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Finding Our Way: Friends Respond to the Events of September 11, 2001

ON THIS PAGE:
Statements of Quaker Organizations
Statements from Meetings
Statements from Individuals

Finding Our Way
Friends Respond to the Events of September 11, 2001

 Statements of Quaker Organizations

September 11, 2001

As organizations of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and as members of the human family and children of God, we are profoundly grieved at the loss of life, the suffering, and the sorrow that result from today’s tragic events. The God of love and mercy whom we worship and serve surely grieves too in the face of these acts of anger and hatred and the suffering they cause. We pray earnestly for comfort and strength for those who are injured and grieving. So too we hope with all our hearts that, in responding to today’s tragic events, all persons will find ways to end the violence that is consuming our world.

We offer our gratitude and prayer to those who are responding to this tragedy, rescuing and caring for those who are injured, comforting those who are grieving, and working for peace and reconciliation.

The Religious Society of Friends, since its inception in the 1650s, has been led to eschew war and violence for any end whatsoever. Time and again we have ministered to the victims of war and violence. We believe that the challenge before us all is to break the cycle of violence and retribution.

—Bruce Birchard, General Secretary, Friends General Conference,
Cilde Grover, Executive Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of Americas,
Thomas Jeavons, General Secretary, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends,
Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee

September 12, 2001

Our hearts go out today to the victims of Tuesday’s terrible attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the people in the four civilian aircraft. We call on Friends and others across the U.S. to offer prayers, solace, friendship, and aid to the survivors, families, and friends of the victims. We commend the heroic efforts of public safety personnel and the many others who, at great personal risk, are working to rescue and treat the victims of these tragedies.

We join with people across the country and around the world in expressing the hope that those who planned and orchestrated these terrible acts will soon be brought to justice under the rule of law.

We are concerned, however, about how the U.S. government responds now. First, we are concerned that the U.S. not avenge these attacks with attacks upon other innocent people who may happen to be of the same nationality, faith, or ethnic group as the alleged perpetrators. This concern extends to protecting the safety and rights of people here at home. Many in this country of the Islamic faith or of Middle Eastern descent are worried that they may now become the unwarranted focus of suspicion in their communities or, worse, the subjects of unjust persecution.

Second, many in the administration and Congress have declared that a state of war now exists. We are concerned that these public statements may be stirring the popular will and expectation for war. We wonder: War against whom? Cooler heads must prevail in the U.S. government during this time of crisis. War will only compound the tremendous assault on humanity that has already occurred. War is not the answer. The people who committed these acts struck with hatred. They saw the people in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the aircraft as faceless enemies. They denied the humanity of their victims. The U.S. must not commit the same sin by compounding the hatred, violence, and injustice of these attacks with its own acts of terror and war against another people, most of whom are innocent of these crimes.

Finally, the people who planned these suicide attacks were able to draw volunteers from a growing number of people around the world who harbor deep resentment and anger toward the U.S. It is important that we in the U.S. try to hear and understand the sources of this anger. If we in the U.S. do not seek to understand and address the roots of this anger—poverty, injustice, and hopelessness—then the violence may well continue, no matter what the U.S. does to try to prevent it.

As members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) we witness to that spirit of love which takes away the occasion of war. Out of darkness and tragedy, may God show us the path of true and lasting peace.

—Friends Committee on National Legislation

September 12, 2001

As pastors and leaders of Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends gathered for a study retreat, together we faced the recent terrorist act against our nation. We grieved together, processed together, and felt called to express some of our leadings.

Our hearts, as yours, have been shaken. We meet this tragedy with deep sorrow and compassion, for those lives which have been lost or shattered, for those whose hatred drove them to this act, for those who are lost spiritually and may be further hardened against God.

This incident casts seeds of hate upon the wind. Our natural response is to ingest these seeds and let them grow. Yet this draws us away from Christ and ultimately makes us less of who we are intended to be. Christ’s challenge is to turn our attention and appetite to the often difficult words and example of Jesus: "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven," (Matthew 5:44-46).

We urge each of us to resist the temptation to use nationalism, retaliation, or demonization of others to rebuild a false sense of security. Rather, let us discipline ourselves to find our true security in Christ, and be merciful to all as we have received mercy. Let us work to respond to the causes of violence and "learn war no more" (George Fox).

We urge each of us to be aware of the tensions between our natural reactions and the responses to which Christ calls us. These tensions are the fertile ground where God is working and inviting us to deeper Christ-likeness.

To assist us with the tension between the world’s values and God’s values, we offer these queries for personal and corporate reflection:

May you experience comfort and peace in the loving presence of God and in the compassion and prayers of your pastors and leaders.

—The pastors and leaders of Northwest Yearly Meeting

September 17, 2001

We grieve over the September 11, 2001, disaster that has taken so many lives. We share in mourning with all those who have lost loved ones and give thanks for the heroic efforts of rescuers. The loss will live with us for years to come.

For over 300 years, Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) have endeavored to build a just and nonviolent society. The Quaker United Nations Office in New York has collaborated with the UN since 1947 to encourage a focus on people as well as politics, and on peaceful ways of including all groups and hearing their needs. In the wake of this tragedy, we will continue to strive for increased international understanding and cooperation.

