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23.01 Faith & Action 23.11 Corporate Responsibility 23.14 Social Justice 23.20 Poverty 23.24 Slavery 23.30 Torture 23.32 Discrimination & Disadvantage |
23.47 Individual & Community 23.53 Work & Economic Affairs 23.71 Education 23.86 Friends & State Authority 23.92 Conscription 23.94 Crime & Punishment |
FAITH AND ACTION
23.01 Remember your responsibility as citizens for the government of your
town and country, and do not shirk the effort and time this may
demand. Do not be content to accept things as they are, but keep an
alert and questioning mind. Seek to discover the causes of social
unrest, injustice and fear; try to discern the new growing-points in
social and economic life. Work for an order of society which will
allow men and women to develop their capacities and will foster their
desire to serve.
Advices, 1964
23.02 True godliness don't turn men out of the world but enables them to
live better in it and excites their endeavours to mend it... Christians
should keep the helm and guide the vessel to its port; not meanly
steal out at the stern of the world and leave those that are in it
without a pilot to be driven by the fury of evil times upon the rock or
sand of ruin.
William Penn, 1682
23.03 We know that Jesus identified himself with the suffering and the
sinful, the poor and the oppressed. We know that he went out of his
way to befriend social outcasts. We know that he warned us against
the deceitfulness of riches, that wealth and great possessions so easily
come between us and God, and divide us from our neighbours. The
worship of middle-class comfort is surely a side-chapel in the temple
of Mammon. It attracts large congregations, and Friends have been
known to frequent it. We know that Jesus had compassion on the
multitude and taught them many things concerning the Kingdom. He
respected the common folk, appealed to them and was more hopeful
of a response from them than from the well-to-do, the clever and the
learned. Yet he never flattered the workers, never fostered in them
feelings of envy and hatred, and never urged them to press for their
own interests ruthlessly and fight the class war to the finish. He
called them to love their enemies and to pray for them that
despitefully use them. Yet the very fact that he appealed to the
humble and meek leads up to ... 'the discovery that the blessing and
upraising of the masses are the fundamental interest of society'. In
brief, he makes us all ashamed that we are not all out in caring for
our fellow-men.
H G Wood, 1958
23.04 The duty of the Society of Friends is to be the voice of the oppressed
but [also] to be conscious that we ourselves are part of that
oppression. Uncomfortably we stand with one foot in the kingdom
of this world and with the other in the Eternal Kingdom. Seldom can
we keep the inward and outward working of love in balance, let alone
the consciousness of living both in time and in eternity, in
timelessness. Let us not be beguiled into thinking that political action
is all that is asked of us, nor that our personal relationship with God
excuses us from actively confronting the evil in this world. The
political and social struggles must be waged, but a person is more and
needs more than politics, else we are in danger of gaining the whole
world but losing our souls.
Eva I Pinthus, 1987
23.05 Evils which have struck their roots deep in the fabric of human
society are often accepted, even by the best minds, as part of the
providential ordering of life. They lurk unsuspected in the system of
things until men of keen vision and heroic heart drag them into the
light, or until their insolent power visibly threatens human welfare.
William Charles Braithwaite, 1919
23.06 'Politics' cannot be relegated to some outer place, but must be
recognised as one side of life, which is as much the concern of
religious people and of a religious body as any other part of life. Nay,
more than this, the ordering of the life of man in a community, so
that he may have the chance of a full development, is and always has
been one of the main concerns of Quakerism.
Lucy F Morland, 1919
23.07 The testimony of Marsden Monthly Meeting concerning John Bright (1811-
1889), who was a member of parliament for over 40 years and held ministerial
office, shows how he carried the calm strength of his religious faith into his political
life.
His deep sense of responsibility in the sight of God, and his intense
human sympathy were the most powerful influences in drawing him
from business into public life; and his natural nervousness was thus
overcome by his sympathetic nature taking up the cause of the poor
and the wronged. Of his public speeches it might be said, he believed
and therefore he spoke. His aim was not popularity or party triumph, but
the hope of advancing the cause of Truth and Right so far as he saw
it...
Although at one time there were grave doubts in the minds of many
Friends as to whether it was desirable for members of our Society to
engage in active political life ... it has been evident in John Bright's
case that he entered upon it under a deep sense of duty, and that he
endeavoured to carry his Christianity with him into all his public life.
23.08 'Two sins have my people committed; they have forsaken me, a
spring of living water, and they have hewn themselves cisterns,
cracked cisterns that can hold no water' (Jer 2:13). I know of no
better description of the world we live in than that. We have
forgotten that we need the life-giving water of the holy spirit if the
material element of the world in which we live is not, sooner or later,
to turn into dust and ashes; and we have developed social institutions
which cannot hold or channel the life-giving water anyway...
As Christians we need to see ourselves as God's plumbers, working
on tanks and channels for the living water that can quicken the daily
life of men, women and children... Jesus taught us about patterns of
living that make for wholeness as we and our neighbours care for one
another and build one another up. And all the patterns that Jesus
showed us of cisterns and channels of caring and service challenge
the patterns of Mammon that offer quicker and more showy results,
but that end in the debris of a possessive society that allows the living
water to run away into the sand. Good plumbers build to last; they
don't fall for fashions that rust and fade and crack.
Seventeenth-century Friends were good plumbers. In and out of
season, in and out of jail, in and out of court, counting house and
farmstead, our Quaker forebears challenged the conventions of the
day - in politics, in commerce, in the law, in the established church,
in social etiquette, in education, in attitudes to war, poverty and
crime. In face of the sterile institutions of their day they found living
answers about the ways in which men and women might go about
their business of living together.
Roger Wilson, 1976
23.09 We are all the poorer for the crushing of one man, since the dimming
of the Light anywhere darkens us all.
Michael Sorensen, 1986
23.10 We need both a deeper spirituality and a more outspoken witness. If
our spirituality can reach the depths of authentic prayer, our lives will
become an authentic witness for justice, peace and the integrity of
creation, a witness which becomes the context for our prayer. Out of
the depths of authentic prayer comes a longing for peace and a
passion for justice. And our response to violence and injustice is to
pray more deeply, because only God can show us the way out of the
mess that the world is in. And only God gives us the strength to
follow that Way.
Gordon Matthews, 1989
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
23.11 We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are
we for this party nor against the other ... but we are for justice and
mercy and truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be
exalted in our nation, and that goodness, righteousness, meekness,
temperance, peace and unity with God, and with one another, that
these things may abound.
Edward Burrough, 1659
23.12 The word 'testimony' is used by Quakers to describe a witness to the
living truth within the human heart as it is acted out in everyday life.
It is not a form of words, but a mode of life based on the realisation
that there is that of God in everybody, that all human beings are
equal, that all life is interconnected. It is affirmative but may lead to
action that runs counter to certain practices currently accepted in
society at large. Hence a pro-peace stance may become an anti-war
protest, and a witness to the sacredness of human life may lead to
protests against capital punishment. These testimonies reflect the
corporate beliefs of the Society, however much individual Quakers
may interpret them differently according to their own light. They are
not optional extras, but fruits that grow from the very tree of faith.
Harvey Gillman, 1988
23.13 Seeking to live at all times in a divine order of life, Quakers have
always counted social service part of Christianity. In fidelity to the
genius of their inward experience, they have set themselves the task
of developing their own spiritual sensitiveness to the light of truth;
and have then resolutely confronted the unawakened conscience of
the world with the demands of the new light, and have borne witness
to it with undaunted patience. This has resulted in progressive
enlightenment for themselves, and in the slow but sure triumph of
many of the causes of which they have become champions. The
reform of the criminal law, the improvement of prisons, the
suppression of the slave-trade and of the institution of slavery, the
abolition of the opium traffic, the protection of native races, the
repeal of the state regulation of vice, the emancipation of women,
have all been powerfully helped to victory - however incomplete -
by Quaker action on these lines, side by side with that of other
noble-hearted reformers. Other great ills, patent or latent in our
civilisation, have yet to be overcome, perhaps have yet to be
perceived; the old philanthropy has to deepen into something more
vital if the full demands made by the teaching of Christ are to be
obeyed; but the faithful following of the Light that illumines the alert
conscience still seems to many of us the truest way for securing this
deeper experience and for recognising and combating the evils that
menace social and international life.
William Charles Braithwaite, 1919
SOCIAL JUSTICE
23.14 Our gracious Creator cares and provides for all his creatures. His
tender mercies are over all his works; and so far as his love influences
our minds, so far we become interested in his workmanship and feel
a desire to take hold of every opportunity to lessen the distresses of
the afflicted and increase the happiness of the creation. Here we have
a prospect of one common interest from which our own is
inseparable, that to turn all the treasures we possess into the channel
of universal love becomes the business of our lives...
Oppression in the extreme appears terrible: but oppression in more
refined appearances remains to be oppression; and where the
smallest degree of it is cherished it grows stronger and more
extensive. To labour for a perfect redemption from this spirit of
oppression is the great business of the whole family of Christ Jesus in
this world.
John Woolman, 1763
See also 20.32 & 20.34
23.15 Reduce and simplify your material needs to the point where you can
easily satisfy them yourself, so that those who live for the Spirit and
claim to live for it do not correspondingly increase the material
burden weighing on other people, cutting them off from the
possibility or even the desire to develop their spirit also.
How will the world be better off if, in developing your spiritual life,
you make the material life of others that much more burdensome,
and if, like in the movement of scales, as you rise yourself towards
the eternal, you make other people descend by the same degree, away
from him, beyond him? You have only introduced or confirmed an
inequality and an injustice, without increasing the total of the Spirit.
Pierre Ceresole, 1937
See also 25.13
23.16 The war of 1914-18 made Friends more vividly aware of the close connection
between war and the social order. Nine months after the outbreak of war London
Yearly Meeting was impressed by the words of John Woolman: May we look
upon our treasures, the furniture of our houses, and our garments,
and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our
possessions. After three years' exercise of mind eight 'Foundations of a true
social order' were adopted. They were not intended as rules of life but as an
attempt to set forth ideals that are aspects of eternal Truth and the direct outcome
of our testimony to the individual worth of the human soul. Though they
proclaimed the ending of 'restrictions' of sex, they spoke of God as Father and
human beings as men and brothers, as was conventional in their time.
i. The Fatherhood of God, as revealed by Jesus Christ,
should lead us toward a brotherhood which knows no restriction
of race, sex or social class.
ii. This brotherhood should express itself in a social order
which is directed, beyond all material ends, to the growth of
personality truly related to God and man.
iii. The opportunity of full development, physical, moral and
spiritual, should be assured to every member of the community,
man, woman and child. The development of man's full personality
should not be hampered by unjust conditions nor crushed by
economic pressure.
iv. We should seek for a way of living that will free us from
the bondage of material things and mere conventions, that will
raise no barrier between man and man, and will put no excessive
burden of labour upon any by reason of our superfluous demands.
v. The spiritual force of righteousness, loving-kindness and
trust is mighty because of the appeal it makes to the best in every
man, and when applied to industrial relations achieves great
things.
vi. Our rejection of the methods of outward domination, and
of the appeal to force, applies not only to international affairs, but
to the whole problem of industrial control. Not through
antagonism but through co-operation and goodwill can the best
be obtained for each and all.
vii. Mutual service should be the principle upon which life is
organised. Service, not private gain, should be the motive of all
work.
viii. The ownership of material things, such as land and capital,
should be so regulated as best to minister to the need and
development of man.
