Quaker Intellectuals

When I taught a stewardship theme in FDS last week, I used the example of the Cadbury family for stewardship of wealth and power. Uncomfortable with 19th-century Birmingham living standards for their chocolate factory workers, the Cadburys moved an entire factory and all its workers to a new "village" they created, complete with schools, green parks, and excellent housing, far away from city pollution. They paid high wages and treated employees well. People expected Cadbury to fail because they were wasting money. But Cadbury proved them wrong -- their chocolate became the most popular in England.

This is just one example of the legacy of 18th- and 19th-century Quakers, who were pioneers in changing the way business was done. What we don't seem to remember is that before the 1900s, Quakers were not intellectuals. Universities were closed to anyone who was not a member of that university's church denomination. Thus, Quakers, as non-church people, were not allowed to go to university. They had to become businesspeople, shopkeepers, farmers, bankers, or manufacturers.

Of course, in the process, they brought Quaker values into those industries. Quakers "invented" trust in business, overcoming the belief that only through cheating could a business make money. They created banks that didn't swindle, price tags that prevented the lying that goes on in haggling, and workers' rights. Quaker banks became the most prosperous in all of England, and so did most Quaker businesses. The word "Quaker" soon came to be synonymous with honesty, which is why many nonquaker businesses started using the word in their business names (e.g., Quaker Oats). As Quakers became wealthy, they started using their wealth to promote social change, to change industry, to infect commerce with Quaker ideas.

How many Quakers today go into business or banking? How many into industry? How many work in prisons (not as chaplains) or the military, for that matter?

Once Quakers were permitted to go to university, that's what we did. We are now clustered in intellectual and social-work jobs. Sure, there's still Quaker work to do in these areas. But we've abandoned all the other work sectors.

What would a Meeting think of a banker who joins the meeting? Or a factory owner? Or a businessperson? Would we not subconsciously think poorly of them for their career choice? Would we think very quietly that they really aren't suitable for Quakerism? Where do we get these ideas?

Imagine if Quakers were running the banking system in North America. What changes might we expect to see? Or if we were running all the energy businesses -- would we still be pretending that peak oil and global warming weren't happening? Would we not have more influence than we have where we are?

I wonder if the bald truth is that being a Quaker is business, commerce, and industry (and prisons or military) means some hard work. It requires thinking, working, trying new things, taking risks, speaking out. Intellectual jobs are much safer. We get to be Quaker without putting ourselves at any risk. But in so doing, we've lost our influence. When we want to bring up social, environmental, and commercial change, we have to yell from the sidelines.

I wonder if this is why Quakers have lost so much of their influence in the world.