Issue 24-07-2015
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Justice and divine truth
As we have come to the end of Ramadhan, the end of the month of fasting for the world’s two billion Muslims, I want to reflect upon what it means to ordinary people, both Muslims and their non-Muslim neighbours. Most people will have heard that Muslims fast in Ramadhan,...
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Darkness of the soul
There are many references in Quaker faith & practice to the darkness that inhabits us when ill with clinical depression or in ‘the dark night of the soul’. I think that the one that speaks most to me is at 21.65: Art thou in the darkness? Mind it not, for if...
With a tender hand
On the cover, it is subtitled ‘a resource book for eldership and oversight’. In her Epilogue, the author calls it ‘a toolkit for discernment’. I would go further than both. I have read Zélie Gross’s With a tender hand three times now, twice from cover to cover, once...
Something especially Quaker
Friends have made vital contributions to the environmental movement. Canadian Quakers Irving and Dorothy Stowe were co-founders of Greenpeace. British Friends have been closely involved in organisations from the Green Party to the Transition movement. While individual Quakers, however, have been clear about their green leadings, corporately we have sometimes...
Science and God
‘Science is now pointing toward the existence of God’ was the title of a short article in The Times published earlier this year. The article was written by Keith Ward, regius professor of divinity emeritus at Oxford University and professorial research fellow at Heythrop College, London.
Quakers in Mosedale
During 2008 Mosedale Friends were increasingly concerned that the administrative burden on our numerically small and ageing membership of being a Local Meeting was seriously undermining the spiritual life for which we strived. We held several meetings trying to discern a way forward. In the end we came to the conclusion...
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Barn Café opens at Swarthmoor
The Barn Café at Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria is now open to the public as a place of hospitality and outreach. The café officially opened in early July when volunteers, local Friends, the mayor of Ulverston and the local business community came together to celebrate the completion of the project.
Friends to mark Hiroshima anniversary
Friends will mark the seventieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Thursday 6 August with an interfaith service of commemoration and commitment for a nuclear-free world at Friends House in London.
Walking back in time at Winchmore Hill
A new walk through Winchmore Hill, north London, will highlight the days when the area was a place of refuge for Quakers. The walk will be led by City of London guide Joe Studman and is part of celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Enfield Borough’s creation.
Bury St Edmunds hosts Richard Murphy
On Monday 6 July Richard Murphy spoke at Bury St Edmunds Meeting House. A chartered accountant, Quaker, economist and co-founder of Tax Research UK, Richard told those attending that politicians of all parties have failed to tackle the multiple issues which contribute to poverty and injustice both in the UK and...
FWCC Section of the Americas appoints new clerk
Benigno Sanchez-Eppler has been appointed as the new clerk for the Section of the Americas of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC).
Museum to bring windows to life
The Quaker Tapestry Museum has come up with an innovative way to show that it is ‘open for business’. Museum manager Bridget Guest told the Friend that the use of blackout blinds – necessary to protect the embroidered panels from daylight – often leads would-be visitors to think, wrongly, that the museum...
Money lessons for kids
Quaker Social Action (QSA) has collaborated with the Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership to teach children about financial literacy.
Eye - 24 July 2015
The twisting shapes of nature Hands and acorns make up part of a specially-commissioned peace pole that has been carved to mark Leighton Park School’s 125-year anniversary. During 2015 the school has been marking its anniversary with a variety of events and performances, but the head, Nigel Williams, had a...
Letters - 24 July 2015
Seeds of peace I am offering a belated response to Janet Quilley’s excellent letter (10 July) about the reduction in the range of Quaker Peace & Social witness’s peacebuilding work in recent years. I agree with her suggestion that more resources might be given to low profile, long-term and...