Peace & Social Concerns

Yearly Meeting Survey Of Attenders’ Actions To Take Away The Causes Of War And Their Efforts To Promote Peacemaking

At the 2009 Yearly Meeting gathering at Frostburg State College, Peace and Social Concerns Committee, as its contribution, asked for the views of the gathering as a whole about what they as individuals have done, or seen others do, to take away the occasion for war and what they are eager to do to promote peace and social justice.

A quick overview of the cards indicated that we are a group devoted to taking away the causes of war and to collaboration in promoting peacemaking and social justice. Many work with others and collaborate with other faiths to this end but fewer were prepared to describe ways in which they put their beliefs into action. More than half were concerned with both the Local and the International/Global framework of our current situation as citizens and seekers of truth. As a group, those attending Yearly Meeting think globally and act locally. Continue reading →

1. New Clerk: Brad Olgilvie from William Penn House was enthusiastically approved by the committee, to begin at the end of Annual Session. He was unable to join us today because of visiting his father in the hospital in New Jersey. The committee also expressed its appreciation for Bill’s able leadership these past four years.

2. Letter to President Obama calling for his action after Israeli response to the flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza: Clerk Bill Mims asked Davis Balderson to clerk this section so that he could speak to the issue and share the letter he had prepared. After discussion of the many issues involved contrasted with the need for a timely letter regarding a specific incident, the committee approved the following letter to present to Interim Meeting for their approval to send to President Obama as well as for individuals and Monthly Meetings to send to their Senators and Congress people.