Founded by george-fox in 17th-century England, the Religious Society of Friends holds that every person has direct access to the divine — no priest, no sacrament, no creed required. The practice is radical in its simplicity: gather in silence, wait, and speak only if moved by the Spirit.
Quakers have been disproportionately influential in movements for abolition, prison reform, pacifism, and women’s equality — a consequence of their conviction that the Inner Light in another person commands the same reverence as the light in oneself.
Not all Quaker meetings are silent — programmed Friends meetings more resemble Protestant services — but unprogrammed silent meeting is the tradition’s contemplative heart.