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.% oh THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS The Religious Society of Friends—often called Quakers —is a small religious body having a world-wide membership of approximately 200,000 persons, of whom 125,000 are in the United States. Like other Christian fellowships, it embraces a broad range of emphases in the areas of faith and practice, but for the most part Friends are marked by their emphasis on the direct religious experience of the indi- vidual. In the Society of Friends authority is not vested in a hierarchy; major decisions are made by the group. Like science, Quakerism depends on experience, in this case inner experience. Whereas science directs its attention to the external world over which it seeks to achieve control, the Society of Friends seeks inward discipline and harmony aS prerequisites to outward peace. This search does not induce withdrawal from the ordinary life of society. William Penn expressed the ideal in this sentence: “True godliness does not turn men out of the world but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to mend it.” THE AMERICAN FRIENDS . SERVICE COMMITTEE :: The American Friends Service Committee, as an out- growth of the Society of Friends, is a contemporary expres- sion of this religious belief. Through service for the common good, the AFSC bears witness to the unity and interdepend- ence—economically, socially, morally, and spiritually—of all mankind. One of the original committee members wrote in -——.