Our Witness
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Quaker Faith & Practice Founded in 1936, our Meeting is steeped in the deeply held Quaker “testimonies”of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Justice, and Sustainability. A Wide Welcome We seek to make our Meeting an inclusive and safe place that welcomes and affirms all of us in our beautiful and interwoven diversity. The Land on Which We Gather For their deep reverence of Mother Earth, Syracuse Friends acknowledge and give thanks for the Onondaga Nation, Fire Keepers of the Haudenosaunee and ancestral stewards of the land on which we now gather. We seek to strengthen relationships of respect and solidarity with the Indigenous peoples who continue to call this place home. Minutes of Conscience A minute of conscience is a public statement of our Meeting’s concern or action regarding a particular social issue. It is a spiritually grounded position, around which our Meeting has found unity after a deliberate process of communal discernment and silent reflection. |
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Quakers Discern Genocide Is Occurring in Gaza On September 21, 2025, Syracuse Friends Meeting endorsed a statement on genocide in Gaza signed by the American Friends Service Committee, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker United Nations Office, and other Quaker organizations and Meetings. Read the statement and a list of endorsers here. Government Intrusion into Houses of Worship & Harassment of Immigrants The Syracuse Friends Meeting supports New York Yearly Meeting in its lawsuit seeking to halt the new federal policy of allowing U.S. Department of Homeland Security intrusions in and around houses of worship. We hold in the Light those who have brought this lawsuit and are grateful to them for acting with clarity, courage, and conviction. As Quakers, we firmly believe that all people express divine light. Wherever they choose to worship is a sacred space, beyond the trespass or interference of governments. All such intrusions disrupt worship and instill fear in those seeking to worship. We abhor our government’s mistreatment and harassment of immigrants and reject its attempts to expand such behavior into houses of worship. We stand on our long-held Quaker faith and practice: to offer welcome; to act with compassion; to stand with the persecuted; to work for peace. This is our testimony to the world. —March 9, 2025 Israel & Gaza The Syracuse Friends Meeting is a faith community steeped in the tradition of peacemaking. We are a part of the relief work in Gaza through our national organization the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). AFSC established the first refugee camps in Gaza in 1949 and continues work there to this day. The Quakers have had a school in Ramallah on the West Bank for 150 years. With these deep roots of respect for everyone in Israel and Gaza, we are overwhelmed with sadness at the loss of life on October 7 and every day thereafter. The situation is dire. We call on communities of faith everywhere, people of good heart, and those committed to ending war and violence in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel to join us in taking immediate action:
We call on the President and our members of Congress to join this work. In this time of enormous suffering, we say that there can be a different future, a future free from injustice and violence. It will require every creative and determined act for peace that we can imagine. For the sake of the children—the future of the world—let us work together for peace. —December 10, 2023 |