Let your first loyalty be to God’s purposes
Quaker Advices say: ”Respect the laws of the state but let your first loyalty be to God’s purposes. If you feel impelled by strong conviction to break the law, search your conscience deeply. Ask your meeting for the prayerful support which will give you strength as a right way becomes clear.”
Jesus also challenged the law in Matthew 12, 11-12 and Luke 6, 5-9 saying that it was right to save your sheep which fell into a well, or to heal the sick on the Sabbath, which were acts forbidden by the religious authorities.
In the 17th century, Quakers were used to our meeting houses being broken into and Friends arrested for breaking the laws against meeting together in worship. Even when the meeting house at Horselydown was completely destroyed, they continued to meet in the ruins, as portrayed in a panel of the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal.
Sometimes human-made laws need challenging and when an issue is right, such as protesting against genocide in Gaza or drawing our attention to the dangers of climate change, breaking the law may be necessary in order to bring about change. It is not done lightly or with violence and may be at some personal cost.
If we have searched our consciences and are upheld in our convictions by the worshipping group, we may be clear that we must take action to help move society in a better direction, and to support our politicians to think afresh.
Meg Hill, Preston Patrick Quaker Meeting