From Our Core

Why are many Quakers activists to some degree or another?

This question has been asked from time to time and I think there are almost as many answers to this as there are Quakers. However, there are some basics that I think I can cover to at least get things going.

Quakers believed (and believe) that the light of God, or seed of God, was (is) in every human being. This belief led to the Peace Testimony and the traditional stance of Quakers to not take life or participate in war. Quakers also believe that the presence of God, the inner Christ, is available to everyone. We just have to listen. Notice I used the word everyone. This led Quakers towards an egalitarian path. A path that produced a unique form of corporate worship and vote-less decision-making process based on the idea that guidance is available to everyone and everyone should have the opportunity to be heard.

When you have these ideas at the core of your belief system starting in the 1640’s in a world that engaged in widespread slavery, believed women were almost property, and had kings that claimed rule by divine right; well, you get activists. In fact, for early Quakers, simply believing what they believed and living it in their day-to-day lives was a highly charged political act.

On top of this, many Quakers did and still do believe that Jesus talked of creating the Kingdom of God, here, now. Jesus wanted to alleviate the suffering of the poor and those who had suffered injustice. Combining the belief that the seed of God was in everyone, the inner Christ was available to everyone, and that to walk in the footsteps of Jesus was to seek to alleviate suffering and end injustice; you get activists.

However, because Quakers believed and believe in direct access to the inner Christ and experience “leadings” and have “concerns” their activism takes them beyond relationships defined by law and towards relationships defined by empathy, compassion and shared aspirations. Throughout history there have been people who have attempted to use religious writings, or strategically lifted passages from those writings, to justify a host of human inequities. These have included slavery, the servitude of women, capital punishment, divine right of kings, segregation, class-based societies, etc. Quakers have generally sought, based on their experience of the light, and the teachings of Christ from the New Testament that supported their experience of the light, to end injustice wherever possible. Further, many have felt led by the personal relationship with God, the inner Christ, to dedicate their lives to the liberation of humanity from social injustice, war and poverty. Many have been dedicated to the point of giving their lives for these causes. Living in the light so that others may experience it. All of this together helps explain why Quaker activism has often been considered “liberal” or left of center.

In this way, Quakerism is compatible with many of the goals of secular humanism and there is a natural sense of alliance and affection between many secular humanists and Quakers. In fact, many secular humanists have become Quakers. However, Quakers, unlike some secularists who are sustained by enlightened rationalism, naturally deep felt empathy and/or compassion (all wonderful), are generally motivated by a core religious conviction of equality borne out of experience of the inner Christ, the source, or God. This sense of communion with that which is, the prime mover, and the sense of mission it creates has sustained many Quakers through severe trials that have included harassment, imprisonment, property confiscations, and even death. Therefore, Quaker activism over many centuries has been sustained by the core beliefs and experiences of the divine. It is this deep resource or grounding that has given strength to the community and continues to give strength to the community.