They see God as the spirit of the universe (you are free to interpret that in whatever way you wish), not as some big beardie in the sky ready to smite us with a thunderbolt for being naughty.
They see Jesus as a cool dude, a sound bloke, not God in human form.
They don't tell you what you mustn't do. You can smoke, drink, eat red meat or whatever.
They have a liberal attitude to contraception and sexual matters.
They believe in evolution and science.
They support world peace, equality and an end to poverty.
Sounds like the religion for me (atheism didn't work for me). Should I give them a try?
Thanks, Octavius. That's a help. I'm a spiritual person rather than religious in a bible way. I'm a pantheist, and as such don't see myself as an atheist.
Perhaps Keyplus thinks if Jock can spot the similarities he says there are, he might be tempted by it. The problem is, if Islam is brought into the debate, yet another totally unrelated thread will then be dedicated to a discussion on it - as frequently happens these days.
Perhaps Octavius, but if we ALL stuck to the subject in hand and left Islam out of it unless the original question concerned Islam, it would help - don't you think? :o)
Did you read the link I gave Jock? It says the Shakers stemmed from Quakerism, but maintain celibacy of their members, and so there are only three surviving members left. I can only presume they've relied upon converts to swell their numbers and business hasn't been too good lately.
Err, Octavius, you haven't mentioned what? If you're talking about threads going down the Islamic route, count again. I mentioned it twice before your post - once in general, and once to make a point to you - and since then I've agreed with monkeyeyes - so at the time you posted '4' , I made it '2'. Maths not your strong point? :o)