Issue 17-02-2017
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Thought for the Week: The point of prayer
Last week was billed as the ‘last stand’ by the Great Sioux Nation in America. For the past year the tribe at Standing Rock have spearheaded a battle against companies that want to build a thousand-mile-plus pipeline through US military-owned land, extracting half-a-million barrels of oil a day from the...
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A call to conscience
I had been waiting in trepidation for this phone call. It had been a few years since the last one. A reasonable sounding young man from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) debt collection asked if I was aware that I owed £2,800 in income tax. After assuring him that I did,...
Leadings and seekings
Sometimes, and quite understandably, we feel aggrieved because we have been left out of a decision. It is never easy to be part of a group that has reached a conclusion in a meeting at which we were not present or, worse still, on a issue of which we were...
Images of Christ: (Non)violent upheaval?
In selecting works for this series, I didn’t want them all to be safely immured in churches, or in museums and art galleries. But it has to be said that Christ driving the Moneychangers from the Temple hasn’t fared too well outside them. It’s down some steps...
A Quaker mosque
It will be a long time before we will forget Friday 3 February 2017, the day when Bury St Edmunds Muslims invited us to be present during their Friday prayers (Jummah) at our Meeting house. This was because they had lost the use of the room they were previously using for this...
Sing out
Afew thoughts have come to me and have combined into a prompting. I have been impressed (as usual) by the high standard of music playing and, in particular, of singing (solo, duet and choir) at the 2016 Welsh Eisteddfodau. This reflects the time and effort put in, the value attached to...
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Quakers condemn end of child refugee scheme
A letter and statement addressed to Amber Rudd, the home secretary, expressing concern at the intention to suspend the programme to resettle unaccompanied minors seeking refuge in the United Kingdom, has been signed by recording clerk Paul Parker. He joined leaders of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church...
Friends asked to act on fracking
A call for a ban on new and intensive forms of fossil fuel extraction, including fracking for shale gas and oil, and underground coal gasification is being supported by Friends.
Quaker forced migration report launched
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) and Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) have published a report on Friends’ efforts to respond to displaced persons in Europe.
Quaker libraries working together
A new initiative has been launched between the two most important Quaker libraries in Britain.
A decade of the Declaration
Jennifer Preston, of Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC), was in New York in January to represent Friends at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).
Taxes for Peace rally
A rally to support the Taxes for Peace Bill, introduced by Quaker MP Ruth Cadbury, is to be held at Friends House at the end of February.
Birmingham meeting focus on Africa
A positive picture of work by Quaker charities in Africa was outlined at a recent meeting in Birmingham of the Quaker Africa Interest Group (QAIG).
Leading charities challenge cuts to Legal Aid
Three Court of Appeal judges have heard a challenge to the government’s decision to cut legal aid for prisoners, including children. The challenge was brought by the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS).
Lobby against nuclear weapons at Westminster
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is asking Friends to join a lobby of parliament on 1 March to urge MPs to press the government to play a constructive role at the United Nations on nuclear weapons.
Housing plans challenged
The campaigning group Friends of the Earth has expressed disappointment with the Housing White Paper that was released last week.
Beyond belief
Hugh Mackay has written a new book, Beyond Belief: How we find meaning, with or without religion, that contains much interesting information about the current state of religion in Australia: only about eight per cent of the population, for example, go to church each week; about twenty per cent go...
Eye - 17 February 2017
Pots thrown, clay wedged, handles pulled… there are some busy bees making an appearance at 8pm on Thursday evenings. The Great Pottery Throw Down, in a familiar format to fans of a certain cookery show, sees ten amateur potters strive to create beautiful ceramics against the clock during three challenges...
Letters - 17 February 2017
Empowering funerals I come from a large family, but my husband and I are the only Quakers. My parents attended for a couple of years and then stopped. As my mum was going downhill with cancer she was clear that she did not want a Quaker funeral: ‘Just have a...