Letters - 5 August 2016
From Quaker faith & practice to politics
Quaker faith & practice
Present-day members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain have all joined knowing that Quaker faith & practice (sub-titled the Book of Christian Discipline) or its predecessors, entitled Christian Faith and Practice in the Experience of the Religious Society of Friends, were the recognised handbooks by which Friends were guided as to the way in which the Society developed and the understandings of its members.
The use of the word ‘discipline’ implies, as the introduction to the present edition makes clear, both order and discipleship. Are suggestions that the book should be revised due to loss of respect for that order or loss of faith by the disciples? We think not.
We believe that people who had no intention of conforming to the order, nor felt any need to consider themselves disciples, have been accepted into membership in the expectation that they would grow into both. It seems to us that some have decided that they have no need for such conformity and, instead, re-interpreted words to suit their own perceptions.
Until Friends have been able to unite in a clear, Spirit-led, understanding of what Friends are, we feel our book of discipline should not be revised, otherwise we risk perpetuating a confusion that does no service either to the Society or others.
Peter & Daphne Copestake
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