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Earth Justice Worship

My most powerful worship experience of the last decade took place on a chilly morning last November, on a folding chair outside Vanguard headquarters in Malvern, PA.

On Prayer (March 2024)

War Tax Conversation

To the Editor: I am delighted by the correspondence in Western Friend concerning war tax resistance. (I will use the term “refuser” in this statement. I like this fairly new way of expressing out war tax actions.) I have been a war tax refuser since 1980, and David Hartsough’s letter reflected well my own view. Nancy Haimes argues that war tax refusal is ineffective, maybe even counter-effective. She believes that we should devote ourselves to influencing Congress and to effective participation in the political system. I say that these are not either/or responses. Most of us who are war tax refusers also write and lobby our members of Congress. We demand a vast reduction in the U.S. military spending, and we yearn for and seek the passage of national legislation that would make war tax refusal legal. For information about the bill that is currently before Congress, go to peacetaxfund.org.

On Consumption (May 2013)

The Illusion of a Split

Even though Quakers possess skills in conflict resolution (as well as conflict avoidance), a perplexing conflict seems intractably lodged in our Quaker community: a split between Quakers who are drawn primarily to the spiritual side of our practice – emphasizing silence, contemplation, and stillness over all else – and Quakers are who are committed to social action – including demonstrations, lobbying, letter writing, and various forms of political protest.

On Limits (May 2016)

Limited Facts

Dear Editor: I was disappointed in Ms. Enoch’s article in the March/April issue of Western Friend, “My Quest to Change the Education System.” I am a Quaker, who has served on local public school boards for over twenty-five years. Some of what she reported is misleading at best.

On Limits (May 2016)

Ten Days

Ten days a wisp of smoke from one ancestral strum to the next distant guitar on the horizon stark like a city sunset.

On Weapons (January 2019)