Issue 26-06-2020
Featured story
‘Our fundamental act of idolatry is to divide things for our own benefit.’
Idolatry is the worship of false gods. It is about being committed to a mistaken understanding of reality – to believe fervently that the world is one way when in reality it is quite another.
Top stories
‘The tendency to over-analyse, to ruminate through long days and sleepless nights, is not helpful.’
I know I’m not alone in this. I wake up in the morning and the television news tells me things that seem to contradict what was said yesterday. This is important because I need a coherent view about what’s going on. Clearly, it’s not possible to settle...
‘For me, being black is being afraid to leave a shop without buying anything.’
My name is Bonnie, I am a fifteen-year-old black girl. I am writing to you to try to inspire you and open your minds. On 25 May, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, George Floyd was killed when a policeman kneeled on his neck. That’s what this article is about. Initially, the officers...
‘The religious offer is not a consolation at all, but a call to ever greater vulnerability.’
Recently, I’ve been emailing with an old college friend. He’s an atheist. We disagree, naturally, over the future prospects for the religious person. He’s happy to describe Richard Dawkins’ arguments in The God Delusion as ‘sophisticated’, decisively the end of the religious endeavour. He feels offended if...
Friend speaks at BLM rally
A Quaker who has a long history of working in criminal justice spoke out at a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally in Malvern this month. Melanie Jameson, co-clerk of Quakers in Criminal Justice, told the Friend that around 370 people came to the protest on 7 June where she felt moved to...
Poem: Hope heals*
Hope is a thing with feathers Hope is trusting and believing Hope is something that someone feels Hope is thinking of sunshine when it’s a cold winter’s day and raining Hope is what makes us human Hope is a light Hope is being determined and happy to do...
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Young activists call to be ‘more involved’
Birmingham youth strikers do not feel they are being heard in climate emergency decision-making, a workshop with young activists has found.
Quakers in Refugee Week
As the World Health Organisation highlighted refugees as ‘some of the world’s most vulnerable people’ in the face of a globally accelerating Covid-19 pandemic, Friends marked Refugee Week despite the restrictions. Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) members took part in a busy programme of activities in Oxford from 1...
Praise for QSA project
A Quaker Social Action (QSA) shared housing project has been recognised for the crucial support it provides to young adult carers, in an independent evaluation published this month.
UK churches can make ‘unique contribution’
A report by the Christian think tank Theos has said that UK churches can make a unique contribution to combating economic inequality, and their contribution is needed more than ever.
‘In the end human rights are about people being treated and feeling like people who matter.’ (Qf&p)
General Meeting (GM) attracted seventy-four devices, with eighty people taking part. This was my first GM and I was a little overwhelmed by the number of papers, the length of the agenda, and the fact that I wouldn’t know anyone. I shouldn’t have worried.
Eye - 26 June 2020
An inspired rhyme Stephen Hanvey, of Winchester Meeting, was inspired to pen a second verse for Helen Drewery’s rib-tickler (5 June): When asked if they really were dead Jack sat back and scratched at his head. ‘Well no ministries yet, But I’ll check with the vet. They’re certainly...
Letters - 26 June 2020
Uprooting inequality Quaker support for the Black Lives Matter movement is encouraging, as is the openness to the questions it poses. In response to the conversation about statues of enslavers though, there have been some comments along the lines of ‘at least the Quakers got it right’. I feel that...