Letters - 05 January 2024
From Remaining a Quaker to The same outcome
Remaining a Quaker
Anne Wade (15 December 2023) is to be applauded for her startlingly honest account of the unkind responses she had received in her Meeting, and how they left her feeling. The responders seem to have lost touch with seeing ‘that of God’ in everyone.
It is a profound and important cornerstone of Quakerism but, to me, it is also our weakness, because the verb is an active one, giving us the responsibility to see ‘that of God’ in everyone.
By contrast, Christianity within other groups starts from ‘you are loved by God’ – passive tense. This can be quite a revelation. Feeling loved can make us behave more lovingly.
I wrote a piece about this in the Friend about a year ago, in which I suggested that this onus upon us can lead to arrogance. We are all human beings and unfortunately the very human qualities of mean-mindedness, unkindness, even spitefulness, can creep into our Quakerly dealings.
Similar experiences within my own Meeting led me to cast around outside and search for answers to these human reactions of hurt, self-reproach. (‘Am I the one in the wrong here?’)
Among all the reading I have done I unearthed plenty of evidence of emotional spats elsewhere – cruelties between fellow priests and bishops, even popes.
Spiritual writings from the Old Testament, to Paul the apostle, to Hildegard of Bingen, Aquinas, Merton – to name but a few – offer an Aladdin’s cave of riches, which can be soothing, helpful and restorative. The ultimate test is to be able to bring it back into our Meeting, and enrich the life there.
Meeting can indeed be a wonder-full phenomenon, but sometimes the hurts are too hurtful for frail souls, which means almost all of us. I am so glad that Anne has now found acceptance and compatibility.
Anne M Jones
Quaker Recognised Bodies
I was disappointed to read in the report of Meeting for Sufferings (8 December, 2023) that Quaker Concern Over Population (QCOP) was not [renewed] as a recognised body.
QCOP has suffered regularly in Quaker circles from misunderstandings of its stance. There is no question of forced birth control. However, it is clear that the impact of humans on the environment in all aspects is a product of the emissions and behaviour of each person and the number of people. So surely we should be concerned about population.
In wealthier countries the birth rate has fallen naturally as people have access to education and family planning. They are choosing to have fewer children. Surely we should give this freedom to everyone in the world?
Some people are worried that a reduction in the birth rate will lead to problems with an ageing population. I recently received a heartening circular from Earth Overshoot about Japan.
Although the average CO2 emissions per person have stayed fairly constant, the country’s annual emissions dropped by twenty-one million tonnes between 2013 and 2019. This is mainly as a result of Japan’s declining population. At the same time Japan has a strong economy with low unemployment. Surely this is an example that the world should follow?
Daphne Wassermann
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