Nontheist Friend

A nontheist Friend or nontheist Quaker is someone who identifies with, engages in and/or affirms Quaker practices and processes, but who does not accept a belief in a theistic understanding of God, a Supreme Being, the divine or the supernatural. Like theistic Friends, nontheist Friends are actively interested in realizing peace, love and happiness in the Society of Friends and beyond.

Friends have recently begun to examine actively the significance of nontheistic beliefs in the Society of Friends, in the tradition of seeking (regimes of) truth among Friends. The main nontheist Friends' website is one significant site for this conversation, as are nontheist Quaker study groups. Os Cresson began a recent consideration of this issue from behaviorist, nauturalist, materialist and environmentalist perspectives. See Roots and Flowers of Quaker Nontheism for one history. The book Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism (2006) offers recent, critical contributions by Quakers. Many Friends are actively engaging the implications of evolutionary history and biology in terms of Quaker nontheism.