23.17 Joseph Rowntree (1836-1925) was a cocoa manufacturer who studied the
problems of poverty and of drink. He was in advance of his times in recognising
the dangers inherent in sentimentally motivated charity. He devoted much of his
own wealth to establishing three trusts to carry forward his concern for Quaker
witness and for research and political action to make possible necessary changes in
society.
Charity as ordinarily practised, the charity of endowment, the charity
of emotion, the charity which takes the place of justice, creates much
of the misery which it relieves, but does not relieve all the misery it
creates.
1865
23.18 Much of current philanthropical effort is directed to remedying the
more superficial manifestations of weakness and evil, while little
thought or effort is directed to search out their underlying causes.
The soup kitchen in York never has difficulty in obtaining financial
aid, but an enquiry into the extent and causes of poverty would enlist
little support.
Joseph Rowntree, 1904
23.19 Are you working towards the removal of social injustices? Have you
attempted to examine their causes objectively, and are you ready to
abandon old prejudices and think again? Do you, as disciples of
Christ, take a living interest in the social conditions of the district in
which you live? Do you seek to promote the welfare of those in any
kind of need and a just distribution of the resources of the world?
Queries, 1964
Poverty and housing
23.20 It was an initiative by Harriett Wilson some twenty years ago that led
to the formation of the Child Poverty Action Group. She brought
her concern about poverty in Britain to the Social & Economic
Affairs Committee (one of the predecessors of Quaker Social
Responsibility & Education) who organised a meeting of about
twenty concerned people at Toynbee Hall... During the meeting the
decision to form the group simply made itself. I was then asked
whether the Society of Friends would sponsor it. As I stood up to
reply I was in a deep dilemma. I could not escape the awe-inspiring
feeling that history was being made; it was right for the Society to
have brought those concerned together, but it was not for us, as a
small religious body, to undertake the political operations which
would obviously be needed to achieve the group's objective.
In the event the CPAG was formed as a non-denominational
charitable body. It has grown into one of the most effective pressure
groups in the country, and one of the ways by which Friends could
help to alleviate the undoubtedly increasing poverty would be to
support the group.
Apart from campaigning for a better deal for the poor generally, the
Child Poverty Action Group advises people on how to make sure
that they get the welfare provisions to which they are entitled; and
the group brings test cases to that end.
Richard Allen, 1984
23.21 A public statement by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain
agreed in session at London Yearly Meeting 22-25 May 1987:
Quakers in Britain have felt called to issue this statement in order to
address a matter of urgent national priority to promote debate and to
stimulate action.
We are angered by actions which have knowingly led to the
polarisation of our country - into the affluent, who epitomise success
according to the values of a materialistic society, and the 'have-leasts',
who by the expectations of that same society are oppressed, judged,
found wanting and punished.
We value that of God in each person, and affirm the right of
everyone to contribute to society and share in life's good things,
beyond the basic necessities.
We commit ourselves to learning again the spiritual value of each
other. We find ourselves utterly at odds with the priorities in our
society which deny the full human potential of millions of people in
this country. That denial diminishes us all. There must be no 'them'
and 'us'.
We appreciate the stand taken by other churches and we wish to
work alongside them.
As a Religious Society and as individuals we commit ourselves to
examine again how we use our personal and financial resources. We
will press for change to enable wealth and power to be shared more
evenly within our nation. We make this statement publicly at a time
of national decision [a general election] in the hope that, following
the leadings of the Spirit, each one of us in Britain will take
appropriate action.
23.22 If we do not have the sense that selfishness is right, we may yet be
carried along by the prevailing social currents to behave as though we
do. More insidiously, we may seek material well-being for those we
love, and thus achieve a sort of displaced selfishness. We may need
to examine what we really believe, and in the light of that we can
address questions about personal conduct. The main question for us
who are comfortable is whether we use our positions of comparative
power to arrogate to ourselves more than our reasonable share of the
resources of the world. If so, we should try to redistribute what we
can, to live in a more responsible way. For those who are poor, a
different question arises: what is selfish materialism, and what is
proper aspiration?
We cannot take more than our share of finite resources unless we
have the power so to do. Poverty and powerlessness are bound up
with each other. Poverty leads to powerlessness, and powerlessness
leads to poverty.
Martin Wyatt, 1988
23.23 We need to see the problem of homelessness as only one end of a
spectrum of evil that has the massive subsidies to owners at the
other. It is a problem that will be as difficult and painful to solve as
slavery. Slavery as an evil shared many of the qualities of the present
housing situation - it benefited the wealthy, created an underclass
and denied them human rights. The solution was painful, for
abolition often required that slave owners abandon their investment
with no recompense. To change our attitudes to housing will be no
less of a challenge to us than slavery was for the reformers, not only
because institutional evil is hard to recognise but also because so
many of us benefit personally from the present situation.
We must first understand the present system and become clear about
the extent of right and wrong that it contains. If we could achieve
this, we could first work towards a consensus on goals and then, I
hope with other churches, start on the secular arguments.
This is a challenge that the Society, and indeed other churches, must
face. If we fail to address the roots of an issue in which most of us
are unwittingly part of the problem, we will need to look very
carefully at the claims we make about our contribution in the world.
Richard Hilken, 1992; 1993
Slavery
23.24 It is the sense of this meeting, that the importing of negroes from
their native country and relations by Friends, is not a commendable
nor allowed practice, and is therefore censured by this meeting.
Yearly Meeting in London, 1727
23.25 By 1772 the Yearly Meeting's concern had extended to the holding of slaves by
anybody:
It appears that the practice of holding negroes in oppressive and
unnatural bondage hath been so successfully discouraged by Friends
in some of the colonies as to be considerably lessened. We cannot
but approve of these salutary endeavours, and earnestly intreat they
may be continued, that, through the favour of Divine Providence, a
traffic so unmerciful and unjust in its nature to a part of our own
species made equally with ourselves for immortality may come to be
considered by all in its proper light, and be utterly abolished, as a
reproach to the Christian profession.
John Woolman was present at this Yearly Meeting. The experience which, sixteen
years earlier, had led to his concern in this matter is described in 20.46
23.26 Yearly Meeting 1822 accepted 'An address to the inhabitants of Europe on the
Iniquities of the slave trade, issued by the Religious Society of Friends':
The arguments of the Christian, like the religion from which they are
derived, are plain and simple, but they are in themselves invincible.
The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a system of peace, of love, of
mercy, and of good-will. The slave trade is a system of fraud and
rapine, of violence and cruelty... That which is morally wrong cannot
be politically right.
23.27 It has probably come as a shock to many Friends to learn that slavery
still exists in many parts of the world, either in its usually understood
form or as forced labour which is akin to slavery... The prime need,
as a preliminary action, is the gathering together of accurate
information on all aspects of this important problem... Though the
powers of the British Government to deal with potential slavery or
slave trading are now much more circumscribed, we would
encourage any efforts they are able to make through international
channels to bring to an end this deplorable traffic in the lives of
members of the world family.
London Yearly Meeting, 1958
23.28 Quakers gradually led the way in the great reform which has now
been largely achieved. A legal judgment of 1772 declared that if
slaves arrived in England they became free. These pioneers against
slavery were heretics, outside the normal confines of our great
religious institutions, but what a debt we and the churches owe to
these heretics who, nevertheless, liberated the spiritual wind which
sent them forward to explore territories beyond the limited horizon
of their age.
We are involved in an intense perpetual struggle within the mind of
man. If wars begin in the mind of men, so does slavery. When I was
in the Yemen some four or five years ago, before the present [1962-
67] civil war began and before Egypt sent some 70,000 troops into
that country, I talked at some length with the late Imam, the Crown
Prince and others about the slavery I knew existed there, and I
myself saw in the early morning the old women sweeping the streets
and was told that they were slaves. I glanced up at the edifice at the
top of the hill wherein there were scores of boys kept as hostages by
the Imam. Again, a form of slavery.
When I was some years ago in Northern Nigeria I knew that those
who could do so maintained harems, which surely is another form of
slavery. When I read letters from time to time from a friend in South
Africa who now finds every excuse for the permanent subjugation of
black South Africans, I know that her mind is essentially still
subscribing to slavery. When in South Carolina I talked to a Baptist
deacon and he stated that all would be peaceful in his part of
America were it not for 'darned agitators', I knew again that he was
virtually, although a Christian, endorsing a form of slavery. Further,
when we all remember the repression of human liberty in certain
European states, then we know that the Anti-Slavery Society and its
purpose, which is defined as the protection of human rights, has only
partially fulfilled its mission...
[There] are indications of real advances. Let us take courage and
inspiration from them, but let us also appreciate how much still has
to be done.
Reginald Sorensen, 1966
23.29 In the 1970s children could still be found picking crops in pesticide-
soaked fields of the USA, labouring on building sites in Mexico, in
sweat-shops in the East End of London, being injured in factory
accidents in Italy, making carpets in Turkey, assembling plastic toys
in Hong Kong, labouring as unofficial sub-employees in Indian
factories, and working in agriculture almost everywhere. Even the
nineteenth-century chimney boy has his twentieth-century equivalent
- boys employed on Saturdays to crawl through and clean factory air
ducts...
The attitudes which have perpetuated child labour are likely to
remain a fundamental problem; attitudes which treat particular
groups, such as women and children, as subservient and expendable
and which respond with violence even to non-violent movements
towards reform... The all too frequent cruel exploitation of child
labour is a scandal. It is doubly a scandal when it co-exists with
massive adult unemployment. What is needed now is a concerted
effort to launch a wide-ranging programme of reform.
