Meeting Minute

Western Quarterly Meeting feels compelled to express our deep concern over the action willfully taken by the leaders of our country to bomb Iran in June 2025 that may be the first step toward another virtually endless war.

An epistle from BBIPOC (Black Brown Indigenous People of Color) Decolonizing Friends.

Still, if a widely held opinion that we regard as mostly erroneous threatens grave harm, we feel called upon to address and oppose it. Such is the case of a cluster of opinions that go under the common name Christian nationalism.

As Quakers, members of Intermountain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, we believe in the inherent worth of every person. We heed the calling of leaders of the world’s faith traditions to practice a universal love for all members of the human family and a reverence for the earth, our shared home.

Members and attenders of Intermountain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) mourn all loss of lives, homes, and communities that are the result of violence in the Middle East, regardless of the nationality or politics of these victims.

Consistent with our commitment to answering that of God in everyone, Intermountain Yearly Meeting stands with oppressed communities; speaking truthfully about injustice and inhumanity; and taking nonviolent action to confront and defeat such oppression, injustice, and inhumanity.

We, members and attenders of Intermountain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), recognize that climate change is a rapidly worsening crisis that is already affecting both human and nonhuman life on our planet, and that the heaviest impacts of this crisis fall on the most vulnerable among us.

To our representatives, Through your action or inaction, you have permitted the intrusion of federal officers into our houses of worship to abduct our friends and neighbors. We cannot accept this transgression of the sacred; both the sacred stillness of our worship, and the divine human rights of our persecuted friends.

You have been pleased to send unto us a certain prohibition or command that we should not receive or entertain any of those people called Quakers because they are supposed to be, by some, seducers of the people. For our part we cannot condemn them in this case, neither can we stretch out our hands against them, for out of Christ God is a consuming fire, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

We write to you as a group of U.S. Quakers who formed the Quakers and ‘Indian Boarding Schools’ Research Network (QIBS) in late 2022. Our collective purpose is to thoroughly research 19th-century Quaker involvement in assimilationist boarding schools, and to make our findings accessible to Native American families and tribes and to the Religious Society of Friends.

As human beings we are all children of God and recognize that among us are many dear friends, family, neighbors, coworkers and others who are immigrants in this country or otherwise marginalized.

Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is alarmed by the recent and growing actions of the U.S. government to infringe on freedom of speech and assembly, and intimidate institutions such as universities, media and law firms that encourage independent thinking and expression.

Hanover Friends Meeting urges the U.S. and all parties to work quickly for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

We are moved to speak plainly at this time, as we witness policies and rhetoric from the Trump administration that contradict our most deeply held religious beliefs.

We condemn the US government’s ongoing aid to assist the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza and its failure to ensure the delivery of aid sufficient to meet the humanitarian needs of the inhabitants of Gaza.

Swarthmore Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends fully supports Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) for the courage and conviction shown in joining New England Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Adelphi and Richmond Monthly Meetings as plaintiffs in their lawsuit to block the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from its abrupt shift in policy that enables federal immigration enforcement officials to enter houses of worship for their immigration enforcement actions.

To answer the call of the inherent worth and dignity of all people, members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) stand firmly in support of the safety, rights, and religious freedoms of everyone, including immigrant communities.

The Goose Creek Religious Society of Friends Meeting is concerned for the physical safety and humanitarian needs of undocumented immigrants and refugees in this country, especially in light of changing political priorities.

Members and attenders of the Burlington Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) deeply mourn the loss of all lives, livelihoods, homes, hospitals, schools, cultural histories and we hold out hope for self-determination and healing for the people who are victims of the escalating violence and war in the Middle East. As Quakers, we believe that all life is sacred, and that there is that of the divine in each person.

As faith communities inspired by a common sense of divine standards in goodness and compassion, we join in publicly stating our intent to peacefully yet determinedly defend the defenseless and vulnerable in their need.