“There’s this idea of country above everything else—and for Quakers, that gets in the way of your relationship to God,” says Katie Breslin. She reminds us that Quakers have often taken up causes that put them in opposition to their governments, while reflecting on her own experiences of patriotic culture in Indiana, where she used to live, and her current home in Minnesota.
“When it comes to the way that patriotism is currently practiced in our country,” she adds, “it doesn’t really resonate, I think, for a lot of Quakers because… the way that we love our community are through mutual aid, through providing resources for each other, for showing up for each other. I don’t necessarily think it’s patriotic to force people to say the Pledge of Allegiance, but I think it’s a pretty great value of a community to make sure that your neighbors are fed.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think that the [U.S.] government values collaboration right now,” Katie continues. “I don’t think that they value peace. I don’t think that they value justice.” Yet while she doesn’t see any common ground between this administration’s apparent principles and her own, “I do think that Quakers have a lot of tools, and we’ve built a lot of infrastructure, to help us envision what this country can look like.”
We never argue. We’re not that close.
I am a convinced Friend of 35 years. I have long said Quakers are my spiritual community, but modern representative democracy is my true religion (in the Latin sense of ‘religio’)
The Constitution of the USA does not contain the word “party”. Americans were groundbreaking in establishing a democratic republic in the 18th century, and I give thanks for the work that was done in separating church from state.
However modern representative democracy is still a very new baby, on an evolutionary cultural scale.
I too am strongly convinced that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
I am also strongly convinced that a two-party system works best in the continuing move towards justice because ALL political debates essentially come down to one side saying “We need to do more” vs another side saying “We’ve done enough”.
The lesson is to work through differences with dialogue, debate and, in the end, the sacred secret ballot.
Not the bullet.