From the archive: With hearts and minds prepared…
Janet Scott writes about a revision, a trial and moves towards equality
As Yearly Meeting 1918 approached, several subjects were on the minds of Friends. The propositions relating to ‘War and the Social Order’ (now eight rather than the previous seven) were due to return to the Meeting. A ‘Message to all Friends’ from the War and Social Order Committee appeared in the Friend on 22 February and stated:
…the doctrine of the Inward Light should teach us a new scale of human values. Class distinctions, and the man-made barriers which divide us from one another, will all be lost sight of in the realisation of the ties which bind us all as brothers. False standards, too, of wealth, material power and domination, will be swept away by the incoming tide of life… we cannot rest content with any system which allows men to be worn down by poverty, by bad conditions and by the relentless struggle for existence… We must seek for a way of life which shall liberate ourselves and others from this bondage… We must work out our spiritual beliefs in our material affairs.
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