What Do Quakers Believe?

In some ways, it’s easier to describe what Quakers don’t believe than it is to describe what they do! If you’d like a full description, see our Faith and Practice Page, but the short version is this:

Quakers believe in God, but not in a rigid way. God is Light, God is neither male nor female, and God is within you.

Quakers don’t force religion on other people; we would rather be here for seekers to find for themselves.

Quakers don’t have creeds. We have values we cherish, but we don’t compel agreement – we give advice.

Quakers believe in the human mind and respect intelligence, reason, and rational thought.

Quakers believe in simplicity, which means that you can come to Meeting to listen to God in jeans.

Quakers believe in equality, which means that we don’t believe that being male, female, black, white, straight, gay, rich, poor, or otherwise makes you better or worse than any other human. We all have that of God in us.

Quakers tell the truth and practice integrity — we say yes when we mean yes and no when we mean no. We don’t take oaths to tell the truth because that implies there are times when it is acceptable to lie.

Quakers believe in peace and nonviolence not only in their own lives, but in the world as a whole. We feel that war is destructive and wrong and prefer peaceful resolution to a conflict.