Hello all.
I am currently on, for want of a better word, a spiritual journey whereby I am looking into other things apart from the Anglican Church which has been part of my life since birth as my dad is a retired Church Of England vicar. I am very interested in the Quakers for several reasons but just want to check I've got a few things right in my head and also ask a few questions. I do apologise as there seem to be lots of threads on this forum asking Quakers to explain things.
1. I am pretty sure my local Meeting House is a Liberal Quaker meeting house and therefore I would imagine(correct me if I'm wrong) would have a proportion of people who don't consider themselves Christian. With this in mind, I would like to ask why someone who isn't a Christian would want to be a Quaker. I'm led to believe you can get atheist Quakers. It is beyond me why an Atheist would want to attend any religious service. Can someone please explain this?
2. Plain dress. How seriously do Quakers take this? I am not someone who dresses flamboyantly by any means but have a lot of t-shirts with slogans/bands etc and am slightly uncomfortable with being told how to dress even though the way I dress by choice could be described as moderately plain.
3. Pacifism. I don't consider myself a pacifist in the truest sense of the word. Whilst I would consider myself 'Non Violent', there are some things I struggle withas far as full blown pacifism is concerned. WWII is one of these(I do believe WWI was not necessary and if it hadn't have happened WWII would not have happened either. However, as it did, I also believe Hitler had to be stopped and negotiating with him simply wasn't working). Aside from WWII, I am pretty much a pacifist(although if I was subject to an unprovoked attack I can not, with hand on heart, state I would not defend myself. I would try to do so without harming the attacker, just stopping them but can not guarantee that would be the case. This is another issue I have).
I don't seem to fit in any mainstream Christian denomination(with the possible exception of Anglicanism if I can find the right church which is proving difficult) and the Quakers(and Anabaptists for that matter. I was very impressed when, on a recent trip to America I visited an Old Order Mennonite Community in Kentucky, however, very little in the way of Anabaptist churches over here in the UK) do appeal to me but I have concerns.
I am currently on, for want of a better word, a spiritual journey whereby I am looking into other things apart from the Anglican Church which has been part of my life since birth as my dad is a retired Church Of England vicar. I am very interested in the Quakers for several reasons but just want to check I've got a few things right in my head and also ask a few questions. I do apologise as there seem to be lots of threads on this forum asking Quakers to explain things.
1. I am pretty sure my local Meeting House is a Liberal Quaker meeting house and therefore I would imagine(correct me if I'm wrong) would have a proportion of people who don't consider themselves Christian. With this in mind, I would like to ask why someone who isn't a Christian would want to be a Quaker. I'm led to believe you can get atheist Quakers. It is beyond me why an Atheist would want to attend any religious service. Can someone please explain this?
2. Plain dress. How seriously do Quakers take this? I am not someone who dresses flamboyantly by any means but have a lot of t-shirts with slogans/bands etc and am slightly uncomfortable with being told how to dress even though the way I dress by choice could be described as moderately plain.
3. Pacifism. I don't consider myself a pacifist in the truest sense of the word. Whilst I would consider myself 'Non Violent', there are some things I struggle withas far as full blown pacifism is concerned. WWII is one of these(I do believe WWI was not necessary and if it hadn't have happened WWII would not have happened either. However, as it did, I also believe Hitler had to be stopped and negotiating with him simply wasn't working). Aside from WWII, I am pretty much a pacifist(although if I was subject to an unprovoked attack I can not, with hand on heart, state I would not defend myself. I would try to do so without harming the attacker, just stopping them but can not guarantee that would be the case. This is another issue I have).
I don't seem to fit in any mainstream Christian denomination(with the possible exception of Anglicanism if I can find the right church which is proving difficult) and the Quakers(and Anabaptists for that matter. I was very impressed when, on a recent trip to America I visited an Old Order Mennonite Community in Kentucky, however, very little in the way of Anabaptist churches over here in the UK) do appeal to me but I have concerns.