Latest News
Quakers speak out on COs in Russia and Ukraine
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) is urging UK citizens to ask their MPs to pressure the UK government to uphold conscientious objection in Russia and Ukraine.
‘No flags, no placards’ anti-hate vigil
Quakers were part of a large Together for Humanity vigil this month, to speak out against antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate. Together for Humanity was co-founded by Brendan Cox, husband of murdered MP Jo Cox.
Buddhist and Quaker interfaith peace action
Quakers and the Plum Village Buddhist Community (followers of Thich Nhat Hanh) have come together ‘in a heart-felt desire to spearhead and unify all faiths and spiritual traditions’.
Meeting for Sufferings: Non-members in Quaker service
October’s Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) agreed in principle that appointment to Britain Yearly Meeting’s central committees ‘need not be dependent on formal membership as it currently exists’. Membership was indeed an expression of a ‘reciprocal commitment’, said the minute, but this relationship could exist outside Area Meeting affiliation,...
Meeting for Sufferings: BYM trustees report
Introducing the report from BYM trustees, Caroline Nursey, outgoing clerk, said that most of it would not be very interesting to MfS representatives – a lot of it was to do with issues like health and safety, she said. There had been an audit of BYM’s response to the Covid...
Meeting for Sufferings: Yearly Meeting 2024
After a shuffle break, Friends heard from Adwoa Burnley, clerk of Yearly Meeting (YM). She introduced the agenda for YM 2024, which will be held on 26–30 July at Friends House. This longer Meeting was an experiment, said Adwoa, and it would involve sessions in smaller groups. Things might look a little...
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR)
Claire Bowman, assistant clerk to QCCIR, presented the committee’s annual report. QCCIR is responsible for keeping BYM informed of ‘relevant issues and movements which emerge from the faith life in our three nations,’ she said, ‘and of opportunities for dialogue and co-operation between churches and faiths’.
Meeting for Sufferings: Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC)
In the final piece of business, Friends received a QWRC report from co-clerk Ruth Homer. Its remit was twofold, she said: enriching understanding between British Friends and Friends worldwide; and engaging Quakers in Britain in concerns held by Friends in the rest of the world.
Climate change ‘possible to stop’, says Quaker expert
Climate change is ‘perfectly possible to stop’, said a leading Quaker environmental expert at Friends House last month.
Quakers welcome sentencing changes
More than 1,800 people who have received Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in England and Wales will now be given an end date for their terms, the Ministry of Justice announced last month.