ask a quaker

[billy rubin]

ive been an atheist or an agnostic most of my life, but for about 15 years i waz a theist quaker, a member of the society of friends.

now i am a nontheist quaker, still a member of the soc8ety.

one of the first things people say to quakers is,

i thought you all died out.

but we havent. so if you ever have a question that you think you might want to ask a quaker, remember this thread. if i cant figure out something quakerly to say that avoidz me looking stupid, ill pass it on to my wife. ill still look stupid, but she will have an answer

[No one]

When I was in 3rd grade,  Cindi Mozeir moved away, my Dark Side of the Moon album disappeared. Did Cindi take it?

[Davin]

When I was in 3rd grade,  Cindi Mozeir moved away, my Dark Side of the Moon album disappeared. Did Cindi take it?

Asking the important questions.

[Inertialmass]

Ha, ha.  "I Never Ever Tell A Lie" Quaker gets called out on a big lie and now wants to repair his rep in the 'hood.

[billy rubin]

When I was in 3rd grade,  Cindi Mozeir moved away, my Dark Side of the Moon album disappeared. Did Cindi take it?

yes, and she felt very bad about it for a whole week. then she decided she deserved it more than you did.

[No one]

George Washington is a member of this forum?
Will make Halle Berry return my calls?
What are the winning lotto numbers?
Will Cindi get eaten by a shark?
Why is 2019 afraid of 2020?
Are these important enough?

[xSilverPhinx]

So, why the name 'quaker'? Do quakers have some sort of quake dance that causes the earth and sea to quake? Like a rain dance, but with geological vibrations instead of rain...

[Magdalena]

Ha, ha.  "I Never Ever Tell A Lie" Quaker gets called out on a big lie and now wants to repair his rep in the 'hood.

Is this a book you read or a Netflix original series?

[billy rubin]

So, why the name 'quaker'? Do quakers have some sort of quake dance that causes the earth and sea to quake? Like a rain dance, but with geological vibrations instead of rain...

lol

two ancient hoary legends deal with it

one of them has it that the founder george fox got lippy in one of his many legal battles and told the judge to "quake in fear of the lord." the judge looked down and asked whether george was a quaker, and the rest is history.

the other is that the early quakers did jump and quake in ecstatic convulsions during meeting. contemporary accounts are pretty odd.

you don't see it these days, although there's a minister in my meeting who starts trembling just before he leaps to his feet when he has something to say. he scares the shit out of me when he does that.

[Sandra Craft]

I always imagine the nickname "Quaker" coming from something like the "quivering brethren" of Cold Comfort Farm.  Tho I'm not sure Quakers go in for fire and brimstone sermons.  Do they?

[billy rubin]

that was hilarious.

maybe it was like that originally, but the quakers of my persuasion are a quiet lot.

the practice is called "waiting worship," and means that when it's more or less time, everybody filters in and sits down. there is no start to the meeting, it begins as soon as enough people sit down.

for an hour or so, nobody says anything, unless they are individually led to. no songs, no recited prayers, no readings.

no priests, either, or sermons.

sometimes someone will be led to stand up and speak, sometimes nobody says anything at all.

when its over, everybody shakes hands and goes to see whether there's anything to eat in the kitchen. no specific ending time, but customarily about an hour these days.

the practice seems to work for both theists and non-theists. my meeting is explicitly theist, but they haven't thrown me out yet,

[Old Seer]

Q- There now is 2 different interpretations of biblical creation.
1- creation is a forming of the material universe.
2- creation is a psychological (mental/spiritual) construction.

Which one is correct.

Q- regardless off which one is correct why didn't the leaders of religion know about the other. 

[billy rubin]

quakers arent united on biblical creation, or on anything else, including the bible. the protestant quakers go with biblical literalism. liberal quakers take a nonliteral view and al8gn with mainstream secularists. conservative quakerz could be anywhere on the map.

buddhist. pagan, or atbeist quakers would ask what the bible has to do with it in the first place.

i dont know why people dont know things, except for the usual reason of not being in the right place at the right time.

[Kusa]

Ask a Quaker.

What is your secret recipe for oats?

[TallRed]

ive been an atheist or an agnostic most of my life, but for about 15 years i waz a theist quaker, a member of the society of friends.

now i am a nontheist quaker, still a member of the soc8ety.

one of the first things people say to quakers is,

i thought you all died out.

but we havent. so if you ever have a question that you think you might want to ask a quaker, remember this thread. if i cant figure out something quakerly to say that avoidz me looking stupid, ill pass it on to my wife. ill still look stupid, but she will have an answer

Please ask your wife if someone who argues that morality is meaningless without a deity backing it up can honestly be considered an agnostic or an atheist. Thanks so much.

While you're at it, please ask your wife if Richard Nixon was a Quaker in good standing when he was Commander-in-Chief during the closing years of the war in Vietnam.