Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Civil Disobedience

“The Golden Rule and Resistance to Atomic Bomb Testing”

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Sallie Willoughby, daughter of the late George and Lillian Willoughby, will speak about her father’s participation as a member of the historic Golden Rule crew as it attempted to prevent the US from testing an atomic bomb in the Marshall Islands.  She will also talk about her parents’ participation in protests and civil disobedience against war. Helen Jaccard, with Veterans For Peace and project manager for the Golden Rule, and several members of the current crew will also join us to talk about ongoing efforts to ban nuclear weapons and other peace issues.

All are welcome for worship 10-11 AM, or after 11 AM.  The program itself will begin at 11:20 AM.

The 34-foot wooden ketch is visiting the Delaware Valley May 9-14 as part of a 15-month voyage around the eastern half of the USA, making 100 ports-of-call. The Golden Rule is a national project of Veterans For Peace.

See flyer for additional Golden Rule events in the Philadelphia area between May 7 -13

 

The Vegetarian Legacy of Benjamin Lay

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Join us at Arch Street Meeting House on Friday, May 12th, from 5:30 to 7 pm for The Vegetarian Legacy of Benjamin Lay, presented by Vance Lehmkuhl of the American Vegan Center.

Benjamin Lay was scorned and laughed at during his life for his stubborn, relentless advocacy for the abolition of slavery from as early as 1732, and he spent nearly two centuries as a nearly-forgotten footnote to history. Thanks to Marcus Rediker’s 2017 biography The Fearless Benjamin Lay (now optioned for a major motion picture!), more Americans are starting to learn and appreciate how his anti-slavery activism reverberated through U.S. history, up to and beyond the US civil war. But his vegetarianism, which for Lay was cut from the same cloth as his abolitionism, also impacted American history.

We will look at how his influence was borne out in the lives of US vegetarians such as Anthony Benezet, John Woolman, Joshua Evans, Stephen Grellet, Sarah & Angelina Grimke, Bronson Alcott, and Dr. William Alcott, the first president of the American Vegetarian Society.

Vance Lehmkuhl

Vance Lehmkuhl runs the veg history tour program at the American Vegan Center, offering pre-scheduled and custom walking tours around Old City. He is the author of Eating Vegan in Philly (2016) and V for Veg: The Best of Philly’s Vegan Food Column (2016), both from Sullivan Street Press. He spent years as the vegan columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and, prior to that, as the political cartoonist for Philadelphia City Paper, for which he was named Best of Philly by Philadelphia Magazine. He also founded the eco-pop band Green Beings, whose novelty patter song “Leftovers” has been heard many times on Dr. Demento’s radio show. Vance is passionate about three things: Helping acquaint people with Philadelphia’s amazing veg history; his wife, Cynthia Way; and the symphonies of Joseph Haydn.

Friends inspired by NY Friend Sandra Steingraber speak out against Pipelines and in favor of Clean Energy

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Members and attenders of Westtown and other Monthly Meetings joined several hundred in West Chester on June 9th to publicly witness on behalf of our neighbors facing the dangers of new pipelines snaking their way through Chester and Delaware counties designed to carry high risk liquefied gas  pipelines.  The Mariner East Rally for Community Safety speakers painted a grim picture of the threat to families, schools and local businesses.  Quaker activist Sandra Steingraber came from NY to lend us encouragement. She and other Friends in NY State led a multi-year civil disobedience effort to protect the water resources provided by Seneca Lake.  Many of us first heard of Sandra and we were inspired by her letter Why I am in Jail. Others of us had read her compelling book Living Downstream. In the evening, we attended the Pennsylvania premier of the film Unfractured depicting this struggle and the hard work that she and others undertook which finally led to the ban on fracking in New York State. Her message was clear – as people of faith, we all need to find our courage and determine what role we can play in choosing life giving energy over fossil fuels, given what we know about their short and long term impact on human and environmental health.  She herself had to overcome her own preference to stick to research as an approach to change, as she is by nature more of an introvert. To learn more about the pipeline movement and which Monthly Meetings are in or near the blast zone visit the Middletown Coalition for Community Safety.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Friends support arrestees at Demand the Ban action outside Senator Toomey’s office in Philadelphia

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On May 16, 2018, Fran Sheldon (Providence Meeting) and Paul Sheldon (Lansdowne Meeting) participated in a Demand the Ban action in Philadelphia to demand that Senator Toomey co-sponsor Senate Bill 2095 that bans the sale of assault weapons. [Read more…] about Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Friends support arrestees at Demand the Ban action outside Senator Toomey’s office in Philadelphia

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