James Challis, 1979
Torture
In 1961 Amnesty International was established on the initiative of a small
group, which included a Quaker, Eric Baker, to take up the cause of prisoners of
conscience: men and women imprisoned for their religious, political or other beliefs
or opinions, who had not used or advocated the use of violence. It became
increasingly evident that many such prisoners were being subjected to torture. In
1974, in Documents in advance and at Yearly Meeting, Eric Baker introduced a
session on the subject, which was subsequently selected for special study at the
Friends World Committee for Consultation Triennial meeting in 1976.
23.30 Can torture ever be justified? Once chattel slavery was considered an
economic and social necessity; nevertheless it has now been
abolished in most regions of the world. This has happened at least in
part because of the revulsion which this offence to human dignity
aroused. Should not torture arouse the same revulsion?
Torture is not just a sporadic occurrence in this country or that, but a
moral contagion which has spread throughout the world, even to
governments which have been proud of their record of civilised
behaviour. Torture is not only systematic physical ill-treatment but
may also involve the misuse of psychology and other sciences and
technologies.
Is this evil one that will arouse us to action as our Society was once
aroused by the evil of slavery?
London Yearly Meeting, 1974
23.31 It is a matter of grave anxiety that torture and secret imprisonment
are being used by many governments, anti-government groups and
others to extract information, to suppress criticism, and to intimidate
opposition, so that throughout the world countless numbers of men,
women and children are suffering inhuman treatment. We believe in
the worth of every individual as a child of God, and that no
circumstances whatsoever can justify practices intended to break
bodies, minds and spirits.
Both tortured and torturer are victims of the evil from which no
human being is immune. Friends, however, believe that the life and
power of God are greater than evil, and in that life and power declare
their opposition to all torture. The Society calls on all its members, as
well as those of all religious and other organisations, to create a force
of public opinion which will oblige those responsible to dismantle
everywhere the administrative apparatus which permits or encourages
torture, and to observe effectively those international agreements
under which its use is strictly forbidden.
Friends World Committee for Consultation, 1976
Discrimination and disadvantage
23.32 I have never lost the enjoyment of sitting in silence at the beginning
of meeting, knowing that everything can happen, knowing the joy of
utmost surprise; feeling that nothing is pre-ordained, nothing is set,
all is open. The light can come from all sides. The joy of experiencing
the Light in a completely different way than one has thought it would
come is one of the greatest gifts that Friends' meeting for worship
has brought me.
I believe that meeting for worship has brought the same awareness to
all who have seen and understood the message that everyone is equal
in the sight of God, that everybody has the capacity to be the vessel
of God's word. There is nothing that age, experience and status can
do to prejudge where and how the Light will appear. This awareness
- the religious equality of each and every one - is central to Friends.
Early Friends understood this and at the same time they fully
accepted the inseparable unity of life, and spoke against the setting
apart of the secular and the sacred. It was thus inevitable that
religious equality would be translated into the equality of everyday
social behaviour. Friends' testimony to plain speech and plain dress
was both a testimony of religious equality and a testimony of the
unacceptability of all other forms of inequality.
Ursula Franklin, 1979
23.33 Guided by the Light of God within us and recognising that of God
in others, we can all learn to value our differences in age, sex,
physique, race and culture. This enables mutual respect and self-
respect to develop, and it becomes possible for everyone to love one
another as God loves us. Throughout our lives, we see ourselves
reflected in the facial expressions, verbal comments and body-
language of others. We have a responsibility to protect each other's
self-respect.
Because of their commitment to social concerns, some Quakers may
find it inconceivable that they may lack understanding of issues
involving racism. Jesus stressed the unique nature and worth of each
individual. It is unreasonable to expect assimilation or to ignore
difference, claiming to treat everyone the same. This denies the value
of variety, which presents not a problem, but a creative challenge to
live adventurously.
Personality, sex, race, culture and experience are God's gifts. We
need one another and differences shared become enrichments, not
reasons to be afraid, to dominate or condemn. The media have
increased our knowledge of the world, but we need greater self-
awareness if our actions are to be changed in relation to the
information we receive. We need to consider our behaviour carefully,
heeding the command of Jesus that we should love our neighbours as
we love ourselves.
Meg Maslin, 1990
23.34 Testimony concerning Dorothy Case (1901-1978):
In the mid-50s, West Indians started coming to this country in great
numbers, and Dorothy had more and more of their small children in
her nursery. With two Friends from Streatham Meeting, Dorothy
joined a Racial Brotherhood Association started by the Mayor of
Lambeth and a West Indian Brixton resident. The Association could
not find premises suitable for a community centre, largely because of
colour prejudice, and, when the Mayor left the district, the once
flourishing association nearly collapsed. But largely through the
determination of Dorothy and the two Streatham Friends, it was
revived, Dorothy agreeing to become secretary. To find premises was
always the problem and in 1958 Dorothy wrote: 'Last year I felt that
if we didn't function somehow, we'd had it, and as I'm keen on
cricket, I booked a pitch on the Common and collected a few of the
West Indian fathers of babies at my nursery, and their friends. It
surpassed all our expectations and we had a wonderful season.' When
winter came, although they only had two small basement rooms, they
functioned as best they could as a true community centre. At this
time Dorothy had helpful contacts with the International Centre and
with Friends Race Relations Committee of which she was a member
from 1964-1974, sharing her particular concerns for the West Indian
community in Lambeth with it and, as race relations correspondent,
with her meeting. A former member of Westminster Meeting recalls
that Dorothy was a source of inspiration to her West Indian
neighbours, standing by them in difficult situations, and offering
them encouragement at all times.
Purley & Sutton Monthly Meeting, 1978
23.35 This year's Junior Yearly Meeting has made us hope that the
concentrated love we have experienced could be spread over the
world; but it has also alerted us to the harsh realities of racism.
We recognise that racism is more complex than simply black and
white - it is part of a wider problem of prejudice involving sexism
and religious bigotry. In this context, we were particularly alerted to
the situation in Northern Ireland which, like racism, exhibits
institutional and [personal] prejudice.
We urge Friends throughout the world to examine their
responsibilities in this light.
Epistle from Junior Yearly Meeting, 1988
23.36 At the centre of Friends' religious experience is the repeatedly and
consistently expressed belief in the fundamental equality of all
members of the human race. Our common humanity transcends our
differences. Friends have worked individually and corporately to give
expression to this belief. We aspire not to say or do anything or
condone any statements or actions which imply lack of respect for
the humanity of any person. We try to free ourselves from
assumptions of superiority and from racial prejudice.
We must constantly ask ourselves whether we are living up to these
ideals, not only in international relations but also in our individual
and corporate relationships within Britain - which has become and
will remain multiracial and multicultural. To liberate ourselves from
pervasive attitudes and practices of our time and social environment
requires new perceptions and hard work.
There is incontrovertible evidence that people who belong to ethnic
minority groups, especially those who are readily identifiable by their
appearance, are subject to a variety of disadvantages. They face more
obstacles than others, first, in gaining education commensurate with
their abilities, and then in securing employment which reflects their
qualifications. They are less likely to be promoted, and often earn less
than others with similar abilities. As a result of legislation passed by
both Labour and Conservative governments which restricts the right
to live and work in Britain, people from ethnic minorities may be
asked to justify their claim to equal rights by anyone in authority at
any time. In addition to discrimination, intended or unintended, by
employers and by the law, our fellow-citizens are often subjected to
abuse, harassment and violence.
The Religious Society of Friends has a duty to play its part in ending
these abuses. Being aware of injustice and doing little about it
condones that injustice. Friends kept slaves until John Woolman
persuaded them that it was wrong to do so. Should we not ask
ourselves if we are in a parallel situation today?
Discrimination also takes more subtle forms. It may occur, and
feelings may be hurt, by unthinking assumptions and lack of
sensitivity. Being a Friend does not confer automatic protection
against this, either as giver or receiver. In our dealings with members
of minority groups in our daily lives and also within the Religious
Society of Friends we may sometimes be less thoughtful and sensitive
than we should be.
Meeting for Sufferings' Statement of Intent on Racism, 1988
The use of language in the passage above gives the mistaken impression that in
1988 all Friends in Britain were white. By 1994 we were aware that such usage
was exclusive and were committed to inclusive expression, based on respect and
celebration of diversity among Friends in Britain.
23.37 Having a severe disability in my experience meant almost total
isolation from my peers during my teens and early twenties. I could
not talk with them or go out with them and this had a drastic effect
on my confidence and self-respect. I suffered agonies of repressed
sexual longing.
I was lucky. I had the means to recover unavailable to great numbers
of young disabled people. As I found vehicles I could drive my
contacts widened and I could exercise my freedom, responsibility and
keen intelligence but it took long years of learning to catch up on
normal life...
In some circles it is quite impossible for me to get an honest opinion
about what I think and do. Any trivial achievement is regarded with
awe and anything approaching normality is quite inconceivable. If I
committed some frightful social blunder, they would nod their heads
and make irrelevant excuses for me.
Enough of such things. You soon 'forget' them; but deep within you
burns a clear impression of profound inferiority; of unacceptability;
of a need to apologise for even being the miserable wretch that you
are and for needing that minimum of help you dare to require. When
all this is added to a very real and terrifying social immaturity, where
can you begin to hope? ...
Many people, much less disabled than me, accept the role society
imposes, hating themselves and their handicaps, hating to ask for
help, hating friendly curiosity and concern, hating to admit to what
they feel they are.
All this is a terrible indictment of society but it is not an indictment
of the individual. Each of them, including myself, is only echoing the
fear and hurt about disability and about their own minds and bodies
that they received when they were young. Young children, left alone,
will look, enquire, accept, and sometimes even care, without
prompting.
Everyone must learn to be glad of what they really are and must feel
able to ask for the necessary help to fulfil themselves. We are all in
this together, handicapped or not. We all need help to be ourselves.
Jonathan Griffith, 1981
23.38 Carol Gardiner has lived with multiple sclerosis for many years. In 1989 she
wrote about her realisation that she did not have enough reserves of spiritual and
physical energy at that time to go to a residential Yearly Meeting, and so it was
not accessible to her.
Our Religious Society includes a considerable number of people who
to some degree live with disabilities, and we generally present quite a
good record of considering their needs and attempting to cater for
them - a consideration born of our conviction that there is 'that of
God' in every person. But we should ask ourselves continually if this
consideration is being maintained and whether it goes far enough. If
we really mean that there is that of God in everyone, then it behoves
us to look with creative, loving imagination at the condition of every
human being. This includes listening to what they say, and the words
they choose to say it, and also listening for what they do not or
cannot say. It does not mean listening to what someone else says
supposedly on their behalf.
