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Community => Life As An Atheist => Topic started by: billy rubin on February 17, 2020, 04:49:05 PM

Title: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 17, 2020, 04:49:05 PM
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
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: No one on February 17, 2020, 05:05:29 PM
When I was in 3rd grade,  Cindi Mozeir moved away, my Dark Side of the Moon album disappeared. Did Cindi take it?
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Davin on February 17, 2020, 05:20:07 PM
Quote from: No one on February 17, 2020, 05:05:29 PM
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.
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Inertialmass on February 17, 2020, 06:15:23 PM
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.

Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 17, 2020, 06:59:44 PM
Quote from: No one on February 17, 2020, 05:05:29 PM
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.
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: No one on February 17, 2020, 07:32:45 PM
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?
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: xSilverPhinx on February 17, 2020, 09:21:06 PM
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...
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Magdalena on February 17, 2020, 09:53:44 PM
Quote from: Inertialmass on February 17, 2020, 06:15:23 PM
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.
(https://media3.giphy.com/media/2dn1EZf5Jr9ov6KVYb/giphy.gif)
Is this a book you read or a Netflix original series?
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 17, 2020, 11:19:31 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on February 17, 2020, 09:21:06 PM
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.
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Sandra Craft on February 18, 2020, 12:00:47 AM
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?

Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 18, 2020, 12:18:29 AM
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,
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Old Seer on February 20, 2020, 02:29:42 PM
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. 
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 20, 2020, 03:29:09 PM
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.
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Kusa on February 20, 2020, 04:18:10 PM
Ask a Quaker.

What is your secret recipe for oats?
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: TallRed on February 20, 2020, 04:23:18 PM
Quote from: billy rubin on February 17, 2020, 04:49:05 PM
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.
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 20, 2020, 07:22:13 PM
Quote from: Kusa on February 20, 2020, 04:18:10 PM
Ask a Quaker.

What is your secret recipe for oats?

we don't do the oats, actually, in spite of the association

(https://cdn-a.william-reed.com/var/wrbm_gb_food_pharma/storage/images/5/1/8/3/7333815-1-eng-GB/Plaintiffs-appeal-Quaker-Oats-100-natural-glyphosate-lawsuit-order_wrbm_large.jpg)

we don't do the stinking motor oil, either

(https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0314/20/vintage-full-qt-william-penn-motor_1_60cb7fbea7ae9501bbe37b93b9fed30e.jpg)

and we don't do the beer

(https://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i153/Jiryu/six20pack20with20bible.jpg)

and we sure as shit don't get any money for the whiskey.

(https://static.whiskybase.com/storage/whiskies/8/4/613/131433-big.jpg)

i bitched at the brewery back when i was a theist for doing that and the owner promised to take "society of friends" off his packaging. leaving it there would be like "Holy Roman Catholic Church's Textured Condoms . . . "

but the beer was actually okay, and these days i would mostly laugh about it. but i was way serious a while back.

if they would give us royalties for using the name and the image i might think better of it.
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Magdalena on February 20, 2020, 08:26:02 PM
Quote from: billy rubin on February 20, 2020, 07:22:13 PM
... "Holy Roman Catholic Church's Textured Condoms . . . "

...

:snicker:
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: Kusa on February 26, 2020, 04:19:00 PM
Why do Quakers have funny looking facial hair?
Title: Re: ask a quaker
Post by: billy rubin on February 26, 2020, 05:26:57 PM
not all of us do. traditional plain quakers shaved their faces. modern plain quakers look a lot like the amish.

the reason the amish did it was because at the time they split from the protetsans moustaches were ssociated with the military, along with things like fancy buttons on their coats. but beards were biblical. so the compromise was to have a beard but not a moustache. or buttons on your coats or on women's dresses. all the old order amish women i know fasten their dresses with streaight pins. and use hooks and eyes on the coats.

the plain witness in dress is a religious uniform, which both allows people with similar beliefs to recognize each other, and aslo to help keep people out of troube by being visible. my family was plain for a number of years. im no longer a believer, so i no longer observe the standard