Care for the Planet: Toward a Quaker Story

Quaker beliefs have much to offer as the world faces the challenge of making radical change to reverse the environmental degradation caused by human behaviour.

Murray Short from Wellington Monthly Meeting offers his vision of a set of Building Blocks that could contribute to the creation of a new story to help humanity work towards healing our damaged planet.  

Quakers have always been active in social issues by challenging injustice, discrimination and the use of violence. This activism has been driven by commitment to the Quaker testimonies which were practical and outward responses to inward spiritual experiences over the years. Today while still active, Quakers seem to be reluctant to identify the spiritual basis of their motivation for action.  

The problem may be that traditional Christian language, imagery and stories that have been used to communicate beliefs, do not adequately express the modern-day perspective and alternatives are difficult to find. If Quaker beliefs do have something to offer, then we need to understand and convey them in currently used terms.

This tract seeks to explore the meanings that the Judeo-Christian creation story intended to convey and describes other stories that provide alternative ways to illustrate the same meanings.

From this, ‘building blocks’ toward a new Quaker story are identified. By expressing Quaker spiritual understandings and beliefs in contemporary terms. Such a modern story may help create a sense of renewed spiritual conviction.

Use the following link to read Care for the Planet: toward a Quaker Story