Issue 16-09-2022
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Thought for the week: Tony Tucker has a truth ache
‘Keep company with those who seek the truth. Walk away from those who have found it’ – Václav Havel. We live in an age of half-truths and lies, often spoken in the cause of powerful factions and totalitarian societies. And these half-truths and lies are all-too-easily amplified by the confusing...
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The angels share: Abigail Maxwell visits the Greenbelt festival of arts, faith and justice
The Greenbelt festival is a liminal space – one of transitions and thresholds. We are closer to Heaven there.
Power redressing: Ann Floyd and Lee Taylor of QAIG
Members of Quaker Africa Interest Group (QAIG) welcome Britain Yearly Meeting’s (BYM) resolve to build on our decision to become an anti-racist church and look at ways to make meaningful reparation for historic failings. The issues have been referred to BYM trustees, to Meeting for Sufferings, and to Area...
Guiding stars: Voz Faragher on intersectionality
As Quakers we hold a commitment to peace and equality. When we look at racism, we do so through this prism. But some Friends see through this prism differently. The truth may be experienced in different ways.
Pick of the litter: Anne M Jones returns to Calais
At the refugee camp in Calais, eco damage motivates many of us. We, mainly women, want to take steps to limit it.
Friends make progress on Book of Discipline
Friends from the Book of Discipline Revision Committee (BDRC) gathered in Woodbrooke this summer for their first in-person meeting since 2020. The July gathering was the committee’s fourteenth. It has been working together online throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Quakers tell PM to focus on climate justice, peace and truth
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has written to the new prime minister Liz Truss urging her to focus on three priorities: climate justice and cost of living; peace; and truth and integrity in public life.
Anti-frackers vow to reintroduce Lancashire campaigns
Anti-fracking campaigners in Lancashire have said they will bring back protests if the government pushes ahead with plans to reintroduce fracking.
Friends hold vigils for Loss and Action Day
Quakers up and down the country are getting ready to hold vigils for the international Loss and Action Day – standing in solidarity with those living with the worst impacts of climate breakdown.
Quakers mix internationally for World Quaker Day
Friends have been encouraged to join international Friends for worship to celebrate this autumn’s World Quaker Day. The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) invited Friends everywhere to send or receive visitors from another Quaker community.
The Salt of the Earth, by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
This 2014 film, which chronicles the life’s work of the photographer Sebastião Salgado, is a hard watch. The camera is pitiless, presenting horrific images – corpses in Rwanda, skeletal bodies in the Sahel – but with deep humanity and empathy.
The Last Days, by Ali Millar
I’ve always found Jehovah’s Witnesses fascinating and, over the years, have come to know several reasonably well. But only one, Kevin our window cleaner, has ever been prepared to talk about faith. We’ve chatted about how he spends Saturdays knocking on doors, and how he remains cheerful,...
Recycling facility
What shall I do with this, the old lady asks, Offering a telephone. It still works. Not now, it doesn’t. He chucks it in a skip.
Letters - 16 September 2022
First converters It was good to read about our ‘equal marriage’ in the news pages of the Friend (19 August), but I would like to clarify that our marriage was converted from our 2008 civil partnership (CP). It was the first in a Quaker Meeting house in the country. Michael Booth came...