Quakers

==Relations with other churches and faiths==
===Ecumenical relations===
Quakers prior to the 20th century considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, but many did not feel that their religious faith fit within the categories of [[Catholicism|Catholic]], [[Eastern Christianity|Orthodox]], or [[Protestantism|Protestant]].<ref name="BBC Overview" /> Many Conservative Friends, while fully seeing themselves as orthodox Christians, choose to remain separate from other Christian groups.

Many Friends in Liberal Friends' meetings are actively involved in the [[ecumenism|ecumenical movement]], often working closely with other [[Mainline Protestant]] and liberal Christian churches, with whom they share common religious ground. A concern for peace and social justice often brings Friends together with other Christian churches and other Christian groups. Some Liberal Quaker yearly meetings are members of ecumenical pan-Christian organisations, which include Protestant and Orthodox churches—for example [[Philadelphia Yearly Meeting]] is a member of the [[National Council of Churches]].<ref name="ncccusa1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ncccusa.org/members/index.html |title=Members of the National Council of Churches |publisher=Ncccusa.org |access-date=14 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125143317/http://www.ncccusa.org/members/index.html |archive-date=25 November 2011}}</ref> The [[Britain Yearly Meeting]] is a member of [[Churches Together in Britain and Ireland]], and [[Friends General Conference]] is a member of the [[World Council of Churches]].<ref name="oikoumene1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-families/friends-quakers.html |title=Friends (Quakers) |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=14 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104180955/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-families/friends-quakers.html |archive-date=4 November 2011}}</ref>

Guerneyite Friends would typically see themselves as part of an orthodox Christian movement and work closely with other Christian denominations. [[Friends United Meeting]] (the international organisation of Gurneyite yearly meetings) is a member of the [[National Council of Churches]]<ref name="ncccusa1"/> and the [[World Council of Churches]],<ref name="oikoumene1"/> which are pan-Christian organisations that include Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed, Anglican and Baptist Churches, among others.<ref name="Harmon2010">{{Cite book |last1=Harmon |first1=Steven R. |title=Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity |date=15 March 2010 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-62189-277-9 |page=97 |language=en|quote=Since its creation, it has also established a cordial cooperation with the World Council of Churches and regularly names Catholic observers at various ecumenical gatherings and invites observers of "fraternal delegates" of other churches or ecclesial communities to major events of the Catholic Church. The PCPCU publishes a journal called ''Information Service'' four times a year, in English and French. The WCC is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement. It brings together 349 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 100 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians and including most of the world's Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches. ... It describes itself as a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the goal of visible unity in one faith and one Eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ.}}</ref><ref name="Roberson1995">{{Cite book |last1=Roberson |first1=Ronald G. |title=Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Interchurch Marriages: And Other Pastoral Relationships |date=1995 |publisher=USCCB Publishing |isbn=978-1-55586-097-4 |page=81 |language=en |quote=These Churches are the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in India. In addition, an independent Orthodox Church of Eritrea was established following that country's independence from Ethiopia in 1993. All are members of the World Council of Churches and have committed themselves to the contemporary ecumenical movement. In total, there are probably about thirty million Oriental Orthodox faithful in the world today.}}</ref>

Evangelical Friends work closely with other [[evangelism|evangelical churches]] from other Christian traditions. The North American branch of [[Evangelical Friends Church International]] is a member church of the [[National Association of Evangelicals]]. Evangelical Friends tend to be less involved with non-evangelical churches and are not members of the [[World Council of Churches]] or [[National Council of Churches]].

The majority of other Christian groups recognise Friends among their fellow-Christians.<ref name="BBC Overview" /> Some people who attend Quaker Meetings assume that Quakers are not Christians, when they do not hear overtly Christian language during the meeting for worship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/mar/18/quaker-religion-jesus-christianity |title=If Quakers were more Christian |work=The Guardian |date=16 July 2008 |access-date=14 November 2011}}</ref>

===Relations with other faiths===
Relationships between Quakers and non-Christians vary considerably, according to sect, geography, and history.

