Issue 01-04-2022
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Matt Rosen remembers 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.
Top stories
Finding a way: Elizabeth Coleman on discovering Jewish Christianity
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...
Family matters: James Marshall gives thanks for welcoming Friends
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.
Quaker Bertha Bracey features in new book
A book featuring the work of Quaker Bertha Bracey has been published this month, based partly on research from Friends House Library.
Crossing the border
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!
Harm’s way: Martin Schweiger & Melanie Jameson’s QICJ report
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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Friends in fourteen-day fast against fossil fuels
Two Quakers took part in a fourteen-day vigil and fast to raise awareness of the climate crisis.
BYM joins call for no new oil and gas plans
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.
European Friends help Ukrainian war refugees.
European Quakers have spoken more about the work they are doing to support Ukrainian refugees.
Korean Quaker speaks on ‘choosing water over war’
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.
A quiet word: Charles Stevenson has a little help from a Friend
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.
An Enchanted Place, by Jonathan Stedall
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.
Sowing Seeds for the Future: Exploring the power of constructive nonviolent action, by Andrew Rigby
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’.
Letters - 1 April 2022
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...