Peace & Social Justice
Activities of the Peace & Social Justice Committee
The Peace and Social Justice Committee of Olympia Friends Meeting is charged with helping Friends to respond to the spiritual leadings for peace and justice experienced by individuals as well as by Meeting as a whole. In the past, these leadings have led us to:
- Sponsor events educating ourselves and the community about active peace and reconciliation work being done in Palestine, Vietnam, El Salvador, and Iraq.
- Actively support expanding the Washington State equal rights laws to include protection, including the right to marriage, for people who are gay, lesbian. bisexual, or transgender.
- Work to end the death penalty and establish equal justice for all in the criminal justice system.
- Raise money to help victims of natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, AIDS and the 2004 tsunami, and victims of man-made disasters such as wars and extreme poverty.
- Find ways to assist those in our local community who are homeless, in danger of becoming homeless, or in need of medical care.
- Lobby our state and federal representatives to write laws and develop budgets that support peace and social justice at home and throughout the world.
Some specific recent activities of the Peace and Social Justice Committee (formerly Faith in Action) can be found in the Meeting's Annual Report on the "Resources & Documents" page of the website.
Statements & Minutes of Olympia Friends Meeting
Quaker meetings have the tradition of adopting Minutes about areas of concern. These are statements of convictions that express the "sense of the meeting" on which the Meeting reached unity during a meeting for business.
At times they also issue statements to the press or to run as a newspaper ad. Below are some Minutes and Statements from Olympia Friends Meeting:
Minute of Olympia Friends Meeting regarding Same-Sex Marriage (approved September 1991)
Olympia Friends Meeting affirms its willingness to take under its care the marriage of both opposite and same-sex couples using the traditional clearness process. People asking for marriage under the care of the Meeting should be members of the Meeting or long-term regular attenders. We are aware of the diversity of attitudes toward the term “marriage” and leave to the couple to characterize their relationship.
The Meeting regrets that the State does not recognize same-gender relationships as having the same legal and spiritual status as heterosexual relationships and commits itself to working to change the law so all marriages will be recognized both as spiritual and legal commitments.
Minute of Olympia Friends Meeting opposing the Death Penalty (approved January 1997)
The Olympia Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affirms its opposition to the death penalty. We believe that every person is of value to God and is sacred. We uphold our historic testimony against the taking of human life, for any reason and under any circumstances. While our sympathies lie deeply with the victims, their families and friends, we also realize the suffering of the families and friends of the criminal. Executions restore no victim, brings no closure to families, and further numbs society to hatred and violence. We support efforts to find alternatives to execution, mindful of the sacredness of every life.
Statement of Olympia Friends Meeting in response to the events of September 11, 2001 (newspaper ad)
We feel the deepest sadness and grief for the victims of the catastrophe of September 11, and all the victims across the globe, of war, ethnic cleansing, exploitation, terrorism, unjust imprisonment, torture, and all other horrific acts of violence. They and those that mourn them are in our daily thoughts, prayers and meditations.
In our lives and work we feel deeply connected with our country, and seek a similar connection with every nation of the world. The daily suffering experienced worldwide due to hunger, injustice and terror renews our commitment to a right sharing of the Earth’s resources and the nonviolent resolution of conflicts.
We have living experience of the transforming power of nonviolent response to violence. We oppose war, believing it is the ultimate rejection of God’s creation. We believe that the sources of violence can be exposed and transformed through creative, courageous and unexpected acts that restore justice, heal human relationships and untangle the deep roots of this conflict.
We seek peace and justice through nonviolent means as God would have it for us all.
For 350 years the Religious Society of Friends has refrained from taking part in war.
Do we search for and honor that of God in everyone?
Statement of Olympia Friends Meeting regarding Invasion of Iraq (newspaper ad October 2002)
The Olympia Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) opposes the current bombing and planned invasion of Iraq by the United States of America. We urge our government to work with the international community to seek diplomatic solutions to conflicts with Iraq. We join people of conscience, other faiths and churches who oppose this dangerous and misguided thrust toward violence. A U.S. attack on Iraq will destroy thousands of lives.
We must use America's power to break from the past, reject violence and build international institutions of law and order, economic and political justice and environmental protection. Positive U.S. leadership would catalyze people of good will all over the world to effective action. The lives of our children and grandchildren can be liberated from the terror and hatred our own generation is enduring.
We oppose war, believing it is the ultimate rejection of God's creation. We believe that the sources of violence can be exposed and transformed through creative, courageous and unexpected acts that restore justice, heal human relationships and untangle the deep roots of conflict.
We seek peace and justice through such nonviolent means as God would have for us all.
