Quaker Testimonies

Quaker Testimonies

Atlanta Friends’ Testimonies and Concerns

Testimonies are not our creed, they are expressions of spirituality in action. These testimonies are rooted in the traditional Quaker belief that there is that of God in all people.

SimplicityPeaceIntegrityCommunityEquality

Other concerns and witnesses of Atlanta Friends Meeting

EarthcareHuman Rights

Our Testimonies

Simplicity

Some Minutes relating to our Simplicity testimony

In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.

  • June 1978: The announcement was made that the Atlanta Simple Living Group had been set down. The group stopped operations after conducting many simple living workshops and a microanalysis workshop on the personal and community politics that may accompany the choice to live more simply. The group members were each involved in too many other activities.

Back to Top

Peace

Some Minutes relating to our Peace testimony

In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.

  • January 2007: The AFM believes that the death and destruction in Iraq must stop. We will not be silent in the face of over 3,000 U.S. deaths, 22, 500 U.S. wounded, and over 600,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. We call on our members of Congress to take the following actions: 1) End the U.S. occupation of Iraq and begin the process of withdrawal; 2) Oppose any increase of our troops in Iraq; 3) Full fund an Iraqi-led reconstruction and; 4) Leave no permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.
  • January 2006: The Atlanta Friends Meeting approves of the goals of the Save Darfur Coalition of Georgia and approves joining the coalition.
  • October 2000: The Atlanta Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) appeals to that of God in the leaders and peoples of Israel and Palestine and the United States to act in ways that will bring an end the spiral of violence and hatred between Jewish and Palestinian peoples. Our experience and deep belief is that each child, each individual embodies that of God no matter their religion or nationality.
    We ask the media to report the acts of peace amidst the violence, to not slant their reporting to one side or the other and to give voice to the many views and underlying causes of conflict in the region.
    We appeal to the leaders’ aspiration of all parties involved to negotiate a peace settlement that recognizes the dignity and common aspiration of all parties.
    We offer the Atlanta Friends Meetinghouse as a place for dialog for those Atlantans wanting to support the building of peace in the Middle East.
  • April 1986: We deplore state-directed violence against individuals unknown to the perpetrators with the purpose of punishing or retaliating against governments for actual or perceived crimes. The result of such violence is the same, whether undertaken by individuals or armed forces. Each side believes its action is justified and appropriate, but the victims are individuals, who in most cases have had no role in that violence or aggression. They are children, mothers, fathers–most are civilians. Now, we are all vulnerable–Americans as hostages, travelers—yes, even in Atlanta.
    Quakers believe that violence begets violence. Our violent response will only escalate that violence which we seek to stop. Our religious and moral background should not lead us to merely respond in kind. Any government action should be directed toward resolution of a problem. The United States has the potential for finding answers to difficult problems: we’ve put man on the moon, split the atom, eradicated polio. In this crisis, the issue is peace–and lack thereof–in the Middle East. If the United States commits its resources to resolving that issue, then we shall begin to find peace everywhere.
  • December 1981: To improve national and international security, the United States and the Soviet Union should stop the nuclear arms race. Specifically, they should adopt a mutual freeze on the testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons and of missiles and new aircraft designed primarily to deliver nuclear weapons. This is an essential verifiable first step toward lessening the risk of nuclear war and reducing the nuclear arsenals.
  • August 1969: A coalition movement to end the war in Vietnam is underway in Washington and throughout the country, with a group forming in Atlanta to plan participation. The Meeting endorsed our participation in this movement.

