Friends discuss being an interfaith church
‘Quakers’ attitudes to creeds and confessions of faith and suchlike are very difficult for other people to understand, even other Christians.'
Quakers discussed ‘What it means to be a non-credal church’ last month, as the theme of a webinar run by the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR). The event on 29 April featured talks by Quaker theologians Rex Ambler, Janet Scott and Ben Wood, and was introduced by Marigold Bentley, secretary for QCCIR.
Mark Lilley, clerk for QCCIR, said the remit of the committee is to explain the positions of BYM to ecumenical partners and to bring out views from other churches and faiths into the life of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM).
He said it is ‘sometimes challenging to express a Quaker position on aspects of the life of faith… QCCIR has to speak two languages: the language within BYM and outside BYM. It can be difficult to translate without considerable commentary’.
Rex Ambler said his first point was that ‘Quakers’ attitudes to creeds and confessions of faith and suchlike are very difficult for other people to understand, even other Christians. After all, creeds are so much a part of their life, that it is extremely difficult for them to imagine what it could be like to be a Christian and not actually have a creed’.
There was also a Q&A session facilitated by Rowena Loverance.
The event can be viewed on YouTube at https://bit.ly/3oFiZkm.
