Issue 01-04-2022

Featured story

Thought for the Week:  Matt Rosen remembers James Parnell

FREE 31 Mar 2022 | by James Parnell

Iknow I’m not alone in feeling a sense of inner conflict and helplessness over the war in Ukraine. My commitment to peace has been tested, and I’ve felt the seeds of war – outrage, frustration, impatience – bubbling up in me.

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Top stories

Finding a way: Elizabeth Coleman on discovering Jewish Christianity

31 Mar 2022 | by Elizabeth Coleman

‘The Holy Spirit is female!’ | Photo: Earliest image of Jesus in Israel, at Shivta, c550CE. Photo by Dror Maayan

Some people become Quakers because they cannot accept the teachings of the mainstream church, such as Jesus being God, Jesus dying for our sins, or the trinity. As Jesus is now bundled up with these beliefs, they can end up rejecting Jesus himself, though many accept him as a great...

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Family matters: James Marshall gives thanks for welcoming Friends

31 Mar 2022 | by James Marshall

'Remembering them, and their loving kindness helps Kageha and myself every day as we try to emulate their ways.' | Photo: Kageha, Tom & Isabel, courtesy of the author

A person’s spiritual journey can often start with an unexpected meeting, or a new relationship with an inspirational person. This was the case for me. It was when my partner of thirty-nine years, Kageha, introduced me to Quakerism and her welcoming Quaker relatives.

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Quaker Bertha Bracey features in new book

FREE 31 Mar 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

'Bertha Bracey visited the camps and coordinated the visits and reports of other Quakers.’ | Photo: Bertha Bracey, courtesy Stoatley Rough School Trust

A book featuring the work of Quaker Bertha Bracey has been published this month, based partly on research from Friends House Library.

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Crossing the border

31 Mar 2022 | by John Lampen

'Yes, this division’s hard to understand— those who pass through it find no promised land— and yet to keep it, hardly knowing why, thousands may die.' | Photo: by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash

Here at the gap a concrete hut, a flag, bored men with guns, the barking of a dog; to either side the barbed wire and the signs BEWARE OF MINES!

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Harm’s way: Martin Schweiger & Melanie Jameson’s QICJ report

31 Mar 2022 | by Martin Schweiger & Melanie Jameson

'Why do we continue to punish these vulnerable, much-damaged individuals rather than trying to heal them?' | Photo: by Zika Radosavljevic on Unsplash

Adverse Childhood Experiences are clearly not ‘ACE’ – far from it! That was the main message from presenters to the annual conference of Quakers in Criminal Justice last month.

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All articles

Friends in fourteen-day fast against fossil fuels

FREE 31 Mar 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

Two Quakers took part in a fourteen-day vigil and fast to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

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BYM joins call for no new oil and gas plans

31 Mar 2022 | by rebecca Hardy

Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) joined calls for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to rule out new UK oil and gas developments as the UK moves away from Russian energy.

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European Friends help Ukrainian war refugees.

31 Mar 2022 | by rebecca Hardy

European Quakers have spoken more about the work they are doing to support Ukrainian refugees.

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Korean Quaker speaks on ‘choosing water over war’

31 Mar 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

A Quaker campaigner against a naval base on the Jeju Island in Korea has spoken about the problem of military-contaminated water in the Pacific.

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A quiet word: Charles Stevenson has a little help from a Friend

31 Mar 2022 | by Charles Stevenson

When I was new in membership of the Society of Friends, and becoming more involved, my dear mentor, Ethela Goodhardt, took me aside to a coffee lounge. She spoke gently to me. She didn’t accuse me, but I knew my rash enthusiasm was being cautioned.

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An Enchanted Place, by Jonathan Stedall

31 Mar 2022 | by Andy Vivian

Our Friend Jonathan Stedall is best known as a documentary maker. But after retiring he began writing. His first book was a spiritual autobiography, Where on Earth is Heaven?, followed by No Shore Too Far, poems after the death of his wife. This is his first fiction.

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Sowing Seeds for the Future: Exploring the power of constructive nonviolent action, by Andrew Rigby

31 Mar 2022 | by Dave Morris

This is an important book and merits a place in every Meeting house. It is an exploration and evaluation of techniques and concepts by which nonviolent protest can become most productive – or, as Andrew puts it, ‘the intention to bridge the gap between what is and what ought to be’.

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Letters - 1 April 2022

31 Mar 2022 | by The Friend

Ukraine For the past few weeks it has not been an easy time to be a pacifist. It did not seem easy to suggest to the people of the Ukraine that they should turn the other cheek.  However, for Quakers, pacifism has always been about more than refusing to...

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