“And this is the word of the Lord God to you all…be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them. Then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.” ~ George Fox

As Quakers, we witness to the dignity and worth of all persons before God. We repudiate and seek to remove discrimination based on gender, race, nationality, or class. We deplore the use of selfish ends to gain unfair advantage, and we urge political, economic, and social justice for all people. We consider civil order most just when conscience is free and religious faith uncoerced.

Learn more about NVFC involvement in:

Work against torture

written and approved at NVFC March 2008

We of North Valley Friends Church in Newberg, Oregon, wish to stand against the use of torture for any purpose. Torture by any means, whether direct or by proxy, is immoral.

Our witness against torture is not based on any political affiliation or on the laws or treaties of any nation. All humans are guided by a higher law. The Judeo-Christian scriptures teach that humans were created “in the image of God.”

Quakers bear testimony to “that of God” in every person. All of the world’s major value systems have articulated some version of the “Golden Rule”: people should not do to others what they would not have done to them. If an action would feel like torture if inflicted on us, we should not do it to someone else.

 
We agree with William Penn, the noted Quaker who once said, “A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it.”

Torture violates the basic human dignity that all religions recognize; it degrades victims, perpetrators, and the policy-makers and citizens of a nation whose agents use it.

 
We are concerned that language about torture has become dangerously imprecise. We urge our governing representatives to signal to our citizens and the world that America is committed to high standards of moral conduct—that an essential part of the security of our citizens is their moral integrity.

Immigration

Read the NVFC Minute on Immigration (2010)

American Friends Service Committee : Immigrants’ rights, brochures, real immigration stories, comment on current legislative policies.

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Sojourners – Christians for comprehensive immigration reform

Poverty

Sojourners – Vote out poverty