Letters - 13 September 2024
From Quaker cheer to walking the walk
Quaker cheer
The cold winds of ‘the Little Ice Age’ will be blowing through the open door of Henley Meeting House on the afternoon of Saturday 14 September. They will do so to celebrate a man whose whole life was afflicted by some of the coldest weather Britain has ever experienced.
The seventeenth century was notable for its cold weather and George Fox (1624-91) and the early Quakers could not escape it. The ‘Frost Fairs’ on the Thames attest to its severity, and passages in Fox’s Journal, when read alongside other diaries more willing to describe the weather, indicate the many privations of a man so often incarcerated in draughty gaols, travelling the length and breadth of the land both on horseback and on foot in rain and snow.
At our exhibition, some of it edible, we aim to contrast the experience of Fox with the plight of today’s Quakers in an age of global warming.
We will raise our cups of mid-seventeenth century tipple – tea, coffee or drinking chocolate – to wash down ginger cake and toast the man who taught us to walk cheerfully over the world whatever the weather.
Mike Macleod
Children's patchwork
I was saddened – even appalled – at the letter in which it was reported in the latest Friend (30 August) that the patchwork hanging made to commemorate George Fox’s birthday by the children at Yearly Meeting was not allowed to be displayed at Friends House.
Could it be shown in Kendal alongside the Quaker Tapestries? I’m sure that Anne Wynn-Wilson, the instigator of those wonderful panels, would want to encourage the children in taking up needles and thread!
Helen Keating
Revision process
Having written to the Friend in April observing the online-centric Quaker faith & practice (QF&P) revision process, and raising concerns over possible watering-down of the word of God in what is a religious society in an ever-increasingly secular one, we now have the ‘Declaration of Marriage’ wording under revision.
George Fox defined the meaning of marriage thus: ‘For the right joining in marriage is the work of the Lord only, and not the priests’ or magistrates’; for it is God’s ordinance and not man’s; and therefore Friends cannot consent that they should join them together: for we marry none; it is the Lord’s work, and we are but witnesses.’
Four hundred years later the use of ‘God’ (and/or even ‘Divine’) in the Quaker Declaration of Marriage wording is now proposed to be optional.
As the resulting declaration in this case develops rule of law, the ubiquitous legal system of precedence is opened up.
Does this then potentially lead to consideration of ‘God is now optional’ in the wider Quaker text? My concerns continue and increase…
Vaughan Hill
Welcoming strangers
Quakers have never shied away from being different, and found this enshrined in scripture, both in the time of law (‘For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth’, Deuteronomy 14:2 AV) and in the time of the gospels (‘And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God’, Romans 12:2 AV).
For generations, Friends proudly proclaimed to be ‘in the world, but not of it’ (not an actual direct biblical quotation but rather an executive summary of John 17:9-16). They were plainly different: they spoke a different language, they dressed differently, they ignored religious festivals.
Today’s Friends are still different from their neighbours: they are predominantly older, middle-class and university educated. But I believe the most significant differences are in their personalities. To borrow from Myers-Briggs Type Indicators, the majority of contemporary Friends are introvert and intuitive. So a Quaker Meeting will include a disproportionately high number of people who are not confident in some social skills, such as striking up conversation with strangers.
Another fact of Quaker worship is that, after Meeting, most of the ‘active’ Friends (the clerking team, elders and pastoral carers) are busy talking to each other, planning, arranging meetings, and so on. So newcomers have a limited number of people to converse with – and these are people who may well be reluctant to enter in conversation.
It’s not just trans and non-binary people who don’t feel welcome at Meeting – ask any Friend of colour! And I can’t be the only person who’s been visiting a Meeting and found myself holding a cup of weak, tepid Fairtrade coffee while everyone avoids eye contact with ‘the stranger in the midst’.
Advices & queries 18 asks: ‘How can we make the meeting a community in which each person is accepted and nurtured, and strangers are welcome?’
So maybe it’s not about trans and non-binary people not being welcome and affirmed, maybe it’s about so many Quakers being rubbish at welcoming anybody!
I know Meetings are struggling to find Friends to act as doorkeepers and tea makers, but how many Meetings also ensure there are seasoned Friends to welcome visitors and first-timers?
Ol Rappaport
Israel
If a problem seems near insoluble, it is reason which is needed not emotion. On October 7 an appalling attack was organised to elicit a response from Israel which would intensify the hatred of immediate neighbours and reduce emotional support from more distant allies. Benjamin Netanyahu fell headlong into the trap.
The right question asked of anyone should be, ‘Is this wise?’ rather than ‘Is this politically acceptable?’. Israel may appear to be acting within accepted rights but is wrong to do so in this way. The future of Israel is now far more precarious than it was. Daniel Barenboim set the right example with his Israeli-Palestinian orchestra but no one else seemed to follow it.
Alexander Hopkinson-Woolley
Walking the walk
In the last few years, and earlier this year, I have supported, together with many Friends, a variety of protests and rallies addressing the multi-layered existential crises that all life on this planet faces, resulting from a system founded on exploitation of people and the earth. How could I not? I am a Quaker and Quakers advocate for a just economic system rooted in equality and justice that sustains people and the planet.
More recently, bearing in mind our 2021 pledge to being an anti-racist church, I’ve joined a combination of ‘Stand Up to Racism’, ‘Pro-Palestine’, ‘Refugees are Welcome Here’ and ‘Stop the War’ mobilisations, given what’s happening in the world with mob rioting led by far-right leaders.
At all rallies, I proudly wear either of my Quaker T-shirts, not just to connect with other Friends that might be present, but also as a form of outreach. There has not been a single such event where I have not been spoken to by strangers, and recently even filmed by a young French journalist who came to me and asked if that was OK, which it was, and why I was doing what I was. ‘It is what love requires of me,’ I told her, and before moving on, she asked for a hug.
What surprises me and what is prompting me to write this letter, is how few Friends I meet taking part in these more recent demos, and I move around to increase the chance of being seen by or meet other Friends.
At the Canterbury Gathering, Friends committed to become a sustainable community and, last year during Quaker Week, many climate vigils took place bearing Friends’ witness to concerns over a worsening climate crisis.
Our Quakers in Britain web page says ‘Quakers are a faith group committed to working for equality and peace’. We also submitted evidence of lack of progress on racism to the UN.
Friends, please prove me wrong in thinking we are not so good at walking the walk as we are talking the talk.
Maris Vigar
Comments
I am aware of trans people not being welcome in meeting because of self-righteous anti-trans bigotry. One trans woman came to my meeting, spoke over coffee to someone who has not taken YM minutes to heart, and would not come again. I am aware of several anti-trans bigots in my AM.
Racism among Quakers is mostly unconscious. My Friend talked of people touching her hair: they did not mean any harm. By contrast, the victims of the “gender critical” conspiracy theory falsely believe that there is something called “gender ideology”, and that nobody is really trans but adults trans children out of misguided belief. They feel personally affronted at trans acceptance, and tell each other that they are compassionate and courageous, protecting children and vulnerable women, when they are doing the opposite. They are as deluded as Q-Anon victims or Chemtrail believers, but they get their delusions from such as The Times, The Observer and Conservative politicians.
By Abigail Maxwell on 12th September 2024 - 18:08
My weekly comment about missing the downloadable PDF verion - presumably no letters have been received that merit publication.
By Tolkny on 13th September 2024 - 11:35
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