Some links to related websites

More Minutes on the Peace Testimony

  • July 2006: STATEMENT OF THE ATLANTA FRIENDS MEETING ON THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
    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 Atlanta Friends Meeting urges all parties in the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and the fighting in the Gaza Strip 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 Palestiniean & 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 Falcolns and Boeing F15Is, 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. 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 Atlanta Friends Meeting urges the President and Congress to act immediately to halt Israel’s military attacks in teh 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.
  • July 2006: The Atlanta Friends Meeting supports Lt. Ehren Watada in his decision not to deploy to Iraq because of his strong conviction that this war is both illegal and immoral.
    As Quakers we oppose war in any form. It is our firm belief that war is not the answer to conflict. We support hose who use non-violent means to challenge unjust laws and policies.
    Lt. Watada’s act of conscience is a courageous act of refusing to participate in a war that he believes to be contrary to God’s will. We support his refusal completely.
  • June 2005: Atlanta Friends Meeting endorses the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s (FCNL’s) Sensible Transition to an Enduring Peace resolution and calls upon the United States Congress to adopt a sense of the Congress resolution declaring: “It is the policy of the United States to withdraw all U.S. military troops and bases from Iraq.” Atlanta Friends Meeting also calls upon the government to affirm that it will continue to advocate for the protection of human rights within Iraq, including the rights of Iraqi women and girls, without militarily occupying Iraq. The Meeting asks the Clerk of the Meeting to communicate this message to our congressional representatives and the local media.
  • September 2004: Atlanta Friends Meeting approves becoming a member of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
  • January 2003: The committee recommended that meeting for business support the Urgent Call for nuclear disarmament. We move together with the other nuclear powers, step by carefully inspected and verified step, to the abolition of weapons. As steps toward this goal, we call on the United States to:
    • A. Renounce the first use of nuclear weapons.
    • B. Permanently end the development, testing, and production of nuclear warheads.
    • C. Seek agreement with Russia on the mutual and verified destruction of nuclear weapons withdrawn under treaties, and increase the resources available here and in the former Soviet Union to secure nuclear warheads and material and implement destruction.
    • D. Strengthen nonproliferation efforts by ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, finalizing a missile ban in North Korea, supporting UN inspections in Iraq, locating and reducing fissile material worldwide and negotiating a ban on its production.
    • E. Take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert in concert with the other nuclear powers–the UK, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel„in order to reduce the risk of accidental or unauthorized use.
    • F. Initiate talks on further nuclear cuts, beginning with U.S. and Russian reductions to 1,000 warheads each.
      The Meeting approved the minute in its original wording since it is a minute from another organization that has requested our support.
  • October 1998: The AFM declared itself a Sanctuary for refugees from Central America in 1985. Since then we have heard the first hand testimony of many friends from El Salvador and Guatemala as to their personal experience of torture, disappearances, assassinations and targeting of civilian populations by the military or military related groups in these countries. Over the last few years we have become aware that a significant number of the high military officers in the armies of El Salvador and Guatemala received training at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. We are aware that of those officers implicated in official human rights commission reports as responsible for gross human rights violations most received training at the School and that the School acknowledges use of manuals which included sections on torture, execution, and paying bounties for the assassination of community leaders. We understand that top military officials involved in the current counterinsurgency wars in Chiapas, Mexico and in Columbia are also graduates of the School.
    The ongoing history of and rationale for the School of the Americas run counter to the peace testimony of Quakers. Friends affirm that the best way to relate to people is to appeal to that of God within them. Trusting in the leading of the Spirit and respecting the Inward Light in all others can avert violent conflict. We see the School as an egregious example of a false belief that Latin and Central American militaries have or will serve as agents to reduce or avert violent conflict. We, therefore, call upon the United States Congress and the Executive branch to eliminate funding for the School of the Americas, to rescind the recent approval of the sale of weapons to Latin America, and to review thoroughly all other bilateral military training.
  • April 1998: We wish to express our pleasure at the peace agreement signed among parties in Northern Ireland at Stormont on April 10th. We understand the long history of suspicion and anger that has caused these troubles for so long and wish that GodÍs love and understanding can work through all of this for a peaceful and prosperous land. Our hopes, prayers, and love are with our friends in Ireland.
  • October 1997: The Atlanta Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) urges President Clinton to sign and the Senate to ratify the global Treaty to Ban Landmines. God calls us to live in ways that take away the occasion for war. We hope this treaty can be one small step towards a world where differences between nations are settled without injuries, death and destruction. The United StatesÍ joining the nations that are party to this treaty would make that more likely.
  • September 1990: The Atlanta Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) affirms that the principle of speaking to that of God in all persons will allow them–and us–to find nonviolent solutions to the present situation and to ongoing problems in the Middle East.
    We are concerned for the safety and well-being of all people in the Middle East„individuals of many faiths and nationalities, civilian and military, children and adults. We are especially concerned about the well-being of the people residing in Iraq and Kuwait, if they are prevented from receiving food and medical supplies, and we urge that these materials be made freely available.
    We are opposed to the armed aggression by Iraq against Kuwait, a peaceful neighbor, and we are encouraged by the breadth of the international response to this aggression. We encourage Friends to support the continuation of these efforts.
    The escalation of belligerence and aggression on the part of the leaders of the United States and Iraq does not lead to an understanding of the truth. The rapid and massive build-up of U.S. military forces is a destabilizing factor rather than an agent of peaceful resolution.
    We support a negotiated settlement and the nonmilitary peace-keeping activities sponsored by the United Nations as the proper response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. We believe that the nations of the Middle East must settle their differences in a peaceful manner, and that the United Nations should support the Middle Eastern nations in this effort.
    We acknowledge our complicity in a national lifestyle built on greed and the over-consumption of finite resources such as oil. We are mindful that John Woolman cautioned us, long ago, to “Look upon our treasures…and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions.”
  • September 1987: The Atlanta Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) through its experience with refugees and through members visiting and living in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica is deeply aware of the destruction of human life and the social fabric and the suffering of the people of these nations which result from the reliance on a military solution to the social and economic problems of the Central American countries.
    The Meeting supports the initiative of the Central American Presidents in their agreement to the peace plan signed in Guatemala to collectively seek an end to the military conflicts of the region. We are fully aware that the plan involves trust, risk, and compromises by each of the parties involved in the region but see the plan as the most concrete hope for a movement toward peace that the region has experienced in the last decade.
    We call upon the President and Congress of the united States to listen to, value, and respect the independent leadership shown by the Central American Presidents. We ask that the United States fully support implementation and conditions of the plan by ending military and financial aid to the contras in Nicaragua, by refraining from economic and other pressures on governments of the region, and by supporting economic recovery of all the nations in the region. The human suffering we have seen and heard calls out for no less a response than this.

