A majority of Quakers worldwide live in the countries of East Africa, Central and South America, and would consider Quakerism to be a form of evangelical Christianity. In Britain, where Quakerism began, very few Quakers today would consider themselves to be evangelical Christians and a majority would probably not consider themselves Christian at all. And in the United States, Quakers cover a very wide range of beliefs.
In addition to many varieties of Christian Quakers, there are Universalist Quakers, Humanist Quakers, Buddhist Quakers, Pagan Quakers and Non-Theist Quakers. As a Pretheist Quaker, I believe in a future God who could evolve as the next level of Being after Human Being.
Like other forms of Quakerism, a Pretheist Quaker believes that there is “that of God” in each one of us, and on the basis of that core belief comes a set of testimonies about how we live and how we treat each other. For a Pretheist, what is in each one of us is that of a future God who is still to come, rather than that of a pre-existent (Christian) God who has been there from the beginning.
But if there is really that of a future God in each one of us, then it follows just as it does for a Christian that there is something very sacred about every single human life. The taking of a human life, therefore, whether by murder, by warfare, or by state execution, is not something we can ever condone. That is the foundation of the Quaker Peace Testimony.
And if there is that of a future God within each one of us, then it also follows that we all deserve to be treated equally and fairly, with the same dignity and respect, no matter who we are. No one is “above” anyone else in the context of evolution and an evolving God. Men and not superior to women, Caucasian people are not superior to people of African descent, people who fall in love with those of the opposite sex are not superior to people who fall in love with those of the same sex. That is the foundation of the Quaker Testimony to Equality.
Being a “Pretheist Quaker” is about taking these, and other, Quaker testimonies to heart, and recognising that our purpose here on this earth is not only to live out these testimonies as best we can in our daily lives, but also to work ceaselessly for a world in which these testimonies can be realised for all people everywhere. And that means working for peace and justice not just at the superficial level where we see the immediate effects of war and injustice on the lives of those who suffer most directly from these things, but going in deep to address the root causes of all that hurt and suffering.
The root causes of most hurt and suffering in the world today lie in the systems and structures of class, racism and patriarchy that have been built up over the centuries to assert the power and domination of certain groups of people over others, and the physical and psychological violence that is used against anyone who challenges those systems and structures. These systems and structures are the very opposite of the radical equality as proclaimed by Quakers, and the use of violence to maintain these systems and structures is the very opposite of the radical commitment to peace and nonviolence as proclaimed by Quakers.
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