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Everyday Comparative Religion

Religion and Politics

Earlham School of Religion

Religion and Politics

• Authored by:
• South Mountain Friends Meeting

Because this year is an important election year, we have revisited our faith traditions regarding the right relation of religion and politics. We have undertaken this process as a means to inform and guide our own practice; but we also wish to share our understandings with the public at large, with the hope that they may bring clarity to a dimension of political life that has vexed and confused many citizens in recent years.

On Limits (May 2016)

Fabulous Quakers: Q&A About Religion

Liturgies of Empire, Liturgies of Resistance (abridged)

• Authored by:
• C. Wess Daniels

[The following text was drawn from a complete transcript of C. Wess Daniels’s keynote talk, which is published at: https://westernfriend.org/media/liturgies-empire-and-resistance]

On Teachers (September 2020)

A Scientist’s View on Space and Spirituality

• Authored by:
• Flora Quinby

The earliest moment I remember struggling with the overlap of outer space and religion was when I was watching a Space Shuttle launch. I noticed that the shuttle didn’t go through a part of the atmosphere that was called “Heaven.” In that moment, I had a very difficult internal argument – I couldn’t decide which to believe in, space travel or God. Years later, I’m now a college student studying Aerospace Engineering, and I’m still struggling with that decision.

On Expansion (May 2018)

The Estranged Family of Friends

• Authored by:
• Andrew Bruce Secrest

Andrew Secrest was a member of both Lake County Worship Group of Redwood Forest Friends Meeting and of Berkeley Friends Church. He was a husband and father, a hospice nurse, and he followed a calling his whole adult life to bridge the gap between evangelical Friends and liberal Friends. He died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in his home in Lakeport, CA, on June 25, 2013. The text below was excerpted from the transcript of an interview that Western Friend conducted with Andrew on May 16 and May 17, 2013. Thanks to Solomon Smilack for helping with the transcription.

On Love (September 2013)

Paths of Faith

• Authored by:
• Rob Pierson

There are many fine books exploring the relation of science and faith, including excellent texts by Friends who are scientists, theologians, or both. Paths of Faith in the Landscape of Science: Three Quakers Check Their Compass, however, offers something distinctively Quaker. Canadian Friends Strunz, Miller, and Helmuth use their personal life stories – testimonies – to show continuing revelation as involving all truth, whether spiritual or scientific.

On Limits (May 2016)

Transcendence and Community

• Authored by:
• Susan Calhoun

At the close of our business meeting last August, I felt a lack of Light in the room.

On Division (January 2024)