Posted: November 5, 2023   •   Posted in: Equality, Reflections

The Quaker testimony to equality

Living our Quaker values

Our central values today are simplicity, truth, equality, peace, and sustainability.  

How we act as Quakers goes together with what we believe. We don’t have a fixed creed because we have found that the search for truth can lead us to new expressions of values as well as confirming existing ones. We call these values ‘testimonies’. (Quakers in Britain)

Hierarchical organizations can encourage passivity and a kind of infantilism, even among reasonably intelligent, caring people.

Quakers believe that everyone is equal – each of us is “a child of God”. (Quakers in Britain)

For instance, I remember telling a Quaker friend that I didn’t think I could ever be a Quaker because I would miss the sacraments so much. ‘But everything can be sacramental, ‘was his reply. At that moment, a light went on in my mind, as I recognised the truth he had just uttered. The words of the catechism, familiar to me since childhood, had instilled in me a devotion to the seven sacraments, the Eucharist in particular, as holy rites of passage for important moments in one’s life. My friend enabled me to expand my, hitherto, rather narrow understanding to connect with my experience that any moment can be holy, if one responds to it in a spirit of reverence.

This false division between the sacred and the secular was brought home to me on another occasion, when I stood outside a church after a service, giving out leaflets announcing a talk by the then CND chairperson Bruce Kent. I was told roundly by several parishioners that I had no business mixing Religion with politics.

Experiencing equality in the meeting for worship

Another light went on in my mind the day I first attended a Quaker meeting for worship. To my amazement, the lovely, accepting, silent meeting morphed into a ‘meeting for business’, where those present seemed to give comparable attention to practical, rather worldly matters like white poppies and a possible Quaker response to an influx of refugees into Norwich. Conducted in a spirit of courtesy, patience and discipline, there was a wholeness, a kind of equality being expressed here, which seemed entirely in keeping with the idea that spiritual values inform all aspects of our daily experience.

I have come to appreciate more and more the inclusive nature of the Meeting for Worship. Its democratic, circular structure encourages equality where those present combine to make and deepen the silence. Rich and full as it can be, it can be further enriched when any one of us is moved to utter a ministry. There is no room for passivity here. We are all equally responsible for building the conditions for spiritual renewal.

Toni (Norwich Quaker Meeting)