Back to Top

Integrity

Some Minutes relating to our Integrity testimony

In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.

  • January 2007: Atlanta Monthly Meeting will pay an hourly living wage to its employees and contractors. We believe that everyone should be able to earn at a rate that meets his or her basic needs. We will pay an hourly living wage to our employees and will require our contractors to pay an hourly living wage for projects for the Meeting. We will prefer that an hourly living wage will be paid to subcontractors as well. Following research used by the Georgia Living Wage Coalition, the Meeting will pay per hour and require payment of at least the “Self-Sufficiency Standard” per hour for a single individual living in DeKalb County. In 2006 this amount was $12.47 per hour. Each year, the Meeting will adjust the amount based on the annual change in the Social Security Administration Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). For 2007, this COLA is 3.3 percent, so the 2007 living wage per hour will be $12.88. When the Meeting asks for a bid on a proposed contract, we will require bidders to include enough funds in the bid to pay at least the Self-Sufficiency Standard per hour for all direct employees who will work on the job. We will prefer contractors whose subcontractors will pay the Self-Sufficiency Standard per hour. As part of their agreement with the Meeting, contractors will agree in writing to pay at least the Self-Sufficiency Standard per hour for a single individual living in DeKalb County.
  • September 2001: Atlanta Friends Meeting (Quakers) expresses its support of those who are conscientiously opposed to war taxes, in keeping with our more than 350 year religious witness for peace and our historical peace testimony that: “We do utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretense whatsoever.” We ask that our elected officials support and work for the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act (currently HR 1186) as a way of recognizing our deep commitment to peace and social justice. We thank Representative John Lewis for introducing this legislation and ask all U.S. Congressional Representatives to join in co-sponsorship of the bill. HR 1186 will allow legally defined conscientious objectors to pay 100% of their taxes into a separate fund that will be used only for government spending that is not for a military purpose. The level of contribution to this fund will be annually entered into the Congressional Record, and information about the fund will be published in both the tax return form and the instruction booklet. The apportionment powers of Congress will not be restricted while relief of suffering will be granted to tens of thousands otherwise not able to earn above the taxable level of income or otherwise forced to refuse payment of taxes. We further request that this Minute be published broadly, including that it be brought by our SAYMA representatives to SAYMA Representative Meeting for placement on the business agenda for the 2002 annual SAYMA gathering.
  • July 1990: Consistent with the principle of One Standard of Truth, The Atlanta Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends conducts its business honestly and openly. All decisions of the Meeting are open to the public and the general press. The Meeting welcomes news coverage of all of its activities, including the minute on marriage. On the other hand, we request that the press respect the privacy of individuals involved with some sensitive issues.

Some links to related websites

Back to Top

Community

Some Minutes relating to our Community testimony

In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.

