Letters - 17 November 2017
From the Bible Society to Quaker schools
The Bible Society
Quakers were present at the inaugural meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804 and continued to be associated with it throughout the nineteenth century. Josiah Forster, who was Yearly Meeting clerk for a time, served on its committee for forty-four years, some of these as its chairman, and Joseph Pease, the railway pioneer and first Quaker MP, was a vice-president. The Society’s Rule One of 1805 stated that ‘…the sole object shall be to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures’. Slightly reworded, its only object is the same today. At home this means reminding British people of their disappearing heritage. Overseas the mission is to make the Bible available in local languages to those who want it, primarily to Christians but also to other enquirers. From the beginning the Society has offered only the text and not any particular interpretation of it.
In the Syrian situation it has been reported that some half million of the four or more million people who fled their homes are Christians who lost almost all they had, which for many included their Bibles. Given Syria’s recent history it should not be a surprise that some non-Christian refugees become interested in and receptive to the Christian message.
Christopher Thomas
With regard to the Bible Society leaflet enclosed in the 6 October edition of the Friend, the background of our Religious Society includes statements such as ‘Learn of the Lord to make a right use of the Scriptures’ (Isaac Penington). George Fox and others point us to ‘the Spirit that gave forth the scriptures’. Our tradition is to put the Bible in proper perspective, which seems to be consistent with that of the Bible Society.
On their website the Bible Society’s strapline is: ‘All our efforts are driven by one conviction: we believe that when people engage with the Bible lives can change – for good.’ Is that a view with which our Society would disagree to such an extent that it should not be permitted to be associated with the Friend?
If we were to cut off contact with any group who might (in our view) sometimes proselytise, would we not have to dissociate ourselves not just from all the churches but also from all of Islam, not to mention some or all ideological and political groups?
The Bible Society may indeed pray ‘that more people will encounter Christ through our ministries’, but in my view most of what Quakers in Britain do and say now is based on our seventeenth century heritage where such ideas were expanded, with reinterpretation for sure, but not contracted or eliminated.
Stuart Donnan
Follow the money
I agree with Ruth Tod (20 October). Follow the money to discover ‘how [it] can be used for the benefit of all’.
Three per cent of the money in the UK economy (the cash) is created by the Bank of England (BoE), out of nothing, and sold on to the banks, one pound for one pound (seigniorage). Ninety-seven per cent (the electronic proportion) is created out of nothing by private, profit-seeking banks when they make loans, and costs the banks nothing.
The three per cent goes into the hole in the wall, accessible with plastic cards. The ninety-seven per cent goes into our bank accounts, when borrowed.
Seignorage on the three per cent benefits everyone – an income for the government, reducing our tax. The ninety-seven per cent, created when banks make loans, benefits us by circulating in the economy. In the long term, it doesn’t benefit those who borrow it. The debt has to be repayed, with interest, which can’t be created out of nothing, only by human sweat and often tears.
By far the biggest beneficiary of this system of money creation is the banking sector, which has the sole privilege of making a profit out of a product banks haven’t had to pay for. It would be illegal for anyone else to spend self-created money, let alone make a profit on it. We should, first, campaign for BoE-created money to circulate as quantative easing (QE) for the people. Second, argue the banks are brought back into line with normal business practice and make them pay for the product they profit from lending.
Sue Holden
The Bank of England has decided to raise interest rates from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Wages are not keeping pace with the cost of living. Many people have not had a pay rise for a decade. Many employees working in the public sector are thousands of pounds worse off. A rise in interest rates means that many people will face higher mortgage payments and credit card bills. We have the biggest consumer debt burden in history. Even a small interest rate rise may push many families into the ‘not managing at all’ group.
With an interest rate rise there needs to come a pay rise. As Ruth Tod wrote: ‘If we are to create a country where everyone is able to flourish, we desperately need reform of both taxation and banking.’
Friends, if you have an interest in this important issue, please get in touch with the Quaker North London New Economy Reading Group, and join us in working towards a new economy in which our Quaker testimonies can flourish.
Sue Newsom
group@nlqneweconomy.org.uk
Charitable status
I do not understand why anybody should think that Quakers have ‘sold’ their freedom of action to the government (20 October). Certainly, we should be grateful to Christian Aid and Oxfam for very clearly bringing political action within the ambit of charitable work. It is only direct party political action that the Charity Commission would frown upon.
Nor should Gift Aid be described as a ‘tax benefit’ (3 November). The effect of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) in some circumstances is to take more tax from us than is legally required at the end of the tax year. Gift Aid is part of that excess. It is our money, not the government’s tax income.
Nor can I find any logic in paying more tax than is legally required of us (also 3 November). It would just ‘disappear’ into the Treasury coffers and as likely find its way to the Ministry of Defence if their pleas to the chancellor are the loudest.
Christians, members of other faiths and humanists should be using their surplus funds to support non-governmental organisations working for change in society and seeking to help ‘people in desperate need’.
Gerald Drewett
Yet another letter in the Friend complains that by being a registered charity we have lost our freedom of action. As with other similar letters, your correspondent doesn’t give any examples of what actions we might want to take, but we are not able to do as a Society.
Once again the term ‘tax avoidance’ has been thrown into the argument (20 December). This argument doesn’t hold, friends. In tax avoidance the individual makes a financial gain, but when I make a charitable donation I don’t make any financial gain!
Eric Walker
Kendal Quaker Tapestry
My husband and I recently returned from a wonderful week volunteering at the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. It was our first time there. Having seen the tapestries a few times over the years (twice at Ely Cathedral) it was quite another extraordinary experience to live with them for the five days of volunteering. They just glowed.
Another joy was meeting the visitors and hearing their very positive responses to the exhibition. Some were visibly moved by the whole experience and others came out amazed at the quality of the needlework, the creativity in the design, and the numbers and countries involved in the making of the tapestries.
They all wanted to talk about their experience of [the tapestry] – a wonderful permanent window of Quakerism throughout the centuries, up to the present day. We recommend the experience of being a volunteer to Friends. The staff were very welcoming and supportive throughout our time at Kendal. The flat is cosy and well equipped and the café serves good coffee and food. Another great benefit was enjoying Meetings for Worship at Kendal Meeting House and meeting Kendal Friends. It was a very Friendly and friendly experience all round.
Jo Fisher
Quaker schools
Oh dear. Here we go again on Quaker schools being for the ‘privileged’ people who can afford to send their children to them (27 October). Seven generations of my family struggled to send their children to Quaker schools.
I joined the Society in 1947, after seven years at Sidcot School, and have been on the staff of Walden and Wigton schools, as well as three local authorities.
The thing that really does upset me is the fact that for the last thirty years I have been much better off living on the state on pensions than I ever was while I was teaching and sending my own children to Quaker schools. I regard that as extremely unQuakerly.
It cannot be right that my children and grandchildren are going to have to work until they are in their seventies because I have been able to retire at sixty with pensions from the state. Some of us are living well past our sell by date, and are lucky to do so, but it’s not fair to the next generations.
Alison Johnson
