“What can we do as Quakers individually and collectively to be a prophetic voice for our times?” Anthony Manousos asked in one of this year’s most widely read new articles. Over the last 12 months, we’ve learned a lot about how Friends in the United States are confronting the authoritarian excesses of their current government. But we’ve also learned about what it took to spur previous generations to action . . . and about the resources upon which we can draw to maintain our emotional and spiritual strength in the long struggle ahead.
5. The Delight of Being Alive
“In 2022, burnt out from the slow pace of social justice, I realized that I was beyond my measure: doing far too much and some of it not in the right spirit,” Gail Melix (Greenwater) confided back in February. “I prayed for Creator’s guidance to give me what was mine to do. I sought advice and counsel from Indigenous elders. I added a woodland walk to my daily schedule. I went into the woods to heal, and this has made all the difference.”
4. We the People Have No King
“Just as early Quakers spoke truth to those in power—even if it meant facing prison,” Anthony Manousos wrote in September, “we as heirs to that prophetic tradition need to be willing to speak truth to those in power today.” He suggested several steps that Friends could take to act in solidarity, beneath all which lay a fundamental question: “What is our vision, and how can we come together to realize it?”
3. Black Resistance to Quaker Enslavement
“For over 12 decades from about 1657 to about 1777, Quakers were deeply entangled in the practice of human enslavement,” Jim Fussell wrote in our August issue. A moral revival eventually spread throughout the Religious Society of Friends—largely because, as Jim reports, Black resistance forced Quakers to confront their complicity in the evils of the slave trade.
2. Quaker Lawsuits Against Homeland Security
Early this year, staff writer Sharlee DiMenichi began following two lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, both brought by groups of religious organizations that include Quaker meetings, which argue that their religious liberty is violated by the Trump administration’s rescindment of protections for people without legal status in “sensitive locations” such as places of worship. Plaintiffs in the first lawsuit, filed in late January, include Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Adelphi (Md.) Meeting, and Richmond (Va.) Meeting; Friends General Conference is a party in the second lawsuit, filed less than a month later. This was our top story for the first half of 2025, and Friends Journal continues to update its reporting as events warrant. In addition, Sharlee is covering a third lawsuit that was filed by Pacific Yearly Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting, and San Francisco (Calif.) Meeting—along with plaintiffs from other religious denominations—in July.
1. FBI Agents Seize Quaker Activist from His Home in Morning Raid
Sharlee has also been keeping an eye on the trial of Robert “Jacob” Hoopes, a Friend with ties to Newtown (Pa.) Meeting, who has been charged by the federal government with aggravated assault of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a June protest at an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. Hoopes was arrested in late July, and has pled not guilty. His trial, originally set for October, is currently scheduled to begin in February 2026.
Banner images: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service; J.; courtesy Anthony Manousos
Catch up on past years’ lists!
Top Articles of 2024
- #5. True to Your Word by Anonymous.
- #4. White Supremacy Culture in My Clerking by Michael Levi.
- #3. Dear God, Help Me Here by Sharlee DiMenichi.
- #2. The Radical Original Vision of George Fox by Marcelle Martin.
- #1. George Fox Was a Racist by Johanna Jackson and Naveed Moeed.
Top Articles of 2023
- #5. Three Common Fallacies of Quaker Leadership by Andy Stanton-Henry.
- #4. Speaking Up for Palestinian Rights Now by Steve Chase.
- #3. A Visit to the Hector Meetinghouse by Chester Freeman.
- #2. From Atheist to Friends by John Marsh.
- #1. Young Adults Want What Early Friends Had by Olivia Chalkley.
Top Articles of 2022
- #5. The Art of Quaker Quilts by Vicki Winslow.
- #4. Quakers Must Take a Stand on Abortion by Erick Williams.
- #3. Safe Meetings Don’t Avoid Conflict by Donald W. McCormick.
- #2. The Peace Testimony and Ukraine by Bryan Garman.
