Ever Vigilant and Living Our Quaker Testimonies
The annual Hiroshima Day Vigil organized by Doylestown Friends Meeting took place on August 9, 2025, and focused on commemorating the 80th anniversary of the two bombs dropped on Japan, with August 9th memorializing the Nagasaki bombing. Doylestown Friends, joined by several Buckingham Friends, as well as by community members who learned of the event in local media, aimed to inform passersby of the ever-present threat of nuclear devastation.
Vigil participants carried banners, handed out paper peace cranes to children and information cards to adults, and engaged in meaningful conversation with shoppers attending the nearby farmer’s market. The information cards asked the question, “What Can I Do?” and included a QR code that connected to the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) website where community members could petition their Congress members to support nuclear de-escalation.
With recent headlines dominated by violence and conflict among nuclear powers such as the United States, Israel, Russia, India, and Pakistan, Quakers can live their testimonies by reminding our communities of the horrors of warfare and nuclear weaponry.