Baltimore Yearly Meeting reaffirms The Religious Society of Friends’
historic peace testimony and Friends’ historic peace witness. We commit
ourselves, individually and collectively, to live in ways that take away the
occasion for war. We affirm that of God in ourselves and in all others,
including those who attempt to do us harm. In these commitments we are pulled by
an ideal and pushed by reality. The ideal is our desire to follow in the way of
Jesus of Nazareth and the reality is the suffering and ultimate inadequacy of
war.
As we affirm the unchanging principles of peace, we acknowledge the radically
changed nature of war. As we have in the past, we continue to support and offer
a sanctuary to those who reject violence in all its forms, in conscience and in
deed.
We understand the need for all of us as individuals to discern faithfully how
God calls us to live our peace testimony. We acknowledge the struggle of the
individual to discern ways of achieving justice and peace as a means to take
away the occasion of further violence and war of any kind. We challenge
ourselves and all who share the peace testimony to open ourselves to the leading
of the Spirit, the Seed of Christ, the Inner Light, so that we can find new ways
to make our peace witness relevant and effective in today’s climate.
