Below is an item from the minutes of the meeting for worship with a concern for business, 9/23/2001, reviewing possible responses to 9/11.  One result was posting a list on our website which would be updated with further ideas, which follows below.

Attacks on the U.S.

The clerk said that this is a pivotal time for our Meeting, and that now, with our larger Meeting, we’re able to be a resource to the community.

The Business Meeting held a brainstorming session on how our Meeting could respond to this tragedy and the threat of military retaliation. Due to the large number of ideas and the short time available, Friends agreed to post the list of suggested actions, inviting interested Friends to join with others in those actions they felt led to. Ideas included:

• Holding a public meeting of healing and peace at Hebron House.
• Contacting the local Muslim community in order to support it. A related idea is to adopt Muslim businesses and to attend worship services.
• Organize a vigil to promote positive ways to deal with a response. All Howard County churches should be invited, and it should take place in a public place at a highly-visible time.
• Holding a workshop on waging peace with other congregations.
• A letter to the editor of local newspapers by the clerk of the Meeting.
• Helping the children of the meeting to deal with the tragedy. Ideas: Meeting with adults; poster-making or letter-writing session; or within the First-Day School format
• Provide a place to have a wall of questions, with space for answers.
• Putting into the Silent Announcements that each at 7:30 p.m. each Thursday, Sandy Spring Meeting holds a mid-week worship service that one can attend should one wish
• A committee to coach conscientious objectors
• Making a Peace Banner “Pray for Peace”
• Writing a commendation for Representative Barbara Lee, who voted against giving President Bush the approval to lead a war effort.

Actions approved included:

Bob Rhudy will write a letter to the editor, to be signed by the Clerk of the Meeting, regarding our response.

Putting into Silent Announcements a note about Sandy Spring’s Thurs.service

Susan Rose will order the publication on conscientious objection for use by the meeting or those who contact us for information. Bob Rhudy and Jerry Girbach will work on this activity.

Sherri Morgan will write a commendation for Barbara Lee and cc it to the Maryland Representatives.

It was noted that on September 11, the day of the attack, that there was a short silent worship at Hebron House, and also that the Advancement and Outreach committee has purchased an advertisement in the Columbia Flier to help the community to know about our presence.

from our former website:

Suggested Responses to the Events of Sep. 11 and its Aftermath

Proposed by Patapsco Friends at Meeting for Business, 9/23/01

Friends are invited to join with others who have expressed an interest in the activities below to plan concerted action. Friends are encouraged strongly to consult with other Friends, either individually or in collaboration with existing committees when developing actions that speak for the meeting as a whole. Please feel free to add additional ideas to the list below, along with your name as a contact.

• Hold called Meetings for Healing–at least some to be advertised to the wider community (Eliz. Saria–was volunteered)(in process)
• Place an announcement about the Meeting in the Columbia Flier. Proposed wording: “Silence. Simplicity. Acceptance. Action.” (A&O Committee)(in process)
• Reach out to the local Muslim community and find ways we can learn more about Islam, offer support to Muslim businesses (adopt a business?), worship together(?) (Eliz. Saria)
• Coordinate an interfaith vigil to promote positive, peaceful responses to Sep. 11 attacks (maybe at the lake side or some very visible location?)(Sherri Morgan, Ramona Buck. Resource: Emma Byrne)(beginning)
• Offer a workshop or conference on “Waging Peace.”
• Send a letter to the editor from the meeting (Bob Rhudy, Sherri Morgan, Resource: Jean Leslie)(Done)
• Teaching peace to children in the meeting (a special meeting; in First Day School; a letter writing activity to the firefighters)
• Offering mid-week meetings for worship (place announcements about Sandy Spring and Sheppard -Pratt) (Sherri Morgan)(partly done)
• Help the children of the meeting develop a better understanding of current events to allay their fears and assist them in developing a personal, age-appropriate response (one suggestion was to put up paper on the walls for children to write their questions–there was not consensus as to this specific action)
• Make/purchase/display a peace banner (Sherri Morgan)
• Provide materials about conscientious objection and decisions about enlisting in the military (Susan Rose was volunteered; Sherri Morgan, others?)
• Send a letter of commendation to Barbara Lee (the only member of congress to vote against President Bush’s request for unprecedented powers to take aggressive action against the perpetrators of Sep. 11) with copies to Maryland’s senators and our representative (in process)

Friends Worship Group of Howard County
(Under the care of Sandy Spring Friends Monthly Meeting)

Mt. Hebron House, 2331 Mt. Hebron Drive, Ellicott City, MD
Clerk: Susan Rose • 5455 Wingborne Court • Columbia MD 21045
410 730-2230 • [email protected]

February 17, 1998

Testimony before the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee
Senate Joint Resolution 3
International Ban on Antipersonnel Land Mines

POSITION: SUPPORT Senate Joint Resolution 3

I thank the Chair and Members of the Committee for this opportunity to testify before you today. My name is Jan Schmidt, and I am co-clerk of the Peace and Social Justice Committee of the Friends Worship Group of Howard County of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers.

From its beginning the Society of Friends has held that preparation for war and the use of its instruments are contrary to the life and spirit of Christ. For 350 years Quakers have given their active support to efforts that substisupport to efforts that substitute cooperation and justice for force.

In this spirit, our Friends Meeting strongly supports international efforts to ban the manufacture, stockpiling, transfer, sale, and use of antipersonnel land mines. We know that antipersonnel landmines kill and maim thousands of men, women and children each year. Many of these land mines were deployed in wars long over and yet today, as we sit here, innocent civilian lives will be destroyed in any or all of the 64 or more nations where unmarked landmines are hidden.

In addition to the death or maiming of innocents, landmines create economic havoc on these developing nations. Farmers cannot safely plant crops, refugees are stranded in unfamiliar places, hospitals are unable to afford adequate care for the victims, and the cost required to clear the landmines add untenable economic burdens on these struggling economies.

For more than 25 years, the United States has been a major manufacturer and exporter of antipersonnel landmines. The United States economy is strong. It does not need to continue the production of antipersonnel land mines to maintain a strong economy. While we produce and export these weapons, we spend millions of taxpayer dollars on removing landmines and providing aid to victims of these terrible weapons in nations around the world.

Where is the United States leadership now? Nations across the world joined hands in Ottawa to take action to negotiate gotiate a ban on the production, exportation and use of antipersonnel land mines and the United States was not and is not now a full participant in this urgent activity. We pray that the United States government will take an active leadership role in the Ottawa Process and, without conditions, will join these other nations to end the manufacture, stockpiling, sale and use of all antipersonnel landmines.

We commend the sponsors of SJR 3 for this resolution and strongly urge a favorable report from the committee.