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Friends Journal

@friendsjournal.org

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Friends Publishing is a non-profit organization dedicated to communicating Quaker experience in order to connect & deepen spiritual lives. Friends Journal is our flagship publication, with a legacy that goes back to 1827.

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 4h

The early Quakers would have agreed with the Psalmist: “The law of the Lord is perfect.” We can say this with confidence, because Isaac Penington turned to this verse repeatedly, as he gave thanks for the law "containing in it the commandment which is life everlasting." quaker.org/2026/09/28/l...

An engraving of a Quaker meetinghouse in Philadelphia, a man and woman standing in the spacious yard in front of its entrance. The building is flanked by trees on both sides.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 29/09/2026

"When I read early Friends," says Joan Gunn Broadfield, "I see their practice includes both the inward seeking and the outward practices: they are not only against war but also work with families in prison and also go out into the streets to bring Truth."

friendsjournal.org

Is All Our Work the Peace Testimony?

Reflecting on the inward seeking and the outward practices.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 28/09/2026

"Quakerism is understood as a way of life in which the blessed light of the Spirit guides us to do and think about the common good and to continually seek peace in a holistic way," says Báalam Sáas, "[motivating] us to think and act with a greater sensibility and humanity."

friendsjournal.org

Seeking the Light of Peace

My experience in the Alternatives to Violence Project.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 26/09/2026

"When a member of a family is in distress, the family members have a role to play in holding the hand of their member and providing strength & support," Mercy Miroya says. "In a similar fashion, the larger Quaker family has a big role to play in helping those in environmentally degraded societies."

friendsjournal.org

Climate War in a Peaceful Africa

Wars fought without guns or missiles.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 25/09/2026

To understand the practice of the peace testimony within Central American Quakerism, Jasson Arevalo says, it is necessary to understand the social and historical context in which it has developed since its arrival at the beginning of the twentieth century.

friendsjournal.org

Toward a Contextual Concept of the Quaker Peace Testimony in Central America

Central Americans’ primary knowledge of the Quaker peace testimony relates to George Fox and the early Quakers.

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 24/09/2026

Friends may find themselves resonating with Liz Bajjalieh’s ruminations about God being everywhere and in everything. Many read like answers to queries or questions posed for worship sharing and discussion.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: SCREAM until you know what God is

Liz Bajjalieh, a “Quaker(ish),” nonbinary, queer poet and visual artist who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, offers imagery as evocative as a coat of many colors.

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 23/09/2026

One day last April, Minga Claggett-Borne and eleven others attempted to bring care packages of food and toiletries to the detainees being held at an ICE facility in Burlington, Massachusetts. The city sent ten police cars full of officers to arrest them.

friendsjournal.org

How Can Friends Confront ICE? - Friends Journal

Can our songs melt hearts?

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 23/09/2026

When the Inward Light shines upon us and exposes the reality of our sins, what else should we do but fix our hearts and love one another? This week's Look to the Light message follows a thread from the prophet Ezekiel and George Fox to W.H. Auden and... David Lynch? Yep. quaker.org/2026/09/21/g...

A photograph of a person standing in darkness, clutching to their chest a glowing neon sculpture of a cartoon heart.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 22/09/2026

Jennifer Kavanagh's new Pendle Hill pamphlet, Letting Go, "could be read in one sitting," says Hope Ascher, "but reading it carefully and reflectively promises to offer new Light each time it is read."

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Letting Go: Steps in the Spiritual Life

We are not helpless, Jennifer Kavanagh advises. We have gifts, abilities given for us to use in service of the Divine.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 21/09/2026

"The Church was not established to be changed or redesigned; it was established to be obeyed, regardless of our personal opinions," writes Gustavo Adolfo Recinos. "It should be loved like the anvil upon which red-hot iron is forged through repeated blows, becoming both refined and immensely useful."

friendsjournal.org

The Renewal of Our Spiritual Schooling - Friends Journal

Fostering a wisdom of peace in Guatemala.

