Friends’ peace testimony calls us to live in the virtue that takes away the occasion of all wars, and to work for justice as the ground of lasting peace. This page gathers resources for monthly meetings, worship groups, and individual Friends doing that work in Lake Erie Yearly Meeting.

• LEYM’s Peace & Justice Committee
• Tools for your meeting’s peace & justice work
• Minutes of conscience
• Quaker Peacemaker posters
• From our archive

LEYM’s Peace & Justice Committee

After a hiatus, the Peace & Justice Committee became active again at the 2024 Annual Meeting. It has taken as its main work supporting the peace and justice efforts of our monthly meetings and worship groups, rather than being one more committee doing the work alone. The committee:

• surveyed meetings about their peace and social concerns work, and in 2025 offered a two-part online workshop series based on what they heard (see below);
• sends meetings reminders of the International Day of Peace (September 21) and Human Rights Day (December 10), so they can plan observances;
• shares news of Friends Peace Teams, AFSC, and FCNL opportunities, and encourages meetings to consider the Alternatives to Violence Project.

Committee meetings are open to any Friend, and the committee welcomes new members. Each monthly meeting is also encouraged to name a representative. To get involved, contact the committee clerk (see the current Nominations Slate).

Tools for Your Meeting’s Peace & Justice Work

• Stimulating Do-able Justice and Peace Work in Our Monthly Meetings (2025). Recordings, slides, and a worksheet from two sessions: forming and sustaining a peace and justice committee without “overwhelm and burnout,” and finding unity on priorities.
• Peace Testimony History Timeline: an interactive timeline of key moments in Friends’ witness for peace.
• Peace, Justice & Earthcare Interest Groups: past forums and workshops, with slides.
• Navigating Conflict in Quaker Meetings: an interactive guide to levels of conflict in a meeting and Quakerly responses.
• Toolkit for Responding to Violent Conflicts (PDF), Canadian Friends Service Committee.
• Engaging with Conflict and Challenging Hate, a toolkit from Quakers in Britain.

For care of the earth as part of our witness, see Resources for Earthcare. For Quaker peace and service organizations, see Links to Outside Quaker Resources.

Minutes of Conscience

These minutes were approved by Lake Erie Yearly Meeting or by our monthly meetings. Meetings may find them helpful when seasoning their own minutes, or when writing to elected officials and the media. They are grouped by concern, newest first. Has your meeting approved a minute of conscience? Please send a copy to the Digital Communications Facilitator to share here.

Immigrants and Refugees

• Minute of Concern on TPS and Haitians in Springfield, Oberlin Friends Meeting, September 19, 2026 (PDF)

Government, Public Service, and Economic Justice

• Minute on Service to Those Experiencing Poverty, Cleveland Friends Meeting, October 2025 (PDF)
• Minute on the Harms Caused by the Actions of our Current Governments, Kent Friends Meeting, June 15, 2025 (PDF)
• Minute Concerning Reductions in the Federal Workforce, Granville Friends Meeting, March 16, 2025 (PDF)
• LEYM Minute on Defense Spending, 2010 (PDF)

Racial Justice and Policing

• Minute on Ending Police Violence, Akron Friends Meeting, July 10, 2022 (PDF)
• Minute on Antiracism, Akron Friends Meeting, February 14, 2021 (PDF)
• Antiracism Minute, Pittsburgh Friends Meeting, August 9, 2020 (PDF)
• Blessed Are Those Who Protest, Detroit Friends Meeting, June 21, 2020 (PDF)
• Updated Statement, Red Cedar Friends Meeting, June 21, 2020 (PDF)
• Minute on Becoming an Anti-Racist Faith Community, Red Cedar Friends Meeting, June 14, 2020 (PDF)
• Minute on Anti-Racism, Broadmead Friends Meeting, June 14, 2020 (PDF)
• Minute on Responding to Systemic Racism and Police Violence, North Columbus Meeting of Friends, June 14, 2020 (PDF)

The Death Penalty

• Minute on Abolition of the Death Penalty, Akron Friends Meeting, April 16, 2023 (PDF)
• LEYM Minute on Abolition of the Death Penalty, 2007 (PDF)

War, Weapons, and Violence

• Minute Responding to Gun Violence in Our Society, Pittsburgh Friends Meeting, November 2018 (DOCX)
• LEYM Minute on Banning Nuclear Weapons, 2018 (PDF)
• LEYM Minute Against Torture, 2011 (DOC)
• Minute on the National Religious Campaign Against Torture Statement of Conscience, 2008 (DOCX)
• LEYM Minute on the US/Iraqi Security Agreement, 2008 (DOC)

Israel and Palestine

• LEYM Minute on not investing in companies complicit with Israel’s occupation of Palestine, 2017 (PDF)
• LEYM Minute on Israel-Palestine, 2013 (DOCX)

Indigenous Rights

• Minute in Support of the Standing Rock Sioux, Oberlin Friends Meeting, October 19, 2016 (PDF)
• Minute in Support of the Standing Rock Sioux, Athens Friends Meeting, October 9, 2016 (PDF)

Foundations

• LEYM Statement of Religious Concern, 1984 (DOCX)

Quaker Peacemaker Posters

A series of posters introducing Friends whose lives and work have shaped peacemaking and conflict resolution. They are free to print and share with a First Day School class, a meetinghouse wall, or a workshop. New posters are being added to the series.

Download the full poster set (PDF). Created by Bill Warters and shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

From Our Archive

Earlier letters from LEYM Friends, kept here for the historical record:

• Open Letter to Hillary Clinton on Israel/Palestine, May 23, 2016, from the Palestine Israel Action Group, a subcommittee of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Ann Arbor Friends Meeting (web page)
• LEYM Open Letter to Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain on Israel/Palestine, 2008 (DOC)

Updated September 2026.