Darkness is afraid of the light

Hello dear readers,

For the first time, our monthly theme was based on one quote: “Truth will not lose ground by being tried.” Isaac Penington wrote these words in a letter to a friend in 1670, assuring her that truth will always prevail, saying, “Darkness is afraid of the light, because it has a secret sense that it cannot stand before it.” In an era when truth seems under attack, we explored what it means to live truthfully, to seek Divine truth, and to share it with others.

Thank you to the 44 readers who became new supporters of the Daily Quaker Message or increased their level of support during this month’s supporter drive. Our goal is 100 new or increased supporters by March 31st to make this project sustainable, and we need your help! If these messages bring you into community with Friends, deepen your relationship to the Divine, or teach you more about Quaker faith, please consider supporting this work. It only takes 5 minutes, and it means so much to us.

Tomorrow we will begin a month on the topic of Quakers and Aging. We will read about different Friends’ experiences with aging, such as living in an aging body, having a long life, setting intentions when they’re young, and considering their legacy. 

In friendship,
Maeve Sutherland
Editor of the Daily Quaker Message

P.S. There’s still time to support the Daily Quaker Message and receive the supporter thank-you gift, this month’s Penington quote on a screenprinted tote bag, beautifully illustrated and designed by Quaker artist Sophie Wood Brinker.

Reader Responses

How does our modern world influence your relationship with the truth?

What spiritual concerns do fake news, AI, and social media bring up for you? How do you deal with these concerns?

Some Friends say Quakerism is “a religion of doing, not thinking.” I don’t think that contrast really holds. Quakerism is not a religion of action alone. Even if truth is encountered personally in the Light, it involves attention, reflection, and discernment as well as practice.

Artificial intelligence, social media, and misinformation don’t determine the truth — but they can shape our attention, imagination, and capacity for discernment. And that matters spiritually. Early Friends practiced watchfulness over the influences that formed their minds; perhaps today we face analogous challenges.

So maybe the question isn’t whether truth itself is influenced, but whether our perception and faithfulness are. How do we remain inwardly clear while immersed in environments designed to distract or persuade?

François M., Facebook
It's far too easy to have a "knee-jerk" reaction these days, which is exactly what many people posting online are hoping for. I don't engage. While that frustrates my desire for civil discourse, I remind myself that civil discourse is not usually their desire. I research and pray a lot.

Tamara M. G., Facebook
Ironically, when something looks like it may have been fabricated or digitally manipulated with AI, I turn to my favorite chatbot. I screenshot it and start asking questions. Where did this originate? Is there a primary source? Are the numbers real? Has this image appeared elsewhere?

I reverse image search. I check dates and context. I ask it to identify manipulation tactics or test the opposite framing.

And I often find misleading or false memes circulating on both the right and the left.

For me, the discipline is not rejecting technology. It is slowing down and choosing discernment over impulse.

Melissa H., Facebook

This Week’s Messages

Mon Feb 16

How early Quakers resisted fake news

“Quakers are also known as ‘seekers of truth’. How do we maintain that fundamental commitment to truth in an age of widespread online misinformation and disinformation?  …Quakerism was formed in an earlier era of unprecedented misinformation and disinformation, with often unreliable printed pamphlets widely available. Quaker testimony and practice and the distilled wisdom on which we can draw provide a very sound basis for combatting fake news. We need to stay focussed on the still small voice of calm.” …
Tue Feb 17

Quakers and social media

“How do we make use of our social media? Do we post content that not only conforms to our worldview, but to the higher standard of truthfulness? Today, when so many of our social interactions happen online and our public persona lives on social media, do we make every effort to post in integrity?” …
Wed Feb 18

How Quakers define “truth”

“We stand at a perilous moment. Truth and integrity are being undermined to the extent that democracy itself is under threat, exactly when we need to work together. Many of those in power seem to act with impunity, disregarding facts and scientific findings. Respect for the judiciary is being undermined and trust in our institutions threatened.” …
Thu Feb 19

A rebuttal to fake news from 1655

A rebuttal to a pamphlet slandering Quakers: “Oh! was here ever the like in any age seen, who professe Christ, live in so much Impudency, breathing of lyes and slanders, what an unsavoury smell is this, that comes from those, that calls themselves Christians, and Churches, but we see thy fruit, in thy paper, and thy smell is gone out into the Nation, and recorded thou art, and answered shall be to that in thy conscience, in the day of thy condemnation.” …
Fri Feb 20

Quakers all have dual citizenship

“Simply acknowledging our dual citizenship in the world and in Christ brings the Spirit of Truth into the ways we live our lives daily. As we begin to see the ways we act out of our separateness, out of our small selves, we step out of illusion and into Christ where Love and Truth work hand in hand… The movement of the Spirit is toward wholeness, toward healing and binding what separates us.” …
Sat Feb 21

What drawing can teach us about truth

“When I was taught to draw, I was told to look carefully at my subject if I wanted to faithfully reproduce it. When you try to sketch a flower, if you approach it thinking you know what a flower looks like and you draw that, you’ll produce a flower—maybe a good-looking flower—but not the flower. You need to take the care and time to reject what you expect and draw what you see: shadows, shapes, absences, and blemishes, details that might surprise you.” …

Banner art by Sophie Wood Brinker

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Author

  • Maeve Sutherland

    Maeve Sutherland is a communications professional who never recovered from her wonderful childhood at a Quaker elementary school. She has spent her career helping nonprofits share their stories, from schools and universities, to museums, to radio stations. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Maeve spent a year living in “Peaceable Kingdoms,” pacifist intentional communities around the world, where she learned that everyone has a role to play in shaping a better world. She worked as a freelance social media manager before joining Thee Quaker Project.

    After returning to Quakerism as a young adult, Maeve now attends Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting in Philadelphia.

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