As Friends at the UN, we cannot overemphasize the importance of a humane and rational response. Although many feel an urgent need to react strongly, some even violently, vengeful retaliation will not make the world safer from such threats. Indeed, it will only feed the cycle of violence behind these horrific acts. Rather, the security of nations and peoples must be based on human well-being, strengthened international cooperation and norms, and respect for the rule of law.

We call on all individuals and decision-makers to reject the clamor of war and work with the global community to prevent further violence.

In the short term, focus needs to be on securing the arrest and trial of those responsible and assuring fair judicial process in collaboration with the international community. Governments, communities, and individuals should take responsibility not to scapegoat any nation, faith, or ethnic group. In the long term, the difficult process of addressing the anger, resentment, and hatred that fueled the attack must begin. It is disingenuous to regard non-state terrorism as simply aberrant attacks of fanatics when such incidents have become commonplace in much of the world and often enjoy popular support from aggrieved peoples. A clearer understanding of the roots of such violence is needed, including recognition of the extent to which national and international policies have contributed to creating and sustaining the despair and frustration behind these extreme acts.

Finally, we agree with Martin Luther King Jr. that violence is "a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy . . . , adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." We pray that the citizens and leaders of the world will rise to this challenge and move with generosity toward healing and reconciliation.

—Quaker United Nations Office, New York

September 21, 2001

Now that the initial shock of the terrorist attacks of last week have passed, deep grief and profound anger has set in for many of us. Now the critical questions that confront us all are several: How can we best comfort those who mourn? How can we begin to heal some of the wounds to all of our souls as well as our bodies? How can we see that justice is really done? How can we build bridges of understanding and reconciliation among all people so that there is no more harm done and no more hatred sown? How can we begin anew the work of creating a world where there can really be peace, addressing the injustice and despair which are so often the seeds of violence, so there will be no more victims?

These are the tasks to which a God of love calls all members of the human family. How will we respond?

As organizations of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and people of faith we find ourselves challenged to continue to respond to the tragic and horrific events of September 11. Indeed, we feel called—and believe all people of goodwill are called now—to respond to these events and the hurts they have caused in ways that are deeper and more sustained than our initial shock and grief may have allowed. In particular, we believe the work of building a different and better world, one in which all persons are seen as sacred because we are all children of God, one where this kind of act would not happen again, is the calling of all of us who worship a God of truth, grace, and mercy.

To our dismay, we have heard people in the highest levels of our government calling for retribution rather than justice. To our astonishment we hear the talk of war and plans for war in which our nation in turn would cause the death of innocents—the sin which so appalled us—asserting this will somehow put things right. To our sorrow, we have seen people from many walks of life in our own communities striking out in their anger against other people in our communities just because of the faith they profess, the color of their skin, or the country of their origin.

We say with certainty that these statements, plans, and actions will not lead us to healing, justice, or peace; and we pray they will cease.

In contrast, we commit ourselves to reach out to all who have been injured in any way by the events of the past week; and to offer comfort, solace, and practical support in any way we can. We commit ourselves to reach out to those whose backgrounds, cultures, and faith may be different from our own; and to listen and learn, in hopes of building the foundations of understanding and respect on which peace can be built. We support the prosecution of those who perpetrated this horrendous crime, and we commit ourselves to the achievement of justice under law and due process, including international law.

Finally, we commit ourselves to praying and working for righteousness and reconciliation, as the God of Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed has taught us, so that there may be no more victims of hate and terror anywhere.

—Bruce Birchard, General Secretary, Friends General Conference,
Susan Corson-Finnerty, Publisher and Executive Editor, Friends Publishing Corporation (Friends Journal),
Cilde Grover, Executive Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas,
Thomas H. Jeavons, General Secretary, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends,
Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee

 Statements from Meetings

September 13, 2001

On this day of horror, Friends in this regional meeting, which covers most of the State of New South Wales in Australia, reach out . . . with love and caring, tenderly holding you all whilst you come to terms with the magnitude of the violation against yourselves and your fellow countrymen. We grieve for you, we weep with you, and our imagination replays a little of the dismay you must be experiencing.

How concerned you must feel that the years you have spent encouraging non-violent viewpoints and reconciliation are going to be so severely tested in the weeks to come. Our care for you will continue in the difficult times ahead, holding you steadfast in the Light, believing firmly that the transforming ability of love and truth will help you through. If there is any way we can ease your load we will gladly do so.

—Cathy Davies, Regional Meeting Clerk, Sydney Regional Meeting, Australia

September 17, 2001

We share in the sorrow of people around the world at the loss of life in Pennsylvania, at the World Trade Center, and at the Pentagon. We abhor violence that has occurred to so many innocent people. The evidence of compassion, courage, and love evoked by the disaster heartens us deeply.

We join the many who caution against reacting to this tragedy with hatred or vengeance. The Religious Society of Friends, since its inception in the 1650s, has been led to eschew war and all forms of violence for any end whatsoever. We believe that the challenge before us all is to break the cycle of violence and retribution. As we seek justice in the aftermath of this tragedy, let us do so under the system of international law. Let us do it in a way that strengthens international institutions like the United Nations, whose purpose is to achieve security and stability for all peoples.

