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Quaker
Universalist Group
The Quaker Universalist Group is an informal
group within the Quaker movement based on our understanding
that spiritual awareness is accessible to everyone of any
religion or none, and that no one faith can claim to have a
final revelation or monopoly of truth.
We acknowledge that such awareness may be expressed in many
different ways. We delight in this diversity and warmly
welcome both Quakers and non-Quakers to join us.
Our Vision
The
Quaker Universalist Group came about in 1978 from John
Linton's experiences in India of meetings where Hindus,
Muslims, Sikhs and Christians worshipped together in Quaker
silence.
Our
vision today is for the Society of Friends (Quakers) no
longer to be just an arbour in the Christian garden but to
be the seedbed of dynamic faith where those of any religion
or none worship together in silence, ministry and witness,
in the Quaker way.
We
see the building of bridges between members of traditional
and emerging faiths through shared spiritual experience and
action, on processes of 'mutual irradiation' and 'dialogues
of understanding', as one of today's most urgent religious
needs for world peace.
We
believe that the Society is now being called to respond to
this need as a divine leading. It is a natural growth of
Quakerism which has always been universal in spirit. From
our seventeenth century beginnings Friends set aside
liturgy, sacraments, creeds and clergy to evolve a faith and
worship based on personal direct spiritual experience,
tested by the group and given everyday testimony.
Friends
in their silent worship wait on the light or the Seed, an
inner universal evolutionary transforming power of love,
healing and creativity, that is also known as Christ, Buddha
and Atman. The human face of God we see in a Jesus, Gautama,
John Woolman or Gandhi, as well as our neighbour.
With discernment, Friends have always embraced truth wherever it is to be found. Today the religious texts and writings of all faiths are now at hand in good translations, as well as the finest of the world's poetry and prose, and the insights of the scientist and artist, to take with us on our spiritual journey. They are now rich in both traditional and evolving spiritual techniques to nurture us.
What we do
Produce publications
A
radical periodical, Universalist,
three times a year, sent free to members.
Pamphlets on
wide-ranging aspects of Quaker Universalism.
Free downloadable copies of the Universalist
Classics
Initiate activities
There
is an annual conference - a
residential weekend in the spring, which is held at varying
locations around the country.
There are currently active local
groups in Leicester and London. More are in the
process of being formed.
Members are supported in initiating local discussion, for which speakers can be provided.
Provide Internet Services
Distribute an e-Newsletter
Maintain a Yahoo
e-mail information / discussion group
Our aims
To
play a part in the re-kindling of the Quaker flame, so that
the Society of Friends may be bolder in speaking to the
urgent needs of a materialistic world that has lost its
spiritual way.
To
affirm that as truth is all-embracing and universal,
spiritual awareness is accessible to women and men of any
religion or none, for no religion or person has a monopoly
of truth.
To
maintain our witness that it is possible to be a Quaker
without being a Christian, in the understanding that mystics
of every religion tap the one universal consciousness.
To
support those Friends holding universalist views, whose
perceptions have been expanded and who feel isolated in
their own Meetings.
To
explore the developing insight amongst Friends of 'that of
God in everything', as well as our traditional belief of
'that of God in everyone', with the lifestyle testimony to
simplicity and sustainability that a polluted world compels.
To
reach out to the many seekers beyond the Society of Friends
who are in sympathy with our concerns and be a link with
them to find a way of worship and life that speaks to their
need.
To
encourage more of our members, and others, to write of their
experiences and put their challenges and new thinking into
words, so that our publications are at the cutting edge.
To
make our national and local gatherings friendly and
celebratory networkings where members feel encouraged, make
new friends, hear lively speakers and deepen spiritual
practice.
To
maintain contacts with the growing number of like-minded
Friends and universalist groups in America and other parts
of the world.
Other voices
"The Light shines through all."
George Fox 1656
"The humble , meek, merciful, just, pious and devout souls
are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off
the masks, they will know one another, though the divers
liveries they wear here make them strangers."
William Penn 1693
"There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human
mind, which in different places and ages has different
names; it is, however, pure and proceeds from God. It
is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion nor
excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect
sincerity. In whomsoever this takes root and grows of
what nation soever, they become brethren."
John Woolman 1762
"Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and
leaves, so there is one true and perfect religion, but it
becomes many religions as it passes through the human
medium. The one Religion is beyond all speech. Imperfect men
and women put it into such language as they can command and
their words are interpreted by others equally imperfectly.
Hence the necessity of tolerance, which does not mean
indifference to one's own faith, but a more intelligent and
purer love for it. True knowledge of religion breaks down
barriers between faith and faith."
Mahatma Gandhi
"It is a bold and colossal claim that we put forward - that
the whole of life is sacramental, that there are innumerable
'means of grace' by which God is revealed and communicated -
through nature and through human fellowship and through a
thousand things that may become the 'outward and visible
sign' of 'an inward and spiritual grace'."
A. Barratt Brown 1932
Conferences : Journal : e-Newsletter : Membership : Publications : Universalist Classics