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 18/09/2026

Carl Blumenthal put his Quaker faith into practice working for New York City's mental health hotline, where he found himself speaking to people at their most emotionall and spiritually vulnerable. "You’re recognizing that of God in everyone and encouraging the healing process," he told us in 2023.

quakerspeak.com

Quakers, Spirituality, and Mental Health - QuakerSpeak

During the pandemic, Carl Blumenthal was one of the team members at New York City’s mental health hotline. “I had…

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 18/09/2026

Nonviolent options are stronger than violent ones and are necessary for just, peaceful civil societies during and after violence. Violence only destroys. It cannot create. It has no future. Nonviolence on the other hand is life-giving: it heals, generates, and creates. It offers a future.

friendsjournal.org

Learning the Art of Presence

A workshop for justice and peace in Ukraine.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 17/09/2026

Tom Weiner and Amilcar Shabazz's In Defiance offers twenty profiles in abolitionist courage, many of whom were influenced by their proximity to and knowledge of Quakerism.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School

Twenty profiles in defiant abolitionist courage, many of whom were influenced by their proximity to and knowledge of Quakerism.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 16/09/2026

In the latest Quakers Today podcast, Peterson Toscano and Diana Yañez learn that reparations are about living amends—transforming our economic relationships and material conditions so that historical and ongoing racialized violence cannot be repeated.

friendsjournal.org

Quaker Podcast - Podcast Exploring Quaker Life & Religious Beliefs

Quakers Today, hosted by Peterson Toscano, features writers, musicians, and thinkers who are seeking wisdom and understanding in a rapidly changing world.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 16/09/2026

“For most of my adult life I have been an urgently interested and frequently uneasy reader of the Bible, particularly of the Gospels,” Wendell Berry wrote in 2005. Though he had faith, he admitted to a frequent lack of confidence in his relationship to what he had read. quaker.org/2026/09/14/l...

Wendell Berry, an older White Man balding on top with white hair at the temples, stands in front of a solar energy panel in a field, raising his right arm and making a peace sign. He wears a blue sweater.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 15/09/2026

19th-century Friend Abby Hopper Gibbons’s letters and journal illustrate her strong personality and advocacy for justice, even when it challenged assumptions of the day—especially as related to equitable treatment of and recognition for the full humanity of Black people, whether enslaved or free.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Mercy in Disaster: Abby Hopper Gibbons’s Journals and Letters from Four Years of Civil War Nursing

The writings of a Civil War-era Quaker showcase a time of civil disorder and upheaval and reveal how to tangibly care for those caught in crisis.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 14/09/2026

Scotty Utz speaks with FJ senior editor Martin Kelley about breaking firearms down into scrap metal that then gets transformed into gardening tools: "I feel so fortunate that all these different strands of my life have sort of come together and brought me into this place—feels like a real blessing."

friendsjournal.org

Turning Weapons into Peace: A Talk with Scotty Utz - Friends Journal

A conversation with Scotty Utz, author of “Forging Peace and Disarming Hearts: Inside the Guns to Gardens Movement.” In this...

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 11/09/2026

In 2015, QuakerSpeak talked with Randall Williams about his "Quaker Advocacy" class. Students attended a "Spring Lobby Weekend" set up by Friends Committee on National Legislation, learning effective lobbying techniques, then came back and prepared to meet with their senators and representatives.

quakerspeak.com

How to Teach Civics in a Quaker School - QuakerSpeak

The way we teach civics matters. In this week’s video, Carolina Friends School teacher Randall Williams shows how Quaker School teachers can engage students by showing civics in action.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 11/09/2026

"Why must I defend conscientious objection and convince good people of the evils of war and violence?" Andrew Gorby asks. "Violence lurking, stalking, and controlling: how many times do we need to hear the same version of death and war to understand the viciousness and inhumanity?"

friendsjournal.org

We Must Sing Our Laments Together

On conscientious objection to a world of violence.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 10/09/2026

Sarah Crabtree's Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy! raises fundamental questions about the nature of history, the motivation of early Quakers, and how more than one truth can exist simultaneously.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy!: The Trials of William Rotch

History can be viewed from many perspectives, as Sarah Crabtree learns investigating the life of an early Friend, and many can be correct at the same time.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 09/09/2026

Biblical translators handle the Hebrew word hesed in a variety of ways. "I have a soft spot for 'lovingkindness,'" Ron Hogan writes, "but the more time I spend thinking about it, the more I come to appreciate the simple practicality of 'steadfast love.'" quaker.org/2026/09/07/a...