In response to this tragedy let us commit ourselves to eliminate terrorism by correcting the causes of hatred upon which it feeds. Over half of this year’s U.S. discretionary budget already is going to support the U.S. military, and close to one percent for nonmilitary aid for developing countries. A disproportionately rich and heavily armed society can never be secure in a world of the suffering poor. We will have far more security in a world we approach as helpful friends than in one we arm ourselves against as potential enemies.

Let us also remember that there is a force more powerful than bombs or knives or weapons of war. That force is love—as Gandhi told us: "Love is the strongest force the world possesses, yet it is the humblest imaginable." Let us dare to move forward in love.

—Tina McMahon, Clerk, Multnomah Meeting, Portland, Oreg.

September 23, 2001

Dear President George W. Bush and leaders of the government of the United States, . . .

In this time of national tragedy, we would unite with the great outpouring of compassion for all of the victims, the dead, the wounded, and the families of those who have been taken from us.

We have endeavored to understand the motivations for this attack, that we might more clearly comprehend an effective response to it.

At this point in time, it appears that the attacks were carried out by members of an Islamic fundamentalist underground group. . . . These people seem to have primary allegiance to no particular country, but they have a common passion to uphold a worldview which has come to consider American and Western civilization as satanic and a moral threat to Islamic values. . . . While most Islamic people are opposed to this radical philosophy, the fundamentalists seem to have much popular support in . . . Islamic countries suffering deep poverty and conflict with Western powers.

We have witnessed how you, President Bush, and other leaders of the United States government have vowed swift reprisals against those responsible for these terrorists attacks, promising, if need be, military incursions into Afghanistan or wherever the leaders of these campaigns of terror may be hiding. However, it will be very difficult or impossible to separate the terrorists from those in the Islamic world who are innocent of terrorist intentions. If Afghanistan is made the target, that country has already been desolated by 20 years of bombing and warfare. Armed attacks upon specific countries will only serve to galvanize antagonism against America and the West. Regardless of one’s militaristic or pacifist orientation, it must be recognized that armed might cannot triumph in this situation.

The American government must realize that, if these terrorist elements are to be apprehended, cooperation must be obtained from all nations of the Middle East and of the larger world community. At this time of crisis, regardless of past wars and ideological disputes, we must reestablish diplomatic relations with all nation-states. This includes Libya, Iraq, and Cuba. We must remove those sanctions which are causing so much hardship and suffering in these countries. We must even seek to keep communications open with the oppressive Taliban government of Afghanistan. Our government must become more actively engaged in bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We should refrain from carrying on and expanding the missile defense program which causes much anxiety on the part of governments such as Pakistan, China, and North Korea. The United Nations should be utilized as a forum for international discussion and action.

At this time we must come to understand that the threat of terrorism can only be overcome as we unite with all peoples and religions, including especially the adherents of the Muslim faith, in upholding a morality of universal justice. This morality will not tolerate terrorist activity, but it will seek to root out the causes of the fear and animosity from which terrorism arises. This will make possible true security and peace in our world.

—Jacquelyn Leckband, Clerk, Bear Creek (Iowa) Meeting of Friends (Conservative)

 Statements from Individuals

September 12, 2001

The following was delivered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at an evening prayer vigil attended by about 300 people:

Friends, these are terrible events that we have just witnessed. Nothing that we could now say or do will alter them. Their history—though yet to be written—is already beyond our power to change. Let us focus ourselves, then, on that history that can be changed, the history of the response to these terrible events—a history not yet enacted that will unfold over the next days and weeks.

Much of the talk yesterday—as people were still reeling under the first shock of the enormity of these deeds—was talk of retribution, talk of hunting down and punishing, talk of vengeance decked out in the language of justice. Such talk, I fear, will prevail at last—as if the evil of violence could be eliminated by violence.

As we mourn the dead and fear the future, the deeds that we have just witnessed should also give us pause for reflection. It is altogether too facile to say that the responsibility lies completely with a single party that we can identify, isolate, vilify, and crucify. I think that tonight and in the days to come we should ask what it is in ourselves and in people like us—in what we say and do—that can drive others to hate us so much, that can drive them to such a pitch of fury.

We should, I think, amidst all the talk of the defense of freedom, consider what type of freedom the World Trade Center and Pentagon might symbolize, not only to the small group of people that attacked them, but to people everywhere made desperate by the apparent hopelessness of their conditions. What do the World Trade Center and the Pentagon symbolize other than our freedom—the freedom of people of wealth and privilege—to dominate the world by whatever means we can grasp: cultural, commercial, and military?

It makes no difference to victims of violence whether those raining death down upon them are self-appointed, covert operatives, or publicly elected officials following meticulously detailed norms of procedure. Nor should it make a difference to us. Terror is always terror, whoever the terrorists might be.

The poor people in New York and Washington who have suffered and died from these reprehensible acts now join their names to those of the poor people who have suffered and died from other acts of terror—other acts in what Winston Churchill called the "lamentable catalogue of human crime." They join their names to those of the poor people of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hanoi, Baghdad—to all who have suffered terror, injury, and death from the skies.

