Talk:Society of Friends

Anabaptist / protestant
The article now says "They are an anabaptist branch of Protestantism and as such do not evangelize". I think the claim that they are anabaptist is simply wrong (though there are some ideas in common), but the issue of protestantism is more complicated. Certainly early friends like Robert Barclay rejected the label, but many groups now probably rightly fall under it. There was a schism in the early 1800s and the descendants of the "Gurneyite" sect are these days basically indistinguishable from other evangelical protestant groups. It's this odd strain of Quakerism that Nixon was a member of. In any case, I'm inclined to just delete the sentence. --MarkGall (talk) 01:59, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

You were correct in removing that sentence. Quakers have long been confused with Anabaptists because Pennsylvania (set up by Quakers) was the first community to welcome Anabaptists., who were not accepeted by the other colonies. Additionally, Quakers and Anabaptists have always been "Peace Churches," which has also led to the confusion. I am a Quaker and my world view is quite different than those from the Anabaptist tradiaitons (such as the Amish and Mennonites).MystiqueLady (talk) 15:09, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Regarding "Cite Needed" on opening Paragraph: This would be difficult to cite due to the nature of Quaker meetings. The Quaker Faith and Practice (Second Edition) of the Britain Yearly Meeting makes many references to the Divine, or Inner Light, that is within all of us, and speaks about the search for that of God within all of us, but it has very few direct references to Christ. Additionally, many meetings recognize that the pathway to God is not necessarily through Christ; that there are many examples of other paths to God. Depending on the meeting, there is a recognition of Universalist Quakers -- those not having the view that the only pathway to God is through Christ. Many meetings recognize the Christian Bible, all versions, as a divinely inspired text. Butmany meetings also recognize that there are other divinely inspired texts, including the poetry of Rumi, the Koran, the Tao Te Ching, and the Dhammapada, among others. It is also well documented that Quakers accepted Native American spiritual experiences as valid expressions of the Inner Light (http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/870/quakers-and-indians). I hope I did not break too many rules of this community in clarifying these issues -- MystiqueLady (talk) 15:09, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Placeholder for when I get back from work
something something chocolate something porridge something.

FCL?
Should the article include mention of the Friends' Committee on Legislation? It is their political wing and it generally holds sensible positions. 107.204.212.154 (talk) 16:59, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Its actually FCNL Friends Committee on National Legislation&mdash; Unsigned, by: 98.172.76.115 / talk / contribs 19:26, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Atheism
Aren't some of the more liberal ones more or less atheists, in a similar way to some Unitarian Universalists? --Annanoon (talk) 22:35, 23 March 2019 (UTC)