As members of the Quaker community in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, we are spiritual heirs to 375 years of testimony and action against all war and violence. We reaffirm the Quaker Peace Testimony of 1660 which states: “We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons, for any end and under any pretense whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world.”

We are aggrieved by the attacks on Israel by Hamas and the retaliation by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. As shown by the long and complex history of this conflict, war will not bring peace or justice but only more violence.

Quakers believe in the sacred worth of all individuals. This belief underlies our Peace Testimony and leads us to acts of compassion and support for anyone who is suffering. Quakers continue to be present in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, undertaking courageous acts of peace. As Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, said in 1947 when awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to British and American Quakers:

“The Quakers have shown us that it is possible to translate into action what lies deep in the hearts of many: compassion for others and the desire to help them – that rich expression of the sympathy between all men, regardless of nationality or race, which, transformed into deeds, must form the basis for lasting peace.”

Therefore, we urge the United States government to:

• • Push for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages and prisoners of war. Stop the killing now.
  • Terminate military aid to Israel when used in violation of the international rules of war, which Israel does by targeting civilians and basic infrastructure — hospitals, houses, schools, water, electricity, and food delivery. Such gross violations of human rights only serve to break down the trust and mutual understanding that is needed for lasting peace and justice.
  • Increase funding for humanitarian assistance and for rebuilding safe and just communities.
  • Support locally-led peacebuilding efforts to end the inequities and injustice of occupied territories and to act in ways that will bring long term justice and peace. These efforts must logically include Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, displaced Palestinians, and the neighboring countries.

Adopted by the Shepherdstown Friends Meeting, WV, on Jan 14, 2024

We Quakers declare — as a matter of conscience and with the promptings of the Inner Light — that Black Lives Matter. The members of Shepherdstown Quaker Meeting are grieved and heartbroken by on-going racism which destroys lives and crushes the fabric of families and communities throughout our nation.

The brazen, public murder of George Floyd by police after years of similar killings of Black persons clarifies for us that racial oppression is systematic in our society. Born of slavery 400 years ago, it continues today in forms that are endemic, insidious and appallingly overt. Locally, an unarmed man in Martinsburg, Wayne Jones, was shot in the back 22 times by police for jaywalking while black.

As Quakers, we honor and hold dear the dignity and sacred worth of each person. Our Meeting has been struggling with the poison of racism for years and this has energized our resolve to speak out and to act now. We commit ourselves to challenge the intersecting mechanisms of societal oppression, economic exploitation, mass incarceration, inadequate education and militarized policing. We resolve to understand how our own unconscious biases help perpetuate racial oppression in our society. On an individual level we will engage in one anti-racist act each day.

May Divine Light open our hearts and minds as we discern the way forward. We stand in solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters of color and pledge to create needed change in ourselves, our families, our communities, and our nation. We dedicate ourselves to justice, working to create a beloved community that honors the dignity and divinity in every single person. Indeed, our common humanity demands it.

Adopted by Shepherdstown Friends Meeting, WV, July 26, 2020.

Thou shalt not kill. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek as well.

These are profound commandments of moral action present in the Bible. In Quaker tradition, the testimonies of peace and non-violence counsel us to abhor violence of any kind. Thus we wholeheartedly support pleas for meaningful action on reasonable and rational gun-safety legislation, such as the Friends Council on Education letter of Jan 14, 2013.

Quakers include Democrats, Republicans and independents. We do not oppose gun ownership. Yet unfortunately, guns are often used to enforce one individual’s will against others through violence or threats of violence. We do oppose permitting guns in public areas where there are children. We oppose access to weapons that are never appropriate for civilized use. According to the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 80% of all gun deaths and 87% of all child deaths by guns occur in the US.

Jesus’ instruction to turn the other cheek is one of the most difficult commandments — difficult precisely because it runs counter to our instinctive nature when we are attacked by another person. Quaker testimony expresses Jesus’ transcendent conviction that the answer to violence is not more violence. It is not an eye for eye, nor a tooth for a tooth. Instead it is a path that turns away from fear, hate, and vengeance; that turns instead towards love, hope, forgiveness, compassion, and kindness.

Great religious leaders and philosophers throughout the ages teach essentially the same thing. We Quakers find that message in our heart to reject violence. Peaceful conflict resolution practices are an attainable ideal. When our forebearers from out of the wilderness laid the foundation of the civilization they could only dream of, they agreed — even in the mythic “Old West” — to leave the guns outside the doors of civil society. In a democratic society, we affirm, under the rule of law, we will seek justice and the remedies to grievances of every kind through civil means, not shoot it out in the street.

This present epidemic of gun violence has deep roots involving many social issues: mental health, culture, social inequalities, poverty and more. These issues must be addressed. Peaceful conflict resolution is a sober process of distinguishing the positions people take from their real interests. It requires wisdom and patience to see common ground amidst apparently irreconcilable positions.

Violence is not only about guns, and gun violence is not only about mass killings. However the first step toward a commitment to peace, to an end to violence, is “leaving the guns at the doors” when we sit down to resolve conflict. That does not make the solution easy politically. But the absence of perfect solutions is no excuse for us to give up hope.

We ask that every political and faith leader go on record, now, and lend their voice to urgent effective action to reduce gun violence and ensure that current and future generations may live and learn in our country free from the threat of gun violence. Do not remain silent.

Adopted by Shepherdstown Friends Meeting, WV, on January 20, 2013

Shepherdstown Friends extend a welcoming to the wider Shepherdstown community. We invite all who wish to join our Sunday morning Meetings for Worship regardless of religious affiliation and background, whether Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, or other religion, or no religious belief at all. A sincere desire—or simply a respectful curiosity—to join us in an unprogrammed meeting, based on prayerful meditation after the manner of Friends, is reason enough to attend.

For more than 350 years Friends’ tradition has affirmed the spiritual unity of all people. We cherish the belief that there is that of God in each person, leading us to respect the worth and dignity of all. The Light is present in every human and we seek to embrace it without distinction. This same Light enlightened Jesus of Nazareth and enlightened all great teachers of wisdom. This fact is true regardless of a person’s physical traits or cultural particulars—ethnicity, skin color, gender, sexual orientation, political belief, illness, ability or disability, legal status, or any other distinctions that are commonly drawn to divide people.

All of us are children of God. All are equal in the sight of God. American Friends witnessed this equality in the 17th century by recognizing both male and female ministers in their meetings—in the 18th century by peaceful and fair relations with Native Americans—in the 19th century by efforts to resist and abolish slavery—in the 20th century in the movement for woman’s suffrage and racial desegregation. In the present, Friends witness equality by welcoming gays and lesbians to full participation in society, including marriage. We welcome immigrants regardless of citizen status and affirm their human rights. In all centuries, Friends have opposed war and maintained a commitment to nonviolent engagement as the surest path to resolving conflict.

Shepherdstown Friends Meeting aspires to be a loving community inclusive of the wide diversity of the surrounding national community. Each member and attender has the responsibility to foster that welcoming spirit. We acknowledge that the achievement of our spiritual goals is a lifelong process. Our goal of seeking unity will succeed in proportion to our willingness as individuals to honor our differences as we seek unity and to resist prejudice, discrimination, and injustice. Our ability to do that will succeed in proportion to our ability to seek and find that of God in everyone.

Affirmed by Shepherdstown Friends (WV) Allowed Meeting, Jan 10, 2010.