What, we might ask, can we—the people of Saskatoon—do in the face of these terrible events? What contribution might we make? There is nothing we can do for the dead. There is probably little we can do avert the terrible acts of retribution now being planned. But there is much that we can do to change the familiar world of our everyday lives—to change the way that we relate to one another—the way that we interact between and among ourselves. We can study to bear with one another better than we do. We can study the arts of compassion and forgiveness. We can teach ourselves that there is no way to peace: peace is the way. We can learn that there is no way to non-violence: nonviolence is the way.

—Jay Cowsill, Prairie Meeting, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

September 13, 2001

Last night, I slept and dreamt of tornadoes coming toward me. But "we" sheltered in a motel-like structure and survived. It’s an improvement over the night before, when I found that I could not go through my usual routine of getting ready for bed. So at 2 A.M. I lay down on top of my bed in all my clothes and slept for six hours dreaming of a rattlesnake that kept escaping and that, when found, was impossible to kill.

I woke yesterday surprisingly clear and energized to another perfect September day—cool and crystalline, not a cloud in the sky. I went out about 10 A.M. to see if my Middle Eastern newsdealer was open. I wanted, after five years, to tell him that my name was Carol and to ask if he and his family were okay. His store was open, but the papers were gone and there was another, much younger man in his place. We stood there a minute looking at each other. Finally I said something like, "He is not here?" And the man shook his head, no. So I stumbled out my message anyway to this stranger, asking that he relay it—not even knowing how much English he spoke or understood. Evidently he understood enough. His face lit up and he nodded, Yes! I choked up with tears and fled.

Mayor Giuliani has advised all Middle Easterners who wear identifiable garb—turbans, caps, veils—to stay off the streets of New York for their own safety. He did so with grace and regret.

There are no coffee carts on the sidewalk, very few cab drivers, very few newsdealers open.

I came home and got very busy on phone and e-mail trying to connect with 15th Street Quakers myself and figure out ways we could stay connected with each other when travel is so impaired and communication channels screwed up. My Quaker meeting is the center of my life. I wasn’t trying to do good work. I was fighting for my sanity—fighting the isolation and the powerlessness, the posttraumatic stress syndrome that I am so familiar with from the events in my own life of 1981 when I was a crime survivor. (Hey! I’m tough! I’m a veteran! I’m a pro! I know about this stuff! Welcome to my world!)

By 2 P.M. a tension headache was immobilizing me. So I knew I had to move. Thank God for Motrin. I thought of the people in Iraq as I took two.

Outside, the air had turned smoky for the first time since this began. The wind had, in fact, changed somewhat, but later that night I learned that it was the collapse of One Liberty Plaza. There also happened to be two firetrucks standing in front of a small apartment building at Second Avenue and 89th Street. Evidently someone had phoned in an alarm. All seemed to be well, but, of course, it made me wonder what is going on in the rest of the five boroughs in terms of our "ordinary" New York City emergencies? It was good to be out in the neighborhood. The sidewalk cafes were busy. I’d heard that restaurants were serving limited menus because they’re out of things like bread and eggs. But there did seem to be enough for people to assemble some kind of meal.

Most of the stores on 86th Street (our shopping strip) were closed. Barnes & Noble, closed. Ben & Jerry’s (that was a blow, let me speak plain). The movie houses were open. Federal Express, of course, dark. As was the post office.

The churches were wide open. Park Avenue Methodist had put a lectern on the sidewalk so people passing by could write names of those to pray for. I wrote down my two names and spoke a word to the pastor who was standing in his robes out front, just hanging out, just being there, a presence to chat with as you went by. It was wonderful.

I walked around to the other neighborhood churches. It was healing to see all those open doors. Announcements of prayer services taking place at different times in different churches are taped up all around the city streets.

I was headed for Central Park. It was filled with people. Quiet people, but people sitting in the sun, walking their dogs, wheeling their kids in strollers, people sitting in the shade reading. I passed one Park Avenue matron sitting there silently reading her Bible.

I went into The Ramble and made a quick pass by Azalea Pond—birdwatching central. There were folks sitting there, but none of them were birders. I’m sure that new community of mine was out there somewhere, because it is coming on to the height of the fall warbler migration, but I had to leave the park to find a bus down to midweek meeting for worship.

When I got to the edge of the park at Fifth Avenue and 72nd I saw a line of flatbed trucks with bulldozers and backhoes on them parked in a line that stretched south as far as the eye could see down the avenue—parked there, waiting to go in.

At Lexington Avenue and 72nd, I heard a siren wailing toward me, saw a car with lights flashing, barreling down Lex. Traffic scattered. It was a New York State Trooper’s car, a puzzling sight. And then I realized what was happening. It was escorting a Shoprite trailer truck full of groceries into the city!

We all cheered as the trooper and the truck driver flew by.

I caught the Second Avenue bus to the meetinghouse. Along about 60th Street, I saw a man and a woman get on dressed in hospital scrubs. They came and stood near me at the back of the bus. I remembered what the chaplain at St. Vincent’s had told me to do. I went over to them and asked, "How’re you doing?" The young man nodded and looked away. The woman and I looked into each other’s eyes for as long as it took. I got off the bus and continued to do that, as I was led, whenever I saw someone in scrubs or when I saw police officers. The chaplain is right. It is the thing to do.

