Letters - 06 June 2025

Farming matters

There was an odd statement made in one of the special interest meetings before Yearly Meeting: that growing crops for plant-based diets causes more animal suffering than some forms of livestock farming (see 9 May). Whether this is true or not, it is a fact that many more crops need to be grown to feed livestock than if those fields were used to feed people. This makes livestock farming doubly destructive to animal suffering. 

Helen Porter

Who says?

I have long been keen on hearing non-Quaker opinions on the causes of conflict and how to prevent it. My favourite comes from the actor Tom Baker, when asked about violence on Doctor Who, his most famous role. He said that violence, at its extreme, usually takes on a quality of the ridiculous, because it results from a failure of the imagination. Those who use it haven’t the intelligence to find a better way. Perhaps we should include this in the next Quaker faith & practice; we could write and ask him.

Max Evens

Garden state

I resonated with David Brown’s Thought for the Week about Eden (23 May). It reminded me of something I read some years ago, that it wasn’t the apple in the tree that caused all the problems in the Garden of Eden. It was the pair on the ground.     

Howard Grace

A slice of the cake

According to the Equality Trust, analysing the Sunday Times Rich List, the UK’s fifty wealthiest families now own more than the poorest half of the entire population combined. The Trust notes that ‘just thirty-three of the UK’s richest could fund the entire UK’s transition to net zero emissions by 2050 and they’d still have £112 million each left over’.

This seems to me to be pertinent to the question of over-population.

I recently attended a talk by Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist. His subject was ‘degrowth’, and his argument was that credit guidance and rules on lending could achieve decarbonisation and reverse other ecological pressures. Investment in fossil fuels and in industries producing non-essential goods is at the expense of less profitable undertakings that help meet basic human needs.

What really struck me, however, was that after illustrating the percentages of the world’s resources consumed by large corporations (contributing to neither social progress nor decarbonisation), he stated that a more equitable distribution would enable every person on the planet to have a decent standard of living: not just a roof over their heads but a fridge and a washing machine, and access to education and healthcare. 

The issue is not just how many people want to share the cake, but whether they each get a slice or just a few stale crumbs.

Joy Paul 

Bridge building

In reference to Newbury Quaker Howard Grace’s article (‘Beyond belief’, 23 May), I want to share how moved I was by the recent documentary that Howard has executively produced. The Hardest Bridge is about Jo Berry and the IRA man Patrick Magee who planted the bomb in Brighton that killed Jo’s father. 

The film charts the journey of these two individuals who, despite all odds, have learnt to see the humanity in each other. They now teach conflict resolution around the world. 

Incessant news about global conflict breaks my heart and I usually feel powerless to make a difference. When Howard explained that there have been requests for the film to be shown in post and potential conflict zones, but that the film first needs translated subtitles such as Arabic and Ukrainian to be most effective, I immediately decided to support the project. If any other Friends are interested in finding out more please contact Howard on howardgrace40@gmail.com.

Penny Locke

‘The face of morality’

I had hoped to share this in the consideration about Gaza during Yearly Meeting, but the opportunity did not present itself, so I would like to share it here instead.

I am both Jewish and Quaker. I am signed up to several groups that support Israelis and Palestinians working together for peace and justice, and have walked with the ‘Jewish Bloc’ on demonstrations about Gaza. Maybe the Yearly Meeting minute on Gaza was not the place to say it, but I believe we have also to consider what the war on Gaza is doing to the soul of Israel. The letter written recently by a number of members of the Board of Deputies eloquently expressed their view that the actions of the current government in Israel are contrary to Jewish values, and damaging to Israel.

Also, what is it doing to the soldiers carrying out these atrocities? Circulating on social media is a statement by a young person who served in the IDF. Here are some extracts:

‘For years upon years, we said that “Gaza needs to be flattened.” Well, Gaza is flat now. But not because it needed to be flattened – because we wanted to. We wanted to flatten Gaza, and we did. We did it to the sound of loud applause. The country is filled with victory cheers for every collapsed building and every obliterated family.

‘We say we did it because of the massacre on October 7, 2023, to free those who were kidnapped that day, or to ensure that such a massacre never happens again. I don’t know what story will ultimately become the accepted explanation for Gaza’s destruction, but those are lies. We did it because we wanted to… The internal opposition was marginal and negligible, and we denounced the dissenters as traitors. The police forbade expressing opposition to the destruction, and the public supported this silencing. The destruction of Gaza became the national mission, and we carried it out with devotion and joy. Those who took an active part in it were granted the status of heroes.

‘We knew what we were doing. We knew the unimaginable suffering we were causing. We knew the crimes we were committing – in real time. We knew, and we declared before the whole world that this is what justice looks like, this is the face of morality.

‘I don’t know what I could have done differently. If there was anything I could have done to stop it, I didn’t know what it was. I wanted to resist, and I didn’t know how. This writing has no value other than to testify to what happened, and to express my helplessness in the face of it.’

Louise Rendle

Liberalism at prayer?

When I became caught up in the nuts and bolts of central work, I discovered that Quakerism had become liberalism at prayer. We spend most of our time considering the needs of ‘them’.  

This is a disease common among denominations whose hard work, sober habits, honesty and thrift tend to help their members out of poverty and into the middle class. I believe Christian virtues tend to lead to prosperity. There have even been times when membership of denominations was sought as a quick means of gaining help into a lucrative position. I don’t think Quakers can attract many people in this position as most Friends are involved in the caring professions. But we often forget that the greatest gift we can give ‘them’ is not money or political support, but our simplicity of life, open to love and light.

Liberalism has a fine tradition of defending human rights and the liberty of the individual, but we have a different tradition: of deep equality, seeking the Light within each individual. Equality of opportunity is insufficient, for there is God in everyone. 

Our simplicity of life is rooted in spirituality. It is not just a means to an end. It is purity itself. Our silent Meetings are not held to avoid disagreements and beliefs, but to open ourselves to something larger than ourselves. Our Business Meetings go beyond tolerance and statements: they discover real Friendship through openness and love.

Liberalism has nothing to fear from Quakers, as our Truth has always been inclusive, not fundamentalist. But when an interest group attempts to dominate Quakers, by treating Yearly Meeting like a party conference, we need to dig deep into our spirituality, the depth that goes beyond words.

John Myhill