  • May 2007: AFM approves the formation of an ad hoc Committee on Nurturing Young Friends. The committee will consider new ways to integrate young friends into our meeting community and worship. They are asked to focus on the query: What support do, or should, Atlanta Friends put in place in order for our youth to grow into functioning Quaker adults? The committee is asked for a progress report after they have held two meetings.
  • October 1997: Friends seek a world where each life is welcomed at birth, valued as a child of God and supported in a community where resources are available to provide individual growth and loving care.
    Something has happened to this beautiful creation. As we look around our earth, we see rapid population growth in an ecosystem with finite natural resources„resources that will be unable to sustain the population growth in the future. We are led to take a position on these issues, because population growth and unwise use of resources threaten life support systems of the earth.
    We ask all to search together for the leading of the Spirit. We urge Friends everywhere to examine openly and fully the problem of world population growth, overconsumption, and the resultant disruption of the entire earth community. We ask you to consider how further damage can be prevented.
    After long and prayerful consideration, we share with you some actions which seem timely:
    • Renew affirmation and practice of Friends’ testimonies on simple living and reduced consumption, including possible lifestyle changes;
    • Renew affirmation and practice of Friends’ testimonies on equality, supporting measures to improve the status, education and economic opportunities for women;
    • Work to end economic colonialism and promote sustainable and equitable economic development the world over;
    • Educate Friends and others about how to evaluate the human and environmental costs and benefits of different approaches to economic development and consumption;
    • Support local and international actions to curb global warming, such as the European established goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by fifteen percent below 1990 levels, with a deadline of 2010;
    • Work together with people of diverse faiths in our communities and across nations to practice environmental stewardship;
    • Urge U.S. financial support of United Nations population programs and other international planning efforts;
    • Promote sex education, counseling and family planning for men and women, which encourages responsible individual sexual behavior and makes safe, voluntary contraception available to all;
    • Develop accessible, effective health care for all, with a particular focus on women and children’s health and nutrition, including breast feeding;
    • Work for drastic reduction of military spending and reallocation of resources to accomplish the above goals.
    We ask for your prayers to help us find other solutions as well. (We consider this to be not our last thoughts on this complex concern, but a step in the process of our search.)
  • April 1973: A Called Meeting on April 4 approved an amendment to the 1969 minute on hospitality to objectors to military service. The issue was brought to Business Meeting where it was again approved. The revised minute follows:
    Consistent with FriendsÍ opposition to all wars for more than 300 years, the Atlanta Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends will offer hospitality and moral support to conscientious objectors to war and/or military service and those troubled by their military service.
    Implicit in the Minute is the mutual understanding that non-violence shall prevail in whatever procedures may be followed resulting from this peace witness, that the person receiving hospitality shall demonstrate intent of returning to confront the military; that there shall be no secrecy in offering hospitality; and the Executive Committee shall be the Committee in charge.
    It was understood that working up a case with CCCO or a lawyer was demonstration of intent. Openness would be evidenced by Quaker House making its position on hospitality known publicly.
  • May 1969: Consistent with Friends’ opposition to all wars for more than 300 years, the Atlanta Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends will offer hospitality and moral support to conscientious objectors to war and/or military service.
    Implicit in the Minute is the mutual understanding that non-violence shall prevail in whatever procedures may be followed resulting from this peace witness; that there shall be no secrecy in offering hospitality; and the Ministry and Counsel shall be the Committee in charge.

Some links to related websites

Back to Top

Equality

AFM Groups Working On Anti-Racism

The Committee on Undoing Racism in Atlanta Friends Meeting (CURAFM)  meets monthly on 1st Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET. Links for the online meetings appear in the AFM weekly announcement sheets. CURAFM helps Atlanta Friends Meeting become a more equitable anti-racist multicultural spiritual home for all. CURAFM, with the help of the Ad Hoc Anti-Racist Policies group, developed the Interpersonal Racist Incident Policy.  CURAFM also provides educational opportunities on addressing individual and institutional racism, working with restorative circle practices, and building multiracial community in the Meeting. Contacts: CURAFM (Lissa Place or Susan Firestone)

Quakers for Racial Equality (QRE) works to increase equity and racial justice at the individual, institutional, and societal levels, both within the Meeting and in the wider community. QRE holds monthly online meetings on 4th Sundays at 1:00 p.m. ET and sponsors forums, some of which are hybrid. Links for the online meetings/ forums appear in the AFM weekly announcement sheets. QRE offers a “Virtual Literature Table” on race and racism on a regular basis and staffs the monthly “Listening Ear for Concerns about Racism.” QRE also works with Social Concerns on giving scholarships for anti-racist education and contributing to local or national racial justice groups.
Contact: QRE (Susan Firestone)

Quakers For Racial Equality: Statements, Reports & Projects

Atlanta Friends Meeting Policies related to our Equality Testimony

Atlanta Friends Meeting Minutes relating to our Equality testimony

In Quaker Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community. Our public Minutes are published throughout this website in both text & PDF formats.

