</ref><ref>{{wpa|Bank of England £5 note}}</ref>

==Famous Quakers==
*Captain Ahab, ambulatory-challenged sportsman.
*Edward R. Murrow, chain-smoking anchorman who fought McCarthyism.
*[[Herbert Hoover]], 31st President of the United States (1929–33). Thanks to his belief in progressivism, he made sure to give huge income tax increases for everyone (for the poor, from 1.5% to 4%; for millionaires, 38% to 63%), taking a corporatist approach to the [[Great Depression]] by telling employers to Keep Wages High. He also signed… [[Ben Stein|Anyone? Anyone?]] — the [[Republican]]-backed Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which only helped sink the economy even faster. Well, he was an engineer, not an economist. Also refused to engage in [[Gunboat Diplomacy]].
*{{wpl|A. Mitchell Palmer||,}} Attorney General who hired [[J. Edgar Hoover]]. His famous {{wpl|Palmer Raids}} earned him the moniker, "the Fighting Quaker".
*[[Richard Nixon|Richard Milhous Nixon]], one and a half-term [[President of the United States]] (1969–74), eminent proponent of carpet bombing, was a member of The "Friends Church" (or in specific East Whittier Friends Church), not the Religious Society of Friends' Pacific Yearly Meeting — a spinoff sect of Quakers that parted ways in the early 19th Century with the Friends and has more in common with [[Evangelical Christians]]. (Although today the EWFC is a member of the Friends' World Committee for Consultation.) 
*[[Lyndon LaRouche]], bowtie-wearing fanatic {{lived|1922|2019}} who fancied himself a genius in pretty much everything. The [[Horseshoe Theory]] incarnate. Lyndon and his father were both "disowned" by the Society of Friends in Lynn, MA after they accused the sect of [[Red-baiting|closet Bolshevism]]. He had a pretty long history of brownshirt tactics, directing his members to go smash heads and threaten other physical violence if he doesn't like someone. Imagine if Richard Nixon had even less shame and [[L. Ron Hubbard]] had less scruples and human decency, and these men fused together like Goku and Vegeta. The being they would create would be named Lyndon LaRouche and he would have a repugnance level of over one million.
*Priscilla Hiss, wife of Soviet spy [[Alger Hiss]]. When fellow Quaker Richard Nixon swore her in during the highly publicized Hiss Trials, he asked her to solemnly ''affirm'' to tell the truth (Quakers can't swear, they can only affirm) highlighting for the world and the jury how a good Quaker girl became a godless communist, and earning for Nixon the undying derision of the liberal media.
*{{wpl|Eric Baker (activist)|Eric Baker|,}} co-founder of [[Amnesty International]] {{lived|1920|1976}}. Probably more typical Quaker than the above.<ref>[http://www.eastwhittierfriends.com/beliefs.htm East Whittier Friends' Statement of Beliefs]</ref>
*Joseph Rowntree and George Cadbury, British chocolate barons who promoted model towns and improved conditions for their workers. George Cadbury's house, Woodbrooke in Selly Oak is now the Quaker Study Centre<ref>[https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/ Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre]</ref> in Birmingham. 
*William Penn {{lived|1644|1718}}, founder of the state of [[Pennsylvania]], egalitarian and democrat, received the state of [[Pennsylvania]] from King Charles II as a way of paying off royal debts. Incidentally, the debts were to his father and the state is named after his father, who was emphatically ''not'' a Quaker: William Penn senior was a distinguished naval officer most famous for throwing a pot of shit at Samuel Pepys.<ref>{{wpa|William Penn (Royal Navy officer)}}</ref>
*Robert Lawrence Smith, author of "A Quaker Book of Wisdom," one of the most well-known books on Quakerism for non-Quakers, and former headmaster of Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC (the school which numerous children of US Presidents attended, as well as the high school from which [[Bill Nye]] graduated).
*James Dean<ref name=qibhistory>[https://www.quaker.org.uk/history-of-quakers History of Quakers], Quakers in Britain, accessed 18 Feb 2020</ref>
*{{wpl|John Dalton}} {{lived|1766|1844}}, chemist and physicist, barred from English universities due to his faith but a pioneer of the atomic theory of matter as well as discoverer of colorblindness and proponent of gas laws.<ref name=qibhistory/>
*Arthur Eddington {{lived|1882|1944}}, British astronomer, physicist, and mathematician, proponent of the idea that stars work by nuclear fusion and populariser of [[Albert Einstein]]'s theory of General Relativity (it is said that his Quaker faith led to his openness to the work of a German physicist in the middle of [[World War One]], but his exceptional mathematical skills also played a role).<ref name=qibhistory/>
*Jocelyn Bell Burnell {{lived|1943}}, another of Britain's greatest astronomers, best known for discovering pulsars, [[Sexism|missing out on a Nobel Prize for being a woman]], and advocating for women and other minority groups in science.<ref name=qibhistory/><ref>{{wpa|Jocelyn Bell Burnell}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Shakers]]
*[[English Civil War]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Christian denominations]]
[[Category: Slavery]]

Categories: Christian denominations,  Slavery