We worshiped for two hours at 15th Street Meetinghouse.

After the worship, on my way home as I checked my messages from my cell phone, I learned that one of the two names I had put on the prayer list at Park Avenue Methodist was alive—and well. Unbeknownst to me he had left for vacation in Italy on Friday morning. That leaves my young neighbor two floors below.

I walked north up Third Avenue for a while taking in the news that my friend was alive. The streets were busy with people seeking each other out, being together. I thought of Sarajevo. At 34th Street, traffic was stopped while a police towing vehicle went through pulling a police van behind it. Its windows were shattered, and it was covered in the white ash I’d been seeing on TV.

When I got home, I saw on TV that the Empire State Building was being evacuated, along with Penn Station. That was two blocks away from where I’d just come.

Later that night I got a call from friends in Los Angeles. It was wonderful to hear from them. They grew up in Northern Ireland at the height of the troubles. One lost a high school mate to a bomb explosion when they were 15. He talked to me a lot about life in Belfast. You get through, he said, by doing what New Yorkers are doing. By staying connected. By telling your stories and listening to other people’s. By catching the eye of someone on the street and nodding or saying, "How’s it going with you?"

We’re learning here. We’re learning.

My friend, who loves New York like I do, said it’s so gratifying to have people amazed at the way New Yorkers are living into this. They had no idea, out there, in the rest of the world, who we are.

That makes me smile.

And he and I spoke of Mayor Giuliani. We both had occasion to meet him in the course of our lives, and found him to be deeply weird. The strangest vibe coming off another person I’ve ever felt. He couldn’t make eye contact with me when we were introduced, among other things. But he’s been terrific in this. He’s been our mayor. I never in my entire life dreamed I’d be saying such things about him. But a transforming work had begun in this man months before this happened. We could all see the changes in him.

And now here he is. Say what you will about his political views, the man knows this city.

And thus my day ended with words of praise for the man I’d gotten arrested in protest against at One Police Plaza in the wake of the Diallo shooting. And I’d walked down Second Avenue asking the cops that I saw how they were doing and thanking them.

After a long silence here, thinking about what to write next, this is all I can come up with. There is a great work going on here.

Stay connected. Don’t isolate. Talk and listen. How’s it going with you?

—Carol Holmes, 15th Street (N.Y.) Meeting

September 14, 2001

How can we find security? How do we build security for our people and all people in the world? It seems to me that the trillions of dollars this country has spent on the military and weapons of mass destruction, the CIA, and having the most powerful military force in the world was unable to prevent the terrible destruction and loss of life in the horrendous attacks in New York and Washington last Tuesday.

Will bombing some other country, which is sure to include killing thousands of innocent civilians, make us more secure? I believe not. It is likely only to further the flames of hatred and counter-hatred. As Mahatma Gandhi said, if we pursue the eye-for-an-eye philosophy, we will end up with the whole world blind. Is there a better approach?

I believe that the only way we can build real security for the American people is for the United States to become a real friend of all the world’s people. Instead of hundreds of billions of dollars for weapons of destruction, we should allocate hundreds of billions for feeding the world’s hungry, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and helping heal the wounds of war and hatred around the world. This would do more to win friends and real security than Star Wars and all the weapons in the world combined. It is a time to understand the unity and interconnect-edness of all people around the world and build our security system based upon that understanding.

May we use this horrible nightmare as a springboard for a new beginning.

—David Hartsough, San Francisco (Calif.) Meeting

September 15, 2001

When I approached New York Yearly Meeting for support in my refusal to subscribe to the Feinberg Certificate at SUNY in 1964 (a refusal that eventually led to a landmark Supreme Court decision), Larry Apsey asked me an unforgettable question: Is this something you cannot not do? I answered that it was. I still appreciate the brilliance of the question, and I still mull over what sort of necessity that was and how it comports with life, with identity, and with Quaker ways. It is a question that goes to the root of commitment and serves to distinguish true conscience from prudence and politics. I realized then, and I appreciate even more today, that my affirmative answer contributed significantly to my determining who I am, to my identity as a Friend. True conscience, in my experience, goes hand in hand with building a rich fellowship of the Spirit.

I think of Larry’s question and the power of conscience again in connection with the events of this second week of September 2001. Conscience can lead to a fellowship of evil. I have no doubt that the hijackers asked themselves Larry’s question and answered it affirmatively. They must have known that they were defining themselves, determining their personal and social identity. A monstrous, hateful identity, to my mind, but no doubt one born of profound conscience, alas. It has been said that conscience is the voice of God, but I wonder if that is not too wishful.

What is sacred, perhaps even what is godly, is not only awesome but sometimes also violent. (Réné Girard wrote a book about this.) That is obvious not only in pagan sacrifices but also in the "Christian" burnings of witches and heretics, and in holy wars, whether a "crusade" or a "jihad." It was a memorable experience to visit Montsegur, last bastion of the pacifist Cathars in southwestern France, which was betrayed to the Crusaders in 1244 and whose 200 peaceful residents were then burned alive in a huge pyre on the plain below. That was perhaps a sacred duty, a Christian act blessed by the Pope, one of the last moments of the Albigensian Crusade.

