For some issues, we have truly been leaders, at
least among religious communities. We have been at the forefront of
acceptance and welcome for non-heterosexuality, though it still took
us longer than, we may think in hindsight, it might. I don't know
enough to say either way about the work of Elizabeth Fry, among
others, on prison welfare. But to take the example of slavery and
women's rights, two that Quakers are particularly proud of
(especially on the western side of the Atlantic), we shouldn't be so
proud of.
It's not that we were on the wrong side of
history. And it's not that we weren't ahead of a lot of other people.
It's that we had the call, delivered as usual by individual Friends,
and we resisted it.
