A diversity of belief

Robin Waterston and Joyce Taylor report on a recent General Meeting for Scotland

The wide range of beliefs held within the world family of Friends was one of the subjects raised at General Meeting for Scotland held in Edinburgh on Saturday 11 March. It was Adwoa Bittle’s first meeting as clerk of General Meeting for Scotland and she began by asking Friends for their support and forbearance.

The morning speaker was Gretchen Castle, general secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC). Gretchen spoke about the diversity of belief held by Friends worldwide and of the communication challenges that this creates. All too often, she said, Friends from one tradition or the other will say ‘but you’re not really Quaker’. This, she explained, is never true.

Gretchen gave a thumbnail sketch of the four geographic groupings within FWCC and explained that each section contains all the different traditions within world Quakerism today: programmed, unprogrammed, conservative and evangelical. Friends in India, she said, ‘defy all the distinctions’. She stressed that FWCC has an important role in supporting the Quaker United Nations Offices in Geneva and New York.

Even in our Local Meetings, she explained, there will generally be diversity of belief. How often do we create opportunities for asking deep questions and sharing our most meaningful experiences? Are we sometimes so sensitive to other people’s feelings about certain words that language fails us entirely? This can be more of a problem for us in the unprogrammed tradition of worship.

No single tradition

Gretchen wondered where George Fox would be on the spectrum of Friends’ current practices, from faith in continuing revelation to that of Biblical literalism? She talked about her wide experience of Friends from all over the world and said that she doesn’t believe there is any single tradition that Fox would recognise fully. We use many words to try to describe the indescribable: God, Light, seed, inward teacher, and ground of being.

She encouraged us to use whatever words mean most for ourselves, and to be tender with others for whom different words convey the essence of their faith. We need to ‘listen with the heart’. The diversity of Friends worldwide, she felt, is a real strength. It is also a great challenge. Can we learn to fully appreciate and celebrate our diversity? This is the only way to world peace.

At the start of the afternoon session, the Testimony to the Grace of God as shown in the life of Christine Davis was read during worship. It spoke of the many gifts she brought to her life of service to Quakers in Britain Yearly Meeting, to Scotland and to the wider world, and reflected how her life was stitched together by her Quaker faith and her love of embroidery.

Most of the afternoon’s business focussed on parliamentary engagement work in Scotland, where a part-time officer has been employed who is jointly funded and managed by Friends House and General Meeting for Scotland.

Beryl Milner and Douglas Rennie, on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting and General Meeting for Scotland, reviewed this advocacy work at the end of 2016 and both spoke to their report. Their key conclusion was that it was the responsibility of Britain Yearly Meeting to understand and engage with the political, legal, social and education systems in Scotland that differ from the rest of the UK and that, therefore, this was core work.

All their other recommendations flowed from this finding. Despite the potential for difficulties in having a devolved staff member in Edinburgh, goodwill on all sides had made it work well.

Communication

A minute from Glasgow Meeting was read and while fully supporting the advocacy work it also expressed a need for Friends to feel more engaged in what was happening. This led to a helpful discussion about the challenges of communication and the hope that now each Area Meeting has a representative on the Parliamentary Liaison Group there was someone to link directly with Local Meetings.

Both General Meeting for Scotland trustees and Britain Yearly Meeting trustees have accepted the review. General Meeting has financed a proportion of the cost of having a part-time staff member from reserves, but this is no longer sustainable. Although some contribution from Area Meetings would give a sense of ownership of the work they could not be expected to grow or even provide the present level of finance. Britain Yearly Meeting trustees have asked Management Committee to come back by June with options for how the work can be funded for the next three years.

We then heard a report from the Parliamentary Liaison Group about progress with their two main areas of concern. One was militarism in schools. The petition that was raised in the Scottish parliament in partnership with ForcesWatch has now had three hearings and at the most recent the committee unanimously decided to call the cabinet secretary for Education and Skills for questioning.

Meanwhile, a second but separate issue has arisen around the introduction of cadet forces in state schools. General Meeting for Scotland raised this concern through a minute to Meeting for Sufferings last year. At their meeting in February Meeting for Sufferings referred this to a number of Quaker bodies, including Quaker Peace & Social Witness.

A recent Scottish newspaper headline declared that the first cadet force in Scotland was to be introduced in a Dumfries school.

The Scottish government put out a statement the following day stating that there was no change to the Scottish government policy of not having cadet forces in state schools but, in answer to written questions from a member of the Scottish parliament, the situation seems much less clear. The Scottish government is supporting:

…a distinct approach to developing cadet forces, with the syllabus integrated into the Curriculum for Excellence, rather than following the UK government model with the school ‘hosting’ a cadet unit. The Cadet Experience syllabus is currently going through accreditation with the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

The cadet experience is an initiative of the Highland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association.

Economic justice

The second focus of advocacy activity in Scotland is around economic justice. A working seminar is to be held towards the end of April. An invited group will thresh some of the ideas that emerged from the very successful ‘Creating a Just Scotland’ event held last year. This work is seen as key to our concern for truth and integrity in public affairs.

In the Sufferings report our attention was drawn to the call for General Meeting for Scotland to be more visible to Friends across Britain. The report also encouraged greater dialogue among different parts of Britain Yearly Meeting.

This was a well-attended General Meeting, with plenty to think about and a good beginning for the work of our new clerk, who we hope felt well supported.

---

Comments

Please login to add a comment