Friends, Religious Society of

Friends, Religious Society of, commonly known as Quakers. A body with Christian foundations, originally called ‘Children of the Light’, ‘Friends in (or of) the Truth’, or ‘Friends’. In parts of the USA ‘Friends’ Church' is usual.

The Quaker movement arose out of the religious ferment of the mid-17th cent. G. Fox, its leader, emphasized the immediacy of Christ's teaching within each person and held that to this ordained ministers and consecrated buildings were irrelevant. By 1655 Quakers had spread throughout Britain and Ireland and to the Continent of Europe, and in 1682 W. Penn founded Pennsylvania as a ‘Holy Experiment’ on Quaker principles. Their refusal to take oaths, pay tithes, or show deference to social superiors led to widespread persecution in Britain before the passing of the Toleration Act 1688. In America a split occurred in 1827–8 as a result of the teaching of E. Hicks, whose emphasis on ‘Christ within’ seemed to undervalue the authority of Scripture and the historic Christ. In Britain there were three minor secessions in the 19th cent.

The religious beliefs of the 17th-cent. Friends were set out by R. Barclay. Modern Friends continue to affirm their belief in the Inner (or Inward) Light and the direct experience of God's Spirit. They have no set liturgy, creeds, or ordained ministers, and no sacraments as such, though they believe in a spiritual baptism and communion. (In parts of the USA and elsewhere silent worship with spontaneous ministry has been replaced by prepared forms, often led by a paid pastor.) Their organization is based on a system of interrelated ‘Meetings for Church Affairs’. In Britain this involves Monthly Meetings, General Meetings, a Yearly Meeting, and a Meeting for Sufferings (a standing representative body responsible for the care of matters affecting Friends in Britain). In their Meetings, Friends seek to discern God's will, and the ‘clerk’ records the ‘sense of the Meeting’; no decisions are taken by voting. Each of the world's Yearly Meetings is autonomous, but they are linked through the World Committee for Consultation (established in 1937).

Until the middle of the 19th cent. Friends, like other Nonconformists, were excluded from the Universities in England, and many sought to express their convictions in commerce, banking, and industry. Their refusal to take up arms and their commitment to social and educational progress, penal reform, the promotion of peace and justice and, especially in the 20th cent., international relief, has earned them wide respect.