Letters - 28 August 2026
'In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.'
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Matter of life and death
In your 7 August issue, Gillie Bolton wrote: ‘We are all afraid of dying.’
At eighty-six and ninety-three, we are old enough to be living in a well-run old people’s complex. And, contrary to being afraid of death, it is our experience that most of us welcome the idea as part of the natural cycle of living and dying. Among our neighbours are those who are ill, and those who find life a burden; all look forward to death.
We feel we have done what we can, generated another generation, and made what contributions we can. Now it is time for us to move on. We do not know what, if anything, we are going to, but are not too worried about that.
Christine Yates & Phoebe Caldwell
Call into question
Recently a new leaflet has appeared at our Meeting. It is entitled ‘Questions about Quakers’ [from Discovering Quakers] and gives the distinct impression that a Quaker Meeting is just stillness. There is no mention of ministry, and also no mention of holding everyone in the Light. As for Quaker values, these are summarised in just seventeen words. Our peace testimony against all forms of armed conflict gets just one word. The leaflet is obviously aimed at newcomers but, in the process, it seems to have created a deplorable dumbing down.
Richard Stewart