23.39 Too long have wrongs and oppression existed without an
acknowledged wrongdoer and oppressor. It was not until the slave
holder was told 'Thou art the man' that a healthy agitation was
brought about. Woman is told the fault is in herself, in too willingly
submitting to her inferior condition, but like the slave, she is pressed
down by laws in the making of which she has no voice, and crushed
by customs which have grown out of such laws. She cannot rise
therefore, while thus trampled in the dust. The oppressor does not
see himself in that light until the oppressed cry for deliverance.
Lucretia Mott, 1852
23.40 We have been reminded vividly that women live under cultural,
political, and economic oppression. All humanity is lessened by it; we
are unwilling to tolerate its perpetuation, and must continue to work
for justice and peace in the world...
We hope that we will act as leaven in our local meetings, churches,
and yearly meetings, so that Quaker women everywhere will be
encouraged by our new understanding. As we grow in solidarity with
one another, enriched by how we express our faith, we will all be
enabled to surmount the cultural economic and political barriers that
prevent us from discerning and following the ways in which God
leads us. We honour the lives of our Quaker foremothers as patterns
which help us recognise our own leadings. Their commitment,
dedication, and courage remain as worthy standards. May our lives be
used as theirs were to give leadership to women everywhere to be
vehicles of the love of God. We share a deep love for all creation,
and cry with the pain of its desecration. We must realise we are part
of the natural world and examine our lives in order to change those
attitudes which lead to domination and exploitation.
Friends, we are called into wholeness and into community, women
and men alike, sharing the responsibilities God has given us, and
assuming the leadership we are called to. We begin where we are, in
our homes and meetings or churches, our work and communities,
celebrating the realisation of the New Creation.
Epistle of the First International Theological Conference of Quaker
Women, 1990
23.41 The oppression of the working-classes by existing monopolies, and
the lowness of wages, often engaged my attention; and I have held
many meetings with them, and heard their appeals with compassion,
and a great desire for a radical change in the system which makes the
rich richer and the poor poorer. The various associations and
communities tending to greater equality of condition have had from
me a hearty God-speed. But the millions of down-trodden slaves in
our land being the greatest sufferers, the most oppressed class, I have
felt bound to plead their cause, in season and out of season, to
endeavor to put my soul in their souls' stead, and to aid, all in my
power, in every right effort for their immediate emancipation. This
duty was impressed upon me at the time I consecrated myself to that
gospel which anoints 'to preach deliverance to the captive', 'to set at
liberty them that are bruised.' From that time the duty of abstinence
so far as practicable from slave-grown products was so clear, that I
resolved to make the effort 'to provide things honest' in this respect.
Since then our family has been supplied with free-labor groceries
and, to some extent, with cotton goods untainted by slavery.
In 1840, a World's Anti-slavery Convention was called in London.
Women from Boston, New York and Philadelphia were delegates to
that convention. I was one of the number; but, on our arrival in
England, our credentials were not accepted because we were women.
We were, however, treated with great courtesy and attention, as
strangers, and as women, were admitted to chosen seats as spectators
and listeners, while our right of membership was denied - we were
voted out. This brought the Woman question more into view, and an
increase of interest in the subject has been the result. In this work,
too, I have engaged heart and hand, as my labors, travels, and public
discourses evince. The misrepresentation, ridicule, and abuse heaped
upon this as well as other reforms do not, in the least, deter me from
my duty. To those whose name is cast out as evil for the truth's sake,
it is a small thing to be judged of man's judgment.
Lucretia Mott
23.42 I am still concerned that there are not many women exercising
leadership in government, industry and education... However, this is
not a straightforward issue for me. I want to see women fully
represented at all levels of society, and yet I share the misgivings that
many feminists have for the hierarchical way in which leadership is
traditionally exercised.
The Society of Friends seems a good place to explore this dilemma
since it has, since the early days, attempted a more truly democratic
and participative way of working than has been customary in society
at large. This was one of the factors that first attracted me to Friends,
as it seems to be an expression of the recognition that we are all
equal in our shared humanity. Sexism does violence to this important
insight, as it does to individuals of either sex who are seeking to find
themselves and express themselves in the world...
I am not saying that the oppressive effects of sexism are never felt
within the Society of Friends, for we are all members of the wider
society and affected by its attitudes. There are Friends who think that
catering should be the preserve of women and that matters of
finance are best understood by men. There have been times within
Friends' circles when I have felt hurt by these attitudes, as I have no
doubt unwittingly wounded others. But I have found the Society's
commitment to truth an encouragement and challenge to my own
strivings for integrity, and I give thanks for that.
Pauline Leader, 1986
Social justice
23.43 As male and female are made one in Jesus Christ, so women receive
an office in the Truth as well as men, and they have a stewardship
and must give an account of their stewardship as well as the men...
Elizabeth Bathurst, 1685
23.44 The language in which we express what we ... say is of vital
importance; it both shapes and reflects our values. One result of the
emphasis on plain speech by early Friends was to challenge the class
hierarchy of the day. The emphasis on non-sexist language by
present-day feminists is likewise a challenge to hierarchy, in this case
the sex hierarchy, which women have brought into the Light by
naming it - patriarchy... Our Quaker tradition enables us to recognise
that our choice of language, and our reaction to the choice that
others make, reveals values which may otherwise stay hidden.
Having in mind that much Christian teaching and language has been
used to subordinate women to men, bear witness to our experience
that we are all one in the Spirit and value the special characteristics of
each individual. Remember that the Spirit of God includes and
transcends our ideas of male and female, and that we should reflect
this insight in our lives and through our ministry.
Are you working, in all aspects of your life, towards a better
understanding of the need for a different balance between the sexes
in their contribution to our society? Do you recognise the limitations
which are placed on women and men by assigning roles to them
according to gender, and do you attempt to respond instead to the
needs and capacities of the individual? Do you recognise and
encourage the many ways in which human love may be expressed?
Quaker Women's Group, 1982; 1986
23.45 All of us [Young Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns] have
suffered discrimination or isolation because of our sexuality. We are
all both angry and sad about the discrimination we face in everyday
life, whether it consists of being unable to talk to work colleagues
about a partner, or having to hide our sexuality in order to keep a
job. The consequences of such necessary dishonesty can be very
destructive both personally and for society.
Tessa Fairweather, 1993
23.46 I have been greatly exercised for some time by the image we like to
present of ourselves (albeit with beating of breasts) as a white,
middle-class, well-educated group of heterosexual people, preferably
in stable marriages with children that behave in socially acceptable
ways. I do feel that this is a myth. The danger of such myths is that
we exclude many potential Quakers who feel they cannot/do not live
up to the image or who feel that such a group is not one with which
they wish to be associated. Sadly, many of us within the Society who
do not fit in feel marginalised and second-class.
Another effect is that many problems faced by a large proportion of
people are seen as separate: people who are poor, facing oppression,
living in poor housing, experiencing prejudice are the 'others'. This
enables us to be very caring but distant (and sometimes patronising)
and also makes it difficult to be conscious of prejudice behind some
of the normally accepted assumptions of our society/Society, such as
that people who are unemployed are a different group from those
who have employment; that poor people are poor ... because they are
not as bright or as able as the rest of us or because their limited
homes did not give them the opportunities that a good Quaker home
would have done; that children living in single-parent families are
automatically deprived by that very fact.
Until we as a Religious Society begin to question our assumptions,
until we look at the prejudices, often very deeply hidden, within our
own Society, how are we going to be able to confront the inequalities
within the wider society? We are very good at feeling bad about
injustice, we put a lot of energy into sticking-plaster activity (which
obviously has to be done), but we are not having any effect in
challenging the causes of inequality and oppression. I do sometimes
wonder if this is because we are not able to do this within and among
ourselves.
Susan Rooke-Matthews, 1993
See also 10.13, 23.2, & 29.15
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY
23.47 Compassion, to be effective, requires detailed knowledge and
understanding of how society works. Any social system in turn
requires men and women in it of imagination and goodwill. What
would be fatal would be for those with exceptional human insight
and concern to concentrate on ministering to individuals, whilst
those accepting responsibility for the design and management of
organisations were left to become technocrats. What is important is
that institutions and their administration be constantly tested against
human values, and that those who are concerned about these values
be prepared to grapple with the complex realities of modern society
as it is.
Grigor McClelland, 1976
23.48 God comes to us in the midst of human need, and the most pressing
needs of our time demand community in response. How can I
participate in a fairer distribution of resources unless I live in a
community which makes it possible to consume less? How can I
learn accountability unless I live in a community where my acts and
their consequences are visible to all? How can I learn to share power
unless I live in a community where hierarchy is unnatural? How can
I take the risks which right action demands unless I belong to a
community which gives support? How can I learn the sanctity of
each life unless I live in a community where we can be persons not
roles to one another?
Parker J Palmer, 1977
23.49 Many of us live in the more prosperous areas of large cities, or within
commuting distance of them. The accumulated decisions we make,
together with the accumulated decisions of all our neighbours, help
to determine what life is like for the people who live in the inner
areas of those cities, and in the large isolated housing estates on their
edges. Decisions about where to live, what forms of transport to use,
where to spend money, where to send children to school, where to
work, whom to employ, where to obtain health services, what to
condone, what to protest about, business decisions, personal
decisions, political decisions - all these have an effect. Our first and
greatest responsibility is to make those decisions in the knowledge of
their effect on others.
Nationally we have to face up to the fact that deprived areas are
distinguished as much by personal as by collective poverty, and that
the only way to tackle personal poverty is to let people have more
money. More money for some inevitably means less for others. Are
we willing to press for this?
Martin Wyatt, 1986
23.50 How can the people of Ordsall, where I work, become our
neighbours, our sisters and our brothers, especially when we do not
know them personally? It is only through prayer and political action
that we can affirm our love and demonstrate in the flesh that we do
see that of God within them...
We have a variety of strategies for passing by on the other side: we
manage not to know about such things, by living elsewhere and
averting our eyes and hearts from information which might trouble
us; some of us imagine that Biblical morality only enjoins us to direct
personal charity towards those we encounter, having nothing to do
with justice, with political action to change unjust structures. (A
strange love this, which would shelter a Jew but ignore the struggle to
prevent the rise of Nazism.) More often we claim that whilst in
principle love does also require us to work for the removal of the
causes of injustice, such work is in practice so complex that Friends
cannot become involved corporately; it should be left to Friends
individually as they think fit...
