Quakers for Canyons
Quakers for Canyons
Quakers (Friends) don’t have set doctrines; rather they rely on Testimonies to guide them. These Testimonies are Peace, Simplicity, Equality, Integrity and Community.
Salt Lake Quakers are part of a statewide organization called Utah Friends Fellowship, which is part of a regional gathering called Intermountain Yearly Meeting. Friends have neither paid Clergy nor any hierarchy. In essence the members are the Clergy.
Started in England in the mid 1600’s, Quakerism’s belief in equality between men and women and among all people set them at odds with officials in England….. which led them to spend a lot of time in jail. That spurred many of them to migrate to America. Early on they were referred to as Seekers of the Truth. The emphasis being on “seeking”…. Not found. (That convinced me, as I realized that Friends are constantly learning and incorporating new elements into their faith.)
How did Quakers get so involved in the natural world? What sparked this concern for Quakers were their Testimonies. We kept asking ourselves questions (queries) about living on earth and as the loss of habitat and species became more widespread, Quakers added their voices to the care for the earth.
This is a good example of how Friends seek – we ask ourselves questions (queries) about our Testimonies and how we are living our lives. A new set of queries has evolved over the last few years concerning how we live on the earth.
A query about Stewardship:
Do we practice and encourage thoughtful family planning? What are we doing to ensure adequate water, food, shelter, education, and respect for those who do not have ready access to these blessings? Are we informed about the effects of our lifestyle on the global economy and the environment?
And a section on Harmony with Nature (Environment):
The environmental crisis is at root a spiritual and religious crisis; we are called to look again at the real purpose of being on this earth.
London Yearly Meeting, 1988, in Quaker Faith & Practice of Britain Yearly Meeting, 1993, 25.02
Interspersed into the Queries are Advices:
The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth now to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.
John Woolman, 1772, in Quaker Faith & Practice of Britain Yearly Meeting, 25.01
And more Queries:
How do we inform ourselves about how our style of living affects the global economy and the environment?
How do we exercise our respect for the balance of nature? Are we careful to avoid poisoning the earth, the air, and the water? Do we use the world’s resources with care and consideration for future generations and with respect for all life? Do we recycle all that we can?
How do we encourage environmental responsibility within our community?
How do we live in accord with our sense of God in all creation?
Twenty one years ago, Quaker Earthcare Witness sprang up. Many Friends had been talking for years of their intense concern for the Earth. QEW strives to integrate Friends’ concerns for the environment with Friends’ testimonies. From QEW’s Vision and Witness: “WE ARE CALLED to live in right relationship with all Creation, recognizing that the entire world is interconnected and is a manifestation of God. WE WORK to integrate into the beliefs and practices of the Religious Society of Friends the Truth that God's Creation is to be respected, protected, and held in reverence in its own right, and the Truth that human aspirations for peace and justice depend upon restoring the earth's ecological integrity. WE PROMOTE these Truths by being patterns and examples, by communicating our message, and by providing spiritual and material support to those engaged in the compelling task of transforming our relationship to the earth.” (At the QEW website you will find curriculum for earthcare for both adults and children!)
Another outward sign of Friends beliefs is evident in the Friends Committee on National Legislation. It is the oldest religious lobby in Washington, DC. A few years ago, the FCNL building was falling apart and it was decided to make it a 'green' building’; this decision had an impact Friends couldn’t imagine. It helped Friends refocus their lobbying efforts toward the environment. Just changing the heat system from a traditional furnace to a heat pump allowed for the funding of a full time lobbyist on energy and environment.
Quakers are probably best known as pacifists; they also know that fossil fuels are the current cause of wars. FCNL’s green building uses no fossil fuels. This is one way that Quakers witness for peace.
Since the greening of the FCNL building, Capitol neighbors (including the Capitol architect) have visited this building and learned of the Friends’ commitment to environmental sustainability as a moral issue.
Quaker Links:
http://www.saltlakequakers.org/
http://www.quakerearthcare.org/
http://www.friendsjournal.org/friends-testimonies-and-ecological-understanding
http://quaker.ca/cfriend/CF_V102_1/CF.V102.01.P5.6.pdf
Elaine Caldwell Emmi is interested in community, environment and spirituality and how they intertwine. She is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and is the current co-Clerk of the Salt Lake Monthly Meeting. Elaine also serves on the boards of Quaker Earthcare Witness and Friends Committee on National Legislation. Beside her ‘real job’ (paid work), Elaine is Chair of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable and is trying to help the newly formed Utah Interfaith Power and Light lessen the carbon footprint of all faith communities.
She has lived in New York, Turkey, California, Indiana, Spain, Sweden and Utah.
She enjoys being a cog in the wheel that is turning for peace on earth and peace with earth. Elaine feels that peace is not passive, it has to be waged.... it is noisy, it is active, it is a verb
