Issue 25-05-2012
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Speaking of love and truth
On the odd occasion that I miss my weekly Quaker Meeting, I get edgy around day eight. My family spots it before I do, but three days on we have all noticed. My emotions are nearer the surface. I veer just a little off-centre. I lose the harmony. My...
Top stories
Interview: Paul Parker
How did you come to Quakerism? I came to Quakerism as a young teenager. I was brought up in a family with a Methodist mother and a very determinedly atheist father. I was taken to Sunday school every Sunday by my mother. I became increasingly uncomfortable with being...
Being a Quaker: Commitment and community
In my work I sometimes receive enthusiastic emails from people who have found Quakers and want to ‘join’ immediately. I have to counsel caution. Years ago the Friends World Committee for Consultation had to write to the authorities in Estonia to distance ourselves from a local group of a hundred...
Being a Quaker: Serving need not greed
It was spiritually inspiring to participate in several Quaker Meetings for Worship on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in support of the Occupy London Stock Exchange. It was also constructive. The failing global economic system is in need of fundamental change. Camping was a nonviolent way for...
Mark Tully in conversation
‘This is the first time I’ve been to Quaker worship,’ says Mark Tully. ‘I find it interesting the way that someone suddenly stood up and spoke.’ For the distinguished BBC journalist, new experiences are possible even after seven decades exploring spirituality. He attended his first Meeting for Worship...
Befriending the stranger
The image of Kitchener’s face in the famous poster, with its great moustache and his long finger pointing out accusingly, is unforgettable to me. It would also have been so to my parents. At that time things needed to be done. Our forebears knew what was expected of them...
All articles
Economic justice: Beauty and the Beast: Re-humanising money
Remember that the Beast was once – and was to become again – a handsome prince. What set him free was love. We are all too familiar with the Beast. We have been living with him for a long time, even if it is only recently that he has emerged from...
The Kabarak call for peace and ecojustice
In past times God’s Creation restored itself. Now humanity dominates, our growing population consuming more resources than nature can replace. We must change, we must become careful stewards of all life. Earthcare unites traditional Quaker testimonies: peace, equality, simplicity, love, integrity and justice. Jesus said, ‘As you have done...
A Pump in Africa
Here’s water, as the human eye can’t see it. Maybe God’s eye, or a fly’s, the mirror-ball of timelessness, the almost-insubstantial lacewing’s gold eye, can.
The Queen’s Speech
The ‘Queen’s Speech’ is a marriage of twenty – first century machine politics and medieval pageantry. It is read by the monarch but she has no say over its content. The ‘dignified’ and ‘efficient’ parts of the constitution unite in televised spectacle. The sword of state precedes the monarch in...
Census case against Quakers dropped
The case against two Quakers who boycotted last year’s census because it was run by an arms company has been dramatically dropped by prosecutors. John Marjoram of Stroud Meeting and John Voysey of Ludlow Meeting were both prepared to go to prison rather than pay a fine.
David Shutt steps down
Baron Shutt of Greetland, the only Quaker in the government, has stepped down as Liberal Democrat chief whip in the upper chamber of Parliament on reaching the age of seventy.
Spirit Level film
Quakers have been urged to give a few pounds to make the case for equality in an innovative way. The Spirit Level, a book that shows ‘why more equal societies almost always do better’ was a surprise best-seller on its publication in 2009. Now its supporters want to make it into...
Eye - 25 May 2012
Friends turning phrases The ‘Alternative Quaker Dictionary’ from Paul Honigmann (11 May) certainly sparked some Quakerly synapses! David Boulton, from Brigflatts Meeting, offered the following tidbits to Eye:
Letters - 25 May 2012
Friends House refurbishment How ironic that in the same issue of the Friend (18 May) that carried an introduction to the newborn Quaker Arts Network, we learn of our trustees’ decision to throw away the opportunity to install James Turrell’s inspired design for the Large Meeting House roof.