PUBLIC NOTICE
FROM THE SHEPHERDSTOWN FRIENDS MEETING (QUAKERS)
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE EASTERN PANHANDLE AND SURROUNDING AREAS
LOCAL RESIDENT DOES NOT SPEAK FOR US
Shepherdstown Friends Meeting brings to your attention that a local resident has numerous times published inflammatory anti-Islamic flyers and said flyers link our name with his publications. His views are distinctly his, not ours, hence this notice.
Over the last ten years, this resident has authored paper and electronic fliers and hosted a website that espouse bigoted, racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic philosophy. In some of his publications, he identifies himself as an attender of Shepherdstown Friends Meeting and/or an attender at meetings for worship with the Religious Society of Friends, giving the impression to some that we approve his statements. We do not. We unequivocally reject them.
We have made repeated requests for him to remove our name and any reference to the Religious Society of Friends from his publications.
HERE IS FRIENDS’ TESTIMONY TO THE WORLD
Our testimonies are peace, simplicity, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship of the Earth. We believe that all persons bear within themselves a measure of the Light. We recognize kinship with all the religions of the World, and seek brotherhood and sisterhood with all seekers of truth and love, not division and strife.
The history of Friends shows our commitment to these principles. Quakers were actively involved in the abolition of slavery, particularly the Underground Railway. Friends have been instrumental in the reformation of mental asylums and in the improvement of penitentiaries. Quakers recognized female ministers from our beginnings in 1650. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Quakers fought for equality in women’s suffrage, with Quaker women taking a leading role.
We post this notice to clarify that the ideas and actions of this resident are antithetical to the Quaker practice of equality, inclusivity, and tolerance.