UNglander Quakers maybe not i'm not sure how well it will go over in the US
Posted on 07/30/2009 6:51:38 PM PDT by Steelfish
Quakers 'to allow gay marriages'
The Quakers have supported same-sex unions for more than two decades One of the UK's oldest Christian denominations - the Quakers - looks set to extend marriage services to same-sex couples at their yearly meeting later.
The church has already held religious blessings for same-sex couples who have had a civil partnership ceremony.But agreeing to perform gay marriages, which are currently not allowed under civil law, could bring the Quakers into conflict with the government. The issue of active homosexuality has bitterly divided other churches.
But the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the Quakers had been more prepared than other churches to reinterpret the Bible in the light of contemporary life.
The Quakers - also known as The Religious Society of Friends - are likely to reach consensus on the issue of gay marriage without a vote at their annual gathering in York on Friday.
They will also formally ask the government to change the law to allow gay people to marry. Quaker registrars, like rabbis and Church of England priests, have the authority to marry heterosexual couples on behalf of the state.
But many British Quakers feel it is wrong to exclude a religious commitment from civil partnerships and want the right to marriage extended to same-sex couples too.
The Quaker church has welcomed same-sex unions for more than two decades, allowing local groups to celebrate same-sex commitments through special acts of worship.
But within Britain's Christian community more widely the issue of homosexuality has caused major confrontations.
Most recently, the Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, told a newspaper that homosexuals should "repent and be changed".
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
>> One of the UK’s oldest Christian denominations - the Quakers - looks set to extend marriage services to same-sex couples at their yearly meeting later.
They don’t read their Bibles, and they aren’t of Christ, if they remake the Lord in their own image.
Let’s not have any turning cheek jokes now... that would be inappropriate :)
Ahhh, please tell me this is a bad joke? The Quakers?? The world is truly going to H3ll in a hand basket!
Ping!
When I was in New Jersey, I had a neighbor who was a Quaker of the “inner light” variety. Such folks are usually not Christians as traditionally understood.
Wow. Did not know that. I thought they were along the same lines as the Shakers or the Amish.
UNglander Quakers maybe not i'm not sure how well it will go over in the US
There are about five branches of the Religious Society of Friends. Some are so conservative that they still wear plain dress and practice plain speech — i.e., “thee” and “thou” for “you” when singular.
Others are pretty far out, as we see above.
This is a wonderful group that contributed valuable concepts to Western culture. But by now many of them seem to be drifting aimlessly on culture’s tide instead of truly listening to the Inner Light.
The group split in the late 1820s and ‘30s over the weight believers should give to the Scripture vs. personal revelation.
My ancestors left the church more than 100 years ago but a lot of their principles echo through the years. For one thing, my Quaker great-great-grandfather ended up in teh Union Army somehow during the Civil War. That would not have gone over with the pacifist tradition.
They would not have stood for gay marriage, for sure. Probably not all of the Friends now will support it. However, they will be sure to talk it to death in trying to reach agreement on an issue where compromise is impossible.
The Friends Church was taken over by Leftists long ago. It allowed them an easy way out of the draft.
I say that as a former Quaker and current Catholic.
During the twentieth century, two Quakers, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon, both from the Western evangelical wing of the group, were elected to serve as presidents of the United States, thus achieving more secular political power than any Friend had enjoyed since William Penn. The policies of neither brought much acclaim to Quakers, with many Eastern American Friends actively opposing Nixon and calling for East Whittier Friends Church, where he held formal membership, to disown him.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Quakers
Welcome to the Church, sir. May I ask your story?
Quakers used to be Christian. I don’t consider them Christians now. They’re peace people, but not the Prince of Peace people.
Aw, don't be so hard on them. Those Quakers are just sowing their wild oats ... *snicker*
George Fox would be so against this. He would be outraged and would tell them to their faces.
1. What had once been admirable tolerance for other Christian faiths had become more or less apathy toward religious faith as a whole.
2. Being without a firm core of church fathers, the church leadership meetings became nothing more than a political outlet for Leftists who pushed their pet agendas, such as “Peace” declarations, nuclear disarmament, etc.
3. Given #2, the church's pacifist views became all important and dominated over all other considerations of faith.
4. Concerning #3, I never felt at ease with the strict pacifist views, i.e. nothing justifies war. It is not supported by scripture, common sense, nor simple morality. I always considered it a point of hypocrisy, as I never met a Friend's church member that would state that they would not physically defend their children if they were attacked. Quaker pacifism was rooted in the resistance to fighting for the King's pet causes where no moral issue was at hand. Many if not most American Quakers were OK with fighing in the American Revolution.
5. The fundamental elements of the faith are far too intellectual for my tastes, and I believe detrimental to one’s relationship with God. The underlying idea of simplicity to avoid distraction may sound good, but in practice it creates what I think is a bit of spiritual haughtiness, where one comes to think of themselves as more of the Lord's equal than his servant. I also think it ignores the very positive nature of routine and repetition in relation to how people prepare themselves mentally (e.g. as we do in yoga, sports, testing, work, etc.)
6. The Old Quaker Meeting model of having no minister is silly in my estimation. Again it goes back to the desert island essentials argument, but we are not on a desert island so why act as though we are?
7. I like the conservative nature of the Catholic Church and think that its failings are in execution, not in structure. Something that is unavoidable in any human endeavors.
The Quakers have been deteriorating into just another liberal quasi-Christian denomination for decades. They’re nothing like their predecessors. The Methodists (many) are another example. John Wesley would spend 24 hours a day in sackcloth and ashes if he were here to see what the Wesleyan movement has become.
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