@friendsjournal.org
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.
Gender identity presents Kenyan and East African Friends with a theological and pastoral challenge, exposing tensions between an inherited moral framework and foundational Quaker convictions.
Yet it also offers opportunity for renewed reflection rooted in Quaker spirituality and African realities.
Elisha Tyson (1749-1824) was a Quaker philanthropist and opponent of slavery. The early American historian Joshua D. Rothman introduces twenty-first-century readers to Tyson in an annotated reprinting of a biography published the year after his death.
"I was a girly boy—
A real live boyish girl.
They benched me as a fullback,
And made me lead the cheers..."
—from "Trilogy" by Douglass Allen
An ink drawing of Moses, an older bearded man, who's just struck a rock with a stick. Men, women, and children gather in amazement as they look at the water flowing from the rock. You can see, dimly, some alternative composition choices that the artist drew in chalk but did not choose for his final version.
When people become convinced God has abandoned them, they usually decide they need to fend for themselves—and “fending for ourselves” always implies “screw the rest of you.” Walter Brueggemann called that “the royal consciousness,” the animating spirit of Empire.
quaker.org/2026/03/02/a...
I'm accessing this account easily enough in Chrome, but could not load, and currently cannot sign into, my personal account with the iPhone app.
Have you seen our interview with @katz.theracket.news about Smedley Butler, who led the U.S. occupation of Haiti just over a century ago?
With the chaos, destruction, and uncertainty of the 1640s, many in England expected the End Times and the Second Coming.
Erica Canela writes about how Quakers tapped into that energy and shared their message of direct access to Christ with the many English men and women eager to hear it.
"The [@fcnl.bsky.social] strongly condemns the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the dangerous pursuit of a war of regime change."
"As Quakers, we believe there is that of God in every person," the statement continues. "Bombs cannot build the just and lasting peace that true security requires."
"This war is immoral and illegal under both U.S. and international law," @afsc-org.bsky.social said in a statement released shortly after last weekend's joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. "The justifications used by the Trump administration all center on blatant lies."
Who people love and how they identify continues to be a source of joy for individual Friends but also tension and controversy for the Quaker community. In this month's issue, we'll hear how Friends are learning to accept people for who they are and support them in self-discovery.
trying not to gobble up the latest issue of @friendsjournal.org online cuz i know the print edition is headed my way, BUT YOU SHOULD READ IT:
"When the public view of Christianity is one of judgement and condemnation, how do we get out the word that there’s an alternative?" Michelle Downey asks. "What do the vulnerable in our world need? They need safety in a community that will not just stand up for them but will stand alongside them."
Smedley Butler came from solid Quaker stock—but he dropped out of high school when the Spanish-American War broke out to enlist in the Marine Corps as an officer.
In an all-new QuakerSpeak, we go deep into Butler's outsized presence in the history of imperialism in the Western Hemisphere.
At her first meeting for worship, "I didn’t know what to do with the silence or how to know if what I received came from beyond me," Jimin Kang recalls. "I sat in silence with a room full of others knowing very little about what it meant to hear God’s voice."
While set in the eighteenth century, the themes explored and challenges encountered in a new novel about the Quaker minister Charity Wright Cook are relevant today: sexual violence, community dissension, spiritual leadings, and careful discernment.
An ink drawing of St Paul, writing in a book with a feather dipped in ink from a vessel on the table. He has a sword, pointed down toward the ground, leaning against his chest, the hilt resting at the base of his shoulder.
"For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ," Paul warned in his letter to the Philippians. "Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things."
quaker.org/2026/02/23/e...
"Volunteers at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in New Orleans have been turning plastic grocery bags into sleeping mats [for] unhoused people...The slight cushion from the mats, which are waterproof, durable, lightweight and easy to wash, provides an insulated barrier between the user and the ground."
How has religious nationalism fueled MAGA's well-planned and highly effective efforts to undermine democracy? @katherinestewart.bsky.social examines the complex dynamics of this antidemocratic movement in Money, Lies, and God.
"I've been teaching for over 20 years," says Megary Sigler. In that time, she tells us, "I’ve learned that being an effective teacher requires finding the Light in every student. This is often easier said than done. But it’s a trick that’s rarely failed me."
🎧❗️NEW: Quakers and Finding Your Center in Turbulent Times
In this episode of Quakers Today, @petersontoscano.bsky.social explores how to maintain inner stability during social upheaval. Insights from Adrian Glamorgan & Kat Griffith, plus more... Download it wherever you find your favorite podcasts!
Quakers are known for our commitment for peace. So how do we respond to wars in Ukraine and Israel-Palestine? What kind of tactics do we encourage or condemn in protests close to home? How do we support Quaker peacemaking efforts around the world?
That's our September issue's theme. Got thoughts?
Ron Hogan can't remember the last time he's seen a film that does as good a job of depicting the effects of a mystical encounter on the human consciousness as The Testament of Ann Lee.
Or a film that takes religious faith as seriously. (Well, that's not strictly true. It was Scorsese's Silence.)
You've both had your say, Friends; rather than head deeper into back-and-forth, let's slip back into the silence of discernment.
It's not often that you can talk about Quaker breaking news, but, well here we have some.
This.
The poetry of Mary Oliver (1935–2019) will always have many grateful, enthusiastic readers. Little Alleluias brings together three of her books from the early twenty-first century, which together express her one abiding vision: this world that enraptures our mind and senses calls for response.
Robert “Jacob” Hoopes has pled guilty to “aggravated assault on a federal employee with a dangerous weapon,” a charge stemming from his participation in a protest against ICE in Portland last summer.
At his sentencing, Hoopes may face up to 20 years in prison and/or a fine as high as $250,000.
A photograph of the back of a man's head. He is wearing a gray baseball cap that says QUAKER in small white letters across the back. Around him we can see a crowd of protestors, some carrying signs criticizing the Trump administration and the invasion of Venezuela.
Embracing empathy reflects the highest of Quakerly aspirations—to accept the summons of the Inward Light to pattern our minds after that of Jesus, “to do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, looking not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”
quaker.org/2026/02/16/w...
Congratulations to Rashid Darden on winning the North Street Book Prize for his novel A Peculiar Legacy, which Abigail E. Adams reviewed for Friends Journal late last year. "I loved the descriptions of that faith community, its intergenerational worship and Sunday dinners," she wrote.
Last year, the U.S. government accused Robert "Jacob" Hoopes. a young Friend, of assaulting an ICE agent and damaging federal property during a protest in Portland, Oregon. Hoopes originally pled not guilty, but a change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Feburary 18 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time.