Beliefs

Living Our Faith

Quaker Beliefs


Every person is known by God and can know God in a direct relationship.

The Quaker faith has deep Christian roots. Many Quakers consider themselves Christians, and some do not. Many Quakers find meaning and value in the teachings of many faiths.

Quakers strive to live lives that are guided by a direct encounter with the Divine, more than by teachings about the Divine.  

Quaker terms for the Holy include God, the Seed, the Light Within, and the Inward Teacher, among others.

Testimonies are ways that Quakers have found to express our experience of the Divine in our lives.  Some of the best recognized testimonies include simplicity, integrity, equality, community, and peace.

-Friends General Council

https://www.fgcquaker.org/quakerism/

What are Testimonies?

"The term "testimonies" is used to refer to this common set of deeply held, historically rooted convictions and modes of living in the world."

-SEYM Faith & Practice

The word 'testimony' is used by Friends to describe a witness to the living Truth within the human heart as it is acted out in everyday life. It is not a form of words, but a mode of life based of the realization that there is "that of God in everyone," that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected.

It is affirmative, but may lead to action that runs counter to certain practices currently accepted in the society at large.

Testimonies reflect the corporate beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends, however much individual Friends may interpret them differently according to their own Light.

They are not 'optional extras' but fruits that grow from the tree of faith.  

In the recent past Quakers have sometimes abbreviated our testimonies as "SPICES" – simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship of the Earth.

-Swarthmore Friends Meeting; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Simplicity
Peace
Integrity
Community
Equality
Stewardship

A Brief Explanation of the Quaker Testimonies

SPICES

 The word testimony describes the way that Friends testify or bear witness to their beliefs in their everyday life. A testimony is therefore not a belief in itself, rather it is committed action arising out of Friends’ experience.

The Quaker Testimonies, as generally recognised globally in the 21st century, are as follows:

  • Simplicity
  • Peace
  • Integrity
  • Community
  • Equality
  • Stewardship / Sustainability

As you might have seen, listed in this way the Quaker Testimonies make the acronym SPICES.

By having SPICES as part of their everyday existence, Quakers often say they lead a more fulfilled life.
 
 
Simplicity
Quakers are concerned about the excesses and unfairness of our consumer society, and the unsustainable use of natural resources.

We try to live simply and to give space for the things that really matter to us.

This includes the people around us, the natural world and our experience of God.
 
 
Peace
Perhaps Quakers are best known for our peace testimony.

This derives from our conviction that love is at the heart of existence and that we must live in a way that reflects this.

It has led many Quakers to refuse military service, and to become involved in a wide range of peace activities.

We seek alternatives to violence at all levels from personal to international.
 
 
Integrity
Quakers try to live according to the deepest truth we know, which is Love.

This means speaking the truth to all, including people in positions of power.

Integrity is the guiding principle we set for ourselves, both in private and public life. 
 
 
Community
Quakers recognise the equal worth and unique nature of every person.

We actively work to change the systems that cause injustice and hinder true community.

We also work to help people who are suffering from injustice, such as prisoners and asylum seekers.
 
 
Equality
Equality is the acceptance that everyone is equal and every person has the right to be respected.

Quakers reject discrimination in all its forms.

The Equality testimony is about acceptance regardless of religion, race, nationality, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and disability.
 
 
Sustainability / Stewardship
"We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will.

Show a loving consideration for all creatures, and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world.

Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life.

Rejoice in the splendour of God’s continuing creation."

-Lincoln Quaker Meeting

Lincoln, UK

https://lincolnquakers.org/what-are-the-quaker-testimonies/

A More In-Depth Explanation of the Quaker Testimonies

Quaker Testimonies


The word 'testimony' is used by Friends to describe a witness to the living Truth within the human heart as it is acted out in everyday life. It is not a form of words, but a mode of life based of the realization that there is "that of God in everyone," that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected. It is affirmative, but may lead to action that runs counter to certain practices currently accepted in the society at large. Testimonies reflect the corporate beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends, however much individual Friends may interpret them differently according to their own Light. They are not 'optional extras' but fruits that grow from the tree of faith.  In the recent past Quakers have sometimes abbreviated our testimonies as "SPICES" – simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship of the Earth.

Simplicity
There is certainty among Friends that the world offers many distractions from the Truth, for example the pursuit of wealth or power or pleasure, extravagance in language, fashion or behavior, and too great an emphasis on business, even for good causes. Truth is usually discovered in quiet, undistracted waiting for its leadings in the human heart, in the humble simplicity of spirit which acknowledges that ultimately God is in charge of our world, not we ourselves.