Complexity, however, may depend on whether we are the well-fed or
the hungry. Our delicate refusal to dirty our hands in political turmoil
may itself be another way of passing by on the other side. Change
seems most complicated and controversial to those who do not
personally need it. Would we be so delicate if we were Black South
Africans? But surely, you may say, we don't face such fundamental
injustices.
No, we don't. And yet - come and meet the people in Ordsall with
me. You will sense inequality tangibly; you will become aware of the
huge range of opportunities which you have and they do not; you will
understand the struggle to make ends meet, the problems of debt, ill-
health, premature ageing and death, and the hopelessness which is
the experience of many. The answers may not be simple: the
bureaucratic welfare state did also create some of the problems. But
to see the unbridled pursuit of individual self-interest as a solution is
grotesque as well as immoral.
Jonathan Dale, 1987
23.51 Testimony concerning Stephen Henry Hobhouse (1881-1961):
He soon ceased to attend church services and resigned from the
University Rifle Corps on pacifist grounds. He also resolved never to
accept the position in the world to which he was the heir, that of a
wealthy landowner and country squire...
Although from childhood far from strong in health, Stephen
Hobhouse was again and again led to take a difficult course required
of him by his conviction of divine leading, whatever the cost to
himself... Disturbed by the contrast between the luxurious comfort
which he sometimes experienced in visiting the homes of wealthy
Friends, and the hard lives of ordinary working people in those days
(fifty years ago) he took a small flat in a block of workers' dwellings
in a poor part of London because he felt that his discipleship of Jesus
called him to share their life as much as he could, and also to open
the eyes of his comfortable friends to the way in which the great
majority of people had to live.
Hertford & Hitchin Monthly Meeting, 1961
See also 18.13 (concerning Mary Hughes) & 24.52 (concerning Douglas Smith)
23.52 I think I have wasted a great deal of my life waiting to be called to
some great mission which would change the world. I have looked for
important social movements. I have wanted to make a big and
important contribution to the causes I believe in. I think I have been
too ready to reject the genuine leadings I have been given as being
matters of little consequence. It has taken me a long time to learn
that obedience means doing what we are called to do even if it seems
pointless or unimportant or even silly. The great social movements of
our time may well be part of our calling. The ideals of peace and
justice and equality which are part of our religious tradition are often
the focus of debate. But we cannot simply immerse ourselves in
these activities. We need to develop our own unique social witness, in
obedience to God. We need to listen to the gentle whispers which
will tell us how we can bring our lives into greater harmony with
heaven.
Deborah Haines, 1978
Work and economic affairs
23.53 It was once possible to argue that economic affairs might, like total
abstinence, slavery or spiritual healing, be a field of particular interest
to groups of Friends. We can now see that the economic order is not
a peripheral concern, but central to the whole relationship between
faith and practice. This is not a claim that, say, the interest in peace
and international relations ought now to take a secondary place in
our thoughts and prayers. Still less is it a demand that the Society
should cease to be first and foremost a religious body, or to say that
it should in any way neglect its spiritual foundations in favour of
more good citizenship. It is rather that economic affairs are now so
central to our whole existence that no other aspect of personal
relationships or individual life-styles can now be looked at without
first understanding what it means in terms of our national wealth,
incomes, and their distribution.
David Eversley, 1976
See also 24.50-24.52
23.54 Part of understanding life and one's place in life is to form a 'right'
relationship with things. The philosophy of the industrial revolution
is to 'direct the forces of nature for the use of man' (following the
words of the charter given to the engineering profession in 1821).
Now, to seek mastery is not to gain a 'right' relationship. The latter
requires sensitivity and yields wisdom along with an adequacy of
power. The search for mastery alone yields a power that corrupts
faster than it is mastered.
Jim Platts, 1976
23.55 When I was a teenager and beginning to think about a career, my
father advised me to choose between working with people and
working with things, and I sensed an implied judgment that working
with people was more worthy.
In the event, the decision was made for me when I married a self-
employed engineer with no interest in the record-keeping side of his
business. We now work very happily together from home, designing
and supplying special purpose machinery to the brush industry. We
deliberately keep our business small and more or less manageable.
We are not interested in the financial dealings, stocks and shares,
investments and take-overs which the press seems to regard as the
essence of business.
I see the basis of industry as being a global network of barter, a
mutual dependency, a contract of trust for the supply of the
necessities and luxuries of life. The opportunities of industry are as
large as the needs of the world's people. Every object we use has to
be designed, manufactured and sold by someone. It is an honourable
occupation to apply one's talents to the marketplace. One person's
need becomes another's opportunity, his livelihood, his dignity.
'Working with things' is not devoid of scope for a spiritual attitude...
Perhaps a function of industry is to reflect that of God that is
creation and glory. We can be creative in our small way in God's
image; we can work in partnership with God, combining natural and
human resources; we can extract order from chaos.
Rachel Jackson, 1990
23.56 Employers today, more and more, are demanding total commitment
from their employees, often to the detriment of the employees'
health and ability to participate in family and community life. People
are facing decisions about giving all their energy to their company
and having nothing left for themselves or anyone else. Some have the
courage to opt for a more balanced approach to life and work, where
paid employment has an important place, but also allowing sufficient
leisure time to be an active parent, to enrich family and community
relationships and replenish their own spiritual reserves. I hope that
meetings will support those who make such decisions and help them
in any adjustments to their life that they have to make.
Jane Stokes, 1992
23.57 In the aftermath of the Second World War, Quakers began experimenting with
democratic forms of economic enterprise. The best known case is probably Scott
Bader, a synthetic resin and polymer manufacturing company in Wollaston,
Northamptonshire. The original company was founded in 1920 and organised
along orthodox lines of corporate authority by Ernest Bader, who joined the
Society of Friends in 1943. During the 1940s he and his family decided to re-
organise his firm upon stewardship principles. In 1951 he and his co-founders
gave 90% of their shares to the Scott Bader Commonwealth, a company limited
by guarantee and a registered charity, inviting employees to become members; in
1963 they gave the remaining 10% of their shares to the Commonwealth.
Power should come from within the person and the community, and
be made responsible to those it affects. The ultimate criteria in the
organisation of work should be human dignity and service to others
instead of solely economic performance. We feel mutual
responsibility must permeate the whole community of work and be
upheld by democratic participation and the principle of trusteeship.
Common-ownership of our means of production, and a voice in the
distribution of earned surplus and the allocation of new capital, has
helped in our struggle towards achieving these aims.
The Commonwealth has responsibilities to the wider national and
international community and is endeavouring to fulfil them by
fostering a movement towards a new peaceful industrial and social
order. To be a genuine alternative to welfare capitalism and state-
controlled communism, such an order must be non-violent in the
sense of promoting love and justice, for where love stops, power
begins and intimidation and violence follow. One of the main
requirements of a peaceful social order is, we are convinced, an
organisation of work based on the principles outlined here, a sharing
of the fruits of our labours with those less fortunate instead of
working only for our own private security, and a refusal to support
destructive social conflict or to take part in preparations for war.
Scott Bader Corporate Constitution, 1963
23.58 Testimony concerning Arthur Basil Reynolds (1903-1960):
Arthur Basil Reynolds ... had that strong sense of the indwelling spirit
of God which perforce claimed kinship with everything good and of
enduring value in other men and in the world at large. He worked for
the continuity of the good life; and to preserve what was good from
the past, to hold fast and perpetuate what was good in the present
and to work for the hope of good in the future. He was a man of
creative imagination, a craftsman with vision and courage who
delighted in the work of his hands and was able to inspire others with
the same spirit. He had the seeing eye and the unerring hand to
translate the vision into actuality. As he walked the countryside a twig
in the hedge would suggest a shape of grace and gaiety and his
penknife would speedily produce a dancing figure of elfish beauty.
All that he touched witnessed to this creative power.
His training as a cabinet-maker was put to use in the workshops at
Brynmawr during the unemployment and distress of the depression,
when he worked with Friends and others to provide employment and
thus to bring renewed hope and self-respect to the mining
community. He became manager of the Brynmawr Furniture Makers,
an undertaking that successfully produced worthy and beautiful
furniture.
Hereford & Radnor Monthly Meeting, 1961
23.59 Testimony concerning Percy Cleave (1880-1958):
By occupation he was a barber, and on moving into this district in
1937 from Swindon, he first took a shop in Wallington, and later one
in a poor part of Croydon. Not all who went there did so for a shave
or a haircut, but to enjoy its friendly atmosphere, and to talk to
Percy. 'I am sure,' said a friend of his, 'that as Percy rubbed oil into a
customer's hair, he blessed him.' This would have been natural, since
he desired all his actions to be sacramental. He was very positive in
his relationships with others, and took a lively interest in all their
doings... He was a man whom adversity had refined. It was often
surprising when talking to him, to hear of the multitudes of troubles
he and his wife had borne. He had accepted the changes and chances
of this life, but had not forgotten them, and so could sympathise with
those who were still struggling. He had great insight, and was able to
see to the heart of a problem. Since he was in a small way of business
which barely brought in sufficient money, he had a hard time which
persisted until his retirement, when he sought so to arrange his life,
that others could speak to him at leisure and without hurry. It was
then that he ministered to some families of Friends by going to their
homes and cutting their hair. It was pleasant to see him starting on
the littlest ones and proceed in order to the adults. To have Percy cut
your hair was a grace.
Kingston Monthly Meeting, 1958
23.60 Testimony concerning Joan Frances Layton (1908-1990):
Her early education was unconventional and irregular. Nevertheless,
she obtained a place at Bedford College, where she read English,
French, Latin and Spanish. These stood her in good stead when she
started work as a secretary in Covent Garden market. She then
obtained a post in the City but, unable to reconcile her work there
with her beliefs, she returned to the market amongst 'real people'
whose admiration and respect she won, and remained with them for
the rest of her working life.
Southampton & Portsmouth Monthly Meeting, 1990
23.61 It remains to speak of the Way of Service, as it concerns the conduct
of our ordinary work and business. Nowhere is the practical working
of our faith put to a severer test, yet nowhere is there a nobler and
more fruitful witness to be borne. Business in its essence is no mere
selfish struggle for the necessities and luxuries of life, but 'a vast and
complex movement of social service'. However some may abuse its
methods for private ends, its true function is not to rob the
community but to serve it. But, in the fierce competition which is so
marked a feature of the present day, it has become very difficult,
some would say impossible, for those engaged in business to be
wholly faithful to Christ. Christianity is challenged in the shop and in
the office.
We have been touched with keen sympathy for our friends, whether
employers or employed, who find themselves in this strait. We
cannot here deal fully with this question, but we are sure there is an
answer to the challenge, and that the light which shines upon the
Way of Life, and gives us the distinction of things inwardly, will guide
us to the answer...
