The Quaker Sweat Lodge: FAQ

Compiled by Chuck Fager -- Sixth Month (June)  2005

INTRODUCTION: For more than ten years, Quaker sweat lodges were conducted at FGC Gatherings. Several hundred Friends, mostly high school and Young Adult Friends, took part. Evaluations were overwhelmingly enthusiastic; many Friends stated that the QSL was a deep, even transforming spiritual experience. Workshops on the Quaker Sweat Lodge (QSL)

A Quaker Sweat Lodge Gathers. Take a close look: is this a display of "flagrant racism"?

 took place at the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Gatherings, and a workshop was scheduled for the 2004 Gathering in Amherst.

Then, in April of 2004, the QSL workshop was abruptly canceled. The reason? It had been accused of being a "flagrant example of racism."

That allegation was supposed to be the end of the discussion.

But it wasn’t. In fact, controversy over the QSL and its cancellation has continued, and shows no sign of abating. This FAQ is intended to provide some framing for this continuing debate.

A. The QSL is a spiritual experience, developed by Friend George Price and formerly conducted at the Gathering by Price and his colleagues Breeze Luetke-Stahlman and Cullen Carns-Hilliker. The QSL experience grew out of lengthy studies by George Price with Native healers, who told him to bring his learning to the Gathering to share it with Friends, in a Quaker form.

A. George Price reports that it was first conducted at the 1989 Gathering. QSLs were held in various forms at most Gatherings from then til 2003.

A. George Price states that it is not, and that he makes this clear at the beginning of each session. The QSL has been influenced by Native American and other sweat traditions, which are found in many cultures.

A. A member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts sent a letter of complaint to FGC on March 30, 2004. The letter declared that the QSL workshop was a "flagrant example of racism," and demanded that it be stopped immediately and permanently. (The letter is included in Appendix 2.)

A. FGC then sent a delegation of staff and committee members to visit the Wampanoag. Thereafter, the FGC Committee on Racism, after a conference call meeting, recommended the QSL’s cancellation. The FGC Long Range Conference Planning Committee, which has charge over such matters, canceled the workshop, after a heated discussion, and with several members standing aside.

A. No. They say they have respectfully acknowledged its cultural influences. They also assert that the QSL has become an authentic example of Quaker spirituality.

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