Revenge or retaliation is often a sacred duty, another form of holy violence. President Bush spoke of retaliation in the National Cathedral, and his firm resolve seems to make retaliation a kind of sacred duty.

We should neither lose sight of the holy, conscientious side of acts of violence that invoke the sacred, nor praise or condone them just because they are sacred or conscientious. I have no doubt that the hijackers were extraordinary human beings moved by a sense of divine mission, but their acts were heinous. Revenge and retaliation are also (I do not say "equally") heinous and violent, and also anathema to us Quakers.

The nation, along with our friends around the world, has united in grief and quiet resolve. We Quakers unite in the grief and in that resolve, and also in prayers for the victims and for people all over the world, that their lives and ours may be lived in the Spirit that takes away the occasions for violence. We cannot, however, unite in a resolve for revenge, nor join the forces for retaliation. We must instead articulate and focus attention on alternatives to revenge, as we focus on alternatives to violence on other occasions.

The hijackers displayed profound courage and devotion as well as considerable technical skill, resources, and organization. They are now dead, so what we confront is other people who have equal skill, resources, and devotion. Some of these people and their resources, as well as people supporting and nurturing them, will be destroyed in the course of the retaliation. An alternative to destroying such people and resources would be to turn them to constructive ends, and we need to consider how that might be possible. To do that we will need to understand and turn around their hatred for America.

How have we earned such hatred? Is that a question we as a nation can seriously address? To do so we will have to take a close look not only at the right sharing of world resources (Ps. 24:1) but also at our stereotypes of Arabs, of Islam, of Israel, of energy use, and of free trade. That is a big order. Not one of those issues is simple, especially when we need to understand radically different perspectives. And smug self-righteousness may make it impossible to get started.

Was the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the National Cathedral meant to convey such self-righteousness? It certainly contrasted with the hymn at the close of another stirring talk I heard over 50 years ago. Bayard Rustin, to my mind the greatest Quaker of the 20th century, spoke at Swarthmore College about the "Journey of Reconciliation," in which an interracial group traveled on interstate tickets through the South to test state and local compliance with the Supreme Court ruling that segregation is unconstitutional in interstate travel. His story included not only harassment, beatings, arrests, and weeks on a chain gang, but also turning a "redneck" guard into a friend. Heroic stuff. But at the end he was anything but triumphant or self-righteous, ending with the spiritual "It’s not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer." What can that teach us?

It may be helpful to recall what George Fox wrote in the midst of difficult times in 1663: "Sing and rejoice, ye children of the day and of the light, for the Lord is at work in this thick night of darkness that may be felt. As truth doth flourish as the rose, and the lilies do grow among the thorns, and the plants atop of the hills, and upon them the lambs do skip and play." Alternatives to retaliation need not wait until the business of revenge is finished. They can work cheerfully alongside or burrow playfully underneath. The time to nurture them is now. There is, as Fox once wrote to his parents, no time but this present.

—Newton Garver, Buffalo (N.Y.) Meeting

September 18, 2001

Senator John McCain was quoted Thursday morning as saying that God may forgive those who perpetrated the horrible events in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, but that we should never forgive them. Even now, when rage is so justified, we pray that greater wisdom will prevail in the hearts of our leaders and our citizenry. Many who, in the heat of this hopeless moment, agree with Mr. McCain, are the same people who condemn Israelis and Palestinians for their futile cycle of provocation and revenge. Many who agree are the same people who are mystified by the centuries of intractable violence in Ireland and the Balkans. Many who agree are the same people who profess to follow Jesus, or Buddha, or Mohammed, or the Talmud—and yet still behave as if this world will never require excruciating acts of forgiveness.

I do not suggest that justice be ignored. We cannot allow or condone terrorism as a way to raise or resolve critical human problems. I do not suggest that the isolation, apprehension, and control of terrorists is anything but complex and absolutely necessary. I do suggest a path different from the path that John McCain implies. I do suggest that before we act we must understand our rage for revenge.

We are capable of anything. Through prayer, we can find the wisdom to measure our own actions and to distinguish this unconscionable atrocity from the reasons that motivated it. With such wisdom, we can forge our response to terrorism on higher ground than provocation and revenge.

We offer a prayer of support and a prayer of divinely inspired forbearance for our President, his advisors, and the rest of us as we discern our next steps in the torturous path everyone on our planet will be walking together.

—Steven Baumgartner, Executive Director, Pendle Hill Quaker Religious Community, Wallingford, Pa.

September 18, 2001

. . . What vision of justice is large enough to confront this violence with responses that lead to healing rather than the spilling of more blood? . . .

A dangerous mood is being fueled across the land. Who will call us home to our better, more just, and compassionate selves? Our political leaders are preparing us for war that will, in its turn, bring violence and devastation to civilian populations elsewhere. The impulse to destroy those who have hurt us is leading to terrible forms of vigilante violence within our own country. Where is the justice in this?

