All are welcome to attend on-line to contemplate:
How might we do more to support the movement for economic justice and worker empowerment?
How do we strive for honesty and fairness in our economic and business dealings?
Interested in learning more about Quakers? Interested in deepening your sense of Truth and the Inner Light with Friends? Join us online at 6:00pm on the 1st Wednesday of the month to explore a query (that’s Quakerspeak for an open-ended question) and related readings.
The query and readings will be posted on this event page and sent out via the NCFM email list.
It is open to anyone regardless of their relationship to Quakerism, level of experience, or relationship with any branch of Quakerism. All are welcome. No registration or RSVP required. Please join as led. Companionable listeners are welcome.
This month is:
How might we do more to support the movement for economic justice and worker empowerment?
How do we strive for honesty and fairness in our economic and business dealings?
Resources
A Quaker Perspective on Economics
Integrity means wholeness, so we have to bring the economy and bring our faith and bring them together and think about all the decision we make and all the things that we’re part of as a faith issue. So think about the testimonies. We value integrity but there’s no place for conscience in our economic system. We value simplicity but we’re told that our role is to consume more and more. We value equality but our economic system is driven toward increasing inequality. We value community but we’re told to act as individuals, and people on the margins are discarded. We value stewardship, yet we’re running through the Earth’s resources at an alarming rate. We value peace, but the economy is creating more destruction than any war ever has. So it seems very, very compelling that we have to ask those big questions about our economic system if we’re going to be true to our testimonies.
The Spiritual Basis of Economics and Ecology
In a deeply profound sense, economics and ecology are domains of relationship. Economics is about access to the means of life. Ecology is about the mutual interdependence of life communities. There is a deep sense of right relationship within a fully rounded understanding of these domains.
For example, in the right relationship of human solidarity, we see economic activity flowing from social relations that enhance the common good. In the right relationship of ecological integrity, we see the human economy as a wholly owned subsidiary of Earth’s ecology.
When we bring these two perspectives together, the lens of human solidarity and the lens of ecological science pivot into a single focus. Through this focus we can see right relationship in a more fully rounded and deeply instructive way. Right relationship then becomes the central motif in both the social design of human well-being and in ecologically sound economic adaptation.
Our spiritual traditions teach us that in right relationship, we touch the fullness of human meaning and the presence of the Divine. The Friends Peace Testimony is about elevating all areas of human policy and practice into this zone of right relationship. Because economic behavior is so often excluded by policy from the zone of right relationship, it is a primary area of injustice, conflict, violence, and war. A Peace Testimony that does not address economics in a major and sustained way is not a fully developed or spiritually accountable witness.
Florence Kelley: the Quaker who fought for US workers’ rights
“There were many Quaker women who exercised leadership in the 1800s, and I think the reason for this was because Quaker women were seen as spiritual equals since the mid-1600s, and there was this dissonance between their understanding of equality in their families and religion and in society.” Florence Kelley was the daughter of a member of the American House of Representatives who could trace his Irish ancestry back to 17th-century Derry.
Quakers followed in business the same principle of absolute integrity that they did in life. They were scrupulously honest and trustworthy and people knew that by dealing with Quaker companies they would get a fair and honest deal.
Belying its simplicity and ubiquity, the price tag is a surprisingly recent economic development, Aeon magazine writes. For centuries, haggling was the norm, ultimately developing into a system that required clerks and shopkeepers to train as negotiators. In the mid-19th century, however, Quakers in the US began to believe that charging people different amounts for the same item was immoral, so they started using price tags at their stores to counter the ills of haggling. And, as this short video from NPR’s Planet Money explains, by taking a moral stand, the Quakers inadvertently revealed an inefficiency in the old economic system and became improbable pricing pioneers, changing commerce and history with one simple innovation.
Alleviating the effects of economic injustice. Over the centuries there have been many Quaker social action projects, large and small, seeking to relieve poverty, create employment opportunities, provide micro-finance, or develop skills.
Understanding economic issues, and communicating their impact can inform actions and policies. John Woolman wrote, and practised in his own life, ‘live simply, that others may simply live’. Many other Quakers have written passionately about economic injustices of many kinds. Nowadays Quakers sponsor research, publications and policy papers on a variety of economic matters. The adverse effects of economic inequality, the need for environmental sustainability, and an economic order that reflects these issues, are key current concerns.
Quaker Voice on Washington Public Policy: 2023 Economic Justice Priorities
The Quaker Voice Economic Justice Working Group is focusing on three priorities in the upcoming session: Housing Justice, Mental Health Workforce Development, and Guaranteed Basic Income. In advocating for those most economically vulnerable, we are focused on the intersections between people of color, people living with disabilities, and people with housing insecurity, among other conditions that may cause one to be economically at risk. We seek and advocate for a just and sustainable economy in which all Washington residents can thrive.
Quakers working together for immigrant justice – AFSC/FCNL https://afsc.org/news/quakers-working-together-immigrant-justice
During our collaboration over the past month, FCNL and AFSC interns shared contacts and together called over 50 individuals in Greensboro, inviting them to take action on immigration reform during the August recess. Many people called and wrote letters to the editor. Yet one individual, who works with immigrants and refugees on a daily basis, took the project further.
Lizzie Biddle attends New Garden Friends Meeting. After the FCNL intern made initial contact inviting her to participate in the campaign, Lizzie called me, because she felt a real leading to get even more involved in the struggle for humane immigration reform. I was arranging a meeting with our local Representative and suggested she attend. But then I thought better of it. What if Lizzie organized her own session with the Representative and invited members of her Meeting? We could double our effectiveness! She liked the idea and was willing to take it on.
Contact Angie at OutreachInreach@gmail.com for more information or to discuss accessibility concerns. NCFM uses Zoom’s automated captioning.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 883 2721 5869
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 – 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Florence Kelley: the Quaker who fought for US workers’ rights
The Spiritual Basis of Economics and Ecology
Quaker Voice on Washington Public Policy: 2023 Economic Justice Priorities
North Columbus Friends Meeting (Quakers) 