QuakerQuaker

Friends were not only aware that their actions would be interpreted as a challenge to the existing political order but also of the likely consequences of those actions. 

Whatever you do, whichever amount of risk you choose to accept, at least consider something that [Quaker] Hartsough told me: “We all have a responsibility to listen to our own conscience, and if that lands us in jail or means economic hardship, that’s not as bad as the curse of having killed people.”

We can hardly build a new community without being conscious—acutely so—of what has gone before. Even in Quaker circles, which tend to be less sexist than the wider society, the unconscious sexism we have all internalized ought to be addressed.

Quakers are lousy when it comes to talking about money. We’re lousy about asking for it, lousy about handling it as a group, and worst of all, lousy about admitting we have it. In my experience, many Quakers treat money as if it were some filthy thing, and never own up to having much.

Christian simplicity is challenging in this culture, not because our culture is complex but because our culture is simple. Because wealth is held as the highest good, and as the source of our salvation, it is very difficult for people to break away from the culture and trust God.