Speaking love and truth

John Lampen believes peacemaking must involve confronting injustice

by John Lampen 22nd February 2013

In the discussions over our Society’s stance on the Palestine/Israel conflict, I have heard it said that the Quaker way in such conflicts is always to adopt a neutral position in relation to the parties and try to find the way to reconcile them. I think this is misleading, and I will try to explain why.  The imperative for the earliest Friends was to publish the Truth, which they did in a torrent of speeches and pamphlets. This confrontational approach probably did very little to change the minds of their opponents, even though they often qualified their abuse with a phrase such as, ‘This is the love of the Lord God to thee…’