“What do Quakers believe?”  “Are Quakers Christian?”  These are questions we are asked all the time with the expectation that we will all have the same, short succinct answer.  They are questions we ask each other.  Answers like “we do not have a creed” or “it is complex” are met with incredulity especially by those who want to put Quakerism in a neat little box.

Sometimes we lean on the phrase that Quaker belief is that there is “that of God in each person.”  For me, this has been overused and lost much of its meaning.  Some Friends use the expressions “the Inner Light” or “the Light of Christ Within.”  Others may say that we have a relationship with God that is direct, we don’t need a mediator.  Some talk of having conversations with God.  My professors at Earlham School of Religion taught me the theological term “panentheism.”  In general, it describes the understanding that God is everywhere in the world and yet God is also beyond the world.   

We may answer questions about beliefs by naming the testimonies: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Stewardship.  However, as important as these are, they are not the same as beliefs.  They are the outcome of our worship and they change as we gain new understandings of the Truth.

Friends have struggled with issues around belief for a long time.  In the nineteenth century, with revivals sweeping across the Midwest and influencing Quaker meetings, Friends felt they needed to take a stand on who and what they were.  Orthodox Friends met in Indiana and produced the Richmond Declaration in 1887.  This statement of beliefs and practices provided a base for their meetings.  However, they realized that enforcing these beliefs meant they had to embrace a pastoral system.  Most of these monthly meetings, which are now part of Friends United Meeting, have a paid pastor who prepares a message each Sunday.   

Hicksite Friends, including those in Illinois Yearly Meeting, were not part of the conference in Richmond in 1887.  Though at the time many may have agreed with much that was in the Richmond Declaration, their emphasis focused on the form of worship, our unprogrammed meeting for worship and meeting for business.  By sticking to this manner of worship, they had to relax any insistence on specific beliefs.  Today we accept generally that our beliefs may differ but we act quickly when a disturbance happens in our meeting for worship.  That doesn’t mean we think that anything goes.  We still find unity in our meetings for business which we would not be able to do if we emphasized individuality.

Though many of us may have felt some frustration when suddenly we must become theologians when explaining our religion, I think that our diversity of belief is actually a strength.  We don’t stop searching.  We are open to a continuing revelation from God.  We help each other to better understand what it is that makes us part of the Religious Society of Friends.