Christianity is tested, not only in the shop and in the office, but also
in the home. In the standard of living adopted by the home-makers,
in the portion of income devoted to comforts, recreations and
luxuries, in willingness to be content with simplicity, the members of
a household, both older and younger, may bear witness that there is a
Way of Life that does not depend on the abundance of the things
possessed.
London Yearly Meeting, 1911
23.62 The attempt to identify and apply Christian values in practice is a
struggle laid upon each generation. As new knowledge, new methods,
new technologies arise, so is the condition for the operation of
conscience altered and advanced.
To list the attributes of Christian quality would be to repeat much of
the Sermon on the Mount. They can be summed up as personal
integrity combined with compassion. Such quality can shine out in
the work situation as in the social and religious life... It is
characterised by the refusal to put up with the second best; a capacity
to take infinite pains with other people; especially is it shown in the
constant effort to seek higher standards beyond the traditional
practices or those provided for in regulations.
Edward W Fox, 1969
23.63 One of the aspects of parenthood which I enjoy most is putting my
mind to trying to solve all sorts of problems. I get a big thrill out of
designing gadgets which will make life a little more comfortable. I
love to get to work on a thoroughly neglected garden or room and
put it right again. I find great satisfaction in being consulted about
other people's problems and helping to sort them out. I have come
to the conclusion, therefore, that this is the area in which I shall both
find my main direction and satisfy my needs to be creative, practical
and supportive. If, rather than concentrating on one particular job or
career, I apply myself to tackling the many problems that come my
way, I am sure that my life will be more than adequately filled with
work that I 'most need to do and the world most needs to have
done'. Thus I shall have found my vocation or mission. It will not
mean that all the problems will get solved, of course, or that those
which do will be solved satisfactorily every time, but I am sure that it
will mean that my relationships with other people will improve and
that both the giving and the taking of love will come easier to me.
Helen Edwards, 1992
23.64 There is much work to be done which is not paid, but which is vital,
desperately undervalued and undertaken to a large extent by women.
I refer, of course, to caring for children and/or elderly disabled
relatives and homemaking. The work itself is often hard, stressful,
mundane and repetitive, unseen and unacknowledged, with low
status. We need a transformation of our attitudes to this work, giving
it all the esteem it deserves. Experience of running a household
teaches innumerable management skills, but these skills are often not
perceived by employers as useful to them. Self-image is extremely
poor in this group, not because they do not make a contribution but
because their contribution is not appreciated.
Another reason for the low self-image of this group is one of the
primary indicators of status in our society - income. Caring for a
family is unpaid and therefore low status... We must value the work
done by carers in a domestic situation because it is essential to the
wellbeing of individuals and the community; bringing up the next
generation should never be undervalued...
Related to the unpaid caring work carried out in many families is the
voluntary work on which our communities depend which is, by
Friends and state authority
definition, unpaid. Without volunteers many of the statutory services
would be overwhelmed...
Voluntary work gives the sense of being able to give something -
whether in time, money or expertise - and that is precious to the
person doing the giving. The feeling of having contributed, the
satisfaction of a job lovingly done, is the reward. We should not
regard voluntary work as of less value because it is unpaid and the
rewards intangible, nor should we exploit the goodwill of
volunteers...
Whichever sphere of activity we are involved in, we have to be
responsive to the Spirit's leadings and try to put into practice our
deepest beliefs, for our faith is a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week faith,
which is not excluded from our workplace, wherever that may be.
Everything in the end can be distilled to relationships - our
relationships with each other and the earth. Our work must benefit
our relationships rather than damage them, and we must ensure that
neither the earth nor other people are exploited. Caring, not
exploitation, is the key.
Jane Stokes, 1992
23.65 Large numbers of people desperately need not only the honest, just
and sympathetic administration of material assistance, but counselling
and caring from skilled but warm persons, who for the most part can
only be provided through an institutional framework, whether
statutory or voluntary. But social workers themselves often face an
uphill struggle, working with people on whom society has imposed
burdens which for one reason or another they have found too heavy
for them. These burdens may be lifted or lightened by the social
worker, but they might never have been imposed in the first place if
we had better and wiser architects and town planners, legislators and
civil servants, broadcasters and advertising people, personnel
managers and supervisors, economists and sociologists.
Grigor McClelland, 1976
23.66 For some it is right to give their whole lives explicitly to concrete
forms of service, but for most their service will lie 'in the sheer
quality of the soul displayed in ordinary occupations'. Such ordinary
occupations are sometimes an essential contribution to the liberation
of another person for wider service, and in any case, the inspiration
of a dedicated life lived in simple surroundings, though often
untraceable, may be profound in its reach.
Gerald Littleboy, 1945
23.67 We can neither deny nor ignore the fact that our self-respect and our
sense of being useful are closely bound up with the ability to hold
down a job. Unemployment not only results in a lowering of living
standards, it also induces a feeling of insecurity, of being unwanted,
that we no longer have a place in the community. The fear of
unemployment causes more unhappiness and does more to lower
self-confidence than any other element in life. The sense of security,
so necessary to inner well-being, will never be sustained by a welfare
system or any society which ignores these facts. Any percentage rate
of unemployment can never be other than an index of human misery
and desperate uncertainty; this applies not only to the unemployed
persons but to their dependants also. Thus any economic system
which possesses an inbuilt tendency to reduce human involvement in
its day-to-day engagements is both unnatural and unkind.
George Clarke, 1973
23.68 The poor without employment are like rough diamonds, their worth
is unknown.
John Bellers, 1714
23.69 Unemployment is in truth an astonishing evil and calm acquiescence
therein is discreditable... The stoic endurance of privation in times of
shortage is noble, but poverty caused by enforced idleness, and in the
presence of plenty, is so glaring an injustice that no man should
accept it tamely.
Shipley N Brayshaw, 1933
23.70 We are in a new situation which demands new thinking. Advanced
technology is producing techniques which will affect every field of
human activity and can displace many people who at present have
little opportunity of alternative work. We need to be far more
ambitious and resourceful in our thinking. Technology alleviates the
repetitive and mundane nature of many people's jobs. We need to
approach the situation positively as an opportunity to promote new
business and industrial ventures, to back initiatives from workers and
trade unions, exploring alternative uses of the intricate technology of
armaments to find ways of promoting service jobs related to inner-
city renewal, or to help with unmet social needs. The solution of our
energy problems may also serve to provide new opportunities for
employment. We must look for revolutionary approaches which can
promote the sharing of the gains and benefits of new technology and
a far greater awareness of the need to accept the concept of equity.
We have been asked to see those in the midst of our community who
are suffering from unemployment as well as to look for new
solutions. John Bellers reminded Friends that God would not send
his angels to solve our problems; it is we who must seek the solutions
with God's guidance, and we who must do the job.
London Yearly Meeting, 1978
Education
23.71 Then I came to Waltham and established a school there for the
teaching of boys, and ordered a women's school to be set up at
Shacklewell to instruct young lasses and maidens in whatsoever
things were civil and useful in the creation.
George Fox, 1668
23.72 This meeting do desire that, where Friends can, they would get such
schools and schoolmasters for their children, as may bring them up
in the fear of the Lord and love of his truth, that so they may not
only learn to be scholars, but Christians also; and that all parents will
take the same care at home that such reproof, instructions, counsel,
and example may be constantly continued in their respective families,
that so from the oldest to the youngest, Truth may show itself in its
beauty and comeliness to God's glory and all his people's comfort.
Bristol Yearly Meeting, 1695
23.73 Our experience [is] that God speaks to and works through children
as well as adults. Religious education needs to respect, affirm and
value children's insights.
The Quaker understanding of Christianity includes:
The experience that it is possible to have both a strong faith
commitment and an open mind, to take other positions seriously
without trivialising them, and to value the people who differ from
ourselves.
The belief that the same God known through Christianity is also
present in other faiths. The study of other faith positions is therefore
important, not only for its own sake, but as a contribution towards
humility before the mystery of truth.
The experience that valuable worship can be held in a multifaith
context, especially when silence is the basis for prayer. We would
assert that school worship which shows respect for other faith
positions by presenting them with accuracy and sympathy is, by our
definition, Christian.
The belief in the equality of all human beings of whatever sex, race,
class or age. This is firmly grounded in God's love for each
individual, rather than in social fashion. This requires policies, not of
equal opportunities (which redistribute inequality) but of equality,
and implies that schools be reorganised for co-operation rather than
competition, and for affirming people in their successes rather than
their failures.
Janet Scott, 1988
23.74 The Quaker emphasis in education probably lies in non-violence, in
participation, and in caring. Not only to run the school without
violence, but to produce young people who will feel a concern to
reduce the level of violence in the world. Not to impose the aims of
the school on the pupils, but to lead them to their own acceptance of
these aims, to a share (however small) in its running, and a pleasure
in its successes. To find that of God in every pupil.
'This is the true ground of love and unity,' wrote Isaac Penington in
1659, 'not that such a man walks and does just as I do, but because I
feel the same Spirit and life in him, and that he walks in his rank, in
his own order, in his proper way.' This marvellous statement by an
early Friend of the value of individualism surely commands our
assent today. The school which respects every pupil as an individual
will try to teach each one what he (or she) needs to learn, to draw out
his unique talents, to understand his proper way, whether he is
studying or misbehaving. 'This is far more pleasing to me,' Penington
continues, 'than if he walked just in that track wherein I walk.'
Quakers and their schools, 1980
23.75 To confirm the deepest thing in our students is the educator's special
privilege. It demands that we see in the failures of adolescence and its
many confusions, the possibility of something untangled, clear,
directed. It asks us to sustain that faith through a multiplicity of
discouraging experiences and indeed to find within those experiences
the grounds for hope. It requires us to love freely, readily,
unconditionally but truly - without relaxing our standards or
compromising ourselves - because to do that would be to disappoint
and disillusion - a sure means of stunting the student's growth.
Above all, we must water the ground of the student's being with faith
in that deepest self - to do so constantly, tirelessly, patiently - and to
love enough to know what one should demand from the student in
response and how and when to ask it.
