An interview with Carol Urner
by Natalie Ramsland
Carol Urner has spent most of her nearly 90 years as an activist for peace and nonviolent social change. Having volunteered in developing countries that include the Philippines, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Lesotho, she has a unique perspective on the work of nonviolence.
The following excerpts are from a conversation that was recorded on October 6, 2018.... Read more.
The many words and phrases Friends use for the divine life and power at the heart of the universe reflect the diversity of beliefs and variety of experiences among us. What one Friend may understand as the Inward Christ, another Friend may understand as the Ground of Being. Over the centuries, Friends have used many such words and phrases: God, the Eternal, the Truth, the Holy Spirit, the Divine Principle, the Light Within, the Inward (or Inner) Light, the Seed, the Light of Christ, Christ... Read more.
[We] have been enabled to see a splendid vision of what human unity is, and of what human fellowship may be, and have of necessity been filled with a profound sense of the evil of violating this fellowship. This vision has brought us a renewed faith in the power of spiritual forces to build the structure of humanity, and to redeem it from error and wrong. . . Backed by these convictions, we hold the moral law of gentleness and forgiveness and love to be unconditionally binding upon us now.... Read more.
Dear Friends: Almost anything can serve as a weapon, even life-giving water. All living creatures on earth have evolved (are evolving) fortifications against attack. Cellular life is fortified by membranes, and human societies are fortified by lines in the sand. Nutrients and attractive ideas gain access through those fortifications. Poisons and slander are rebuffed. Inside our fortifications, ideally, scarcity and excess are minimized as we “give us this day our daily bread;” but in... Read more.
The following note was excerpted from a longer message. The original is published here in Western Friend’s online library.
Dear Friends: Quakers, with our unique Peace Testimony, based upon the certainty that there is that of God in everyone, are in a special position in America to lead it out of its current mad dedication to guns at all levels of American society – individual, communal, and... Read more.
Dear Editor: Many thanks to Kate McClellan for her letter in the November/December 2018 Western Friend. I appreciated her pointing out that the climate crisis and other environmental crises are not really going to affect the earth fundamentally, but only the biosphere of the earth (which includes us, homo sapiens). The earth will be just fine with or without us. We are not really trying to save the earth; we are trying to save ourselves. What an arrogant species we are!
... Read more.
