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Relations with other faiths

Relationships between Quakers and non-Christians vary considerably, according to sect, geography, and history.

Early Quakers distanced themselves from practices that they saw as pagan. For instance, they refused to use the usual names of the days of the week, since they were derived from the names of pagan deities. They refused to celebrate Christmas because they believed it was based on pagan festivities.

Early Friends called on adherents of other world religions to turn to the 'Light of Christ within' that they believed was present in all people born into the world. For example, George Fox wrote a number of open letters to Jews and Muslims, in which he encouraged them to turn to Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation (e.g. A Visitation to the Jews, To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria, and all that are under his authority, to read this over, which concerns their salvation and To the Great Turk and King of Algiers in Algeria). In the letters to Muslim readers, Fox is exceptional for his time in his sympathetic and wide-ranging use of the Qur'an, and his belief that its contents were consistent with Christian scripture.

Mary Fisher probably preached the same message when she appeared before the Muslim Mehmed IV (the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire) in 1658.

In 1870, Richard Price Hallowell argued that the logical extension of Christian Quakerism is a universal Church, which "demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of one or the other".

Since the late 20th century, in part due to the allowance of Religious pluralism & Universalism, some attenders at Liberal Quaker Meetings have actively identified with world faiths other than Christianity, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Paganism. This occurrence evolved from the idea in Liberal Quaker circles that the Inward light is found in Christians and non-Christians alike and influenced the Holy Writ of other faiths.