Reparative Justice Minute relating to our Equality testimony

Additional PDF or Text Minutes addressing the Equality testimony

  • August 2021: Minute on Reparative Justice and Reconciliation PDF document
  • February 2021: Minute on Hatred, Racist Violence, and Domestic Terrorism   PDF document
  • July 2020: Minute on Anti-Racism (also available as PDF document)
    In the wake of recent killings of Black people by police and white vigilantes, Atlanta Friends Meeting stands with Black Lives Matter, and we work to bring about a life without fear and racism. As Quakers, we believe in the equality and worth of every person, and today we honor the sanctity of Black lives and work for justice and equity . We condemn police violence. We are deeply disturbed by the militarization of police and use of military troops. Black and interracial families rightly fear that their loved ones could be harmed by racist actions not only by police or extremist groups, but also by white people complicit with or in denial of racism. We protest the racism that results in disproportionate incarceration of Black people; disparate health, environmental, and economic impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and continued devaluing of Black lives and Black voices. The voices and agency of Black people are excluded, omitted, ignored, considered unimportant, silenced, or otherwise sidelined. In response, and in keeping with our Quaker testimonies of equality, peace, integrity, and community, we recommit to uprooting systemic racism and white supremacy both externally in our communities and nation, and internally, in ourselves, our Meeting, and the Religious Society of Friends.
       Lasting change requires a long-term commitment to undoing systemic racism, and the removal of unjust policies, practices, and laws.
       We urge local, state, and national leaders to immediately demilitarize law enforcement, for example, by stopping programs that give free military equipment and weapons to police departments, and by changing police training.
       We call on our local, state, and federal elected officials to reimagine public safety. Although there is a need for a strong public safety response on occasion, the overwhelming problems are brutal responses of police to alleged minor offenses and police killings of Black people.
       So we call for officials to create a system that establishes standard codes of behavior, including use of force policies, promotes accountability, and ensures equitable treatment for all.
       We call on local, state, and national elected officials to redirect many of the funds currently going to police departments and jails/prisons to public safety programs that make available unarmed social workers, health workers, mental health support, and negotiators.
       We call for communities, institutions and governments to work on systemic changes that prioritize investing in young people, health, education, housing, living wages, and transformative justice. We call for all of us to dismantle the interlocking web of structurally racist policies, laws, practices, and norms among institutions such as law enforcement, the legal system, education, housing, health, elections, and business that harm Black, Indigenous and People of Color and maintain the system of white supremacy.
       Undoing more than 400 years of racism is up to all of us. Since 1660, Quakers have expressed abhorrence of violence in war and the refusal to kill or take lives. Yet white Quakers have allowed violence toward Black people in the form of enslavement and exclusion, and by being silent for too long about personal, institutional, and systemic racism. Atlanta Friends Meeting commits to continue addressing racism in ourselves and our predominantly white institutions and to working in multiracial coalitions for an equitable and racially just society for all.
  • April 2005: As a community of faith, we [the Atlanta Friends Meeting] have become aware of the many ways in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer people have been silenced and excluded. We will never go back to silencing these voices among us, or suppressing these gifts, for in so doing, we impoverish our whole community. Our experience has been that Spiritual gifts are not distributed with regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. Our experience has been that the life of our Meeting and its work have been immeasurably enriched over the years by the full participation and Spirit-guided leadership of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer Friends. Full participation includes encouragement in ministry and positions of leadership, ability to be married under the care of the Meeting, and nurture to all families. We therefore explicitly celebrate the participation of LGBTQ Friends in these, as in all other aspects of the life of the Meeting. Our experience confirms that we are all equal before God, as God made us, and we feel blessed to be engaged in community and religious life together.
  • March 2000: The Atlanta Friends Meeting intends to become a safer and more welcoming spiritual home for all. Recognizing that becoming more welcoming of any group makes us more welcoming to all, we ask all committees and organized groups of the Meeting to engage in a process of prayerful reflection and review about how the specific activities of their committees/groups contribute toward this goal. As a step toward this goal, we ask committees/groups to consider their activities specifically in relation to F(f)riends and attenders of African descent. We also ask Committees and groups to prepare and submit, by September 2000, a written report of their results and concerns so that there is an historical reference in the minutes of the Meeting for Worship for Business. Near the beginning of this process, a one-day workshop on personal racism will be made available to any member or attender who wishes to participate. The Meeting expects that the clerk or other designated person from each of the committees/groups will participate.
  • June 1990: The AFM affirms our willingness as a Meeting to hold celebrations of loving commitment under our care. We intend to follow the same customary and careful process of arriving at clearness for any couple who should wish to unite under our care, regardless of sexual orientation, when one or both of these partners participate in our community.
    We are aware of the diversity of attitudes toward the term “marriage” and leave to the couple the characterization of their relationship–whether a celebration of marriage, commitment, or joining.
    The Meeting acknowledges the certificate signed by the couple and those present at the ceremony as the witness of Friends to the couple’s spiritual union. Mindful that only the heterosexual couples among us have the right to legally sanctioned marriage and its privileges, the Meeting asks Friends, and particularly couples preparing for marriage, to examine how best to respond and bear witness to the inequalities still present in the legal system.
  • April 1986: A Minute on Patriarchy was approved, calling for the replacement of patriarchal oppression with full equality for all humanity. “We acknowledge and believe that we as Quakers must identify, examine and eliminate patriarchical behavior which resides in ourselves. We will work in our homes, our monthly meetings and our communities to arrive at a new day when patriarchal oppression has been replaced by full equality for all humanity.”
  • March 1968: A decision has been made to support in every way possible Martin Luther KingÍs march in Washington, D.C., and to urge John Yungblut to help in any way he can. John brought it before the Meeting for consideration of total support. We could bring some leaders working in the poverty areas of Atlanta here to Quaker House to explore how Atlanta can be involved, even though Georgia Rural poor are asked to go to Washington. The title is “The Poor PeopleÍs Campaign for Jobs and Income.” Friends agreed to support the campaign in every way feasible.
  • August 1952: It was agreed to inform the League of Women Voters of the approval of the Meeting of their recent resolution condemning the injection of racial and religious prejudices into election campaigns, and requesting all participants to abstain from exciting such emotions.
       We call on political leaders and candidates for public office in the State of Georgia to see that our political campaigns are free from appeals to racial or religious prejudice.
       We respectfully urge the newspaper editors and publishers of Georgia to decline any political advertisement which makes such an appeal to intolerance.
    And further, we ask the managers of radio and television stations of Georgia to do everything within their power to discourage any such violation of the basic principles of this State and this Nation.

