William Penn Statue atop of City Hall in Philadelphia. (Getty Images)
By Christopher Fee
I belong to a tiny Quaker Meeting in the rolling hills of South Central Pennsylvania just north of Gettysburg. Our meeting house is surrounded by acres upon acres of apple orchards, and our community is an agricultural one. While no place is perfect, there is plenty here to love, and not least amongst all that I love here are our hardworking and helpful neighbors, many of whom are now terrified that they might be deported or might lose their birthright citizenship. Some may even fear “to send their children to school.”
Our bucolic existence has been rocked to its very core by policies generated just a hundred miles away in the White House. These policies have little foundation in knowledge of who produces the food in this country, what the realities of immigration today entail, or of who and what actually Made America Great in the first place.
According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are estimated to make up around 9.7% of the state’s total workforce, according to 2022 data. The immigration advocacy group says Pennsylvania is home to an estimated 155,000 undocumented migrants, with some 30,000 of them approximately working in the state’s agricultural sector, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
Moreover, the policies and practices of the current administration fly in the face of the history of my religious community, which is based upon universal love, speaking truth at all costs and acting with integrity. Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends, founded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but we form a tiny minority here or anywhere. Few we may be, but “right is right, even if everyone is against it,” as William Penn is reported to have said.
Traditional Quaker values may seem quaint to some, but all Pennsylvanians should recognize that our commonwealth was founded upon them.
Working with other Faith traditions, Quakers have filed suit against a change in ICE procedures that would allow the agency to enact immigration raids in our Houses of Worship, and a judge has recently blocked this change of policy. The administration’s new policy, if allowed to stand, would violate three core aspects of our beliefs. These include treating all who enter a meeting house as equal in the eyes of God; following the leadings of our faith and and practice by offering sanctuary and sustenance to the persecuted and oppressed without question; and forbidding weapons in a space dedicated to peace and love.
Quakers have long been at the forefront of social movements against slavery, for equal rights and against hatred and violence. These are not simply political positions for practicing Quakers, however. These are core spiritual tenets that lie at the heart of our faith community, of our individual identities as Quakers, and of our ability to see that of God in each and every one of our neighbors, regardless of any other factors.
Radical love is fundamental to Quaker faith and practice. George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, taught us to “walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.”
Quakers therefore must endeavor to love all, even those with whom we disagree, and even those who might be incited to hateful speech or acts by these very words. Quakers have always been most especially concerned, however, with showering love upon those who, in the terms of Matthew 25:35-36, lack food, drink, or shelter, or who are ill or imprisoned. Moreover, we very much take to heart the lesson of Leviticus 19:33-34 regarding accepting immigrants. Quakers especially embrace the notion that no one is “foreign” to us, for, in the words of early Quaker and ardent abolitionist John Woolman, “God’s love is universal.”
Furthermore, it is a crucial tenet of Quakerism to speak truth, and notably in the current context where hatred against our neighbors is being stoked by fear, especially as “significant numbers of Americans believe false and misleading claims about immigration — particularly those who get their news from Fox and conservative outlets.”
In this regard, we especially must speak truth to power, confronting courageously and in plain words those in authority who cultivate and nurture harmful misconceptions. As Bayard Rustin, “a Black Quaker and the principal organizer of the March on Washington,” put it in 1942, “the primary social function of the religious society of friends is to ‘speak the truth to power.’” When it comes to immigration, at best “the White House’s data use is misleading.” At worst, it stokes hate and rationalizes aggressive and unnecessary policies.
The world can seem a terrifying and hate-filled place, but that is no excuse to wreak terror and spew vitriol. Quakers don’t teach our children not to feel grief and sorrow at all the terrible things going on in the world; rather, we expect them to step up to such challenges and to try to alleviate them. Such active love is our entire reason for being. Quakers see our mission precisely as the imperative to provide protection and relief to the most vulnerable at the worst moments of conflict and despair. We are committed to continuing this work. We invite all Pennsylvanians to join us in our task of Making America Love Again by repudiating hate and offering love, seeing that of God where some might see only reflections of their own worst fears.
Christopher Fee is a member and former clerk of Menallen Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and currently serves as co-clerk of the Northeast Regional Group of the American Friends Service Committee. Fee is also the Graeff Professor of English at Gettysburg College, where he is a member of the Eisenhower Institute Campus Advisory Council.