Learning about “nontheist Quakers” this weekend at Powell House

I'm going on a somewhat last minute trip up to the Quaker retreat center Powell House in Old Chatham, NY. I've been wanting to head up to Powell House for the past few months. Danielle from Brooklyn Meeting offered to get a car and drive up, so I jumped at the opportunity.

The occasion is a workshop on "Nontheism Among Friends" facilitated by Robin Alpern and Zach Alexander. The topic is rather intriguing, as described in a flyer:

Friends have become increasingly aware of the theological diversity of our Religious Society. Through experience and statistical studies, we have learned a large proportion of our members and attenders are somewhere on a spectrum that includes postchristians, agnostics, atheists, secularists, humanists. How can we be nontheists and Quakers too? If our Quaker life is not centered on belief in God, what is our center? What are our challenges? How can theists and nontheists enrich each other while holding views that differ?
We will explore the faith and practice of Quaker nontheists and the richness of a spiritual life not necessarily dependent on belief in God.

Although I am definitely in the "theist" camp, I'd be curious about how we as Quakers can navigate what appears at its face to be insurmountable differences in worldview. To find out more, you can check the blog nontheistfriends.org and read an interesting discussion about nontheist friends on QuakerInfo.com.

{Image by Crime of Poisson.]

1 thought on “Learning about “nontheist Quakers” this weekend at Powell House”

Hi Rik,
Great to hear it! Have you registered yet? Look for an email from me and Robin sometime in the next few days asking some preliminary questions (so we can get a sense of where people are coming from and fine-tune the program accordingly)
See you soon,
Zach

1 thought on “Learning about “nontheist Quakers” this weekend at Powell House”

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