deborahjross: (Default)
Deborah J. Ross ([personal profile] deborahjross) wrote2011-11-08 11:01 am
Entry tags:

On conscience, Quakers, and swearing oaths

From Quaker oaths:

In 2007, Marianne Kearney-Brown, a Quaker math teacher, got fired from her job at a university in California because every time she was asked to sign an oath of allegiance, she would cross out “swear” and put in “affirm.” She would also insert “nonviolently” before a clause “to support and defend the US and California constitutions against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” She was fired for insisting on the insertions. She brought the case to court and eventually a compromise was made, with the university issuing an apology and declaring, in writing, that “Signing the oath does not carry with it any obligation or requirement that public employees bear arms or otherwise engage in violence.” Kearney-Brown was rehired.

[identity profile] sardonicus.livejournal.com 2011-11-09 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Going to a Quaker boarding school, Scattergood Friends School, for my high school years was probably one of the more formative periods of my life. It was proof to me that you could live a moral and ethical life, but still be of this world. Bless their hearts.

[identity profile] deborahjross.livejournal.com 2011-11-09 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
It's hard to imagine being faithful to the testimonies of peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship without being involved actively in the world. I find the Quaker commitment to such issues a welcome antidote to the pervasive notion that in order to be "virtuous," you must cut off all ties to the rest of the human race (except perhaps for a few like-minded hermits) and deny all sensual pleasures.