A photograph of HH30, a protoplanetary disc located in the dark cloud LDN 1551 in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 08/09/2026

Maoz Inon lost both his parents in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and Aziz Abu Sarah’s brother died from injuries inflicted by torture in an Israeli prison. After initial rage and grief, they reached out to each other, recognizing that revenge would only lead to further violence.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land

Two authors—one Israeli, one Palestinian—discuss how finding a way to comprehend the other’s story can forge a pathway to a just peace.

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 07/09/2026

"The Guns to Gardens movement is growing. People of faith are hungry for more than thoughts and prayers," says Scotty Utz. "This is something practical we can do in our own communities to make a difference."

friendsjournal.org

Forging Peace and Disarming Hearts

Inside the Guns to Gardens movement.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 05/09/2026

Sometimes it seems like the world doesn't know quite what to make of Quakers—and the movies are no exception. For decades, Friends were seen "thee"-ing and "thou"-ing across the screen, our spiritual beliefs reduced to a rejection of violence the modern world finds unrealistic. But that's changing.

quakerspeak.com

Every Single Quaker Mention In Film - QuakerSpeak

Sometimes it seems like the world doesn’t know quite what to make of Quakers—and the movies are no exception. For…

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 04/09/2026

"After attending Fayetteville Friends Meeting at Quaker House," Michelle Downey reflects, "the feeling of worship being based on quiet simplicity clinched it for me. Here was not just a philosophy of peace, but a whole attitude, lifestyle, and worship style based on peace."

friendsjournal.org

Welcome and Grace

How one meeting ministers to military personnel.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 03/09/2026

"The choice not to pay taxes and withdraw my money from the war system came from a spiritual place," Joseph Olejak writes. That choice led to, as the title of his memoir reveals, 26 Weekends in County Jail. "Whether it was worth it didn’t really apply because it was a choice made beyond fear."

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: 26 Weekends in County Jail: A Quaker Journal of Resistance

By Joseph Olejak. Flare Books, 2026. 256 pages. $21.95/paperback; $14.95/eBook. On November 22, 2013, Joseph Olejak entered the holding area…

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 02/09/2026

What does it mean when God says we should warn the wicked of their iniquity? "We don’t fight the Lamb’s War with an army of scolds and cavilers. But neither would God want us to remain silent as the moral arc of society bends further and further toward injustice." quaker.org/2026/08/31/y...

A detail from a painting of the prophet Ezekiel, zooming in tightly on his eyes, which appear to be looking upward. To the side, you can catch a glimpse of long gray hair.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 01/09/2026

Rooted and Reimagined is "neither a rejection of inherited Quaker tradition nor a formation of a new tradition," says our corresponding editor Alfred Mbai, "but a recovering of the radical spirit of Quaker faith in the context of Africa today. "

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Rooted and Reimagined: A Quaker Theology in African Soil

John Muhanji's inspiring, challenging, and necessary new book sets the foundation for further study into African Quakerism.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 31/08/2026

On a Sunday morning this past May, the Friends of Appoquinimink Meeting in Odessa, Delaware, gathered to honor one of their nineteenth-century members, John Alston, with a plaque that commemorates his dedication to abolitionism.

friendsjournal.org

Resurrecting a Forgotten Friend: Appoquinimink Meeting Honors Abolitionist John Alston 152 Years After His Death

Appoquinimink Meeting honors abolitionist John Alston 152 years after his death.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 28/08/2026

God spoke to Elijah out of silence: “a still, small voice” but a living presence. The living Word, our Eternal Teacher, continues to speak to us out of silence. When we listen closely, we can hear the still, small voice asking questions that encourage us to think about how we are leading our lives.

friendsjournal.org

And After the Fire a Sound of Sheer Silence

The Bible Study column runs four times a year in the February, May, August, and November issues.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 27/08/2026

