My Quaker bedrock
Bob Johnson considers the gap between what we know and reality
Alas,’ said a world expert, disparagingly. ‘Pity we can’t all be Quakers.’ This was over a video link from Massachusetts. He had just told the conference he was addressing that there was now less violence in the world than ever before. So, when a Quaker pressed him on ever-increasing armament expenditure, he groaned, implying you had to be half-cooked to believe that all could be sweetness and light. He dismissed our peace ideal as manifestly childish – not readily believable by those living in the ‘real’ world. Contrariwise, my beliefs now put the boot decidedly on the other foot. Violence is not the only thing that is kindergarten-based – that and ‘science’ now both desperately need Quakerism to thrive; at least they do for me.
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