Minutes

Minute of Support for Lawsuit: PYM et.al. vs Department of Homeland Security (Approved February 9, 2025)

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The Olympia Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) stands in support of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and the individual monthly meetings in their 2025 lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security. As Quakers, we affirm that freedom to exercise religion is a crucial right of all people that is enshrined in the United States Constitution.

For decades, United States policy has prevented immigration enforcement, including arrests, investigations, and surveillance at sensitive places including houses of worship. The Trump-Vance administration’s new policy allows the government to conduct immigration enforcement in these areas. Fear of government enforcement may deter worshippers from attending services, infringing on their right to associate for religious exercise.

Quakers believe that a diversity of voices is essential to our spiritual experience and have a historic commitment to peace. When the government takes actions that reduce access to worship and potentially allows a violent encounter within a place of worship, it interferes with our ability to participate in our faith.

Minute Endorsing AFSC’s A different future is possible: Quaker organizations share a vision for peace in Palestine and Israel (Approved June 9, 2024)

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Olympia Friends Meeting has endorsed AFSC’s A different future is possible: Quaker organizations share a vision for peace in Palestine and Israel. (Also here in PDF format.)

We ask that our Members, Attenders and F/friends read it, consider it, and take the actions in it to support peace.

Minute of Inclusion – Welcoming Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People (Approved May 13, 2018)

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We welcome all to share in worship and the activities of our common life. As part of our evolving struggle to live our testimony of equality, Olympia Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends minutes our commitment to being an open and affirming, safe and nurturing place for everyone to live fully that which the Spirit is leading them to be.

Olympia Monthly Meeting seeks to honor the gender identity and expression of each person, as understood by that person. We extend our loving care to people of all genders, including, but not limited to those who identify as: transgender, genderqueer, gender-fluid, agender, gender non-conforming, two-spirit, women, men, intersex persons, and their families and friends.

While we are at many different places in our understanding and comfort, we recognize that when we embrace the Light within the full spectrum of gender identities of our Meeting, our worship deepens and our community is enriched.

We will continue to educate ourselves, each other, and our communities and take appropriate action to bring about a more equal world.

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Minute of Inclusion – Welcoming Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People (Approved May 13, 2018) (PDF format)

Addressing Systemic Racism (Minute approved on October 9, 2016)

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Olympia Monthly Meeting acknowledges and embraces the need to address systemic/institutional racism both within our OMM community and the wider community.  To take action on this concern, we agree that we will do the following:

  1. Members and attenders of the Olympia Monthly Meeting will make time in our lives to make a real contribution to an ongoing effort to reverse systemic racism and to promote personal transformation concerning our own racism.
  2. As a first step, we will form a subcommittee on racism under the care of our Peace and Social Justice Committee to help structure and organize the work. We encourage broad participation in the subcommittee among all members and attenders. We ask this subcommittee to help us hold ourselves accountable to contributing to those changes that we believe our Testimony and Discipline require of us. This work will be reviewed after one year to determine any required next steps or changes in structure.
  3. When planning and pacing this work, we ask the subcommittee to consider the following:

i. How can we increase our experience of the “light of truth” by working with African-Americans, Native Americans, and other people of color to develop an increased individual and corporate understanding of systemic racism?

ii. How do we identify traditions and behaviors that could make our society and monthly meetings less inviting to people who have been harmed by systemic racism? How do we increase our awareness and sensitivity to better welcome these individuals and their families or descendants when they are led to join us?

iii. What ways exist to celebrate our neighbors by meeting with them where they live, work, worship, and play? Consideration of African-American activist and scholar Ron Daniels’ statement that the “goal … is not so much integration and organization, at least from the vantage of most African Americans. It is a question of equity and parity,” and his discussion of “coerced internalization of the dominating, or white culture” also encourages us to look for ways to meet with neighbors where they are most at home.

iv. What are other Friends organizations doing to contribute to all the above work? What opportunities exist for us to contribute to these efforts?

The Minute was Accepted.
10/09/2016
Olympia, WA