Quakers Politics and attitudes to equality

The argument

Quakers are actively involved in social and political issues. They believe in pacifism and non-violence and have been very influential in terms of human rights reform throughout history, for instance in the case of the abolition of slavery. Tolerance is part of the Quaker approach to life, so Quakers are willing to learn from all other faiths and churches. They are strong advocates for social justice, peace, freedom of conscience environmental issues and community life. They have been long time advocates for all equality. "Quakerism took on certain characteristics such as simplicity in the manner of living, encouraging women to be ministers, spiritual democracy in meeting, absolute adherence to truth, universal peace and brotherhood regardless of sex, class, nation, or race."

Premises

Counter-arguments

The question asks what Christians believe, and this entry answers with what a group of Christians does. Pacifism, social engagement and advocacy for equality are commitments and practices; a reader comes away knowing Quaker ethics and almost nothing of Quaker theology. The distinctive beliefs go unmentioned — the inward light available to every person without mediation, the refusal of binding creeds, worship conducted in expectant silence, and the absence of clergy and of outward sacraments including baptism and communion. Those are what actually distinguish the tradition among Christians, and they are what the question was asking for. The portrait is also drawn from one branch. A majority of the world's Quakers, concentrated in Kenya, Burundi and Bolivia, worship in programmed meetings led by pastors and hold broadly evangelical theology; the unprogrammed, liberal, creedless picture given here describes British and parts of American Quakerism rather than the tradition as a whole. The claim that Quakers are willing to learn from all faiths and churches follows the same pattern, describing the liberal branches rather than the evangelical ones. The abolition history needs qualification too. Quakers were prominent and early in the abolitionist movement, but the Society reached that position slowly and against internal resistance: members owned enslaved people well into the eighteenth century, and it took decades of dispute before yearly meetings prohibited the practice among their own members.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Political engagement, pacifism and tolerance are practices and commitments rather than beliefs, and the theology that actually distinguishes Quakers — the inward light, the absence of creeds, silent unprogrammed worship, no clergy or outward sacraments — goes unmentioned. [Rejecting P2] The description fits liberal British and American meetings rather than the tradition as a whole, since most Quakers worldwide worship in pastor-led programmed meetings; and the Society itself moved slowly on slaveholding, with members owning enslaved people into the eighteenth century.