‘If this is not the truth of Quakerism, why not leave control of the Meeting to a panel of experts.’

Last month’s article on populism drew a number of responses. This week, Laurence Hall argues that it is actually at the core of our faith

by Laurence Hall 1st November 2019

A man began shouting over the sermon. The well-connected and progressive preacher had been starting to wrap up when a voice of dissent sent an echo around his church. The wealthy congregation turned suddenly, in anger, toward this ignorant populist whose clear intolerance had led him to disrupt their ordered religious service. The congregation didn’t listen to what he was saying as they threw him out, except for his initial words: ‘You will say, Christ saith this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say?’