Letters - 28 April 2023
From Membership to Tony award
Membership
I admire those attenders who are devoted to our Religious Society, who serve it in many ways, but who refrain from applying for membership because in all honesty they cannot accede to our God-centred religious basis. I deplore the fact that our procedures are such that avowed and even evangelical atheists can be and are admitted into membership.
That which I see as commonality would be the place of the Meeting for Worship in Quakerism, a space of spirituality and tolerance of each other, where Christian Quakers and atheist Quakers and every position in between can sit together in the silence of the Meeting, grounded and centred. I consider that far too many attenders are permitted to attend Yearly Meeting. Once there, our decision-making process gives them as much weight as members. This will be particularly incongruous when the subject matter is in effect the fundamental basis of our form of Quakerism, or the basis of our membership. These topics will be inherent when we seek to approve a new version of our book of discipline.
We have gone too far in accommodating ‘refugees from Christianity’. For at least thirty years we have refrained from using religious language for fear of upsetting them. Any expression of our religious basis is now so unusual as to seem almost offensive.
In the 1990s we almost entirely dropped ‘Jesus’ from Quaker faith & practice. If we now drop ‘God’ shall we still be able to present ourselves to Churches Together and to the InterFaith community as ‘Religious’? Must we adhere to our Testimony to Truth by renaming ourselves ‘The Spiritual Society of Friends’?
Stephen Petter
Goma Friends appeal
More than one million people are victims of war and violence in North Kivu and live in a very alarming humanitarian situation. Deaths and illnesses related to malnutrition and water are reported in internally-displaced person (IDP) sites and in IDP host families in Goma and its surroundings.
Affected by this situation, the Quakers in South Kivu are mobilising to provide humanitarian assistance in the days to come, to the most vulnerable families in the sites of the displaced, but also to organise certain training workshops in terms of social cohesion, trauma, and so on for displaced people in Goma.
To donate to the appeal for Goma Friends, please use the Quaker Congo Partnership website, www.quakercongo.org.uk.
George Bani Bibenga
Clerk de Quaker Peace Network, QPN Région Afrique Centrale: Burundi, RDC et Rwanda
Tony award
Thank you Tony D’Souza (16 February). Each time I open the Friend I hope to see yet another article from you, though I don’t need my thermal socks!
Gunilla Leeming
Comments
I am in unity with Stephen Petter’s concern that Quakerism has become detached from the faith perspective in which it was traditionally grounded. I also consider that he is right to point out that the boundary between attenders and members has become unhelpfully blurred in recent years.
By Richard Pashley on 27th April 2023 - 8:49
I very much share the sentiment expressed in Stephen Petter’s article and thank him for expressing it so clearly . Indeed, I have only recently become aware of the number of attenders and indeed members that follow a ‘Quaker without God’ approach to being a Quaker. For me, the basis of being a Quaker is acceptance of something bigger than ourselves, be it referred to as Jesus, God, the Light or Whatever.
I wrote a recent article for The Friend, ‘Quakers Without God’ which I suspect will not be published as maybe it is seen as a little too controversial for this publication. In it I describe a recent online discussion with those who describe themselves as Quakers. I came across those who said they were ‘non-theist Quakers’, and others who were ‘atheist Quakers’. I came across ‘agnostic Quakers’, as well as ‘materialist atheist Quakers’, ‘humanist Quakers’, ‘religious naturalist Quakers’, as well as a range of other terminology that I cannot remember. It did appear to be a distorted debate, since nearly all participants denied the very existence of God, The Light or Whatever, but maintain that they are Quakers.
In contrast to Stephen’s comments, I am not too concerned whether or not Quakerism follows solely a Christian path, since I know those who are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and indeed Pagans who are Quakers. I can easily understand this, because there is an acceptance of ‘Something greater than ourselves’.
Whilst I try to listen and accept the views of others, I remain puzzled by those who deny the very existence of The Light. Why would they want to be Quakers anyway? Is it because Quakers are generally nice people to be with? Maybe it is somewhere to escape to on a Sunday morning? Maybe it is for time and space for meditation? Maybe it is for a decent mug of coffee and good chat after Meeting? The real reason why non-believers would wish to attend Meeting eludes me, but I have no doubt that someone will enlighten me!
By barriemahoney on 27th April 2023 - 9:32
About Membership and The Revision of the Book of Discipline , I am greatly in sympathy with your letter . Thankyou for writing it
By Neil M on 27th April 2023 - 17:12
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