Letters - 12 July 2024
From Stonehenge to Freedom
Stonehenge
I note the photo of cornstarch paint on Stonehenge (28 June). It sparks discussion here in Tasmania. First, can you confirm and clarify if the action was committed by a member or an attender? Second, was the action taken to a Meeting for Worship for Business (MfWfB) for approval and entered into minutes before being performed?
I ask because it would cause alarm and cultural offence if any person painted Uluru in central Australia. Was the person painting the rocks of Stonehenge acting in right order with approval, or was it a private individual who happens to be an attender acting on their own (unregulated) volition? I seek to establish whether they were, in effect, letting their life speak but not necessarily with the prior accord of the Area Meeting, or Britain Yearly Meeting, to act so, as ordinarily achieved through a process of discernment and agreement at a MfWfB. I assume the editor who let the photo and story go to press as worded (28 June) is a Quaker member fully familiar with Quaker faith & practice guidelines, rather than an attender? Our own Australian Annual Yearly Meeting (AYM) is weeks away. Please reply with answers before that, as this monumental defacement of a sacred site is sure to be discussed at our AYM by members and attenders.
Maree-rose Jones
Editor’s note: the Friend does not generally distinguish between members and attenders, unless it is pertinent to certain forms of church business (which perhaps the letter addresses). We aim to treat all who identify as Quakers as Friends.
Just Stop Oil
I am not in unity with the actions of Just Stop Oil in targeting Stonehenge (28 June).
The criticism of Just Stop Oil, as articulated by the gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, is that it alienates public support by disrupting the lives of ordinary people, rather than focusing on powerful groups and individuals who have a financial interest in promoting the consumption of fossil fuels.
Surely there is a risk that Just Stop Oil’s recent actions will alienate public support because of a widespread view (which I share) that pre-historic sites should be treated with respect, given they are part of our shared heritage.
I do not accept that Just Stop Oil’s actions are necessary for publicity. The public is generally aware that climate change is a serious issue. I accept that there are situations where peaceful direct action is justifiable, but I do not feel that the recent action at Stonehenge falls into this category.
Richard Pashley
QCOP
Following on from Martin Schweiger’s letter (21 June) am I alone in scenting more than a whiff of McCarthyism in the attitude that Meeting for Sufferings is taking towards – or rather against – the recognised Quaker body Quaker Concern Over Population (QCOP)?
In 1950s USA it was the hysterical cry of ‘communist’ that was raised against the innocent by ignorant people who knew nothing about their victims’ principles or beliefs, and who wouldn’t have been able to explain a single strand of Marxist theory to save their lives.
Nowadays the fashion has changed but the method is much the same. The slur of ‘racist’ is parroted by people who have no real idea what QCOP stands for – largely, it seems to me, for the purpose of egregious virtue-signalling.
Our bloated, sprawling cities are unsustainable. How would Birmingham manage if it could not take water away from Wales? Our greenbelt is everywhere under threat because we are told we ‘need’ millions of new houses to be built there. Half of our motorways have become ‘smart’ death traps to accommodate the ever-increasing load of private traffic.
This is a real problem that needs serious thought and discussion, not trivial abuse, even if you come to different conclusions about the solution.
Peter Bolwell
Help us in Kenya
May I appeal to Quakers in the UK who know me or even those who don’t know me to support us in setting up Mbaruk Quaker Retreat and Learning Centre?
We need help, financial and otherwise, to set up this centre. We are donating five acres of land for this ministry.
If anyone is interested to find out more information, please get in touch with me at: nimdaud@msn.com.
Nim Njuguna
Call for community
I write further to the news story on a Quaker call for community (5 April), where we called out our dream to have a Quaker community on our six acres of wild meadow, which (thanks to Devon Wildlife Trust’s help) is a part of a nature corridor stretching from Cornwall to Scotland.
We have lizards, glow worms, many species of butterflies, wild bees and colourful wood wasps, beetles, owls, and so on. All we need now is the integrated human element, a CSA (community supported agriculture project) or agro-forestry project and a wooden Meeting house.
We are now sadly in a situation where we need to sell our stone and cob barn, with an acre of land. Should it go to unsympathetic neighbours, our dream and the wildlife could be a risk.
If anyone is looking for a house in nature and would consider a south Devon Quaker community to suit that dream, please consider us to be your next venture.
The barn itself has two and a half years of permitted development, so those with money can have a quick build venture on the doorstep. The possibility of gaining full planning is strong, if more building time is needed. Full planning can be a laborious task, involving surveys and architects, but half the work is done.
Both options are for those emotionally strong in stress, but the barn itself is much sought after, and idyllic. It has made three architects’ knees tremble already.
Much of the funds from the sale will go towards the project’s fruition.
Call or WhatsApp me on 07971118053.
Simon Iredale
Zoom
Most Quaker Meetings do as much as they can to ensure that people with disabilities are treated well. We try to create step-free access and we install hearing loops. We don’t complain too much when people inadvertently cause minor disturbances. There is one exception, publicly aired from time to time in the pages of the Friend, and that refers to the Friends who rely on Zoom.
Age, health and travel difficulties mean that some Friends can only participate via Zoom. In the last four years I have only been able to worship once in the Meeting room; without Zoom I would not have been able to participate on more than 150 other Sundays.
Doubts have been expressed about whether we can really worship remotely, and there have been many objections to the use of technology. A microphone which was desirable to feed a hearing loop becomes objectionable when it feeds Zoom. A screen in the room can be distracting, although there must be few Meetings where people cannot sit with their backs to it.
I have heard suggestions that Zoom might be used on alternate Sundays. Would we restrict people with any other characteristic to attendance on alternate Sundays? Some have chosen to move away from their home Meetings because of the technology, but I know that some Friends do so for other reasons, such as when there is all-age worship.
Are our Meetings only facilities like coffee bars where we drop in when we feel like doing so, or are they communities where Zoomers in spite of their limitations are welcomed?
David Hitchin
Freedom
‘He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners’ (Luke 4:18).
Freedom from retribution, freedom from rat- and cockroach- infested cells, freedom from damp and inhabitable crowded cells, freedom from twenty-three-hour lockups, freedom from inmate on inmate and prison officer on inmate violence, freedom from physical, sexual and mental abuse, freedom from degradation and humiliation and dehumanisation, freedom from condemned prisons, freedom from losing all hope and escalating self-harming and suicide.
Gerard Bane
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