At the root of all hate, violence, war, and injustice is the violence of "us" and "them"—those considered "good" (worthy), and those who are "evil" and therefore expendable. To fully claim our common humanity, it is necessary for all individuals, all political and identity groups, all nations to stop locating violence outside ourselves and recognize a painful but necessary truth: that we who are victims of violence and injustice in some situations may also be, in other situations, perpetrators of violence and injustice.

Increasingly, we see people stricken by grief and rage in this country threatening and targeting for harassment and assault friends of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent. Already, one good man, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a gasoline station owner, has been murdered. An Arab American worker has been attacked by a machete-wielding assailant. A Hindu temple has been firebombed. Mosques have been vandalized. Muslim schoolchildren are being threatened.

We urge all people to stand publicly in solidarity with Middle Eastern and South Asian communities, and to speak out boldly in defense of the constitutional, civil, and human rights of all, without exception.

The danger is very great that people in the U.S. will permit the erosion of the Bill of Rights in order to secure an illusory "safety." But authentic and lasting safety will not be created by the surrender of fundamental rights. The already widespread use of racial and ethnic profiling is escalating. The government is once again likely openly to permit political assassination. The use of secret evidence against persons suspected of being or associating with terrorists—virtually any person of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent—has been contested with some success in various courts in recent years, but is now likely to enjoy new support. Due process rights have long been in jeopardy. Already powers are being given to the federal government to detain and deport "suspects" on the basis of no evidence at all. Such broad powers invite wide use and abuse.

However unjustifiable the attacks of September 11, they possess a long history and arise within a broader social, political, and economic context. Can our hearts open sufficiently to realize that that the U.S., too, is implicated directly and indirectly in the violence, injustice, poverty, disenfranchisement, and despair felt by many in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world? People within the U.S. are capable of great generosity and compassion, and have shown it time and time again. Yet too many of our own nation’s policies and actions—including the use of napalm and antipersonnel fragmentation bombs against civilian populations; covert actions; carpet bombing; support of and sales of arms to undemocratic, repressive regimes and groups that rely on torture, terror, and death squads—have often caused great hardship and unimaginable suffering to families in other parts of the world. Fear, hatred, resentment, and the desire to obliterate those perceived as "enemy" thrive in such violent and unjust conditions. We reap what we sow.

Massive military retaliation and repressive policies abroad and at home will further inflame hatreds and cause the violence to escalate, on all sides. If the suffering is to cease, only imaginative, bold, and ceaseless public activism and international diplomacy rooted in universal affirmation of human rights and commitment to social and economic justice for all offer us hope for a different, more just, less violent, more secure future. . . .

Let us redeem the lives of all those lost to this senseless violence by finding practical ways to transform the ashes of destruction into the love of healing justice, in which the integrity of means and ends is ultimately life-giving for all.

—Kay Whitlock, Special Representative for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Programs, American Friends Service Committee

September 20, 2001

During a Meeting for Worship last evening at Bethesda (Md.) Meeting, I found myself wondering what would Gandhi do, or what would Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. be preaching today. Others will have greater insights than mine, but it came to me to believe that they would be planning a peace effort in Afghanistan. I also concluded that if Clarence Pickett were alive he would be seeking meetings with the Muslim clerics in Afghanistan. This morning I e-mailed Bob Edgar, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches and a former congressman from Pennsylvania, urging him to lead a delegation of international religious leaders to Kabul seeking cooperation from the Taliban for an end to terrorism and religious war. For those interested, his e-mail is <redgar@ncccusa.org>.

—David Runkel, Bethesda (Md.) Meeting

September 20, 2001

I got a clear message during meeting that Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi both would have chosen actions that lead to life over death, both here in this country as well as around the globe. I was with an African American preacher the other day, a wise man with years of experience in the Civil Rights movement. He called us to see that movement as a model of what a "war on terrorism" could be.

—Liz Yeats, Austin (Tex.) Meeting

September 21, 2001

Friends in Atlanta called a meeting for worship last Tuesday night, September 11, and met with Bet Havarim, a Jewish congregation that rents space from us for services. As I prayed, the words of Gandhi came to mind, "An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind." I cried for all those around the world who now seem bent on creating blindness, and wonder where are the leaders with the moral authority of Gandhi who can confront evil in nonviolent ways. Later I realized that this kind of thinking is part of the problem—looking for the savior, denying our own part in creating the tragedy, and being unwilling to do what we can to respond. We have supplied and dropped weapons of mass destruction on others expecting never to pay the price for our actions. As I prayed for guidance, this story sent by a friend seemed God’s way of telling me we all need to do what we can.

The Hawk and the Dove

"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a hawk asked a wild dove.

"Nothing more than nothing," was the answer.

"In that case I must tell you a marvelous story," said the hawk. "I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not a raging blizzard, no, just like in a dream, without any violence. Since I had nothing better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952 when the next snowflake dropped onto the branch—nothing more than nothing, as you say—and the branch broke off." Having said that, the hawk flew away. The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on peace, thought about the story awhile and finally said with resolve, "Perhaps only one person’s voice is lacking for peace to come about in the world."

