Issue 15-01-2010
Featured story
Alternatives to violence work in Ukraine
Last autumn the international board of Friends House Moscow (Dom Druzei) met in Odessa on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine. We chose this venue for our annual meeting so that we could meet the facilitators who run the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) in Ukraine and hear about their...
Top stories
Not a job, more a way of life
In 1993 I joined a small group to find a new warden for my Meeting. As deliberations over the contract, job description and advertisement in the Friend progressed, I began to feel that it might suit me. I resigned from the group and applied! It had never entered my head to...
When Quakers began to shake
I had visited the Shaker Museum at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, several times before, when staying with my brother who lives nearby. On those occasions I had been a regular tourist, walking around the grounds and the twenty-seven buildings of the original 260 at Shakertown (as this particular community of more than 500...
Listening, or waiting to speak?
Come and share with me four different scenarios. In the first I’m at a seminar, here by invitation because the subject is relevant to our research interests. As we proceed through the Powerpoint presentation, I notice that the man on one side of me is checking his emails:...
Poverty breakdown
With the next general election set to be the first in which poverty and what to do about it is a matter of open disagreement between the political parties, the New Policy Institute’s new annual Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report offers both detailed evidence and an interpretation of...
Religious civil partnership proposal put forward
Religious groups including Quakers could be allowed to carry out civil partnerships for same-sex couples, if an attempt to change the law is successful. The proposal appears in an amendment to the Equality Bill currently going through Parliament. No religious element has been allowed in civil partnership ceremonies...
All articles
Sacred heart
Anyone who has experienced semana santa (holy week) in Spain will appreciate the extraordinarily dramatic way in which the story of the Passion of Christ is depicted in colourful processions through the streets. Dating back to the sixteenth century, they are at there most Catholically extravagant in Andalusia – especially...
Venice: a city marked by genius
Legend has it that saint Mark was once shipwrecked upon an island in the Venetian lagoon. An angel came to him saying: ‘Peace be with thee, O Mark, my evangelist’, whereupon the angel predicted that on this very spot would arise the most beautiful city the world would see. Cynics...
Letters - 15 January 2010
Same sex marriage developments
The introduction of an amendment to the UK Equality Bill provides an opportunity for Quakers to show our support for same sex marriage. We should not squander it. The amendment, which would allow religious organisations to host civil partnerships, will surely be challenged as a liberal attack against religious values....
Trade union wants better protection for God’s workers
The treatment of staff in religious organisations is under the spotlight, following an anti-bullying campaign launched by a trade union representing thousands of ministers and priests. In addition, Church Action on Poverty (CAP) says that many faith groups are still failing to pay a living wage. Unite, Britain’s...
Weapons company joins 10:10 coalition to reduce emissions
An arms company faced derision and criticism after presenting itself as ethical by signing up to the 10:10 climate change campaign last year. MBDA Systems have pledged to cut their carbon emissions by ten per cent during 2010. The 10:10 pledge has been signed by a wide range of organisations, including businesses,...
Surprise, surprise – sceptical columnist attracted to Quakers
Guardian columnist Jessica Reed has surprised her readers by expressing a strong attraction to Quakerism – despite having been a longstanding atheist. It seems that the Quaker Quest course in Friends House had a profound effect on her. Writing on the newspaper’s website last week, she described how her...
New faces at the Friend
The trustees of the Friend are pleased to announce the appointment of Ian Kirk-Smith of Lisburn Meeting, Ireland Yearly Meeting, as our new editor, to take over on the retirement of Judy Kirby in early summer. Ian is a committed Friend who has considerable experience in journalism and broadcasting and...