FALL 2001
Mickleton MM
[The following letter to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Abolish Nuclear Weapons Working Group and the attached minute concerning National Missile Defense were presented to the June Salem Quarterly Meeting—Ed.]To: Abolish Nuclear Weapons Working Group
cc: PYM Standing Committee on Peace and Concerns; Clerk, Salem Quarterly Meeting; Clerk, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
re: “Urgent Appeal Regarding National Ballistic Missile Defense System”As you can see from our “Minute of Concern Regarding National Missile Defense,” Mickleton Monthly Meeting has received the Working Group’s appeal of 20 January 2001, and responded. However, as we considered the appeal, we quickly knew that NMD is just one threat among many to peace, one ill among many in our body politic. In our minute, we allude to this by challenging not the technicalities of NMD but the fundamental philosophy.
Yet our concern remains that efforts such as the appeal regarding NMD amount to focusing on just one tree in a burning forest. We wonder how best to address the full forest, getting a holistic sense of Friends’ concerns about current American and global society and gleaning what light we may shed on these concerns. It would seem impractical that we could hold one grand session of Yearly Meeting in which Friends would unite on a complete social agenda. If nothing else, timeliness would be a challenge. However, we might undertake an assemblage of minutes and expressions of concerns from our local meetings and working groups, not seeking unity but rather an appreciation of the forest—grasping its diversity and themes, developing a sense of the richness of our collective conscience.
Such a collection could inspire further insight and work, perhaps even collaboration, among meetings. It could provide “touch points” for non-Friends to join our efforts and perhaps eventually to join us. It could identify elements of common ground with other groups working toward peace and social justice. It would take a giant step toward softening the absolutism of PYM official positions, which uphold our respect for seeking unity within our ranks at the cost of preventing us from joining with outsiders whose views do not totally agree with all of our members.
The physical nature of such a collection is not clear. It might be a centralized website or a network of sites, a master binder at Friends Center or a distribution of binders in monthly meetings, a standing set of workshops during annual sessions of Yearly Meeting or occasional called sessions. But whatever form (or forms) it takes, it should have certain characteristics:
- It should be publicly accessible by Friends and non-Friends.
- It should be open to all inputs, without editing.
- It should focus on developed positions seasoned by meetings or comparable Quaker bodies, not spontaneous comments by individuals.
- It should be well organized, to facilitate use.
- It should be continually updated and current.
This obviously is not a fully developed concept, but rather an enticing idea. At this point, we invite your consideration, to see whether you share the underlying concern and perhaps may develop this or another solution. Your replies would be most welcome.
For Peace & Outreach Committee, Mickleton Monthly Meeting
Mario Cavallini, committee clerk
March 2001
Minute of Concern Regarding National Missile Defense
The members of Mickleton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) oppose the continued development of National Missile Defense (also known as “Ballistic Missile Defense” or “Star Wars”) and the militaristic philosophy it represents.
By building a destabilizing weapons system that violates international agreements and undermines the faith that nations may trust an American “yes” to remain “yes,” we risk fostering confusion, anxiety, distrust, fear and hostility among other nations. Rather than taking our role as part of the global community, we are building fortress walls and preparing to outfight any conceivable alliance of opponents. Such precautions can only succeed in creating enemy alliances out of countries that rnight otherwise be trading partners, cooperative third-parties, and future friends.
We urge that National Missile Defense be shut down and abandoned. Instead, let us by negotiation and example build toward disarmament and the settlement of international disputes by treaty and law, rather than by war and threat of war.
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