John Dickinson, a Philadelphia lawyer remembered today primarily by musical theater buffs as an opponent of the Declaration of Independence, has gotten too little credit for formulating what it meant to be an American and not a British subject in a string of distant, ununited colonies.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: In Brief: Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

A collection of letters from the eve of the American Revolution reminds us that speaking truth to power is not new, nor has it gone out of style.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 26/08/2026

"Let love be genuine," says Paul (Romans 12:9); early Quakers would have read, in the Geneva or King James Bible, that they should “let love be without dissimulation.” Sincere, unfeigned, free of hypocrisy or hidden agenda. That kind of love doesn’t always come easy. quaker.org/2026/08/24/d...

A photograph of a Black person holding their hand out so as to obscure their face. In their hand, they hold a piece of white cardboard on which the message SHARE LOVE NOT HATE has been printed.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 25/08/2026

Joan Slonczewski has microbes on their mind. And they’re willing to share them with you! Slonczewski’s four decades of science fiction open doors to worlds where technology and ecology merge and where sentient microscopic beings might just be the death of us, or our salvation.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Minds in Transit

Joan Slonczewski’s latest science fiction novel seems to say: if you think things are complex now, just wait!

Reposted by Friends Journal

Jay Thatcher @jthatch.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

"The culture is in such a rush. Many of us can't be in a rush. When we put ourselves in that state, we increase pain." -@whittierphoto.bsky.social

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 24/08/2026

"It does not matter where I am," says Hazel Guindon Badilla: "I always have access to my own inner sanctuary. All I need to do is close my eyes, become silent, and listen to myself. Silence has brought me back to myself again & again. Doesn’t that sound like a truly liberating combination for life?"

friendsjournal.org

Peace, Silence, and the Inner Light

The author's uniquely powerful experience among the Quakers of Monteverde: silence, community diversity, and connection with nature.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 22/08/2026

In a new edition of Quakerism: The Basics, Margery Post Abbott and Carl Abbott bring the experience of active and engaged Quakers, the discipline of scholarly historians, and gentle attention to that of God in the varieties of Quakers, Quaker beliefs, and Quaker processes from 1652 to the present.

friendsjournal.org

In Brief: Quakerism: The Basics (Second Edition)

By Margery Post Abbott and Carl Abbott. Routledge, 2025. 240 pages. $28.99/paperback or eBook. This book is about more than...

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 22/08/2026

Because Whittier Mikkelsen didn't meet anyone else with cerebral palsy until she was 22, she felt strange growing up. "The Quakers gave me the strength to be myself," she says. "They just brought me right in, even with my spastic body... Nobody pushed me away, so I felt absolutely seen & included."

quakerspeak.com

My Life with Cerebral Palsy: Finding Equality in a Faith Community - QuakerSpeak

When Carl Sigmond is with other Quakers, he tells us, he does not feel like his cerebral palsy sets him…

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 21/08/2026

When someone asks, “What do Quakers believe?” what can we say that is true to the depth of our tradition yet simple and short enough to serve in the situation? How can we give an answer that honors both the full breadth of our tradition and the significant diversity of Quaker faith and experience?

friendsjournal.org

What Can We Say?

Six essentials of Quaker faith.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 20/08/2026

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has upheld a ruling by a lower federal court, allowing a lawsuit brought by several Quaker meetings to proceed against Homeland Security—and affirming a preliminary injunction limiting the activity of ICE agents in or near the plaintiffs' meetinghouses.

friendsjournal.org

Quakers Win Preliminary Injunction Against Homeland Security [Updated Aug. 2026] - Friends Journal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Judge Chuang’s ruling in an appeal filed by DHS.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 19/08/2026

The rejection of Empire begins in our imaginations, but it must not end there. Spirit calls on each of us to remember the promise of a more blessed community and, by refusing to conform to this age, to redirect our lives toward establishing that community here on earth. quaker.org/2026/08/17/d...

