Letters - 23 April 2021
From Safe routes to the UK to Introduction to three tomes
Safe routes to the UK
I was interested to read Peter Kurer’s letter (9 April) about Quakers’ organisation to save the Jews of Nazi Germany.
I have often wondered how exactly we organised the Kindertransport, and now how we organised a financial guarantee to get someone a visa, and how and where we sent advertisements for certain unpopular jobs.
Could we not organise similar things in order to offer sanctuary in the UK to asylum seekers from war-torn countries – today’s equivalent of persecuted Jews?
(I have hosted an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo and am about to host an Afghan refugee.) I for one would be willing to contribute to financial guarantees for people to offer them a safe route into the country.
Judith Niechcial
‘Meeting for Enlightenment’?
I agree with Jan Arriens (2 April) that ‘Meeting for Worship’ is an inappropriate anachronism that may deter people who consider themselves to be spiritual rather than religious.
However I would hesitate to replace it as Jan suggests with a ‘Meeting for Stillness’. In my experience silence followed by stillness are means – but not ends – of experiencing the Christ or Buddha within each person that prompts us for example to heal the hurt of poverty and exclusion.
Worship – adoration – is what happens in other churches. What happens in a Quaker Meeting is awareness and enlightenment of what we value most.
Peter Jarman
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