#douglas steere

Steere postulated that there are four main methods a powerful religious group could choose to manage an encounter with another religion. First, it could try to smother or destroy the other religion; Second, it could attempt to fuse entirely with the other religion; Third, it could tolerate the other religion but keep them segregated and wholly uninfluenced by the other; And fourth, it might conduct this so-called “mutual irradiation,” in which neither religion attempts to combat or merge with the other but instead expose themselves to each other in the hopes of sharing their experiences and building a common foundation.

The idea is that through open dialogue and mutual exposure without the pressure of sectarianism can lead to a deeper mutual understanding of culture and the cosmos. Mutual irradiation allows for change but doesn’t force transition or compromise for the sake of unanimity. This form of interaction breaks down dogmatism and its ensuing conflicts because it highlights the fact that no one can know for certain if they are truly right, and that everyone has something to teach and to learn.

In my opinion, Unprogrammed Quakers and Programmed Quakers interact using the third framework, one of isolated, rigid tolerance. Both groups acknowledge the existence of the other, and seem mostly content to let the other share in the name “The Religious Society of Friends,” but are otherwise disinterested in any sort of large-scale interaction.

This is particularly true of North American Friends and their counterparts in other parts of the world, like South America and Kenya. While the barriers of distance and language certainly make any sort of widespread dialogue difficult to organize and carry out, I have found that many Friends are only barely aware of the beliefs and practices of Quakers in other walks of life.

This is not to say that all Quakers do not care about increasing mutual exposure; in fact, this year’s Pilgrimage went to the Andes for (more or less) that precise purpose. However, even in my month and a half of total immersion in the life of South American Quakers, I found that truly open and equal exchange was a bit difficult to come by.

My Spanish-speaking skills were developed enough to pick up moments when one of our leaders would cut out an edgy idea or an unconventional word when translating for a non-bilingual Pilgrim. While we used a consensus model of business meeting and had a few Meetings for Worship, the Unprogrammed tradition of Quakerism could not have made up even a fifth of the time we spent in South America (despite the fact that half of the Pilgrims were Unprogrammed, and that we were allegedly giving the South American Pilgrims a chance to experience a style of faith which they would not otherwise be able to participate in).

While the Pilgrimage was far from a failure, and Quakers in general are certainly not close-minded, I think that the idea of “mutual irradiation” has not fully sunk into our collective psyche. As eager as we are to interact with Zen Buddhists and Muslims and many branches of Christianity, we seem to be hesitant to toe across the Unprogrammed/Programmed dichotomy. Sometimes, we’re so busy theorizing about grand concepts of equality and open-mindedness that we forget to reflect on the tensions a bit closer to home.