A photograph of a young Black person in a white sleeveless shirt, facing the camera. They have raised their right hand, and on the palm they have written the word NO in large black letters.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 18/08/2026

The poems in Sky Responds to Our Holler speak frankly about sex, gender, racism, injustice, and the enforcement of social norms. Zenaida Peterson looks hopefully to the future, not with naïveté but based on the power they have experienced while building community and flaunting stereotypes.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Sky Responds to Our Holler

A self-described "Black southern Quaker mystic's" first poetry collection reveals courage, outspokenness, and openness to adventure.

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 17/08/2026

"Somebody said to me once that in order to say one strong yes, you have to say five strong nos. So if I want to be able to have my yes—to have the light and energy to carry out a leading that is a yes—I have to say no to the things that will divert me. That’s a hard thing to learn in this world."

friendsjournal.org

The Gift of Good Boundaries

What I've learned from Eleanor Dart.

Reposted by Friends Journal

Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 14/08/2026

I'm Quaker and my wife Catholic so my four children have spent time in both communities. The only times I've later learned someone they were close to at some event was a predator was in Quaker circles. I'm not kidding. There are Quakers who don't want us talking about this stuff but we must.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 14/08/2026

In decades past, many Quaker schools and meetings did not have child safeguarding policies. Friends often assumed Quakers were wholly good people, not capable of child abuse. Times have changed. What have Friends learned about developing child protection policies and responding to abuse allegations?

friendsjournal.org

Child Safeguarding in Quaker Spaces

Truth and transparency in dealing with abuse.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 13/08/2026

Light for the Way, a new anthology of essays and interviews drawn from the @sojo.net archives, can inspire "Friends and all people of faith to stay grounded, strong, and hopeful in life in the Spirit in a world that can be violent and unjust," says Diane Randall.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Light for the Way: Seeking Simplicity, Connection, and Repair in a Broken World

By Sojourners magazine, edited by Rose Marie Berger. Broadleaf Books, 2026. 336 pages. $28.99/hardcover; $18.99/eBook. “Light for the Way” could…

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 12/08/2026

The Canaanite woman cries out because she has seen what Jesus has done for other people, as the popular meme goes, and she wants that for herself. She believes in the power of his ministry to overcome the ills and evils of this world. What's the lesson here for Friends? quaker.org/2026/08/10/w...

An oil painting of Jesus, warding off a woman who is kneeling at his side by extending his arm as if to push her away. On his left side, some of the disciples are trying to speak with him, but he isn't meeting their gaze, either.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 11/08/2026

🎙️ Quakers Today is back! Co-hosts Peterson Toscano & Diana Yañez continue their exploration of Quakers & money by focusing on wealth: inherited wealth, family stories, grief, control, reparations, and the spiritual practice of letting money move. Listen wherever you find your favorite podcasts! 🎧

friendsjournal.org

Quaker Podcast - Podcast Exploring Quaker Life & Religious Beliefs

Quakers Today, hosted by Peterson Toscano, features writers, musicians, and thinkers who are seeking wisdom and understanding in a rapidly changing world.

Reposted by Friends Journal

Ron Hogan @ronhogan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I collaborated with the videographer at @friendsjournal.org on this short video about how to find a local Quaker meeting if you’re interested in checking us out… and how to make sure, if you’re a member of a marginalized community, it’ll be a truly welcoming and inclusive environment.

Looking for a Quaker Meeting Near You? Try This!

YouTube video by QuakerSpeak

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 11/08/2026

Christy Randazzo's Divine Ecosystem is deeply rooted in Quakerism, informed by extensive scholarship, and full of history, current events, people, and connections. Beginning with experience and ecosystems, rather than with the Bible or tradition, readers are offered a fresh take on theology.

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: Divine Ecosystem: A Quaker Theology

An exploration of theology with a Quaker guide who is endlessly curious, creative in making fresh connections, and fearlessly their own self.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 10/08/2026

Unprogrammed silent worship is "not just about sitting and being silent," Jasson Arevalo writes. "Amid that absolute silence, many things are happening among those present, both individually and within the community as a whole."

friendsjournal.org

The Quaker Ministry of Silence and the Bible

The biblical roots of silent worship as experienced by a Salvadoran Friend.