Barbara Windle, 1988
23.76 The capacity to listen is something which is greatly needed and is an
important part of our education, something which has to be worked
at constantly. We so easily fall into a pattern of imagining we know
what someone else is going to say to us. Sometimes this is the case,
but more often than not we have made up our mind, and received a
message which may be completely erroneous and precludes a true
understanding. We must have all experienced the circumstances in
which a child tries to make himself understood and in which we have
prejudged what is his meaning. In that case we never meet. There is
one occasion which stands out very clearly in my life when a
youngster kept coming up to me and I answered what I thought the
question was going to be; at the end of a week she stood resolutely
between me and the door clutching a piece of paper asking if she
could discontinue my lessons. All that time I had been answering an
unasked question and missing the point of contact. This is something
which most of us do all too often in one way or another: we have a
duty to try to help each other to communicate. We must endeavour
to meet each other's minds and we must attempt to achieve not only
sympathy but empathy.
D June Ellis, 1981
23.77 To 'know oneself' as a teacher implies acknowledging one's
weaknesses, source of prejudices and tendencies to stereotype. It
involves accepting one's effect on pupils and their parents.
Diagnosing a child's learning needs involves risking being wrong. We
can only see clearly and risk being wrong when we have a high level
of self-esteem and when we love ourselves enough to be open.
To acknowledge those aspects in ourselves and our own practice
which hinder an understanding of the learner's needs is difficult. Yet
when we can do this, we are given the strength to respond lovingly to
others, recognising that of God in everyone, which for Quakers, is
what meeting the needs of the individual is all about.
Sarah Worster, 1988
23.78 We seek to affirm in each child at school, each member of the
meeting, each person we meet in our daily lives, the person that he or
she may with God's help grow to be. We are all the merest infants in
God's world, struggling to stand upright and walk unaided, trying in
vain to articulate our halting thoughts and feelings. We stumble and
fall. We give way to self-pity and shame. God hauls us to our feet
again and makes sense of our childish babble, never ceasing to
believe in what we may ultimately become. Do we do the same for
our children and one another? We have a responsibility to follow
Pierre Ceresole's dictum: 'Speak to every child as if you were
addressing the utterly truthful upright individual which under your
guidance he may one day become'. Our Quaker witness demands of
us that we 'respect children very much more than they respect
themselves'.
When we find ourselves teaching - as we all do in our relationships
within meeting - can we draw upon that respect for one another and
faith in one another's potential that will enable the other to feel taller
and more capable? At Rufus Jones's memorial meeting one of his
students simply said: 'He lit my candle'. That is a high aim for us all
to aspire to in educating ourselves and our young people.
Barbara Windle, 1988
23.79 I may reach God through Keats, you by Beethoven, and a third
through Einstein. Should not education to the Christian mean just
this - enlarging and cultivating the country of God; and the subjects
on any school timetable be thought of as avenues to an increasingly
fuller life in God, or, to change the metaphor, windows, each of
which gives a new view of the Kingdom of Heaven? ... This may
seem a fantastically idealised view of what happens in a school,
especially in these days of examinations, but is there any other open
to the religiously-minded teacher? Is the commercial side of school
and college life, the exchange of intellectual wares for examination
results, so many facts and opinions for so many marks, which is so
terribly dominating nowadays, to be allowed to weaken the allegiance
of the young to knowledge and beauty as bringers of God to mortal
men? No examination has yet been devised the passing of which will
guarantee wisdom or culture. For these are slow-growing breeds,
matters of character as well as of intellect and sentiment, the
outcome of long exposure to the influences of truth and beauty.
Caroline C Graveson, 1937
23.80 Increasingly we see education as part of living rather than as
preparation for living, and the motivation for educating ourselves
and others grows more intrinsic than extrinsic. At Woodbrooke,
which in some respects I still think is a prototype for much modern
adult education, we have tried to build a small community to which
people come in response to their own need for reflection or new
skills or time to read; where proper attention is paid also to the needs
of the neighbourhood; where staff and students and domestic
workers and gardeners address each other without titles; where
teachers and learners often exchange roles; where qualifications for
entry are the ability to follow some courses, the wish to study, and
the will to make community work; where the tasks are largely self-
chosen; where conversation is expected between all age-groups
between 18 and 80; where differences of nationality are seen as
enrichment rather than as barriers (for one of the tasks of education
is the enjoyment of diversity); where the rewards are existential, being
visible chiefly in renewed courage or energy or the ability to re-
launch oneself or to perform more adequately some of those unpaid
services that make up the fabric of society. Of course we do not
succeed all the time. But failure is also what we have to educate
ourselves for - the humiliating, stimulating experiences of failures
that we and our students must learn to use as stepping-stones rather
than to deplore as obstacles.
William Fraser, 1973
23.81 To watch the spirit of children, to nurture them in Gospel Love, and
labour to help them against that which would mar the beauty of their
minds, is a debt we owe them; and a faithful performance of our duty
not only tends to their lasting benefit and our own peace, but also to
render their company agreeable to us. A care hath lived on my mind,
that more time might be employed by parents at home, and by tutors
at school, in weightily attending to the spirit and inclinations of
children, and that we may so lead, instruct and govern them, in this
tender part of life, that nothing may be omitted in our power, to help
them on their way to become the children of our Father who is in
heaven.
John Woolman, 1758
23.82 When I taught my children how to do many things I ensured that
they would have skills to give them abilities, enjoyment and health.
What I think I chiefly taught them was that I was right and they were
wrong. When I hear them teaching their friends how to play games I
realise just how much I bossed them around. In seeking to pass on
our values to our children I think we largely waste our time. They will
pick up our values from us by the way we live and the assumptions
that underpin our own lives.
John Guest, 1987
23.83 If children are to be instructed in the groundwork of true religion,
ought they not to discover in those placed over them, a lively
example of its influence? Or ought they to see anything in the
conduct of others, which would be condemned in them, were they in
similar circumstances? Of what importance, then, is it for guardians
of children, to rule their own spirits. For when their tempers are
irritable, their language impetuous, their voices exerted above what is
necessary, their threatenings unguarded, or the execution of them
rash, however children may for a time suffer under these things, they
are not instructed thereby in the groundwork of true religion.
Friends Educational Society, 1841
23.84 Friends' peace testimony challenges us all to be peace educators. We
may not all be teachers, but we are all communicators, and we all
need to be learners. Peace education should be seen as an integral
part of our peace testimony. But it is essentially something one does,
and not something one talks about... Learning, to be educated, means
changing one's behaviour, and peace education therefore aims at
changing our own individual behaviour... We communicate our
values by the manner of our lives, but how many of us negate the
peaceful attitudes we fervently profess by our own aggressive
behaviour?
Eva I Pinthus, 1982
23.85 I feel peace education is about teaching children to discover that they
have the power to change things they see are wrong and developing
the imagination to find alternative responses to conflict. This is not
an objective for a course called 'Peace' on the timetable. It must
permeate all our teaching. For we cannot teach one thing and act
another. If we teach children to feel their own power we must be
ready for them to criticise the school itself. In order to survive we
must begin to teach them to challenge authority, our own included.
This means that there are likely to be conflicts. And conflicts are to
be welcomed as opportunities for growth. Too often conflict leads to
violence and aggression because we are trapped in a mentality which
expects every conflict to be resolved by a victory for one party. But
victory for one implies of necessity defeat for the other and therein
lies the seed of further conflict.
Teachers are optimists. We would not be teachers if we did not have
confidence in the future and in humankind. We trust that given the
right opportunities children will grow up into responsible adults
capable of making good choices and of saving the world from
disaster. Perhaps the most important thing we can do today is to
transmit to our pupils that sense of hope. The prevailing mood is one
of pessimism and despair. 'Why should I work hard when I won't be
able to get a job anyway?' 'Why should I plan for a future which may
never happen?' 'What difference can I make to decisions of
governments?'
The two qualities which are most important to children of today are
hope and imagination. Hope to believe they can change the world
they live in and imagination to find ways to do so.
Janet Gilbraith, 1986
See also 24.54
FRIENDS & STATE AUTHORITY
23.86 For conscience' sake to God, we are bound by his just law in our
hearts to yield obedience to [authority] in all matters and cases
actively or passively; that is to say, in all just and good commands of
the king and the good laws of the land relating to our outward man,
we must be obedient by doing ... but ... if anything be commanded of
us by the present authority, which is not according to equity, justice
and a good conscience towards God ... we must in such cases obey
God only and deny active obedience for conscience' sake, and
patiently suffer what is inflicted upon us for such our disobedience to
men.
Edward Burrough, 1661
23.87 After the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, John Bright, in explaining his
resignation from the Government, said to the Commons:
The House knows that for forty years at least I have endeavoured to
teach my countrymen an opinion and doctrine which I hold, namely,
that the moral law is intended not for individual life only, but for the
life and practice of States in their dealing with one another. I think
that in the present case there has been a manifest violation both of
International Law and of the moral law, and therefore it is impossible
for me to give my support to it.
23.88 We have ... in our Quaker history a lesson for our own lives of the
meaning of Christian citizenship. You can see there a two-fold strand
constantly interwoven: one, respect for the state as representing
authority in the community: and the other, desire to serve the
community through the state and in other ways, but along with that,
the desire above all to serve the Kingdom of God: this means that we
must be willing, when loyalty to the Kingdom of God demands it to
refuse the demands of the state and show the highest loyalty to the
state and the best citizenship by refusing demands that are wrong,
because it is only in that way that the conscience of our fellow
citizens can be reached, and in the end a better law come into being.
T Edmund Harvey, 1937
23.89 From a statement presented to London Yearly Meeting by a committee appointed
by young men of enlistment age present at Yearly Meeting 1915:
Christ demands of us that we adhere, without swerving, to the
methods of love, and therefore, if a seeming conflict should arise
between the claims of His service and those of the State, it is to
Christ that our supreme loyalty must be given, whatever the
consequences. We should however remember that whatever is our
highest loyalty to God and humanity is at the same time the highest
loyalty that we can render to our nation.
23.90 Statement issued by Meeting for Sufferings in 1917, after the issue of a regulation
requiring the submission of pamphlets to the Censor during the World War:
The executive body of the Society of Friends, after serious
consideration, desires to place on record its conviction that the
portion of the recent regulation requiring the submission to the
censor of all leaflets dealing with the present war and the making of
peace is a grave danger to the national welfare. The duty of every
good citizen to express his thoughts on the affairs of his country is
hereby endangered, and further we believe that Christianity requires
the toleration of opinions not our own, lest we should unwittingly
hinder the workings of the Spirit of God.
Beyond this there is a deeper issue involved. It is for Christians a
paramount duty to be free to obey and to act and speak in accord
with the law of God, a law higher than that of any state, and no
government official can release men from this duty.
We realise the rarity of the occasions on which a body of citizens find
their sense of duty to be in conflict with the law, and it is with a sense
of the gravity of this decision, that the Society of Friends must on
this occasion act contrary to the regulation, and continue to issue
literature on war and peace without submitting it to the censor. It is
convinced that in thus standing firm for spiritual liberty it is acting in
the best interests of the nation.
