Tamara, if you still want to borrow a white cap, I can lend you one of mine, as I have 2.

Conservative Friends live in society and take full part in modern life. All Quakers seek simplicity, but very few live anything like an Amish lifestyle. The Ohio Yearly Meeting Book of Discipline says;

"Simplicity does not mean that all conform to uniform standards. Each must determine in the light that is given him what promotes and what hinders his compelling search for the Kingdom. The call to each is to abandon those things that clutter his life and to press toward the goal unhampered. This is true simplicity."

Dear Ray, I was so very much hoping that you would explain this and you do it so well - thank you!

Oh Tamara, that is a question that keeps these pages running. In a nutshell conservative Quakers adhere to the original form of Quaker worship, that is unstructured and without a minister. Some conservative Friends plain dress, but by no means all. Generally conservative Quakers are strongly Christian. Liberal Quakers may also be Christian, but many are open to other ideas about the nature of god. A third group called evangelical Quakers are, like conservative Quakers, strongly Christian, but often move towards structured worship and often use pastors at meetings. These differences are not as great as they may seem and most Quakers have friends in other strands of worship.

I an a conservative Quaker in the respect of being strongly Christian, supporting unstructured meetings, and plain dressing, but I lean towards the liberal Quaker tradition in many other aspects of my faith and worship. If you are new to Quakerism, my advice is take your time before deciding if you are conservative?liberal?evangelical ~ get to know as many Friends as you can and you may find yourself naturally feeling more at ease in one tradition or the other. Those who like to bring all strands of Quaker worship together are called convergent Friends and that probably includes most of those you will find here at QuakerQuaker.

I'm sure that, being Quakers, others will want to add to this answer.