All posts tagged Powell House

Report and reflections

January 9, 2009

The promised report on the retreat is now up, at nontheistfriends.org:

“If you think Richard Dawkins is too easy on religion, go down to that end of the room,” I said, indicating the steps up to the bookstore. “And if you…”

“Careful…” someone said.

And I was. There were several believers-in-God present – the exact number depending on your definition – and I didn’t want to make a joke that might be taken the wrong way.

“If you’re, uh… very theistic, go down to the other end,” I finished, indicating the fireplace. “And if you’re somewhere in between, go somewhere in between.”

(More…)

Nontheism among Friends (Quakers), January 2-4

December 16, 2008

Powell HouseAfter New Year’s, Robin Alpern and I will be co-facilitating a retreat on Nontheism among Friends at Powell House near Albany.

(The link by the way goes to the Facebook event page.)

The full flyer text below the cut:

As early as 1976, the Friends General Conference Gathering hosted a well-attended Workshop for Nontheistic Friends. In the decades since, Friends have become increasingly aware of the theological diversity of our Religious Society. Through experience and statistical studies, we have learned a large proportion of our members and attenders are somewhere on a spectrum that includes postchristians, agnostics, atheists, secularists, humanists.

How can we be nontheists and Quakers too?

If our Quaker life is not centered on belief in God, what is our center?

What are our challenges?

How can theists and nontheists enrich each other while holding views that differ?

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