Issue 22-02-2013
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Quakers
I am a Quaker, it makes me proud! I’m not a faker, we are not loud.
Top stories
Gaza – what is the issue?
The issue concerning Gaza, for Quakers, is not: Are you pro-Palestine or pro-Israel? The question is: Are you supporting those people in the region who are committed to a vision of living together in respect, security and lawfulness – as good neighbours and joint stewards of the land entrusted to us?...
Speaking love and truth
In the discussions over our Society’s stance on the Palestine/Israel conflict, I have heard it said that the Quaker way in such conflicts is always to adopt a neutral position in relation to the parties and try to find the way to reconcile them. I think this is...
Innovation and testimony
Recently, while reading Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury, I learned of the conflicts with the testimonies that were endured by early Quaker family producers of chocolate. Sometimes an outcome was in accordance with the testimonies of Friends, sometimes not, especially as younger generations took over these companies, as world war...
Quaker Memorial on schedule
Work on the Quaker Service Memorial in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire is on schedule for the inauguration on 20 April. The Memorial commemorates the work of the Friends Ambulance Unit and Friends Relief Service between 1939 and 1948 and began as a concern during the first Quaker Week. The original...
Michael Hutchinson retires
Michael Hutchinson retires this week after nearly twenty-two years as assistant recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting. Many Friends around the country will know Michael in this role, which has mainly been about church governance. For several years he was also general secretary of Quaker Life.
All articles
Pilgrimage route confirmed
The route of the forthcoming Pilgrimage for Peace and Economic Justice has been confirmed. The Pilgrimage has been modelled on the successful carrying of the Olympic torch through Britain in 2012 and is organised by Hexham Quakers. It is being supported by Meeting for Sufferings and Quaker Peace & Social...
Plans for Australian Quaker Centre
Positive progress continues on the development of the Australian Quaker Centre at Silver Wattle. A property near Canberra, the capital of Australia, has been purchased thanks to over one hundred donations. A Quaker teaching ministry and curriculum is being developed.
Christian lobby group targets tax justice during Lent
A campaigning Christian charity has encouraged Christians to do no business with tax-dodging corporations, such as Amazon and Starbucks, for the duration of Lent.
Canadian Friends support treaty rights
The Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC), with several partner organisations, have released an open letter exposing the Canadian Department of Justice’s quiet campaign to erode the constitutional and legal status of Aboriginal and Treaty rights in Canada.
Faith in conflict
Coventry Cathedral is hosting an ecumenical conference: ‘Faith in Conflict: Finding better ways to handle conflict in the church’.
Islam and peace
It has never seemed likely to me that Islamic militants can be brought into the civilised fold by bullets. We are people of the Book and so are they. Until 9/11 there was a Muslim Peace Federation website. I would like to quote the extracts I downloaded at the time:
Refraction: Moving images on Palestine
The uneven relationship between Israel and Palestine is the theme for a powerful exhibition at a superb new gallery space, the P21 Gallery, just off London’s Euston Road, near Friends House. Refraction: Moving images on Palestine is art that attempts to come to terms with what is, for some,...
Eye - 22 February 2013
Sidcot centenarian celebrates Nancy Woodhead, a former Sidcot School pupil whose father died on the Titanic, recently celebrated her 100th birthday. Nancy was born eight months after her father, Frank Maybery, died on 15 April 1912 when the Titanic sank. He was on the Titanic to tie up business interests in Moose...
Letters - 22 February 2013
Quaker bank John Parkin (1 February) found the Quaker bank article (25 January) self-righteous. I’m afraid I agree, but there are many other issues raised by the article. The bank will use the ‘Sharia principle of sharing profits generated by the investment’ instead of charging interest. Although sometimes described as ‘sharing...