Quakers

===Non-theists===
{{main|Nontheist Quakers}}
A minority of Friends have views similar to post-Christian non-theists in other churches such as the [[Sea of Faith]], which emerged from the [[Anglican]] church. They are predominantly atheists, agnostics and humanists who still value membership in a religious organization. The first organisation for non-theist Friends was the ''Humanistic Society of Friends'', founded in Los Angeles in 1939. This remained small and was absorbed into the [[American Humanist Association]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cresson |first=Os |title=Roots and Flowers of Quaker Nontheism |url=http://www.nontheistfriends.org/article/roots-and-flowers-of-quaker-nontheism-2/ |access-date=6 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209104940/http://www.nontheistfriends.org/article/roots-and-flowers-of-quaker-nontheism-2/ |archive-date=9 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> More recently, interest in non-theism resurfaced, particularly under the British Friend David Boulton, who founded the 40-member ''Nontheist Friends Network'' in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Nontheist Friends Network in Britain |url=http://www.nontheistfriends.org/article/new-nontheist-friends-network-in-britain/ |publisher=nontheistfriends.org}}</ref> Non-theism is controversial, leading some Christian Quakers from within Britain Yearly Meeting to call for non-theists to be denied membership.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heathfield |first=D |title=Non-theist Friends Network |journal=The Friend |date=27 May 2011 |volume=169 |issue=21 |url=http://thefriend.org/article/letters-27-may-2011/}}</ref> In one study of Friends in the [[Britain Yearly Meeting]], some 30% of Quakers had views described as [[non-theism|non-theistic]], [[agnostic]], or [[atheist]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dandelion |first=Pink |title=A Sociological Analysis of the Theology of Quakers: The Silent Revolution |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |year=1996}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Heron |first=Alistair |title=Caring, Conviction, Commitment: Dilemmas of Quaker Membership Today |publisher=Quaker Home Service |location=London |year=1992}}</ref> Another study found that 75.1% of the 727 members of the Religious Society of Friends who completed the survey said that they consider themselves to be Christian and 17.6% that they did not, while 7.3% either did not answer or circled both answers.<ref name=Mellor/>{{rp |p.41}} A further 22% of Quakers did not consider themselves Christian, but fulfilled a definition of being a Christian in that they said that they devoutly followed the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.<ref name=Mellor/>{{rp |p.52}} In the same survey, 86.9% said they believed in God.<ref name=Mellor>{{Cite thesis |last=Mellor |first=Katherine |title=Christian Belief in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers): a Response to the Claim That British Friends Are Post-Christian |type=M.Phil. |year=2009 |publisher=University of Birmingham |url=http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/682/1/Mellor10MPhil.pdf |pages=39–40}}</ref>