The testimony of simplicity seeks, therefore, to focus our attention on what is essential and eternal, without distraction by the transitory or the trivial. Plain and honest speech is an expression of simplicity. Respect for God's creation and, therefore, concern for the environment and the right use of the world's resources is another obvious expression of this testimony. A growth economy based on extravagance, wastefulness and artificially stimulated wants is seen to be a fundamental violation of the testimony of simplicity.

Peace
The peace testimony is based on the same understanding of the nature of God and of human beings. How can one kill another child of God, a potential channel of Truth, no matter how misguided he or she may seem at the moment? This testimony has led Friends to oppose all wars and preparation for wars. At the time of the American Revolution, many Friends were 'disowned' by their Meetings for participating in military actions. Later, Friends, faced with military conscription, worked to establish the right of conscientious objection. Some Friends today work to end the conscription for military purposes not only of their bodies but also of their tax money.

The peace testimony has meant efforts to ease suffering of victims of war on all sides. It means efforts to be or to seek a reconciling force between peoples and nations in conflict. It means a constant search for nonviolent means of conflict resolution through institutions of law, such as international treaties and structures like the European Union or the United Nations. It means a continuing search for peace and social justice through personal and group nonviolent techniques for mediation and social change. The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) in Brussels, and the Quaker United Nation Offices (QUNOs) in Geneva and New York, for example, promote Quaker views at the heart of centers of power, where political, economic and military decisions with worldwide effect are made ("speaking truth to power").

Integrity (Truth)
Truth is a complex concept. Sometimes the word is used for God, sometimes for the conviction that arises from worship, sometimes for the way of life. It was the obedience to truth as they understood it that led Friends to act in ways which others thought odd and even provocative. For early Friends, witnessing to Truth involved the keeping up of public Meetings for Worship, whatever the penalties involved. It also involved preaching, for which many Friends were imprisoned. The concern for truthfulness led Friends right from the first day to refuse to take oaths. An oath according to them was a sign that there were two different levels of truthfulness and they believed that you should tell the truth all the time. Margaret Fell was imprisoned and lost all her property for her refusal to take an oath of loyalty to the king.

Community
As equally beloved children of God, all human beings are brothers and sisters, one human family, no matter how great our differences of experience, of culture, of age, of understanding. Friends have found that the Light may illuminate a gathered group as well as an individual heart and bind the group together in a community of faith, conscience and experience. Friends see it as their task to build a broader community throughout our world, by seeing and affirming in each other the divine potential, the Seed, the Christ, the Light within. We must learn to deal with one another by affirming and nurturing the best we find in each other - or, in the words of George Fox - by "answering that of God in everyone." In such a community, Friends believe, human beings witness to the sovereignty, compassion and love of the God of their experience.

Equality
If God is directly accessible to all persons, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, economic, social or educational position - if every person is held equal in God's love and has equal potential to be a channel for the revelation of God's Truth - then all persons are to be equally valued. There is that Seed, that Light - there is "that of God" in every person. For Friends this insight has meant, from the beginning, equality of the sexes and of races. In England and the English colonies this had to mean the end of privilege based on wealth or class. In Japan and Kenya, where the existing cultures made women little more than 'domestic property,' it resulted in the establishment of Quaker schools for girls. It also formed the basis for opposition to slavery and the death penalty.

Stewardship of the Earth

Friends worldwide have accepted the idea that the testimony of equality in the economic realm implies a commitment to the right sharing of the world's resources.  We recognize that the well-being of the Earth is a fundamental spiritual concern.  From the beginning, it was through the wonders of nature that people saw God.  How we treat the Earth and its creatures is a basic part of our relationship with God.  Our planet as a whole, not just the small parts of it in our immediate custody, requires our responsible attention. Friends are indeed called to walk gently on the Earth. Wasteful and extravagant consumption is a major cause of destruction of the environment. Friends are called to become models and patterns of simple living and concern for the Earth.

In part compiled from Friends World Committee on Consultation,

"Quakers Around the World - Handbook of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)." Handbook of the Religious Society of Friends with descriptions of Yearly Meetings and groups, Quaker schools, study centres, periodicals and libraries. FWCC World Office, London, 1994.

"Friendly Answers to Questions About American Quakers." Leaflet published by FWCC Section of the Americas, Philadelphia, 1991.

-Swarthmore Friends Meeting; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Swarthmore Friends Meeting Swarthmore, Pennsylvania