Columbia Friends celebrate Quakerism founder’s 400th birthday

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A religious group is celebrating its founder’s 400th anniversary. The Columbia Friends is a group of Quakers in the area who gather every week for worship. 

“I think it says a lot because he was obviously a very memorable person to be celebrating right now,” 13-year-old A.J. Avila said. 

Avila had a special role during Sunday’s Friends meeting, acting in a skit as George Fox, the founder of Quakerism.

“It meant a lot to me because it’s for somebody who was born 400 years ago and started a group of people who are very nice and stuff; it means a lot just to take part in this celebration for him,” Avila said.

A celebration filled with silent worship, traditional cake from the 1600s and fellowship, which attendee Lori Donath said she appreciates.

“My favorite part of Columbia Friends is definitely the food and celebration, which I think is the foundation for living,” Donath said. “Columbia Friends Meeting is really a loving, supportive group of people who take responsibility for themselves and one another and work together to grow peace in many different dimensions, both in terms of taking care of humankind, earth and all other beings and working against forces that threaten that.”

It’s a belief that started with George Fox in the 1600s. Programs at the meeting detail how Fox “believed in quality between all men [and women].”

The program reads that Fox started a movement through preaching in open fields and streets for a decade. According to the program, Fox traveled around the country before traveling to America to establish the Quaker movement.

“Friends believe there’s the light of God in every person,” attendee Cassandra Fralix said. “I like the fact that I can believe and think whatever I wish, and I’m accepted for, you know, my inner journey.”

The Columbia meeting started in 1967, slowly growing until the group says it moved into its current meeting house on Pisgah Church Road in 2012. They said that about 30 regular attendees now want to educate others about what they believe.

“It’s so important, as we know now, that we have to work hard at making connections with other faiths,” said Fralix, who first started attending meetings in Memphis four decades ago. “If they know who we are, and we know who they are, we can love one another and treat each other with respect.”

“Our founder was very steeped in the scriptures,” Beth Johnson, the group’s clerk, said. “It is a denomination that grew out of Christianity. That being said, we do not have a creed. We welcome everyone.”

Johnson said she takes care of the business aspect of the group, which doesn’t have a minister because it believes in silent worship.

“I think we all appreciate listening to speakers, knowledgeable speakers, but silence has always been very important to the original Quakers and we are, we have continued that,” Johnson said. “All of us prefer to worship in silence, particularly in a group. It’s a powerful experience to be with people for an extended period of silence.”

“Silence is an important way for people to come to what I interpret as being centered and grounded,” Donath said.

Being together during this “unprogrammed worship” is what attendee Jerry Rudolph said he values.

“It’s being a part of the community. I mean, it’s…the people are kind and friendly,” attendee Jerry Rudolph said.

Columbia Friends planned this celebration in January because it is South Carolina Interfaith Harmony Month, which recognizes different religions throughout the state.

“We just put those two things together — George Fox’s 400th birthday anniversary and the Interfaith Harmony month — so that we could make opportunity for people to learn more about who we are in the community and also celebrate the fact that we have this group, South Carolina Interfaith Partners,” Fralix said.