Issue 13-12-2019
Featured story
‘I find great comfort in describing myself as a Quaker-shaped Christian.’
It’s not often that I get to share my beliefs with other Friends. The chat over tea and biscuits after Meeting for Worship doesn’t usually lead to a sharing of our most deeply and dearly held truths. In my work as a tutor at Woodbrooke, I’m more...
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‘Just how cynical do you have to be to exploit our anxious desire for objective truth?’
Three years ago, British people were stupefied to see Donald Trump come from the political outskirts to win the US presidential election. Up and down the country, and across the political spectrum, I heard people asking how could it possibly have happened. How had people across the Atlantic collectively made...
‘Freedom is not a Quaker value per se but it is the core of my Conservatism.’
When I was a Conservative member of parliament my Quaker faith was part of every decision I made, and every constituent case I dealt with. But it was probably only obvious to other people at the start of my term in the House of Commons. At the beginning of parliament,...
Lancaster Peace Pole ‘opens new avenues’
The ‘Peace Pole’ unveiled by Lancaster Friends this autumn has ‘opened new avenues’ within the community, according to local Quakers. Ann Morgan, clerk of Lancaster Meeting, told the Friend that the 2.5-metre oak pole installed on 23 October has built bridges with the local Muslim community and nearby schools.
Eye - 13 December 2019
Think it possible Quakers from two Area Meetings came together for a Regional Gathering at Liverpool Meeting House on 2 November. With a theme of ‘Peace is not a fairy tale: Rediscovering our Peace Testimony in our personal and corporate lives, in an age of uncertainty, conflict and chaos’, Friends from...
Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay
Jackdaw, take your turn – ravens are breaking bread before you, under the ministering eye of morning’s winter moon.
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Meeting for Sufferings: Young people’s participation
On one occasion in every year Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) meets with, and alongside, the Young People’s Participation Day (YPPD). Young Friends, aged fourteen to eighteen, joined the opening worship before spending the day following their own programme.
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC)
Most of the morning was taken up with reports from central committees. First, Emma Roberts, clerk of QLCC, spoke to the committee’s report, which offered highlights from the year.
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW)
The QPSW Central Committee report offered a snapshot of QPSW work. This included coverage of the Sanctuary Everywhere programme in support of refugees and migrants, with ninety-eight Meetings becoming Sanctuary Meetings. This programme has ‘had some of the highest Quaker engagement of any QPSW work’, it said, and Meetings are...
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC)
Ann Floyd, of QWRC, talked about how Britain Yearly Meeting was just one small part of a world family. Quakers around the world shared many concerns – sustainability, privilege, diversity and peace – and there was considerable scope for mutual learning and collaboration. The Turning the Tide project was one good example...
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR)
QCCIR had been involved with the biggest recent news story in the Society. Hannah Brock Womack, of Sheffield & Balby Area Meeting, had been selected as a presidential nominee for Churches Together in England (CTE), but her appointment was unacceptable to some other churches in membership of CTE, due to...
New Holocaust Memorial Day prayer
Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith leaders have created a prayer for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The prayer for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2020 echoes its theme of ‘Stand Together’, which encourages communities to unite to prevent the spread of hate and division.
Darlington Meeting House goes orange
Darlington Friends lit up their Meeting house in orange last month to mark the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The day, on 25 November, started sixteen days of activism aimed at preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls, and concluded on 10 December, Human Rights...
Penzance Citizens’ Panel could be ‘start of something new’
Bring back Sure Start, charge double council tax for second homes and end the five-week wait for first payment for Universal Credit. These are just some of the key recommendations made by the Penzance Citizens’ Panel, which was set up by a Quaker to debate the housing problem.
Police should be ‘largest human rights profession’, says QCEA
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has released a new booklet arguing that policing should be reframed so it aspires to be ‘the largest human rights profession’ upholding the rights of everyone. In the booklet Framing Human Policing: Towards a more just public service QCEA makes the case that â€...
Letters - 13 December 2019
Judy Clinton Like many other readers I have enjoyed the contributions sent over the years by Judy Clinton. It was with great sadness that I attended the Memorial Meeting held for Judy in Gloucester on 20 November following her recent, sudden death. I first got to know Judy in the early 199...