Some Twentieth Century Developments

The testimony for peace has been a cardinal principle ever since George Fox said in 1651 that he "lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion for all wars."5 In all the years of their existence Friends have maintained with a large degree of consistency and often with much suffering the belief that the power of love and the spirit of justice are the only solution for international disputes. The conflict of 1914-18 questioned with startling sharpness the validity of such a testimony. Friends now found themselves faced with the necessity for profound reasoning and active work in the pressing of this great principle, and their most cogent argument was the fearless and impartial service to the victims of war. During the course of the struggle the vision and leadership of Rufus Jones brought together all branches and all types of Friends in the effort to convey help and a message of love to the people of Europe. This resulted in the founding of the American Friends Service Committee on April 30, 1917, by Friends representing several areas of Quakerism. They were deeply concerned for the spiritual values endangered by America's entrance into the war, and they also wanted to provide constructive, non-military service for young men who were conscientious objectors.

When the peace treaty was signed in the summer of 1919 and it was possible to enter Germany, the AFSC, at Herbert Hoover's request, instituted a large child-feeding program. Relief was carried on in Austria and Poland, and a famine relief program in Russia was undertaken. The work of the AFSC today is organized into programs that reflect concerns and testimonies shared widely among Friends in the United States. The executive secretary and associates coordinate the work of the Committee, but it is the Corporation, comprising more than 200 Friends from 20 yearly meetings, that constitutes the legal entity of the AFSC. It is the Board of Directors--all of them Friends selected by the Corporation from its own membership--that determines AFSC policy.

Friends World Committee for Consultation was established by a Minute of a World Conference of the Religious Society of Friends held at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, in 1937. Among its purposes are the encouragement and strengthening of the spiritual life within the Society and the promotion of understanding and consultation among Friends of all cultures, countries and languages.

All Yearly Meetings and similar organized groups of Friends throughout the world who wish to become affiliated with the Committee send representatives to its Triennial Meetings. A representative Interim Committee is appointed at each Triennial Meeting to assist staff and officers of the organization's world headquarters, located in London. In addition, Friends World Committee for Consultation has formed the following geographic sections, which have their own officers and staff to carry on regional concerns: African Section; European and Near East Section; and Section of the Americas (with the main office in Philadelphia, a mid-west office in Plainfield, Indiana, and a recently established office in Mexico City serving Latin America). Friends World

Committee for Consultation publishes material of interest to all Quakers, encourages intervisitation, holds conferences and promotes concerns such as Right Sharing of World Resources.

The Friends World Committee for Consultation sponsored the Quaker United Nations Program in 1947 when FWCC acquired the non-governmental consultative status necessary for its operation. During the years since then the AFSC has administered the New York Quaker U.N. Office. A unique role is played both at New York and at Geneva by the Quaker House close to the offices of the United Nations, where delegates from opposing factions can meet informally and search for ways to reconcile their differences. The Q.U.N.O. staff also provides information to Friends about the U.N. and arranges for Friends and others to attend seminars and U.N. sessions so that they may better understand the work of this world organization.

Founded in 1943 by a group of Friends gathered at Quaker Hill in Richmond, Indiana, the Friends Committee on National Legislation is the oldest religious lobby in Washington, D.C. The first executive secretary was E. Raymond Wilson, who spearheaded the work for two decades. While it has been recognized from the beginning that the FCNL does not speak for all Friends in the United States, it is equally clear that a majority of American Quakers believe in and support the ideas advanced by the Committee and its staff. Its policy-making body consists of appointees from worshipping bodies of Friends throughout the United States. It has long been and continues to be effective in presenting the viewpoints of Friends to members of Congress and to the executive branch of government.

Pendle Hill was founded in 1930 by members of the Society of Friends as a study center, incorporating study, work and recreation, in a unique community. It is concerned with the ongoing search for integrity and joy in being human--a search both individual and corporate, drawing upon the roots and raw materials of religious experience.

In 1977 there were 29 Yearly Meetings in the U.S. and Canada. These Yearly Meetings of Friends in North America are classified in five groups: Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting, Evangelical Friends Alliance, Conservative, and independent Yearly Meetings not related to the four associations. There is a small but significant category of Meetings which have no formal yearly meeting association.

5 Fox, op. cit., p. 65