Issue 26-09-2014
Featured story
Thought for the Week: God is One and God is Many
A few weeks ago while I was sitting in Meeting for Worship, holding Gaza in the Light, I was struck by the thought that the part of the world which is the cradle of three monotheistic faiths – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – has so frequently been the centre of vicious, destructive...
Top stories
The cost of dying
As over 100,000 people struggle to pay for a funeral this year, an important message for everyone should be to do something to prepare, however small… As funeral poverty has increased fifty per cent in just three years, something must be done as a matter of urgency before more families are...
The Llandudno Conference
Six weeks after the start of the first world war, between 25-30 September 1914, a group of men and women, representing different Christian denominations, met in Llandudno in Wales. They had come to the Welsh town for a conference organised by some leading members of the Religious Society of Friends. The...
From the archive: The highest vision
Llandudno has sent us again on an old search – for the way of the Cross. A second-rate religion may do for less strenuous times, but the new demands ask more than we can give, and we go back to search for Jesus and see whether, after all, He will not...
Honouring the ‘bump’
What was it that impelled Friends with Jewish connections into gathering at Friends House for worship and reflection in the wake of Yearly Meeting Gathering and the statement on Gaza? It certainly wasn’t out of any desire to seek a justification for Israel’s actions. Like other Quakers, we...
Religious freedom in Norway
‘Religious freedom as seen from a minority perspective’ was the title of a seminar held at Stavanger in Norway on 3 September. The seminar was part of the celebration of the Norwegian constitution, which was adopted in 1814, as well as a celebration of 200 years of continuous Quaker presence in Norway.
All articles
Quakers march for climate change
Friends across Britain have helped draw attention to climate change ahead of this week’s UN Climate Summit in New York. More than fifty Quakers were among an estimated 40,000 marchers who came together in central London on Sunday 21 September, also International Day of Peace, to protest. The gathering was one...
Cadbury visit echoes Sibford history
Caring and respect were highlighted recently by Mark Cadbury as central to the atmosphere of a Quaker school. He made the remark on his first visit to Sibford School, where he was guest speaker at the school’s Evening of Celebration on 11 September. The annual event acknowledges the success of...
Requiem at Bootham
Bootham School’s director of music has written a requiem mass to commemorate the outbreak of the first world war. Deeds of Angels, by Paul Feehan, was premiered on Sunday 14 September at the school theatre. It was accompanied by the Bootham Sinfonia. Participants in the event came from all over...
Watford film remembers
Watford Friends have made a film remembering ‘those who defied the call to arms’ in the first world war. Watford’s Quiet Heroes: Resisting the Great War is the work of Chris Pettit and Simon Colbeck. Chris filmed and directed the documentary, while Simon was responsible for writing, research and...
Trident opposed in The Times
Quakers have joined with other faith communities in calling on the government to cancel the replacement of Trident. Juliet Prager, deputy recording clerk of Quakers in Britain, was among the signatories of a letter to The Times arguing that the abolition of nuclear weapons ‘would be a significant contribution to...
Divinely inspired
…the sudden uprush of elation, breath that catches me round my heart and under my armpits – this mix of gasp and joy, tenderness and wonderment – it comes unexpectedly, which is part of its beauty and strength – it comes with love, with awe, with compassion, it comes from so deep inside...
Eye - 26 September 2014
A pillar-prompted picnic The restoration of a pair of pillars at a Quaker burial ground in Wales was cause for celebration this summer. Friends from Meetings in South West Wales held a picnic to mark the completion of work at Sutton Friends’ Burial Ground, near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire. They met...
Letters - 26 September 2014
Barbarity or heroism? Everyone is deeply troubled by the rise of Islamic State, especially most Muslims in Britain, who will fear the reaction of some of our compatriots to the continuing barbarity they display. I want to congratulate David Amos (19 September) for his challenging response to the crisis. The pressing...