QuakerSpeak

Friends Journal presents interviews with modern-day Quakers & seekers on topics of spiritual concern.

09/05/2026

Sometimes it seems like the world doesn't know quite what to make of Quakers—and the movies are no exception. For decades, Friends were often the butt of jokes, "thee"-ing and "thou"-ing across the screen, our spiritual beliefs reduced to a rejection of violence the modern world finds unrealistic.

As you can see from this compilation of film scenes that involve or evoke Quakers, though, that's starting to change.

Sometimes it seems like the world doesn’t know quite what to make of Quakers—and the movies are no exception. For…

08/22/2026

Because Whittier Mikkelsen didn't meet anyone else with cerebral palsy until she was twenty-two, she felt strange growing up. "The Quakers gave me the strength to be myself," she confides. "I found this wonderful community when I was very young, fifteen, and we were all about the hugs, you know? And they just brought me right in, even with my spastic body... Nobody pushed me away, so I felt absolutely seen and included, really for the first time, above and beyond my family."

When Carl Sigmond is with other Quakers, he tells us, he does not feel like his cerebral palsy sets him…

08/07/2026

In our latest QuakerSpeak episode, Friends Publishing's Ron Hogan explains how seekers can find their first Quaker meeting with the help of the searchable directory at the Friends Journal website.

Just as importantly, however, he discusses how people from marginalized communities can reassure themselves that they'll be walking into a truly inclusive environment.

“One of the main reasons meeting for worship is so important in Quaker community,” says Ron Hogan, “is that coming…

07/25/2026

Betsy Raasch-Gilman is absolutely clear on this: She and other Friends in Minneapolis were not "protesting" against the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in their community last winter. "Protest is not what we were doing," she says. "We were doing civilian-based defense. We were defending ourselves from an occupying army, and in this case the army that was occupying us was our own federal government."

Betsy Raasch-Gilman is absolutely clear on this: She and other Friends in Minneapolis were not “protesting” against the activities of…

06/21/2026

Quakers often have a wary relationship with the concept of theology, even though our faith is grounded in a belief in the ongoing presence of a Divine that speaks to us and guides us. "That's a fundamentally theological statement," says Christy Randazzo, the author of Divine Ecosystem.

The problem, they continue, is that Friends, relying on the example set by other spiritual traditions, often conflate theology with dogma.

Quakers often have a wary relationship with the concept of theology, even though our faith is grounded in a belief…

06/05/2026

Where did Quakers come from? What do they believe? And how did they get associated with oats? These are the sorts of questions Friends get asked on a regular basis. So we sat down with Steve Angell, a professor of Quaker studies at Earlham School of Religion, and got some solid answers.

Where did Quakers come from? What do they believe? And how did they get associated with oats? These are the…

05/24/2026

“There’s this idea of country above everything else—and for Quakers, that gets in the way of your relationship to God,” says Katie Breslin.

In this episode of QuakerSpeak, Katie reminds us that Friends have often taken up causes that put them in opposition to their governments. And through that resistance, she adds, "Quakers have a lot of tools, and we’ve built a lot of infrastructure, to help us envision what this country can look like.”

“There’s this idea of country above everything else—and for Quakers, that gets in the way of your relationship to God,”…

05/15/2026

Classical economists, Alicia Mendonca-Richards explained in a QuakerSpeak interview two years ago, "were asking very theoretical and philosophical questions about what does it mean to live a good life and how does the distribution of resources contribute to that."

Around the start of the twentieth century, though, that changed, as economics chose to remodel itself after the hard sciences, becoming more analytical. The problem, she said, is that the math required to keep our social order running doesn't add up.

“Whenever there are these attempts to think about alternative ways to live, or to create an economic system that is…

05/08/2026

"I am accustomed to joining communities where I am the only African-American present," Billie Wade says. "That's been a common thread throughout my life. Coming to Quakerism and discovering that that thread was going to continue was not a surprise... Fortunately, Des Moines Valley [Friends Meeting] has been an open, welcoming community to me."

"That said," she continues, "I still feel lonely sometimes."

“I am accustomed to joining communities where I am the only African-American present,” Billie Wade says. “That’s been a common…

05/02/2026

"My favorite metaphor about God is the story of the blind men and the elephant," Adam Segal-Isaacson reflected in 2024. "Each man feels a different part of the elephant and thinks ‘this’ is what the elephant is about. And I think that in a lot of ways, that’s the way we are about God, is that we all see different aspects of God and the totality of God is greater than all of that."

How do Friends in your meeting navigate differing beliefs about God—or whether there even is a God?

My favorite metaphor about God is the story of the blind men and the elephant. And each man feels a different part of the elephant and thinks ‘this’ is what the elephant is about. And I think that in a lot of ways, that’s the way we are about God, is that we all see different aspects of God an...

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