Friends Meeting of Washington

March 12, 2006

Our goal for Sunday morning was to check out the Quaker meeting in Washington DC, located just north of Dupont Circle, on Florida Avenue. We knew going in that there would be a dominant theme in the comments during the meeting. At the end of this week came the news confirming the death in Iraq of Tom Fox, an activist with Christian Peacemakers. On Saturday morning the front page of the Metro section for the Washington Post had a picture from his memorial service, noting that Tom Fox was a Quaker.

Toward the end of the meeting, which started out quietly, Tom Fox got a string of mentions. One man clarified that he had not personally known Fox, but had attended the memorial service yesterday and heard numerous people testify about his quiet demeanor and testimony for peace. A few minutes later another man stood up and mentioned that Fox had talked about how many people were willing to give their lives in war, but few for peace. And this made the same man praise Tom (he was referred to on first name basis throughout the meeting) as the embodiment of the verse from the Gospels in which Jesus says a person must lose his life in order to gain it. Not to be outdone, another man stood up and used yet another verse from the Gospels: “Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for the world.”

At the end of the meeting, when the time came for announcements, a man walked forward to read a printed version of a short biographical note written by Tom Fox before he left for Iraq. The man stood quietly in front of the congregation and in an even voice read through this short document.. edited for our sake and for that of future listeners/readers. The details of the story are not important.. and I would probably mangle them as badly as I did the verses from the Gospels in the last paragraph. More important is to grasp the fact that this Tom Fox was given reverential treatment throughout the meeting.

Quakers use the Civil Rights movement as a touchstone. In that movement many Quakers risked bodily harm to stand up for what they believed was right. But I am not convinced that Tom Fox’s presence in Iraq should be considered analogous. In the case of Civil Rights the presence of white activists beside black activists was a powerful tool for drawing the interest of our nation and for making a statement about equality. In other words, that courageous stand was useful within a particular cultural context. I have serious doubts that peace activists inside Iraq are helping the situation.. at least as things stand now. They appear to serve as moving targets for those who want to express various political hatreds.. in other words opportunities for hate and violence.

I appreciate, as always, the Quaker sense that giving one’s life for peace is worthwhile.. but I had trouble believing that this was a smart way to give one’s life.. And I guess I missed a hint of warning to others that no matter how beloved this Tom Fox.. his was not the best path.