Letters - 30 August 2024

Brexit and fascism

Please could I draw Molly Scott Cato’s attention to part of Advices & queries number 17: ‘Do not allow the strength of your convictions to betray you into making statements or allegations that are unfair or untrue.’

I found parts of her ‘Thought for the week’ (16 August) hurtful. I don’t know her precise definition of a Brexiteer, but I believed in Brexit and still do. While I think it could have been handled rather better and with more attention to detail, I am no fascist and do not disdain intellectuals (or experts generally). Neither do I describe anyone contemptuously. I would suggest that most people who voted for Brexit had reasons for doing so that had nothing in common with fascism.

Dorothy Searle

Gaza

I would like to endorse the comments of Nicola Grove (2 August) concerning our response to the horrific developments in Gaza. 

Our ‘visceral emotional responses’ are indeed engendered by what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears. 

The atrocities were promised by Israeli ministers, are videoed and uploaded to TikTok by their own soldiers, reported upon by numerous aid agencies, and opposed by many Jews, secular and religious. 

If we dare not speak truth to power, if this does not move us to go beyond anaemic observations intended to discomfort no one, then whatever will?

Peter Bellenes

Everything we do is ministry

We were encouraged at Yearly Meeting to consider carefully if we were really moved to minister. Had it already been said? Would it assist the process? Was it from the Light, or merely our own idea?

All this is very good, but why do we not apply it to our whole lives?

Am I really moved to be silent, have I nothing to say? Am I really moved to be at Yearly Meeting? Or is it merely habit? Am I really moved to be at the business, but not at the worship, which was mainly sidelined to a smaller room, early and late, and poorly attended? Am I moved to join the peace vigil surrounding the building, or is this a statement of ownership or virtue? Or is it just easy because I am here anyway?

I gave up Yearly Meetings more than ten years ago (too expensive, too old), but this year I felt called to attend. I was very ill for about a month, and felt relieved that I would not have to go. Then I was miraculously better so I went. In the business sessions, I felt called to stand up, although I had no idea what I was going to say. I stood up seventeen times. I was not called to speak. I believe it was right that I was not called, as I believe Yearly Meeting was not ready to hear what I had to say.

Friends, I believe you know when you are led to speak – whether it be in a Meeting, or to a friend or a stranger. So do not hold back when you are led. Do not expect to be heard, but if you let the Spirit speak through you, you will never speak in vain. I believe you know when to forgive, when to say sorry, when to encourage, when to warn. As long as you have considered carefully, and speak as carefully, as if you were addressing a Yearly Meeting, there is no reason to remain silent, no reason to feel rejected when you fail to get a positive response.

John Myhill

William Gunn's Charity

Following our recent advertisement in the Friend, we have had to change one of our contact numbers. The number for our grants secretary, Val Brittin, is now 07564 781257. 

Our email address is unchanged: williamgunnscharity@gmail.com.

Application forms can be found at: Home | William Gunn’s Charity (williamgunnscharity.org). Instructions for submitting applications are on the form.  Please email or ring us if you require a paper copy of the form.

We welcome requests for grants to assist individuals who are in formal membership of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain and are experiencing financial need or hardship.

The charity cannot pay taxes nor commit to continue with regular payments. However, Friends may apply as often as is necessary, with each request for a grant being taken as a separate and fresh application and dealt with on its merits. We aim to respond to applications within fourteen days of receipt but this can often be quicker.

Jackie Fowler, clerk to trustees of William Gunn’s Charity

Medicine

I was interested to read Wendy Pattison’s letter in the Friend of 16 August, in particular her question, ‘Are hospitals trying to do too much, especially as we approach death?’  

 A while ago, I re-read Medical Nemesis by Ivan Illich, published in 1975. He saw limitless growth as impossible and the quest for it destructive. This perceptiveness was unusual in the seventies. Now we know that we need to limit growth, but may not apply this to medicine. 

To quote Illich, ‘The social commitment to provide all citizens with almost unlimited outputs from the medical system threatens to destroy the environmental and cultural conditions needed by people to live a life of constant autonomous healing.’

People lose the ability to deal with sickness, pain and death, which they had in traditional societies, which in Illich’s view are a part of health. 

Modern medicine takes coping out of our hands and puts it into the hands of specialist doctors. Illich advocates simple medicine that can be practised by people with little training. 

We want to benefit from modern medicine, but may agree that some limit is needed. How do we decide when to stop? 

Illich says that at some point, increased spending on health leads to greater inequality, and it is at that point that it becomes harmful. 

Elizabeth Coleman

Programme and patchwork

At Yearly Meeting, the children’s programme held their own George Fox birthday party, at which they made a patchwork which was displayed in the final business session as the 0-11s’ minute was read. 

Afterwards, a member of the adult leaders’ team asked a member of staff whether the patchwork could be displayed in Friends House. The answer was along the lines of ‘It’ll be difficult because everything has to be so corporate’.

On returning home, I read in the Friend (26 July) that the Quiet Company at Friends House has been awarded two ‘prestigious accreditations’, which was a ‘fantastic achievement’. What, I wonder, would our radical founder have thought of this?

Andy Beck

Quaker Community Bamford

I thought it very appropriate that Jeffery Smith’s letter ‘The Bamford Community’ was printed below Sarah Lane’s letter ‘Facing outwards’ (9 August).

The trustees of Quaker Community Bamford are very aware of Winifred’s legacy, and part of the discernment around selling the buildings and land was that the money raised would provide the opportunity to explore other ways of supporting Quaker community action.

John Rouse

Rescuing 'died'

Can we please rescue the word ‘died’, which appears to have died a death in various Quaker environments recently, being replaced notably with euphemisms such as ‘passed away’.

At Yearly Meeting we apparently succumbed to having ‘passed away’ (for example, in the introduction to the session on Testimonies) and – even in your esteemed journal – notices under ‘Friends & Meetings’ asks if any Friends have recently ‘passed away’.  

Are we not a group of people who are encouraged to ‘let our yea be yea and our nay be nay’ – in other words to speak as clearly and plainly as we can and not dress up challenging topics in bland, indirect or over-polite language?

Margaret Cook

Bandying words

In ‘Bandying words’ (2 August), Nicola Grove so precisely spoke to my condition. She gave my feelings words in a way that I could never have done. Thank you, Nicola.

Maris Vigar