“Integrity calls for obedience, or if you prefer, faithfulness to conscience illuminated by the Light Within… It is truth which may well have objective validity, as I believe it does, but if it is not truth which is internalized in each of us, and for which we take ownership, then it is not truth which is valid and binding for us…”
“Liam took a knee as his Cub Scout troupe led the Durham City Council in the pledge of allegiance.”
“God is reality, that which is; nonviolence, that which holds back from hurt; love, that which goes out to others; pure wisdom, that which is free of outward schemes. He is that power which the apostle John called Truth – that name so profound and yet so incomplete, which embraces all the others, which suggests the eternal inward fact and order and aim of all life. To mean the words the Power of Truth is to mean the very source and strength of all that exists.”
“Everywhere you go, if you see injustice, you take it on. [Decades ago, as a child,] I went to the local public school. At that time, teachers were allowed to hit students, and I thought that was just wrong. So I was in first or second grade. I’m a Quaker; I believe in nonviolence. There’s no way it should be acceptable for a teacher to hit their students. And so I refused to go to school. My parents said, ‘That’s totally legitimate.'”
“Fifteen-year-old Retford boy, James Parnell, became a Quaker and in 1653 travelled to visit George Fox in prison in Carlisle. He preached in eastern England, was accused of causing a riot, imprisoned in Colchester, and died there after eight months of cruel treatment. Over 450 Quakers died in prison during the early years of the movement.”
“‘When we were brought into the court,’ says Fox, ‘we stood a pretty while with our hats on, and all was quiet, and I was moved to say, “Peace be amongst you!” “Why do you not put your hats off?” said the judge to us. We said nothing. “Put off your hats,” said the judge again. Still we said nothing. Then said the judge, “The court commands you to put off your hats.”‘”
“I began to ask other Friends about their own Integrity witness. What do they do when faced with oaths and oath-like situations? How do they respond?
Interestingly, George Fox and yearly meetings notwithstanding, most Friends I talked to admitted fudging a little when the chips are down. One Friend, when sworn in as part of a jury pool, simply didn’t raise his hand. Another didn’t stand. Some Friends have substituted the word ‘affirm’ for ‘swear’ when repeating after the judge. Others have figuratively held their noses and signed papers that were essentially oaths. Few of us, however, have chosen to make a public witness.”
“Theologically, a scruple is defined as ‘a vain fear of sin where there is no reason or reasonable ground for suspecting sin,’ and I would add, a vain fear of compromise, a vain fear of failure, a vain fear of the judgment of others where there is no good reason to be concerned.”
“The Quaker testimony to truthfulness is central to the practice of its faith by members of the Religious Society of Friends. From the beginning Friends have believed that they could have direct and immediate communication with God which would enable them to discern right ethical choices. They soon experienced common leadings of the Spirit which became formalised into testimonies… Arising from the teaching of Jesus as related in the writings of John and James: ‘Let your Yes mean Yes and your No mean No’, Quakers perceived that with a conscience illuminated by the Light, life became an integrated whole with honesty as its basis.”
“I have long believed that speaking truth is both the simplest way of leading your life and one of the most difficult to achieve.”
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