 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2002 (XXXX 5) |
Friends,
The following is a letter expressing the sense of our monthly meeting. It is being sent to our elected officials on the national level and to the local press. We would also like to share it with you.
We, the members of Plymouth Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, known to many as Quakers, voice our disagreement with the President's decision to rely on the threat of war and the use of war's many violent acts to obtain changes in government or organizational policies which we find threatening to the United States. We equally and actively oppose all that leads to violence among people and nations. Out of obedience to God we strive to live lives that actively seek to take away the occasions for war.
Over three hundred years ago Quakers with a vision of a new way of governing played a pivotal part in the founding of this country. They based the structures of government on their belief that God's will for humankind is for all people to live in a way that is consistent with the principles expressed in the life of Jesus. Our life's experience, and that of our forefathers and mothers, has not changed our devotion to this vision of living into God's kingdom on earth.
We recognize that anger and evil exist in the hearts of people of this world. We recognize the real and realized danger that this presents to innocent people of this world. We affirm that God calls us to oppose this evil in ways that are consistent with the life and spirit of Christ. We live in the knowledge that people of all faiths seek to live lives in obedience to God's law of love even the midst of the anger of this world.
We ask you to turn aside and listen whole-heartedly to the voice of God within and discern the appropriate path forward for the policies of our country. May God open to you the way of peace through forthright nonviolent actions that draw this world into reconciliation.
May God be with you in your work,
Michael Mrozinski
Clerk of Plymouth Monthly Meeting
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM