Forum, January 2026

Beliefs or behavior?

I was looking forward to the December 2025 issue of Friends Journal with great eagerness. I wanted to know what other Quakers thought Quakers believed. However, it was disappointing. The essays did not seem to answer the question with the directness or concrete specificity that Arthur Larrabee did in his nine core principles mentioned by Tom Gates.

I think we all missed an important point, myself included. Henry Cadbury pointed out that most of Jesus’s teachings are about how to behave. George Fox’s “Be patterns, be examples” is about behavior. That has led me to feel that what Quakers believe is not about concepts or ideas; it is about action—that in our relationships with others, we should act and behave in a manner that brings about peace and harmony among all people so that every individual has an equal opportunity to live a happy and meaningful life.

John Andrew Gallery
Philadelphia, Pa.

Where change happens

Thanks to Tom Rockwell for the insightful article, “That of God in Our Polity” (FJ Dec.). I hope to bring it to my own meeting for our first-hour discussion. This is a difficult teaching to give in a challenging time. I’m grateful for his work and ministry.

May Friends come to practice our testimonies and set aside judgement and blame. I’ll never forget the revelation that came from reading the work of John Woolman and his practice of speaking directly to enslavers to minister to them. This is where change happens—in the uncomfortable conversations between different groups.

Friends United Meeting’s Kelly Kellum recently posted on Facebook a graph based on the work of Howard Thurman and the idea that contact without true fellowship gives rise to hatred. These are self-reinforcing.

Jackson Napier
Richmond, Ind.

As an East Coast Quaker, I really don’t believe in either Evangelical Quakers or Quaker “pastors.” It sounds like Rockwell heavily leans toward that inclination, and I’m unsubscribing.

Lynda Rees Kling
Ottsville, Pa.

Reframing belief in God

As a convinced Quaker with a Jewish background and nontheist tendencies, I found David O’Halloran’s “Tell Me About the God You Don’t Believe In” (FJ Dec. online)  to be awesome, inspirational, and insightful. You have helped me to reframe and rethink the God I don’t believe in. 

Jeffrey Plaut
Elkins Park, Pa.

A special Christmas story

In case you missed it, Friends Journal published a special Christmas-season story by John Andrew Gallery on our website in late December. You can read “Joseph’s Story” at Friendsjournal.org/josephs-story.

—Editors

John Andrew Gallery’s story is beautiful. It’s the best Christmas writing I’ve read in years.

Carl E. and Ruth Feather
Bruceton Mills, W.V.

This is a beautiful and credible interpretation of the gospel narratives.

Robby England
Millerton, Pa.

A rooted and grounded faith

Thank you for Shulamith Clearbridge’s retelling of Margaret Fell (“Stand Still Where the Strength Is” (FJ Nov. 2025). I now have a way to feel, or embody, my faith as rooted and grounded, and nothing can take that away from me, even through storms and earthquakes. I finally feel that I have a way back to a center, and strength, after reading this. I now have this beside my bed, to read frequently.

Cathay Inzer
Santa Rosa, Calif.

Punchy ending

Wow! Peterson Toscano’s story “What Is Actually There” (FJ Nov.) is profound truth captured with a layering effect: Mom, the old man, the snake, the meeting, Quakers. Brilliant!

Susan
Philadelphia, Pa.

Wonderful characters, and that ending packs quite a punch! Love it.

Vicki Winslow
Liberty, N.C.

Online: Peterson Toscano discusses his story in a video interview at Friendsjournal.org/peterson-toscano.

Is this a horror story?

What a great last line in Nichole Nettleton’s “The Body” (FJ Nov.). This has the uneasy ambiguity of a Shirley Jackson story—with Quakers!

Mary Linda McKinney
Greensboro, N.C.

Trippy fiction

I love the trippiness of Margaret Cotton’s “My Troublesome BFFs” (FJ Nov.) and the ebb and flow of reality and fiction in the story.

Peterson Thomas Toscano
Sunbury, Pa.

Filling a need for expanded awareness

Thanks to Vanessa Julye for “Affinity Spaces for BIPOC Friends” (FJ Oct. 2025). I now know the term BIPOC. I learned a lot about “Polite White Supremacy.”

George Busolo Lukalo
Nairobi, Kenya

Sincere gratitude to Vanessa for sharing this and giving voice.

Sarah Kehoe
Talkeetna, Alaska

As someone who grew up in Haverford, Pa., I am painfully aware that there is a need for this expansion of Quaker awareness. There are many things that I’ve come to find in my 70-plus years. I find that we are all a mixture of good and bad. I take a middle path.

Eve F. Gutwirth
Upper Darby, Pa.

Online extras

Last month we interviewed two December authors for our author podcast series. Watch the interview with Thomas Gates, “The Nature of Belief,” at Friendsjournal.org/thomas-gates. “Connecting Spirit to Spirit,” the interview with Becky Jones, is at Friendsjournal.org/becky-jones.