Letters - 22 May 2026
From root and branch to truth ache
Root and branch
Looking at my apple tree the other day, I found myself wondering whether, like the tree, today’s Quakers are like new varieties grafted onto an older root stock, depending on the spiritual work of earlier Friends to connect us with the ground of truth.
If so, is that enough? Do we still need to do our own ‘inner’ work, and grow our own roots, before we can claim to speak truth?
Geoffrey Kinns
Appropriate language
As a new subscriber, I was excited to read 1 May’s issue when it came through my letterbox, and to share in the insights of our community.
I was surprised, then, to see a letter decrying ‘men in women’s spaces’. Perhaps I had subscribed to the wrong magazine by mistake? But no, there in black and white was insulting language about trans people, language that trans women have repeatedly asked not to be used about them. Put simply, it wasn’t a great first impression!
I invite the letter’s author, and the editors of the Friend, to consider the value of allowing the magazine to become yet another battlefield in the culture war.
As a trans person, Quakerism has felt like a shelter from a callous world, a balm against the drip of agitprop and abuse. I am deeply saddened to see this bleed into the Friend – this language is hurtful to trans Quakers.
I am in no way trying to censor debate or to no-platform anyone. I will confidently debate this issue with anyone who approaches me. But is the Friend really an appropriate place for it?
Ceri Morgan
