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Meeting for Sufferings: Behind the words
The conflict in Israel/Palestine and the effect of government welfare cuts, the two key subjects on the agenda, produced strong, thoughtful, contributions at Meeting for Sufferings held at Friends House on Saturday 13 April. In April 2011, Meeting for Sufferings made a decision to support the boycott of goods from...
Meeting for Sufferings: Government cuts
The subject of government cuts and welfare reform produced a very lively afternoon session, with many contributors drawing on individual experience. A Friend reflected on his experience of working in a Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in London. He talked of the experiences of those people who were now, increasingly,...
Meeting for Sufferings: Book of Discipline
Every generation there is a revision of the Book of Discipline, Quaker faith & practice. The subject, when raised at Meeting for Sufferings, prompted a lot of questions. Was it time, Friends were asked, for a new revision? It was explained that the purpose of the Book of...
Meeting for Sufferings: Reputational risk
Jennifer Barraclough, clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting trustees, reported on their latest meeting. She talked about some of the subjects raised, such as giving, and said that ‘reputational risk’ is an issue that ‘began to emerge some time ago’.
Quakers welcome historic UN vote
Quakers have welcomed the historic vote last week at the UN General Assembly to adopt a treaty to control the trade in conventional arms. The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was passed on Tuesday 2 April by a huge majority. Member-states voted by 154 votes to three, with twenty-three abstentions, to control...
Quakers join call to G8 leaders
Quakers in Britain have joined other religious groups from across the G8 countries in calling on heads of government to follow the UK in fulfilling existing commitments to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on aid.
Swarthmoor Hall on screen
Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria, the home of Margaret Fell, features in a new three-part series on BBC Four. In the series, The Century That Wrote Itself, author Adam Nicolson takes an intimate look at the diarists and letter writers of the seventeenth century.
Quaker artists show in London
The work of five Quaker artists is on show this week in London. The exhibition, devoted to the art of five Friends, is at Capel Manor College in Enfield. The exhibition runs until Sunday 7 April. The Friends whose work is featured are Carol Baker of Tottenham Meeting, Alison Chaplin...
New meeting at Bunhill Fields
An interesting development is set to proceed at one of the most historic Meeting houses in Britain. An informal group of conservative Friends have asked to meet at Bunhill Fields Meeting House in London on Sunday evenings.
The mystery of Mary Magdalene
A Colchester Friend was an advisor on a major BBC documentary screened on Good Friday that looked at the life and legacy of Mary Magdalene. Joan Taylor, professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at Kings College London, is an authority on the early church. She has an...