atheism

racism in Light – finding new ways to talk about the dark & the light among Friends

Angloamerican christians developed a colorized vocabulary to talk about race & secure their own privilege. While eurocentric empires demonized, terrorized, enslaved & stole from Indigenous peoples around the world, White supremacy was celebrated with white Jesuses made in the image of Light. White Quakers – 99% of all quakers at the time – participated in this racialized … Read more

Quaker and Naturalist Too: a new NTF book

Quaker and Naturalist Too, by Os Cresson, foreword by David Boulton, published in 2014 by Morning Walk Press, Iowa City IA. This book is available now at QuakerBooks in Philadelphia (online at www.quakerbooks.org ) for $15.95, and it will soon be carried by the Quaker Centre Bookshop in London (online at https://www.quaker.org.uk/shop ). The author’s income from book sales goes to … Read more

Reviews of Publications on Quaker Nontheism in the 2010s

Contents: Introduction Review #1: Patrick Nugent’s homework assignments Introduction: For a general introduction, see the document on this website with reviews from the 1960s. There is also a list of publications on Quaker nontheism on this website. It does not include letters, editorials, book reviews or internet blog postings (an exception was made for two … Read more

Reviews of Publications on Quaker Nontheism in the 1960s

Contents: Introduction Review #1: Claire Walker and the Questing Quakers Review #2: Larry Miller’s review of Honest to God Review #3: Toward a Quaker view of theology Review #4: Dan Seeger and nontheist conscientious objection Review #5: Carol Murphy Review #6: Bradford Smith Review #7: Joseph Havens Review #8: Scott Crom Introduction: Learning about the … Read more

What Next for Quaker Nontheism?

Minute and Epistle of the gathering of nontheist Friends at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Britain, Feb 18-20 2011 “There are nontheist Friends… Friends who might be called agnostics, atheists, sceptics, but would nevertheless describe themselves as reverent seekers.”   So began the report of the first formal workshop for nontheist Friends, held in New York State … Read more

Intellect and Spirituality

…I don’t mean that everyone should engage in or care about this kind of intellectual wrestling, and I certainly don’t mean that our worship should become intellectual debate or performance–yuck. But the widespread fear of and distaste for intellect, as if the search for understanding could possibly be a bad thing, does not serve us well…

Nontheism Among Friends at Powell House, January 2-4, 2009

One person attended because of the laughter from the nontheism workshop at the Friends General Conference Gathering. Another came because a fellow Meeting member who attended in 2007 was so impressed. A third signed up because he questioned whether Quakers could be nontheist. A teenager brought her dad.

Zach Alexander (Cambridge MM, NEYM) and I, co-leaders for this weekend, met for the first time at the 2008 FGC Gathering, 5 minutes before we were scheduled to facilitate an interest group together. The interest group went well, and we agreed to pair up again.

Nontheism among Friends at Powell House – report

“If you think Richard Dawkins is too easy on religion, go down to that end of the room,” I said, indicating the steps up to the bookstore. “And if you…”

“Careful…” someone said.

And I was. There were several believers-in-God present – the exact number depending on your definition – and I didn’t want to make a joke that might be taken the wrong way.

“If you’re, uh… very theistic, go down to the other end,” I finished, indicating the fireplace. “And if you’re somewhere in between, go somewhere in between.”

Learning to love and accept “Quatheists” (Nontheist Friends) at Powell House

For three days I have been at the beautiful Powell House Quaker retreat center, up in Old Chatham, New York. I have been attending a workshop on “nontheist Quakers” led by Robin Alpern and Zach Alexander with about 16 other Quakers from around the northeast area.

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