SAYMA Minute on Patriarchy

This May, 1993 Minute on Patriarchy was approved by Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association, a group which includes AFM as an affiliated member.

Our Roles as Individuals in America’s Racial History (ORAIIARH) [1997-2013]

Some links to related websites and resources

More Minutes on the Equality Testimony

  • September 2004: Atlanta Friends Meeting approves becoming a member of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
  • July 1994: The Atlanta Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) joins other members of the religious community in asking the Cobb County Commission to rescind their resolution condemning the lesbian and gay community. We consider this resolution to be an assault on human rights, an act that divides communities and promotes hatred.
    As Friends, we affirm the inherent dignity, equality, and worth of every individual. We affirm our support of the rights of all persons regardless of sexual orientation. We call upon the Cobb County Commission to recognize these principles and to rectify the injustice inherent in their resolution.
  • February 1979: We are aware that families with children have been discriminated against in housing. Since concern for social justice has been a tradition throughout Quaker history, this Meeting supports the full legal protection of the rights of children and families with children.
  • May 1978: The Atlanta Friends’ meeting (Quakers) has expressed its concern over the threat to the human rights of gay persons. The City of Atlanta is just emerging from a period of tension in which groups were polarized over the administration of law enforcement. Further polarization is now possible because of the appearance in Atlanta of a spokesperson (ed: Anita Bryant) who represents the movement to deny gays their civil rights. Atlanta Friends in their Business Meeting held May 28, 1978 stated Friends’ belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. We reaffirm our support for the civil and human rights of all persons regardless of sexual orientation. WE regret actions by any group or individual which would result in the denial of basic rights to any minority group. We ask that each of us seek the guidance of a loving God as we work for the fulfillment of our shared human fellowship.
  • April 1965: The Atlanta Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends shares with others a weighty concern for the revision of the inequitable and discriminatory statutes presently regulating U.S. immigration policies and procedures. Implicit in these Acts is the concept that some ethnic groups and certain nationals are inferior to others. This concept is repudiated by Quakers as contrary to their belief in the inherent equality before God of all people.
    Restrictions on immigrants required by existing laws are in direct conflict with reaffirmed national policies committed to ending all forms of discrimination on grounds of race, religion, or national origin.
    We hold that the National Quota System is as unjust now as when it was originally promulgated that that the criterion for admission to the United States should be the contributions immigrants can make to the American community and not either their place of birth or their ethnic ancestry.
    The Meeting approves encouraging Georgia Senators and Representatives from Congressional Districts embracing metropolitan Atlanta to support by vigorous action pending legislation (S-500 – H.R. 2580) to correct existing inequities and approves delivery of a copy of this Minute to such persons.
  • September 1963: The Atlanta Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), while holding our monthly business meeting, has just learned of the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. Our hearts and consciences are strongly moved.
    We urge full federal protection for innocent unarmed Birmingham citizens and full prosecution of office holders who defy federal law and thereby incite wanton violence like that which has killed five young people in Birmingham today.
    We pray that all followers of Christ will uphold the non-violent many and seek new ways to redeem the sick and destructive few.

