LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Quakers: Indiana Friends
built 264 days ago
"Quakers" was the name of Christian converts who arose in England in the 1600’s. They believed God could be experienced directly in worship by corporately waiting in silence. Contemporaries noted their religious fervor with contempt, as they spoke out of the silence, and labeled them Quakers. Originally they called themselves the Religious Society of the Friends of Truth, now just Friends. The body of the membership is known as the "Meeting" and the place where they worship is the "Meetinghouse."
Source:
The Quakers are a form of Protestant Christianity which was started by George Fox in 1652 and which emphasizes the spiritual aspect of Christain faith and experience. The label Quakers was a derogatory term given to the Society of Friends because of their habit of "quaking" during services.
Source:
Quakers have many beliefs and attitudes in common, but you can't list them in a formula, or use them as a test of membership. Friends like to talk of an 'Inner Light' within every human being. Some would call this 'conscience' or 'moral sense', but Friends feel it is something more: part of spiritual and religious experience, which gives you a sense of direction in your search for the right way to live.
Source:
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) began in the 1600's when a group of men and women, dissatisfied with the superficiality of the church of their day, sought a richer and more genuine experience of the love of Jesus Christ. They, like Quaker founder, George Fox, discovered that they could have a direct relationship with God through Jesus whom they recognized as a living presence in their lives. As they began to gather and worship they discovered that true Christianity was more than ritual and declaration of beliefs. Rather, it was a lifestyle and a submission to Jesus' leadership.
Source:
By the way, if anyone is interested in the experience of Quakers with the Ku Klux Klan in the South in the 1860s and 1870s, take a look at Linda Selleck's book, Gentle Invaders, published by Friends United Press in 1995. It deals with Quaker women teachers and ministers during Reconstruction. It certainly would have been news to those Quakers that the Klansmen and other assorted thugs who were burning the schools and orphanages they built and murdering their black associates weren't motivated by race.
Source:
George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), was born in 1624 in Fenny Drayton (then called Drayton in the Clay), a few miles to the north. Coventry was his nearest major city.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Indiana Friends