Nontheist Quakers

People who engage in Quaker practices but who do not believe in the supernatural

Nontheist Quakers (also known as nontheist Friends) are those who engage in Quaker practices and processes, but who do not necessarily believe in a theistic God or Supreme Being, the divine, the soul or the supernatural. Like traditional Quakers, also known as Friends, nontheist Friends are interested in realizing peace, simplicity, integrity, community, equality, and social justice in the Society of Friends and beyond.

## Beliefs

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Quakers in the unprogrammed or "silent worship" tradition of Quaker practice began to examine the significance of nontheistic beliefs in the Society of Friends during the 20th century. Non-theism among Quakers probably dates to the 1930s, when some Quakers in California branched off to form the Humanist Society of Friends (today part of the American Humanist Association), and when Henry Cadbury professed agnosticism in a 1936 lecture to Harvard Divinity School students.[1] In 1976, a Friends General Conference Gathering hosted a Workshop for Nontheistic Friends (Quakers).[2]

A nontheist Friends' website and nontheist Quaker study groups exist.[3] Os Cresson began a consideration of this issue from behaviorist, natural history, materialist and environmentalist perspectives. Roots and Flowers of Quaker Nontheism is one history. Nontheist Friends draw on Quaker humanist and universalist traditions.[4] The book Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism offers critical contributions by Quakers.[5] Some Friends engage the implications of human evolution, cognitive anthropology, evolutionary psychology, bodymind questions (especially the "relaxation response"[6][7]), primatology, evolutionary history, evolutionary biology, biology and consensus decision-making online, especially in terms of Quaker nontheism.

There are three main nontheist Quakers' websites, including the Nontheist Friends' Official Website,[3] Nontheist Friends Network Website (a listed informal group of Britain Yearly Meeting),[8] and the Nontheist Friends' wiki subject/school at World University and School,[9] which was founded by Scott MacLeod.

## Statistics

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The exact number of nontheist Quakers is currently unknown. According to a 1996 survey, 72% of British Quakers believed in God. However, a 2013 survey found that 15% of Quakers in Britain did not believe in God, up from 3% in 1990.[10] One study of Friends in the Britain Yearly Meeting, some 30% of British Quakers had views described as non-theistic, agnostic, or atheist.[11][12] These surveys should not be seen as representative of the global Quaker population which is majority Evangelistic (Gurneyite).

## Books

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* Boulton, David (Ed). 2006. Godless for God's Sake – Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism. Nontheist Friends.
* Cresson, Os, and David Boulton (Foreword). 2014. Quaker and Naturalist Too. Morning Walk Press.

## Notable nontheist Friends

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* Piers Anthony
* Henry Cadbury
* Carla Denyer
* Ruth Cadbury
* Kersey Graves
* Sharman Apt Russell
* Nicholson Baker
* Charlie Brooker

[13] [14]

## See also

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* American Friends Service Committee
* Christian atheism
* Friends Committee on National Legislation
* Nontheistic religion
* Sea of Faith

## References

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1. ^ Cadbury, Henry (1936). "My Personal Religion". Retrieved July 17, 2007. "Unpublished manuscript in the Quaker Collection at Haverford College; lecture given to Harvard divinity students in 1936."
2. ^ Morgan, Robert (1976). Report from the Workshop for Non-Theistic Friends – Friends General Conference, Ithaca, NY, June, 1976. "'The author of this report is 'Workshop for Non-Theistic Friends'. The workshop was led by Robert Morgan (1916–1993), a Friend from Pittsburgh PA.' Morgan was therefore 'recording clerk' for this report)."
3. ^ a b "NontheistFriends.org". www.nontheistfriends.org.
4. ^ Cresson, Os (September 16, 2010). "Roots and Flowers of Quaker Nontheism". NontheistFriends.org.
5. ^ Boulton, David, ed. (2006). Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism. Dent, UK: Dales Historical Monographs. ISBN 0-9511578-6-8.
6. ^ Benson MD, Herbert and Miriam Z. Klipper. 2000 [1972]. The Relaxation Response. Expanded updated edition. Harper. ISBN 0-380-81595-8
7. ^ Benson MD, Herbert. 1976. Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response. RelaxationResponse.org. From "The Relaxation Response." HarperTorch.
8. ^ "Non-theist Friends Network". Non-theist Friends Network.
9. ^ "Nontheist Friends' wiki school at World University and School".
10. ^ Montemaggi, Francesca Eva Sara. 2018. "A Quiet Faith: Quakers in Post-Christian Britain" Religions 9, no. 10: 313. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9100313
11. ^ Dandelion, Pink (1996). A Sociological Analysis of the Theology of Quakers: The Silent Revolution. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press.
12. ^ Heron, Alistair (1992). Caring, Conviction, Commitment: Dilemmas of Quaker Membership Today. London: Quaker Home Service.
13. ^ Anderson, Sam. 2011. "Nicholson Baker, The Art of Fiction No. 212." The Paris Review (198).
14. ^ "The Quaker Community: The Benefits of Silence". 6 January 2020.

## Further reading

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* Boulton, David. The Trouble With God: Building the Republic of Heaven.
* Boulton, David. 2016. Through a glass darkly: A defence of Quaker nontheism. Cumbria, UK: Dales Historical Monographs.
* Case, Nat. 2013. I contradict myself: I am an atheist and a Quaker. Does it matter what I believe, when I recognise that religion is something I need?. London, England: Aeon Magazine.
* Cresson, Os. 2007. Roots and Flowers of Quaker Nontheism. NontheistFriends.org. Jan 23. Accessed online: Dec 30, 2008.
* Crom, Scott. 1972. "The Trusting Agnostic." Quaker Religious Thought. Vol. 14(2): 1–39. Includes two carefully thought out replies and Crom's response.
* Dawkins, Richard. 2002. An Atheist's Call to Arms. Accessed online video: July 17, 2007. Monterey, CA: Ted Talks.
* Dennett, Daniel. 2006. A Secular, Scientific Rebuttal to Pastor Rick Warren. Accessed online video: July 17, 2007. Monterey, CA: Ted Talks.
* Durham, Geoffrey. (ed.). (in Press – Sep 2010). The Spirit of the Quakers. (Contains a nontheistic Friends' perspective by Alpern, Robin). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
* Fager, Chuck. 2014. Remaking Friends: How Progressive Friends Changed Quakerism & Helped Save America. (A second volume provides the source documents he used in his study: Angels of Progress: The Documentary History of the Progressive Friends). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
* Hecht, Jennifer Michael. 2003. Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson. Harper Collins.
* Jackson, Kenneth T. 2007. A Colony with a Conscience: This republic owes its enduring strength to a fragile, scorched and little-known document known as the Flushing Remonstrance. The New York Times. December 27, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
* Miles, Jack. 1996. God: A Biography. Vintage.
* Myers, PZ. 2013. The Happy Atheist. Random House.
* Riemermann, James. 2006. What is a Nontheist? NontheistFriends.org. Sep 20. Accessed online: July 17, 2007.
* Rush, David 2002/3 They too are Quakers: A survey of 199 Nontheist Friends, The Woodbrooke Journal No. 11.
* Russell, Bertrand (E. Haldeman-Julius, ed.). 1927. On Why I Am Not a Christian: An Examination of the God-Idea and Christianity. Accessed online: July 17, 2007. Little Blue Book No. 1372.
* Muriel Seltman's books Bread and Roses and Rescuing God From Religion
* Spong, John Shelby. 1998. Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile. New York, NY: Harper One.

## External links

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* Official Website Of Nontheist Friends
* Nontheist Friends Network (a listed informal group of Britain Yearly Meeting)

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