Back to Top

Other Concerns and Witnesses of Atlanta Friends Meeting

Earthcare

Some Minutes relating to our Earthcare concern and witness

In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.

  • December 2006: AFM agrees to endorse (and to be listed as an endorser) of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy statement opposing the development of new nuclear power facilities in Georgia.
  • April 2004: Atlanta Friends Meeting approves endorsing “The Earth Charter”.
  • March 2003: A Congregational Covenant from Georgia Interfaith Power and Light was presented with the request that the Meeting pledge its support. The Meeting approved its support.
    Georgia Interfaith Power and Light seeks to engage communities of faith as stewards of God’s Creation by promoting energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy and related sustainable practices.
    Congregational Covenant
    AFM pledges to support the mission of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and to do one or more of the following.
    • Educate our congregants on energy production and usage in relation to global warming.
    • Conduct an energy audit of our buildings to identify sources of energy waste and the potential financial savings of energy related improvements.
    • Make energy efficiency improvements to our congregation’s buildings.
    • Utilize renewable energy by purchasing green power and/or installing solar panels.
    • Analyze, reduce, and offset our greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of becoming a non-polluting congregation.
    • Support public policies that contribute to our goals.
  • April 2001: Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association Minute on Global Climate Change, Approved by Atlanta Friends Meeting, April 15, 2001.
    SAYMA Friends recognize that human activity, largely the use of fossil fuels, is contributing to an unprecedented rate of change in our global climate causing diminishing polar ice, changing local weather patterns, increasing frequency of severe storms, and rising global temperature. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that average global temperature will increase by three to eleven degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years, leading to severe ecological and social disaster. Three degrees would be the greatest rate of temperature change in human history; eleven degrees is unimaginable–for comparison, the last ice age was only seven to nine degrees cooler than now.
    Global climate change of this magnitude presents a great threat to our ecosystems, accelerating species extinction with the possible loss of one-third of all species in the next hundred years and reducing the productivity of the ecosystems that provide an important source of new foods, medicines, and other products for humans.
    Global climate change also presents a great threat to social systems. Human refugees from droughts, floods, and rising sea levels, and the human suffering caused by crop failures and the spread of tropical diseases are already stressing societies and governments, setting the stage for even more violence, oppression, and conflict. Our peace testimony leads us to find ways to remove these potential causes of war.
    Friends concerns for simplicity, right sharing of resources, and equality, and our recognition that species loss desecrates God’s creation, lead us to examine our practices and consider alternatives. To address this grave problem, Friends as individuals, as members of the Religious Society, and as citizens, can:
    • Reduce use of fossil fuels for transportation, indoor climate control, recreation, and use of tools and appliances through conservation, efficiency, and use of alternative (such as human, solar, and wind) energy.
      Reduce industrial energy use through informed personal choices relative to products and services.
      Work for public policy that:
      • Supports international agreements to reduce heat-trapping gases.
        Discourages use of carbon-based fuels and encourages use of renewable sources of energy – develops, supports, and promotes both local and long distance public transportation systems.
    We urge Friends Meetings and individuals to act on these urgent concerns and call on Monthly Meetings & Worship Groups to report on such actions at next Yearly Meeting.

Some links to related websites

Back to Top

Human Rights

Some Minutes relating to our Human Rights concern and witness

In our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business, we often make public statements, called Minutes. Because we do all business by consensus, these Minutes represent the unanimous will of our entire community.

