On April 12, 2025, I’ll be sharing with the group Quakers Uniting in Publication at their virtual mid-year meeting on the topic: “Publishers of Truth in an Era of Climate Change and Authoritarianism.” Register here.
We’re in a difficult moment right now in the US, with activists being targeted, higher education being squeezed financially and threatened with censure if institutions don’t agree to be discriminatory, and the dismantling of public projects. Add to the “normal” level of scariness of an authoritarian takeover: the existential threat of climate change.
These are exactly the moments when I hope and pray that Friends (Quakers) step up and live into what we say we believe. Now is the time to resist injustice, to speak up loudly, to refuse to cooperate with unjust dictates.
When the Friends movement began, they were called “publishers of truth,” partially because they published so many pamphlets sharing about the good news they had experienced. Their message, like that of Jesus, was disruptive to empires and to the nationalist state religion. It was not safe for them to speak up, nor was their message popular at first. They spoke a message of radical liberation and equality before God, of a community that listened together with prophetic longing, of a community that would act together to upend unjust systems. Friends published their truth, spoke about it in the streets and the steeple-houses, sent letters to their political leaders, and performed acts of civil disobedience to show the injustice of their country’s social and economic systems. Many ended up in jail, and they supported each other’s families. These are the Friends we look back on with awe. What will we do when it’s our turn?
Hopefully, there is still time to keep worse outcomes from occurring in the US and the world over, but we can see the trajectory we’re going on if we do nothing, both in the political system and regarding climate change. What are you being called to speak, write, or do in this crucial time period?
If these thoughts speak to you, if you long for community with whom to hold these concerns, join me on April 12.
Cherice Bock 