Thought for the Week: Today

Alex Thomson reflects on what it means to be a Quaker in the world today

by Alex Thomson 19th May 2017

There is a great spiritual poverty in the world today, especially in the Western world. This, it could be argued, began with the decline of the main Western religion, Christianity. It came about with the questioning of the credibility of the Bible and, because it has been taken as the literal truth, people lost faith in God. This has left a vacuum, which has been filled with alternatives such as Eastern religions, New Age ways, but mainly materialism, as people search for meaning. The material success of the West has meant the rest of the world has followed suit. This materialism, and lack of spirituality, is the main cause of the world’s problems.