Quaker meeting in NYC or Baltimore

April 3, 2010 5:00 AM

Help me find a Quaker meeting in NYC or Baltimore that will affect a friend's opinion of religion.

I was raised Quaker, though I haven't been to meeting in over a decade. A friend recently started developing very negative opinions of religion... I'd like to take her to a meeting in the New York City or Baltimore area as a contrast to the Episcopal and Catholic services she is familiar with. Does anyone have suggestions for a meeting that will open her mind to alternate forms of worship and contemplation? Bonus points for meetings that aren't populated entirely by ex-hippies (no offense intended, child of ex-hippies).

posted by anonymous to Religion & Philosophy (5 answers total)

In NYC the 15th street meeting is very nice. If it was closer to us we might have become regulars. A real sense of spirituality and fellowship. I am afraid I cannot say the same thing about the meeting which meets on the columbia campus, though it was 10 years ago the last time I was there.

You might also consider some of the introductory sessions from Insight meditation, a vipassana Buddhist tradition.
posted by shothotbot at 6:22 AM on April 3, 2010

You might also try Ethical Humanism at the American Ethical Union--64th and CPW.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:11 AM on April 3, 2010

I used to be a regular at Homewood Friends Meeting in Baltimore. It's been a long time since I was there but I can't imagine it has changed much - just an absolutely classic Quaker meeting, sit in silence, speak as moved and none of that awful popcorn meeting thing where everybody is jumping up and responding to each other. There's a wide range of different people, first day school for kids and simple lunch after meeting. It's one of the few things I have really missed about Baltimore in the decade since I left, actually.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:11 AM on April 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Mod note: comments removed - question is specific. Your generalized opinions about religion need to not go here
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:07 AM on April 3, 2010

I am a regular attender (non-member, attending for several years) at Brooklyn Meeting in downtown Brooklyn, NY. It's a large, diverse Meeting- plenty of ex-hippies and plenty of non-hippies. It's larger than the non-city Meetings that I was used to (from the Baltimore Yearly Meeting area, actually), but everyone is friendly and outgoing at coffee hour after Meeting for Worship and Meeting for Worship itself isn't too chatty or popcorn-y.

In addition to the normal Sunday MFW (11AM), there's a midweek Meeting on Tuesday nights at 6:30. The midweek meeting is much smaller.

Feel free to MeFi Mail me is you have any questions about the Meeting. I'm also a little familiar with most Baltimore Yearly Meeting meetinghouses, if you have any specific questions about those that no one else covers.
posted by cheerwine at 1:48 PM on April 4, 2010