About the September 11 attack, Bruce Birchard wrote:

We can support appropriate international efforts to bring those who planned this terrible attack to justice under international law, but we do not support bombing and military strikes by the United States. We certainly join in grieving for and supporting the victims of all these attacks. And we should continue to witness publicly to our understanding of God's active, loving and transforming presence in the world. This will involve us in exploring and advocating major changes in U.S. foreign policies based upon a recognition of our shared condition as children of God. Our tremendously wealthy and powerful nation must share its material and human resources with others in ways that relieve suffering and promote compassionate justice.

I have heard from many Friends about actions that meetings have taken to pray for and support the victims and their families, to reach out to Muslim and Arab communities, and to witness against war and for nonviolent and peace-building actions by our nation and its allies. Once again, we are challenged to live out our peace testimony, and to understand it in light of what is happening in our own time. Bruce Birchard Friends General Conference Fall 2001