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“The place of prayer is a precious habitation….I saw this habitation to be safe, to be inwardly quiet, when there was great stirrings and commotions in the world.” John Woolman, a Quaker from the 1770’s

Harrisburg Religious Society of Friends offers that place of safe, inwardly quiet worship within an active and diverse community of fellow Spiritual Seekers. The Religious Society of Friends, known as Quakers, believe that each person has that of the Divine within them. Quakers may refer to this as the Inner Light, the Christ Within, the Inward Teacher, the Divine Presence, or the Spirit of Truth. Quakers seek to integrate this inward experience of the Light with our outward lives through our testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship

From Yuri Plowden, Clerk -

Nov 12, 2023

Harrisburg Friends Meeting (Quakers), as part of The Religious Society of Friends, follows the Quaker testimony on peace, justice, and nonviolence, based in our experience of the divine in all of creation and within all persons:

Thus, we are deeply troubled by the suffering and injustice caused by the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and we are concerned that our government perpetuates that violence by continuing to send billions of dollars of military aid to the region. We affirm the right to self determination for both Israel and Palestine.

We call upon our nation to:

Work for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to save precious human life
Cease sending United States military aid and selling weapons to Israel and work to end military aid and arms sales from all outside countries to all parties in this conflict
Continue diplomatic efforts with all parties and remain in dialogue even with those who have acted violently
Work towards a just, comprehensive resolution that allows all people of the region to live in security and equality, and repairs harm that has been done
Join the international court system and accept its jurisdiction

We call upon all nations to:

Support efforts based in international law to bring justice, peace, security, and reconciliation to all parties in the conflict
Take measures to assure that international laws are applied universally

We call upon all individuals and communities to:

Support and learn from organizations that bring Israelis and Palestinians together for justice and peacemaking.
Examine how anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and privilege affect our understanding of the conflict

Adapted from here: https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2017-12/quaker-meeting-minute-israel-palestine-conflict