A peaceful people
How do young Christians view Quakers and Quakerism? Symon Hill went to the Greenbelt Festival to find out.
Really nice people who like silence,’ said Kay when asked what she knows about Quakers, ‘Oh, and pacifists.’ We chatted as she bought dinner at the Greenbelt festival. She was one of several people I spoke with, in a quest to discover what young Christians think about Quakers. Greenbelt, long regarded as Britain’s most inclusive Christian festival, seemed a good place to find out. Its guests range from children to people well over seventy, but the majority are under thirty. While it’s firmly Christian, it’s diverse enough to draw a smattering of non-Christians – from atheists to Muslims – as well as Christians struggling with institutional churches. So is it fertile ground for Quaker outreach? What do Greenbelters think when they hear the word ‘Quaker’?
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