QuakerQuaker

The most interesting aspect of these conflicting attitudes is that both those Friends who reject Christianity and those who defend it often share an understanding of Christianity that was explicitly rejected by the first Quakers.

As our discussion became a little heated, the Friend who was clerking/facilitating suggested a period of quiet. After a short while, one non-Quaker friend burst out with frustration; they felt that we were being told to shut up, that legitimate, if divergent, views were not being heard. Can Quakers use quietness in this way, even if unconsciously, more often than we realise?

The second unmentionable elephant in the room is the Deceiver. I have no inside information on his – or its – nature or ontological status: has ‘he’ a consciousness, a will-to-power, a hatred of all that God loves? Is he/it merely a life-defiling, truth-denying, soulless algorithm generated by the collective unconscious of fallen humanity?

But in a faith group that levels hierarchy, that has no paid priesthood and no accepted path to ordination that sets some apart as leaders and sages, we are faced with the problem of the Friend who didn’t know what to think of Thomas Kelly: How do we decide who to emulate? Whose wisdom we should trust and follow? How do find our elders, mentors, and wise counselors?

Attempts to explain values in terms of neuroscience or evolutionary theory in fact have nothing whatever to say about what is good or bad. That is a philosophical or religious question. And they cannot for example tell you, from a scientific basis, what should be done about Israel or Syria today. That effort would be a category mistake.

So as we wait for God’s Spirit to bring us to unity, we also wish to humble ourselves before God in confession and repentance.

As fellow Quakers, we remain respectfully in formal and informal dialogue on issues such as these. It is the hope of many FGC Quakers that our society as a whole will embrace the fullness and diversity of God’s creation.

I want other transgender and L.G.B.T.Q. people to see that they can have a place in faith-based education. The fact that I’m here is proof of that.