Early Quakers distanced themselves from practices that they saw as [[Paganism|pagan]]. For instance, they refused to use the usual names of the days of the week, since they were derived from the names of pagan deities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yount |first=David |title=How the Quakers invented America |year=2007 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc |isbn=978-0-7425-5833-5 |page=11}}</ref> They refused to celebrate [[Christmas]] because they believed it was based on pagan festivities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frost |first=Jerry William |title=The Quaker family in colonial America: a social history of the Society of Friends, Volume 2 |year=1968 |publisher=University of Wisconsin |location=Madison, Wisconsin |page=436}}</ref>

Early Friends called on adherents of other world religions to turn to the 'Light of Christ within' that they believed was present in all people born into the world.<ref>For example, George Fox, ''Turcae, et omnibus sub ejus ditione, ut hoc perlegant quod ad salvationem eorum spectat'' (1660), pp. 10, 11, 13; cf. John 1:9)</ref> For example, George Fox wrote a number of open letters to [[Jew]]s and [[Muslim]]s, in which he encouraged them to turn to Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation (e.g. ''A Visitation to the Jews'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=George |title=A Visitation to the Jews. From Them Whom The Lord Hath Visited From on High, Among Whom He Hath Performed His Promise Made To Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob. The Mighty Day of the Lord Is Come, And Coming, Who Dwells Not in Temples Made With Hands, Nor Is He Worshipped With Men's Hands, But in the Spirit, From Whom The Scripture Was Given Forth |url=http://dqc.esr.earlham.edu:8080/xmlmm/docButtonB?XMLMMWhat=builtPageCorpusToc&XMLMMWhere=E12877488D-005&XMLMMBeanName=docBean&XMLMMNextPage=/tocPrintBuiltPageBrowse.jsp |work=Works of George Fox}}</ref> ''To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, and all that are under his authority, to read this over, which concerns their salvation''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=George |title=The Works of George Fox: Gospel truth demonstrated, in a collection of doctrinal books, given forth by that faithful minister of Jesus Christ, George Fox: containing principles essential to Christianity and salvation, held among the people called Quakers |year=1821 |publisher=Marcus T. C. Gould |pages=216–221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wuEYAAAAYAAJ |chapter=To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, and all that are under his Authority, to read this over, which concerns their Salvation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=George |title=To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, And All That Are Under His Authority, To Read This Over, Which Concerns Their Salvation (in: "Works of George Fox" (volume 4) |url=http://dqc.esr.earlham.edu:8080/xmlmm/docButtonB?XMLMMWhat=builtPage&XMLMMWhere=E12877488D-023.P00000215-UN&XMLMMBeanName=docBean&XMLMMNextPage=/printBuiltPageBrowse.jsp}}</ref> and ''To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria'').<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=George |title=To The Great Turk And King at Algiers in Algeria |url=http://dqc.esr.earlham.edu:8080/xmlmm/docButtonB?XMLMMWhat=builtPageCorpusToc&XMLMMWhere=E12877488F-003&XMLMMBeanName=docBean&XMLMMNextPage=/tocPrintBuiltPageBrowse.jsp|work=Works of George Fox (volume 6)}}</ref> In the letters to Muslim readers, Fox is exceptional for his time in his sympathetic and wide-ranging use of the [[Qur'an]], and his belief that its contents were consistent with Christian scripture.<ref>Matar, Nabil. 1989. 'Some Notes on George Fox and Islam'. ''Journal of the Friends' Historical Society'' 55: 271–76</ref><ref>Meggitt, Justin J. 2016. 'Islam and Christianity in the Works of George Fox'. In ''Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 8. Northern and Eastern Europe (1600–1700)'', edited by David Thomas and John Chesworth, 527–34. Leiden: Brill.</ref>

[[Mary Fisher (missionary)|Mary Fisher]] probably preached the same message when she appeared before the Muslim [[Mehmed IV]] (the Sultan of the [[Ottoman Empire]]) in 1658.<ref>{{cite book|last = Meggitt|first= Justin J.|date=2016|chapter=Mary Fisher|title =Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History|volume =8. Northern and Eastern Europe (1600–1700)|editor1-first=David|editor1-last= Thomas |editor2-first= John|editor2-last= Chesworth|pages= 367–74|location= Leiden|publisher = Brill|isbn=9789004326637}}</ref>

In 1870, Richard Price Hallowell argued that the logical extension of Christian Quakerism is a universal Church, which "demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of one or the other".<ref name=Hollowell1870/>

Since the late 20th century, some attenders at Liberal Quaker Meetings have actively identified with world faiths other than Christianity, such as [[Judaism]], [[Islam]],<ref name=makingmuslimquaker/> [[Buddhism]]<ref name=mindfulquaker/> and [[Paganism (contemporary)|Paganism]].