Quakers, one of the 1st abolitionists, renew their call for resistance as America turns 250

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News

July 3, 2026, 5:04 AM


Quakers are joining with national advocacy groups on July 4 in Philadelphia to protest what they say are unjust policies by President Donald Trump’s administration. The faith group, formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, gathered signatures online and in person for a “Declaration of Resistance Banner” that they will display during their “People’s Parade” on the 250th birthday of the United States, according to Quaker officials.

The proclamation -- created by the Quakers’ advocacy arm, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) -- includes condemnations of mass arrests and deportations of immigrants, acts of war on sovereign nations and the dismantling of slavery exhibits in national parks, including Philadelphia’s President’s House -- the site of George Washington’s executive mansion.

Philadelphia isn’t only the “birthplace” of the U.S., where the Founding Fathers met to write and sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but is also in a state founded by Quakers.

William Penn, a powerful Quaker, established the state of Pennsylvania after King Charles II granted him the land in 1681. It was founded as a holy experiment for religious tolerance. “Native American peoples, Quakers, Baptists, Lutherans and other religious groups that had been persecuted in Europe could come and express their own conscience freely,” Dr. Brian Blackmore, director of Quaker engagement with AFSC, told ABC News.

Read more: https://abcnews.com/US/quakers-1st-abolitionists-renew-call-resistance-america-turns/story?id=134422099

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Link to American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) PRESS RELEASE - A Declaration of Resistance

There are definitely Quakers all around where I live and I'm not far from a Friends Meeting House.

[wcmagumba]

1. The Quakers are good people, I have attended a few Quaker Meetings at one of their locations in Wichita, KS...

Very nice and friendly folks...Wichita is home to "Friends University", a four year college the Quaker group operates...

[Jacson6]

6. Richard Nixon grew up as a Quaker. When he attended college he stopped going to meetings.

That would probably of made him a lot better politico if he stayed with the Friends.

[Ms. Toad]

12. He never went to meetings.

He belonged to a Friends church, which was part of Friends United Meeting. That branch of Friends is more diverse by now but at the time Nixon attended, it was more akin to an evangelical or Baptist church than it was to what most people recognize as Friends.

[biophile]

2. The finest person I have ever known is a Quaker.

He has been an inspiration and a guide for me (professionally and personally) as long as I’ve known him.

[paleotn]

3. Good people.

Quakers, UCC / Congregationalists and our local Episcopalians are really wonderful folks. They give me hope, and remind me that Christians vary just like any group of humans.

[Evolve Dammit]

4. Good for Friends.and AFSC!

[Martin68]

5. My sister is a Quaker. Good people. It was always very ironic that Richard Nixon was a Quaker.

[wcmagumba]

8. A previous poster said that Nixon quit attending Quaker Meetings when he went to college...

Don't know if that meant he gave up the tenets of Quakerism or not...he actions as President don't seem very Quakery though...

[Martin68]

15. I believe Nixon was a Quaker in name only.

[Ms. Toad]

13. Different kind of Quaker.

He was part of the Friends United Meeting. It is more diverse now (and includes meetings which would be recognizable by most as Quaker), but at the time was more akin to evangelical or Baptist congregations.

The FUM Friends Meeting I belonged to as a child actually shared a minister with the Baptist church my father grew up in. That Baptist church kicked my father out and later ostracized my grandfather when he came to share most of my father's beliefs.

So, yes, Richard Nixon was a Quaker - but not one of the two branches most people think of when they think of Quakers.

[multigraincracker]

7. I always remembered this.

No talking, singing or chewing gum, the Friends meeting has begun.

[wcmagumba]

9. The Meetings I attended had a short message and then sit in silence for maybe an hour or a little longer...

I enjoyed them. Transportation issues and getting old stopped me from going...

[electric_blue68]

10. Get this...back in the '70s at my college the Draft Counselor was a Quaker!

For those not adverse to religion he also taught a great World's Religions class. We visited a Jewish Temple, a Christian Church, a Buddhist Temple, went to Japan House near the UN for a Japanese tea ceremony.
Read from the various texts.

We also went to Quaker meeting at his town, and played badminton after at his home.
Nice guy!

[slightlv]

11. I was married by a UCC minister,

had always wanted to attend a Friends' meeting, but never got that opportunity. I'm old now... but maybe not to old to try to find one close to me again. I'm close to KC...

[Ms. Toad]

14. Try Penn Valley Friends Meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582051932933#

I don't know that I know anyone there, but Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative (the larger body of Friends to which it belongs) are good people.

For anyone else interested: https://www.fgcquaker.org/find-a-meeting/

LEYM and Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative would be welcoming to all, including LGBTQI. Use caution with Ohio Yearly Meeting Conservative - they oppose same gender marriage. Friends United Meeting is a mixed bag - some are unprogrammed; many have pastors; their record on LGBTQI people/marriage is spotty. Evangelical Friends International is all pastored and . . . evangelical (and least recognizable as Quaker).

[slightlv]

17. Thank you for the indepth info, Ms Toad!

I'm Pagan, and I've gotten "danger" feelings around here, so I haven't put it out there around here... and I miss being with like-minded people. Friendly, open, liberal, democratic type people. Now that I've gotten more years behind me than in front of me, I'd really like to get into groups discussing beliefs, etc. Yet, here I sit alone at the keyboard! (LOL) And with trump and his minions out there, I'm really losing any semblance of safety of anonymity I once felt online.

[Ms. Toad]

18. A lot of new folks are showing up at Friends Meetings these days.

It happens whenever there human rights violations or wars going on and people are looking for a community in which they can not feel quite so helpless and alone.

[wcmagumba]

16. What is a "Draft Counselor"? I don't know that term...