by Brian Vura-Weis
From the beginning of Quakerism there was a tension between the Word given by the Bible and the Word as experienced by the individual. This dynamic has played out over the years between the Mystical, Universal and Christocentric Friends. It has led to difficulties within meetings and caused yearly meetings and families to split based on their conceptions of Truth. In virtually all of these divisions there was almost never disagreement about the existence of God. The first page of Pacific Yearly Meeting’s current Faith and Practice speaks to this:
The religious practices of Friends are founded in direct communion with God and the conviction that the Divine Light is accessible to each person; yet it is one Light, one Truth. We wait with hearts and minds open to the Divine so that Truth will be made known among us.
Our corporate search for God’s word is the heart of the Quaker Meeting for Worship. We believe that God, the Light, the Truth is part of our being. We say “there is that of God in everyone.” Truth is continually revealed to us, often through a gathered mystical experience. We learn to recognize the truth by experience.
So how can anyone call himself/herself a Quaker and not believe in God? God, speaking to us individually or corporately, seems to be the central thesis of Friends, yet many of us find the basic concept of a creator or sustaining God not meaningful to us personally.
At least one early Quaker agreed. David Boulton in his essay Militant Seedbeds of Early Quakerism: Winstanley and Friends, outlines Gerrard Winstanley’s 17th Century Quaker views on God as follows: “God is Reason, or selflessness, or community. Christ is not ‘a man (who) lived and died long ago at Jerusalem’ but ‘the power of the spirit within you’. God is not to be looked for ‘in a place of glory beyond the sun, but within yourself… He that looks for a god outside himself … worships he knows not what, but is … deceived by the imagination of his own heart’”.
Coming to Non-Theism
One of my favorite Biblical passages is the 23rd Psalm, especially the King James version. “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake…. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Who could ask for more? I cannot deny the feeling of comfort that this passage gives. In fact, it gives me the same feeling of comfort today as when I was young and believed in God. What can replace the feeling of the “everlasting arms” around us? How can I call myself a Quaker and deny this basic concept?
The process was gradual. When I was a high school special education teacher, I was able to teach courses in Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science. As I grew to a greater understanding of the breadth of the galaxies, the influence of evolution, the finiteness of biological and physical structures, the interconnectedness of it all, it became clear that there was no directive presence guiding our physical lives or the biosphere, or the universe. Couple this with the early gleanings that if God was Love, and God was directive in our lives, that God would not be punishing so many as evidenced by starvation, disease, mayhem, and the death of innocents. So both on an intellectual and gut level, I stopped believing in the God of the Bible.
Goodness Instead of God
In 1st Corinthians there is part of a passage that says “there is but one”, relating to God. Sitting in Meeting one First Day, I felt the meaning of that phrase for me was; “We are all one.” That each of us on this Earth are one. The “everlasting arms” was a metaphor for the interconnectedness of us all. It is the feeling we have for our loved ones, and the feeling that, at its best, should be extended to all.
As Kingdon W. Swayne said it in a February 15, 1980 article in Friends Journal, “I prefer to see myself not as finding and doing God’s will but as striving for goodness on the basis of general principles that are derived from my own sense of the nature of the universe.” This is my understanding of the essence of Quakerism. It is the reason we have the Queries and Testimonies. They are putting into words the methods we have to reach out to love and protect others.
In the final morning of a workshop at the Ben Lomond Quaker Center last November titled Nontheism: Can Goodness Replace God in Quaker Theology?, I asked the participants to re-write the Pacific Yearly Meeting Testimonies leaving out references to God. After the groups returned and shared the results, it was clear that God was not necessary to the meaning of the Testimonies. Integrity, Unity, Equality, Simplicity, Peace and Community are statements of the fruit of Quakerism. They stand on our individual and communal commitment to their principals, to our individual and communal commitment to all.
A Community of Seekers
For a long time I was reluctant to share my non-theist views in meeting. I did want to publicly acknowledge my feeling of separateness from the dominant theological strain of the meeting yet, I did not want to upset individual members by denying the basic precept of their belief. After “coming out”, I have received support, acknowledgement of those who believe the same or who believe differently and still support my leadings. With others there is some strain, an underlying tension that words cannot explain away.
As I read more, I realized that non-theist Friends have had the same struggle for years. An example is from the Report from the Workshop for Non-Theistic Friends, written at Friends General Conference in June of 1976:
We found in our group that we were representative of a rainbow of beliefs which exists within the larger Society of Friends. This spectrum included theists who define God as a spirit of presence which intervenes and guides in a personal way. Most were non-theists who, while believing in something universal beyond our biological selves which exists in everyone, do not believe in an eternal directing spirit. By listening to other’s expressions of their feelings and beliefs and by following our own guiding and strengthening “inner sources” we can develop our innate potential and experience personal growth. To continue to grow we feel a need to express our minority beliefs more openly and an obligation to listen to ourselves and others on a level which allows us to work together…. We hope for sensitivity and trust in our Meetings which allow us to grow in a community of seekers despite our differences ….”
Three years ago, I led a “Post-Theist” interest group at Pacific Yearly Meeting. I was shocked at the number of “Weighty Friends” that attended and shared their non-theist philosophies: former Yearly Meeting clerks, Meeting Clerks, members of ministry and oversight committees, etc. Clearly they found meaning in Quaker philosophy and in their Quaker communities; and their presence continues to enrich those around them.
In presenting the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize to the American Friends Service Committee, Gunnar Jahn, Chair of the Nobel Committee, quoted a young Quaker: “we’ve come out for a definite purpose, to build up in a spirit of love what has been destroyed in a spirit of hatred.” This spirit of love which encourages us to do good, for me, defines Quakerism, not the theological differences we might have.
Brian Vura-Weis has been an attender and member of Friends since the late 1960’s. He and his wife Dottie were married under the care of Orange Grove Monthly Meeting in 1972. He has been Co-Clerk of the Inland Valley Meeting, Clerk of the Southern California Quarterly Meeting. Brian is currently Clerk of PYM’s Discipline Committee and serves on committees at Palo Alto Monthly Meeting.