  • January 2003: The Atlanta Friends Meeting supports imposing a moratorium on executions. We recognize that God can redeem any person thus it is wrong to execute anyone. We encourage all of our legislators to pass this legislation and Governor Perdue to sign and implement it.
    We also ask that if this minute is approved that it be sent to the Georgia Moratorium Campaign, Governor Perdue and our state legislators.
  • October 2000: The Atlanta Friends Meeting affirms its opposition to the death penalty. As a step toward the abolition of the death penalty, Atlanta Friends call on Governor Barnes, our state representatives, President Clinton and our representatives in Congress to enact and adopt legislation imposing a moratorium on executions.
  • April 1989: There are over two million people in our country who cannot find affordable housing. Over 10,000 Atlantans are homeless and the number is growing every day. There is a critical need for our country to redirect national resources towards helping the less fortunate.
    This year the U.S. government will spend 400 billion dollars on military related programs. Some of these activities include foreign intervention, building first-strike weapons and the production of environmentally hazardous materials.
    The Atlanta Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends urges a massive transfer of funds away from these activities towards meeting the needs of our nationÍs poor, one of the most urgent needs being affordable housing.
    On Tax Day, April 17, 1989, area homeless advocates and peace and justice groups will be holding a “Build Homes Not Bombs” Rally at the City of Decatur main post office. The Atlanta Friends Meeting endorses this action as one step toward educating the public concerning the federal budget priorities issue as it relates to federal income taxes and responsible government policies.
  • June 1985: The Atlanta Friends Meeting joins with Bishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Allen Boesak in calling for a day of prayer for the downfall of the South African government on this Firstday, the 16th day of the 6th month, 1985, known as Soweto Day. We join with them by expressing our desire for non-violent social change to end apartheid and-or the voluntary relinquishment of power by the present regime.
  • February 1985: The Atlanta Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has agreed to join with 25 other Friends Meetings in offering Public Sanctuary to refugees from Central America. This means we will care for them in any way we can. In the past we have quietly assisted in sheltering individuals in need. We have decided to make our position public. We take this step with serious and prayerful deliberation, understanding that in doing so we may be charged with breaking the laws of the United States government as it seeks to deport Central American refugees.
    As Quakers we take our position because of the many first hand accounts of suffering we have heard about the war and repression now going on in Central America. Not to respond to individual needs would be contrary to our whole religious philosophy and practice and our efforts to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
    From our own beginnings when we were imprisoned for meeting for worship in 17th century England, to helping black people escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad, to attempting to secure safety for Jews fleeing Nazism, we have been led to take an unpopular position even in the face of imprisonment or other government sanction.
    No government should tell us that we may not help our brothers and sisters. In this case, the U.S. government is telling us whose life to save and whose life to sacrifice. We understand that deporting refugees back to Central America often means their torture and death. And to us this is a great evil.
    Our help will serve as a witness as we carry on our Testimony to the deepest part of our Faith.
    We invite and are hoping for direct or indirect support from other individuals and congregations in our community in this effort.
  • August 1965: We of the Religious Society of Friends seek to help Georgia free herself of the burden of the statute of capital punishment.
    We oppose capital punishment because it denies our basic belief that there is that of God in every man. We are deeply concerned that the penal system of our state be based on the possibility of rehabilitation of the offender and the attempt to heal the sick mind.
    Furthermore, we feel that capital punishment is used more as revenge against those who cannot afford adequate legal counsel than across the board against all who commit certain crimes. It therefore cannot be said to instill respect for the laws of society since respect is held only for that which is fair.
    We do not live in a police state and so the law is enforceable only to the extent to which it is held in general respect. Capital punishment appears to be of no value then as a deterrent to crime, especially since a murderer or a rapist (1) never believes that he will be caught, or (2) is in such a state of mind at the time of the crime that he thinks not of consequences, or (3) he commits the crime because of a wish to be apprehended (in which cases capital punishment actually breeds crime.)
    So why continue to shame ourselves with this holdover from an age when little was known about criminology? Why continue to outrage our sense of justice and further our acceptance of brutality in our society?
    Let us seek to better our knowledge of psychiatry and improve our methods of quarantining offenders. Who of us can say what useful lives many of the worst criminals might find in proper confinement? One of the worst at San Quentin was also the most effective teacher of illiterates the prison had ever had.
    We do hereby petition our legislature to make the commandment “Thou Shalt not Kill” a law to be respected by everyone, including the State of Georgia.
    (Submitted to Senate Investigating Committee charged with bringing recommendations on the subject of capital punishment to the next session of the legislature)

Back to Top