—Mary Ann Downey, Atlanta (Ga.) Meeting

September 21, 2001

Like most people in North America, I have been horrified, shocked, and saddened by the past week’s events in the U.S. A scenario imaginable only in the movies took place pretty close to home. Undoubtedly, the loss of a great number of innocent lives makes this an immense tragedy. However, with all the subsequent saberrattling and threats of retaliation on a massive scale, one cannot but help feel there are other things that are fuelling the outrage of many Americans, among them injured national pride and a sense of invulnerability removed. Not to mention a military-industrial complex with its own vested interests and an insatiable appetite for an ever-greater share of the national budget, and opportunistic political leaders who will do what is expedient to score points, no matter what the long-term results.

As a Canadian, I am concerned that we may be taken headlong into a doomsday scenario unless we stop and think carefully about what we are being fed by much of the media and about where a U.S.-dominated NATO wants to go. We must maintain an independent voice at the UN, and within NATO. While support of friends is worthy, there is also a time for critical questioning of friends when their actions threaten the well-being of others or themselves. Being a cheerleader is not always very helpful.

President Bush has stated that, "The terrorists and those who harbor them will be hunted down and rooted out." One has to wonder if those who train terrorists will also be called to account. I wonder how many North Americans are aware of the fact that it was the American CIA-run School of the Americas in Georgia that trained many of those now being blamed for last week’s attack, when they were useful for fighting the former Soviet-backed leadership of Afghanistan from bases in Pakistan. The enemies of my enemies do not always remain my friends!

I believe that violence begets violence, and that there would not be terrorism unless there was first repression. This is not in any way to excuse or rationalize what happened last week, but we need to think carefully about what reaction our responses will inevitably provoke.

Fundamentalism, both religious and political, sees the world in simplistic, black-and-white terms, demonizing whatever is different or whatever it does not understand. Add to this the modern desire for "quick (technological) fixes," and we have a potent recipe for further disaster on a world scale. The reality is that whatever military action is taken in the next days and weeks will either decrease or increase the size of fundamentalist, terrorist hotbeds. And thoughts of American invulnerabilty from further attacks are totally illusory. It is quite likely that any terrorists remaining have long since left Afghanistan for distant places, if Afghanistan was in fact ever their base. "Star Wars"-type defense shields would be of little value when any terrorist could easily carry in a pill bottle enough deadly poison or disease-causing organisms like anthrax to contaminate an entire city’s water supply, killing millions before it is even detected.

I do not believe there are any quick fixes. I believe that the UN should be a forum for countries to continue to reach agreement on dealing with terrorists if and when they are actually identified, not just suspected. Cooperation between police forces at all levels and in all places should be the priority, rather than between military forces. The difference, in my mind, is that police actions are, or should be, limited in scope and force, focused, subject to well-understood rules, and accountable for every bullet that is fired. Military actions, on the other hand, especially in the past half century, seem so often to have no limits on the amount of force used or who it is aimed at, and little or no accountability to those they are supposed to serve.

It is, and should be, much the same as the way the Mafia, a group with roots in Sicily, is dealt with. Despite the connection of the Mafia with illegal drugs, coercion by gang-style murders, and prostitution, there are no threats or efforts to bomb Sicily, even if some Sicilians benefit from the illegal activities of its more notorious citizens. Likewise, one does not eradicate a cancer with indiscriminate and massive blasts of radiation or chemotherapy or by using an axe; rather the area to be treated is carefully and cautiously targeted, so that healthy surrounding tissues are not harmed or destroyed. In the long run, as with cancer, the causes of the problem must be dealt with, not just the symptoms. Extreme poverty, continuing injustice, lack of democratic options, hopelessness, and utter desperation feed directly into terrorism. If you have absolutely nothing to lose, what difference does it make if you lose your life to kill others?

So much of the U.S. is now a gated community, where the rich elite that has, seeks to have more and to keep what it has from the hordes outside the gates. Sometimes a few from those hordes write graffiti on the gates, or even steal or harm those who strive for total security within. But so far in Canada and the United States, constrained by the laws of the land, we have wisely and fortunately not seen fit to allow bombing of or mass retaliation against whole communities of the deprived from which a criminal element has arisen.

The human desire for vengeance creates a vicious cycle of revenge, re-revenge, re-re-revenge, and so on. One has only to look at the history of Northern Ireland and so many other places to see the truth of this. Is this really what we want here? I for one, do not. For our children’s sakes, let’s choose life. Justice is called for, but taking revenge is by no means an adequate substitute for justice.

—Brent Bowyer, Lucknow and area worship group of Kitchener Monthly Meeting. Wingham, Ont.

September 23, 2001

You may find this hard to believe, but this morning during meeting in Des Moines, after about 15 minutes of worship, a member, Bob Henderson, exclaimed out of the silence, "Look, there’s a dove sitting right there on the wall between us and the [American] flag across the street." All eyes immediately turned to see the amazing sight and recognized its haunting significance. Indeed, that dove, never observed by me before, sat calmly on the wall for what seemed like several minutes, then disappeared. The symbolism of the dove between the flag and our terrorism-troubled meeting led to a gathered meeting few will forget.

—Wilmer Tjossem, Des Moines Valley (Iowa) Meeting

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