23.91 We are deeply uneasy about the increasing secrecy which permeates
our process of government. We see this in the 1989 Official Secrets
Act, which no longer allows the defence of the right of disclosure in
the public interest. We have been led to the conviction that, despite a
culture of state secrecy, we must strive to bring about openness in
our country. Secrecy bolsters power and leads to deceit and the abuse
of power. At times a sensitive reticence is required but, in working in
the spirit of love and trust rather than fear, we seek to discern the
boundary between that reticence and secrecy.
London Yearly Meeting, 1990
See also 29.11
Conscription
23.92 On the passing of the Military Service Act 1916, London Yearly Meeting
minuted:
We take this, the earliest opportunity, of reaffirming our entire
opposition to compulsory military service and our desire for the
repeal of the act. War, in our view, involves the surrender of the
Christian ideal and the denial of human brotherhood; it is an evil for
the destruction of which the world is longing; but freedom from the
scourge of war will only be brought about through the faithfulness of
individuals to their inmost convictions, under the guidance of the
spirit of Christ.
Our position is based upon our interpretation of the teaching of
Jesus Christ. We regard the central conception of the act as
imperilling the liberty of the individual conscience - which is the
main hope of human progress - and as entrenching more deeply that
militarism from which we all desire the world to be freed... Our lives
should prove that compulsion is both unnecessary and impolitic.
They should manifest a sense of duty not less strong than that which
has driven many whom we respect (and some even of our own
members) into the fighting forces. We can identify ourselves to the
full with the griefs of our nation in which few hearts are not torn by
suffering or harrowed by suspense. We pray that in steadfast
conformity to the path of duty we may be set free to serve - to give
to the community the fullest service of which we are capable - each
one in the way of God's appointing.
23.93 Compulsory military service is sometimes claimed as a duty attaching
to citizenship. But it is not true social service. On the one hand it is
part of the attempt to maintain peace by force, and on the other it is
training in methods that are contrary to the highest moral standards
recognised by man... The training of men to kill each other is a
violation of the sacredness of personality for it is a crime against that
of God in every man. It requires an inhumanity and a blind
obedience that is a negation of responsible service to our fellow men.
It demands much that in private life is recognised as anti-social and
criminal... Christ bids us love our enemies; governments bid us kill
them. The conscript is, in effect, required to endorse war in advance.
Meeting for Sufferings, 1945
See also 24.14-24.16 Conscientious objection to compulsory military
service
Crime and punishment
23.94 The terrible sufferings of our forebears in the prisons of the
seventeenth century have given us as a people a special interest in the
management of prisons and the treatment of crime. George Fox
protested to the judges of his day 'concerning their putting men to
death for cattle and money and small matters'; and laid before them
'what a hurtful thing it was that prisoners should lie so long in jail';
showing how 'they learned wickedness from one another in talking
of their bad deeds'.
There is, however, much work still to be done, in creating a right
understanding of the nature and causes of crime, and in emphasising
the need for redemptive treatment rather than retributive
punishment. Society is in measure responsible for the criminal, a fact
which emphasises the duty of meeting moral failure by redemptive
care. Evil can only be finally overcome by good.
1911; 1925; 1959; 1994
23.95 The essential idea behind these first tentative criticisms [of early
prison conditions by George Fox and William Penn] was a
completely new one: that imprisonment should be looked on as a
means of reforming criminals and not merely punishing them. No
man is ever utterly lost, and however deep he is sunk in evil, the only
just approach to him is to work for his recovery. This principle led
John Bellers, the earliest Friend to pay serious and systematic
attention to social reform, to plead for the abolition of the death
penalty [in 1699]. Society had done enough for its own protection, he
argued, when it had rendered a murderer harmless by putting him in
prison; if it did more it was acting in a spirit of revenge.
Harold Loukes, 1960
23.96 The real security for human life is to be found in a reverence for it. If
the law regarded it as inviolable, then the people would begin also so
to regard it. A deep reverence for human life is worth more than a
thousand executions in the prevention of murder... The law of capital
punishment while pretending to support this reverence, does in fact
tend to destroy it.
John Bright, 1868
23.97 At a time when a Bill was before Parliament for the abolition of the death
penalty for murder:
We feel that we should at this time declare once again our
unwavering opposition to capital punishment. The sanctity of human
life is one of the fundamentals of a Christian society and can in no
circumstances be set aside. Our concern, therefore, is for all victims
of violence, not only the murderer but also those who suffer by his
act.
The sanctioning by the State of the taking of human life has a
debasing effect on the community, and tends to produce the very
brutality which it seeks to prevent. We realise that many are sincerely
afraid of the consequences if the death penalty is abolished, but we
are convinced that their fears are unjustified.
London Yearly Meeting, 1956
23.98 Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was born into the Gurney family in Norwich. She
committed herself to a religious life following the visit of William Savery of
Philadelphia when she was seventeen. She devoted herself to work for prison
reform (see 18.08 & 26.40). In 1827 she wrote of this work:
Much depends on the spirit in which the visitor enters upon her
work. It must be in the spirit, not of judgment, but of mercy. She
must not say in her heart I am more holy than thou, but must rather keep
in perpetual remembrance that 'all have sinned and come short of the
Glory of God'.
23.99 There was no weakness or trouble of mind or body which might not
safely be unveiled to [Elizabeth Fry]. Whatever various or opposite
views, feelings or wishes might be confided to her, all came out again
tinged with her own loving, hoping spirit. Bitterness of every kind
died; when entrusted to her, it never reappeared. The most
favourable construction possible was always put upon every
transaction. No doubt her failing lay this way; but did it not give her
and her example a wonderful influence? Was it not the very secret of
her power with the wretched and degraded prisoners? She always
could see hope for everyone; she invariably found or made some
point of light. The most abandoned must have felt she did not
despair for them, either for this world or another; and this it was that
made her irresistible.
Priscilla Buxton, 1847
23.100 In the evening Martha Savory, my mother [Mary Dudley] and I
went to Newgate [Gaol], where we met Elizabeth Fry, Peter Bedford
and Edward Harris. We saw about fifteen poor men under sentence
of death, who soon collected round us and stood with the most
becoming and quiet attention, whilst my mother was engaged to
preach the gospel of reconciliation... The two especially who had but
a few hours to live, were encouraged to cast themselves upon the
mercy and forgiveness of an all-gracious God whose power and
goodness are the same as when they were manifested to the thief
upon the cross... They wept freely, and though not able to say much,
we fully believe they felt. It was difficult to tear ourselves from such a
scene, and we turned from these poor sufferers under the feeling of
indignant repugnance to the sanguinary nature of those laws which
put so little value upon human life, and adjudge punishments so
disproportioned to and so unlikely to prevent the renewal of crimes.
Elizabeth Dudley, 1818
23.101 Imprisonment ... offers some protection to society by removing
the offender. But consider how limited that protection is compared
to what it could be. It puts the offender against property into a place
where he is deprived of opportunities to practise the social rules
about property; it puts the violent man into a subculture which is
governed by violence; it puts the defrauder into a power system
where corruption is rife; it puts the sexual offender into a place
where sexual relief is only obtainable by substitutes; ... it puts those
who need to learn to take control of their lives into a situation where
all significant choices are made for them; and it puts the offender
who is likely to reform into a milieu where most of the influences on
him or her are criminal ones.
John Lampen, 1987
23.102 We believe in overcoming evil with good. We must speak and act
from our own inner light to the inner light in all others as Jesus did.
He showed and taught love, respect and concern for all, particularly
those rejected by others, reaching out to the good in them.
Causing deliberate hurt to another person because that suffering is
thought to be of benefit in itself, we believe is not a Christian
response. Punishment in this sense not only harms the punished but
also degrades those who inflict it, and is a barrier to the working of
God's love within us.
Whether it be in the family, the school, the workplace or the wider
community the intentional use of pain and suffering cannot be the
best way to resolve differences, or gain the cooperation of people or
restrain those who harm themselves or others.
To do away with punishment is not to abandon safety and control or
to move towards disintegration, disorder and lawlessness. A non-
punitive approach will not remove the need in some circumstances
for restraint or secure containment, but it does mean that restraint
and containment should be carried out in a life-enhancing spirit of
love and care.
Nor in general does this loving approach have lesser expectations or
demand less responsibility than does the infliction and acceptance of
punishment. In personal relationships and in the broader context of
community and international affairs a positive response to aberrant
or destructive behaviour through reconciliation, restitution and
reparation may take longer but it will be more likely to encourage the
good in all parties, restore those who are damaged, reduce
resentment and bitterness, and enable all those involved to move
towards fuller integration.
Six Quakers, 1979
23.103 Reconciliation in its basic form occurs between two people face to
face... But we must be clear that reconciliation, in the sense of
meeting, comprehending, and working to prevent the future
following the pattern of the past, is not always possible. The demand
for justice, the desire for revenge, may prevent it. Quakers in
particular seem to have a horror of revenge as a motive. We need to
remember that, in the interests of social harmony, law-abiding
citizens have voluntarily surrendered their rights of retaliation to the
state. It may be true that when the state takes revenge, nothing
constructive has been achieved. But it is also true that if not even this
is done, the hurt remains with the person who has been wronged.
Where the burden of suffering is clearly on one side, the burden of
wrong-doing on the other, it is a kind of insult to tell the victim that
he or she should be reconciled. We are told that there is no peace
without justice. How are we to meet the claims of justice without
forging the next link in the chain of hurt?
Restitution ... accepts the reality of what has happened and the right
of the sufferer to 'have something done about it'. It accepts that the
perpetrator is in most cases feeling guilty, or at least humiliated to
have been detected. But it offers him or her an opportunity to regain
the good opinion of the sufferer and the community, and to be seen
as a person who can give as well as take away, who can right wrongs
as well as cause them... When I was working with deviant and
deprived children, and almost all disciplinary matters were decided by
the whole community on a basis of putting things right, I was able to
see how the victims feel supported and protected by this approach. It
was moving to see how much they wanted to accept the evidence of
contrition, how much they wanted to forgive. Provided that we could
ensure that it worked effectively, those who had been hurt were
satisfied; it was outsiders, not directly involved, who became angry
and told me that this was a sentimental option which did not face the
realities of injustice. They were afraid of pain, hurt, violence, and the
breakdown of order; and their fear made them violent. Those who
had already experienced this breakdown recognised that restitution
offered them a way out.
John Lampen, 1987