Glen Retief’s recent letter to Friends Journal, “A Pacifist Reconsiders Military Action in Syria,” reflects the dilemma many Friends feel about our country’s role in confronting brutal violence.

Diane Randall is executive secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Learn more at www.fcnl.org.

Posted in: Guest Viewpoint

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A Pacifist Reconsiders Military Action in Syria

By Glen Retief on September 11, 2013

A foreign-born Quaker pacifist abstains from the missile strikes debate.

Glen Retief’s book The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood won a Lambda Literary Award. He teaches creative writing at Susquehanna University and is a member of Pennsdale (Pa.) Meeting.

Posted in: Guest Viewpoint

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Syria As a Tipping Point

By Susan C. Hefte on September 5, 2013

I don’t know how to create transformation on a global scale, but “let us see what love can do.”

Susan C. Hefte is a member of St. Petersburg (Fla.) Meeting.

Posted in: Guest Viewpoint

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Process: the Good, the Poor, & Schisms

By Mathilda Navias on July 24, 2012

It is my experience that good Quaker process helps us unite in finding God’s path forward and in building community, while poor process or misuse can tear us apart. The most painful schisms in Quaker history—the Hicksite-Orthodox split and the Gurneyite-Wilburite split—were marked by blatant misuse of Quaker process and unloving treatment of some Friends […]

Mathilda Navias serves as recording clerk and web master for Broadmead Meeting in northwest Ohio. She serves Lake Erie Yearly Meeting as Database Manager as well as being a member of the Nominating Committee, Spiritual Formation Planning Committee, and an ad hoc committee to revise the yearly meeting’s manual of Policies & Procedures. She is clerk of the Accessible Literature Working Group, a member of the Growing Subcommittee (formerly Advancement & Outreach), and a member of Central Committee for Friends General Conference. She is also employed part-time as Yearly Meeting Worker for Lake Erie Yearly Meeting, helping with the web site, communications, and special projects. Mathilda has served as co-clerk of a monthly meeting and on numerous monthly and yearly meeting committees.

Posted in: June-July 2012, The Quaker Process Blog

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The Peaceable Kingdom 2.0: Young Adults and Quakerism’s Future

By Stephen Willis Dotson on August 4, 2011

In this post-Christendom, post-9/11 country, there is a growing inter-faith youth movement, thanks in part to the ability of new tools to enable communication and relationship. Youth from many backgrounds are represented in this movement, but not Quakers. Why? I believe it is because Friends have not successfully implemented the contemporary structures and new technologies […]

Stephen Willis Dotson is a member of Goose Creek (Va.) Meeting who carries a concern for the future of Friends. This concern manifests in a desire to nurture rising generations, to facilitate Quaker engagement with ecumenical and inter-religious work, and to help the unique gifts of Quakerism reach those who are seeking them through both traditional and emerging technologies. He is a Board member for Friends Journal.

Posted in: Blogs, Jordan

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Fidgeting in Worship

By Greg Woods on August 2, 2011

A Friend shares his process of settling into worship: "As I sit in meeting, I use prayer as a way to center down. I have a list of people that I usually pray for and I use the idea of ‘holding others in the light.’"

Greg Woods, a member of Columbia Friends Meeting in Missouri, has been involved in youth and young adult ministry for the past eight years. Currently he serves as the Assistant Coordinator of the Young Adult Leadership Development (YALD) Program at Pendle Hill. He graduated from Earlham College and in the fall he will start a MA program in Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. In his free time, he enjoys traveling the world, attending demolition derbies, and telling jokes of all kinds.

Posted in: Blogs, Online Features

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Support requested for Guilford Student detained by immigration

By various sources on July 22, 2011

U.S. immigration officers recently detained a recent Guilford College student and attender at Spring Friends Meeting in North Carolina. Supporters have mobilized and are asking Friends for help. 🔒 Friends Journal Member? Sign in here! Not an FJ member? To read this piece, please join us today! For $28, you’ll get: A year of Friends Journal delivered […]

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