*** Quakerism Thread *** I've had several one-on-one conversations recently about my Quaker faith so want to write a thread for anyone curious :)
first, some misconceptions to clear up: we are not Amish or Mennonite - no traditional garb or horse & buggy primitivism. i think this confusion stems from Pennsylvania being founded by a Quaker, William Penn and Quakers being religiously tolerant when most weren't, so other…
so, what IS Quakerism? well to start the official name is the Religious Society of Friends; "Quaker" started as a derogatory stereotype of trembling religious fervor, but we adopted it as a nickname, as one does. George Fox founded it in England in the 1640s and many Quakers…
The best i can explain it is that George Fox was a first principles thinker living during the Enlightenment who rejected institutionalized Christian bureaucracy to focus on direct experience of the Divine - "that of God in everyone" - which we most frequently refer to as the…
no liturgy? no clergy? - yes, this is what "Unprogrammed" means - Quakers gather and sit together in silence, listening for god to speak to us directly and maybe lead us to share an extemporaneous message with the group. Sometimes meetings are completely silent, sometimes…
you might notice i say meeting rather than service - Quakers have our own terminology, as you'd expect from a first principles English-speaking religious refactor. some other lingo: Friend = fellow Quaker, ppl will also describe quaker events as Friendly <<whatever>> Meeting =…
You might notice the terms are for spiritual practice & community more than theology - Quakers have an aversion to speculating beyond their firsthand experience and if asked about heaven might say it's our job to create heaven in our lifetimes on earth and may or may not believe…
i've had ppl ask me how i can be both quaker & e/acc ... which is a good question, there are some tensions between quaker hippie leftist inherent dignity of humans and e/acc techno-capital substrate-agnosticism ... but i feel like there's actually more in common: - strong…
I also feel like Quakers have a tradition of expanding the sphere of moral concern - from freeing slaves to women's rights to animal welfare ... it makes total sense for us to be open to giving moral weight to the preferences of artificially intelligent agents.