Minute of Olympia Friends Meeting in Support of Military Personnel Seeking Clearness About War Participation
(approved February 2006)
We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretense whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world.
-- The “Peace Testimony”, George Fox’s Declaration to Charles II, 1660
For some 350 years, Friends have held the right of conscience – the following of the leadings of the Spirit, “the Light Within” – to be paramount. Central to our faith and practice, we are called upon to abjure all war, and to seek out the causes and seeds of war among us.
Today, the leadings of the Spirit are still working among some who, through whatever circumstance, find themselves called upon to kill, or otherwise participate in organized military efforts that result in the death of others. When faced with the possibilities of losing their homes, their freedom, and their personal security, and placing their families at risk, those who feel led to obey the dictates of conscience may seek those sharing similar leadings for clearness and assistance.
Friends have a unique history in assisting those who have made the difficult decision not to kill, even placing ourselves at risk in order to do so. Olympia Monthly Meeting asks that all Friends consider this calling in the light of our history and our continuing experience of the Spirit, and act as they feel called. Specifically:
- We invite [Quaker] Monthly Meetings within North Pacific Yearly Meeting to join us as we consider adopting minutes affirming our historic commitment to assist those who, for reasons of conscience, can not participate in killing.
- We invite North Pacific Yearly Meeting and other Yearly Meetings to consider affirming this commitment.
- We invite individual [Quaker] Meetings and their members to consider and season how best to assist those who leave or consider leaving military service for reasons of conscience.
- We invite [Quaker] Meetings in Canada and elsewhere outside the United States to consider how they can assist those who leave or consider leaving military service in the United States for reasons of conscience.
- We ask Monthly and Yearly [Quaker] Meetings in the United States to work with and support Canadian and other Meetings outside the United States in this effort.
- We invite both Monthly and Yearly [Quaker] Meetings to consider witnessing to our adherence to our historic calling publicly in any and all ways which seem appropriate.
Minute of Olympia Friends Meeting on Our Concern for the Christian Peacemaker Team Hostages in Iraq (approved February 2006)
Olympia Friends Meeting supports the continuing work and courage of the Christian Peacemaker Teams. We hold all involved in prayer, the peacemakers, Jim Loney, Harmeet Sooden, Tom Fox and Norm Kember, their captors, and the many people who cannot escape violence. We hope for a safe and peaceful resolution of this situation, and urge the United States government to resist the temptation to use violence.
Minute of Olympia Friends Meeting on the Illegal Use of U.S. Weapons by Israel (approved August 2006)
From its earliest inception, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has placed rejection of war as basic to our understanding of God’s will. We believe that human beings are capable of solving conflicts through reason, an empathetic understanding of the other's point of view, and the courage to take principled, nonviolent action in the face of injustice.
In this spirit, the Olympia Friends Meeting urges all parties in the current conflict to declare a ceasefire and work toward a negotiated settlement of their grievances. As Quakers who are also U.S. citizens, we strongly object to the fact that tax-payer funded U. S. military equipment is being used illegally in this conflict. We are very concerned that Israel is using weapons supplied by the United States to target Palestinian & Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in violation of the US Arms Export Control Act and the Geneva Conventions.
The Israeli air force fighter squadrons are composed of Lockheed Martin F-16I Fighting Falcons and Boeing F-15Is, which fire US-manufactured AMRAAM, Sidewinder, and Sparrow missiles. From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to Israel at least $1.062 billion of spare parts, engines, and missiles for its F-15 and F-16 fighter planes.
From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to the Israeli navy more than $572 million worth of patrol boat, ship, and submarine components and spare parts, torpedoes, and sonar equipment. From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to Israel more than $348 million worth of tanks, components, and spare parts. (Statistics for US weapons licensed to Israel are compiled from the State Department's annual report to Congress pursuant to Sec. 655 of the Foreign Assistance Act)
By using US-supplied weapons to attack Gaza and Lebanon, Israel is violating the terms of the US Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act. The Arms Export Control Act restricts the use of US weapons to legitimate self-defense and internal policing; US weapons cannot be used to attack civilians in offensive operations nor can they be used to destroy civilian infrastructure such as power plants. The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits US aid of any kind to a country that routinely kills civilians as a result of its military operations.
The Olympia Friends Meeting urges the President and Congress to act immediately to halt Israel's military attacks in the Middle East that are being conducted with U.S.-supplied weapons in violation of our laws. We urge the President and Congress to stop all foreign assistance and military equipment exports to Israel until it ceases military attacks outside of its internationally recognized borders.
This minute was adapted from the minute developed by the Atlanta Friends Meeting and approved by them on July 16, 2006