- #1. Flawed Quaker Heroes by Kathleen Bell.
Top Articles of 2021
- #5. A Quaker Call to Abolition and Creation by Lucy Duncan.
- #4. Pistachios and Cats by Lynn Gazis.
- #3. When Quakers Were the Karens by Elizabeth Cazden.
- #2. The Mystical Experience by Donald W. McCormick.
- #1. Are There White People in the Bible? by Tim Gee.
Top Articles of 2020
- #5. A Quaker Antiracist Reading List
- #4. Quaker Meetings Respond to Coronavirus by Katie Breslin.
- #3. Recognizing Racism, Seeking Truth by Inga Erickson.
- #2. Careful Discernment or Spiritual Timidity? by Kat Griffith.
- #1. The Middle-Class Capture of Quakerism and Quaker Process by Donald W. McCormick.
Top Articles of 2019
- #5 Selling Out to Niceness by Ann Jerome.
- #4 Building White Racial Stamina by Liz Oppenheimer.
- #3 A Quaker School’s Response to Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Erik Hanson.
- #2 We Are Not John Woolman by Gabbreell James.
- # 1 Slavery in the Quaker World by Katharine Gerbner.
Top Articles of 2018
- #5 Are We Really Christian? by Margaret Namubuya Amudavi.
- #4 What People Really Want from Church and Quaker Meeting by Donald W. McCormick.
- #3 Simple Living Beyond the Thrift Store by Philip Harnden.
- #2 Can Quakerism Survive? by Donald W. McCormick.
- # 1 Civility Can Be Dangerous by Lucy Duncan.
Top Articles of 2017:
- #5 Mystical Experience, the Bedrock of Quaker Faith by Robert Atchley.
- #4 Weeping to Joy by Betsy Blake.
- #3: A Mysticism for Our Time by Roger Owens.
- #2: It Breaks My Heart by Kate Pruitt.
- #1: A Quaker Approach to Living with Dying by Katherine Jaramillo.
Top articles of 2016:
- #5 Framing the Light by Jean Schnell.
- #4 Why Quakers Stopped Voting by Paul Buckley.
- #3 Affirming Ivy by Laura Noel.
- #2 The Third Reconstruction by William J Barber II.
- #1 A Gospel of Quaker Sexuality by Kody Gabriel Hersh.
Top articles of 2015:
- #5 Baltimore, the Time Is Now by Sarah Bur.
- #4 Reflections on Selma by Gail Whiffen.
- #3 What Quakers and Catholics Might Learn from One Another by John Pitts Corry.
- #2 Realizing Wholeness: Reflections from a Gay Palestinian Quaker by Sa’ed Atshan.
- #1 Beyond Goodness Sex by Su Penn.
Top articles of 2014:
- #5 Dear Friend/Good White Person by Regina Renee.
- #4 Sustainable Simplification Shuns “Shoulds” and Sacrifice by Chuck Hosking.
- #3 A Quaker Argument against Gun Control by Matthew Van Meter.
- #2 My Experience as an African American Quaker by Avis Wanda McClinton.
- #1 White Narcissism by Ron McDonald.
Top articles of 2013:
- #5: Bum-Rush the Internet interview with Jon Watts.
- #4: Categorically Not the Testimonies by Eric Moon.
- #3: Are Quakers Christian, Non-Christian, or Both? by Anthony Manousos.
- #2: Quakerism Left Me by Betsy Blake.
- #1: We Think He Might Be a Boy by Su Penn.
Top articles of 2012:
- #5: The Safety of Silence by Lindsey Mead Russell.
- #4: Eight Questions on Convergent Friends, an interview with Robin Mohr.
- #3: Quakers Are Way Cooler Than You Think by Emma Churchman.
- #2: Homosexuality: A Plea to Read the Bible Together by Douglas C Bennett.
- #1: When Quaker Process Fails by John M. Coleman.
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