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March 29: A Quaker Trans Day of Visibility Gathering

Martin Kelley — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 18:24:12 +0000

Ten authors featured in the March 2026 Friends Journal special issue on gender and sexual identities join trans and nonbinary moderators for facilitated conversation. Free and both online at at Swarthmore College. Learn more here.

I wrote the introductory column for this issue. Here’s a taste:

am grateful that both our religious society and wider culture have developed a greater understanding of the diversity of gender expressions. I appreciate an expanded vocabulary with which to include people. (Only ten years ago the singular “they” was still cautioned against in the Friends Journal style guide!) Change can be confusing and bewildering, but open conversations between Friends one-on-one and in settings like a clearness committee can help us understand one another in our longing to be known and loved.

You can read the whole issue on Friends Journal.

A Quaker Trans Day of Visibility Gathering: A free online & in person event for Friends

Indigenous and Quaker Both

Martin Kelley — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 01:24:00 +0000

There’s often an implied us-them dichotomy when Quakers talk about Indigenous Peoples so I’m fascinated by communities that are both. My colleague Sharlee DiMenichi wrote about the handful of monthly meetings—and an entire yearly meeting—in the U.S. that are majority Indigenous.

I love complicated identities like this. There’s a lot of discernment that goes on about how to incorporate Indigenous and Quaker elements into life. For many, it seems a surprisingly natural fit. This is true elsewhere, in parts of Africa and South America, where missionary Quakers’ beliefs meshed with the belief systems of pre-colonial ethnic groups, allowing an easy transition.

Also of interest is that these meetings are all Christian, which demographers tell us is the norm for Native Americans today.¹ Decolonialism means something very different for those who are committed to hold on to Christianity.

Indigenous and Quaker Both

Explore how Native Quaker communities hold onto their unique culture while practicing Christ-centered worship cultural commonalities, and shared…

Friends Journal

Michael Moore explains how deal with Lies and Lying Liars

Martin Kelley — Fri, 26 Sep 2003 13:17:51 +0000

Filmmaker Michael Moore’s satiric documentary on gun ownership in the United States is out on video and DVD now. “Bowling for Columbine” is pure Moore: he goes around the country talking with gun owners and gun victims but also ties it all in with a culture of militarism and violence.
Not unpredictably, the pro-gun lobbies have campaigned against the movie and have tried to discredit it. In the last month or so, plenty of blogs and even some of the cable news networks have been full of exposes of the filmmaker’s supposed deceits. “Now Moore response to his critics”:http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/
If you haven’t seen “Bowling for Columbine” go right out to your video store and do. Moore is one of the best satirists in the country today. He combines humor with horror and produces work that is always compelling to watch.