Why I am a Quaker


The following was found on a web site.   Although Stuart has no connection to the Birmingham Friends, his statement seems relevent.   To see statements from Birmingham Friends as to why they are Quakers, click on the names to the left.

Why I became a Quaker
Stuart Burbridge

For most of my adult life I have not belonged to any church or religious group. But I have always had a strong interest in spiritual matters including that question which I believe is at the heart of all religions: what happens to us when we die?

 Neither of my parents are churchgoers although my mother was brought up in a fairly strict Church of England family and my father among even stricter Baptists. There is no doubt that a good deal of their East Anglian puritanism rubbed off on me.

 I received my early religious education at a Methodist Sunday school. There I had no difficulty in the concept of being an immortal soul living in eternity.

 But the idea that we have just one life on earth to prove ourselves and then live forever in either Heaven or Hell, seemed to me ridiculous and not the kind of system a loving and forgiving God would arrange.

 In my early twenties, an instinctive need to fill a God-shaped hole in my life led me to flirt with several religious sects including the Mormons and the Moonies before they became infamous.

 What stopped me from joining any of them was my perception of an essential hypocrisy in so many groups that claim to be Christian based.

 While there is much in the bible that may be open to interpretation, there is no ambiguity about the commandments not to kill but to love your neighbours and enemies.

 It has always seemed to me that it is impossible to be truly Christian without being a pacifist. But all the groups I explored found it acceptable for their members to join the armed forces and far from loving their enemies, in some instances, expressed hatred for certain people.

Discovering Quakers

 I became involved in voluntary work in my late twenties and eventually trained for a professional qualification in social work.

 Over several years I noticed wherever there was good work being done there always seemed to be a Quaker present. I was intrigued.

 Like many people, I had thought Quakers were confined to history. All I knew about them was from seeing films like Friendly Persuasion, which tells the story of a Quaker family and their personal struggles with their faith when faced with the violence of the American Civil War.

 When I eventually crossed the threshold of a Quaker Meeting House to participate in a Meeting for Worship, like others before me, I had a strong feeling of having come home. Sitting in a circle together in a still and welcoming silence each person, in their own way, waits upon God.

 Occasionally, someone may feel impelled to rise to their feet and speak. But a Meeting for Worship may pass in complete silence and often these may be the most profound.  You can find yourself with a new awareness of issues that you have never before considered.

The Quaker Faith

 To be a Quaker is to try to live in a manner that doesn't cause harm and is of positive benefit to others.

 There is no written set of ideas and beliefs that you must hold to be a Quaker but over the centuries they have accumulated a number of testimonies that they try to bear witness to in their daily lives.  Among these are:  peace, equality, truth and simplicity.

 Exactly how these are expressed will vary between individuals just as it has changed through the generations.

 For instance, in the 17th century as an affirmation of equality, Quaker men would keep their hats on at all times except when praying which caused considerable offence at a time when it was customary to remove your hat when in the presence of your social superiors. Today there is no such custom and few people were hats.

 A meeting house is not a consecrated building or regarded to be in any way especially sacred. To do so denies the sacredness of all things.

 Similarly, Quakers in Britain do not have ordained priests or ministers.  All members, irrespective of age or gender, share the responsibility for the maintaining the spiritual community as they have for the past 350 years.

 Finally, here is a tip on how you can check if the building you have entered is a Quaker meeting house or some other place. Nowhere other than a Quaker meeting for worship will you see such a gathering of sensible shoes.

 last updated: 14/12/05