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Please Do Not “Believe in” Science

Cautious confidence in the scientific process is, I believe, the best perspective. Science is akin to continuing revelation and undermined by groupthink. However, modern science is fundamentally materialistic, and we do not live by bread alone.

On Science (November 2022)

Video on the Doctrine of Discovery

Dear Editor: I read the July/August issue of Western Friend, “On Difference,” with great interest, especially the pieces concerning the history of Native peoples in the U.S. I would like to recommend to your readers a video of apresentation given by Steve Newcomb of the Indigenous Law Institute in Arizona, In it, he explains very powerfully and clearly “The Doctrine of Discovery,” which was declared by the Popes in the 15th and 16th centuries to legitimize the domination of non-Christian people.

On Play (September 2015)

“Amost Right” is Not “Right”

Dear Editor: I deeply appreciate your publishing my poem “On Garbage” in the Nov/Dec 2017 issue of Western Friend, but I was disappointed that a word was omitted from the penultimate line. It should have read:

On Captivity (January 2018)

What’s Not to Like about Quakers?

During clearness committees with people applying for membership to our meeting, we typically come to a point in the conversation when we ask the applicant, “What questions do you have for us about Quakers and the meeting?” At one such moment recently, the applicant hesitated, seemingly lost for words. Then she exclaimed, “I have one! What do you like least about being a Quaker?”

On Garbage (November 2017)

Not Just a Solution or a Vexation

Dear Editor: I have been thinking about all the non-technical elements of using Zoom for building community.

On Seeds (November 2023)