Letters - 05 January 2018

From Scott Bader to mysticism

Scott Bader

Further to Craig Barnett’s article (8 December), a review of Faith in politics? A testimony to equality by Catherine West and Andy Hull (the book of the 2017 Swarthmore Lecture), I would like to point out that the ninety-five-year-old Scott Bader chemical company has been paying a minimum of the ‘living wage’ for the last four years, and the ratio of highest to lowest pay is 1:13.

Additionally, 100 per cent of the shares are held by the Scott Bader Commonwealth, which cannot sell them, creating a business that cannot be taken over. Equality, fairness and the environment are built into our principles. Founded by Friends and conscientious objectors sixty-six years ago, the Commonwealth has 600 members around the world. Our biggest challenge is finding senior managers who accept our pay ratio!

Anne Atkinson-Clark
Chair of trustees, Scott Bader Commonwealth

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

President Donald Trump’s stated intention to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem is an obvious implied endorsement for the Israeli claim on Jerusalem as the capital of the Israel, irrespective of the importance of Jerusalem as a global spiritual centre.

I would like to suggest that Jerusalem, which was divided by United Nations decree, should be declared a religious sanctum for all religions by the UN. The area would be devoid of embassies of any country as this would be a secular-free space. No one religion or race could lay claim to Jerusalem as a religious global centre. Within those places of worship it should be possible for people of any denomination to join with other religious devotees to worship together in a respectful way and in silence, the Quaker way.

We come into this world with nothing. We leave this world with nothing, except for the legacy of tolerance we leave behind us. If all the United Nations could unite to support this reasonable suggestion it would remove a contentious issue for all time.

Barbara Harris

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