Issue 18-03-2011
Featured story
What is a just war?
There have been two broad traditions about war within Christianity. Pacifism was dominant in the first three centuries, but the theory of a ‘just war’, developed by Augustine and refined by others, has since been the majority Christian view.
Top stories
European Energy Security?
The links between energy security, conflict and climate change were lively subjects of discussion among Friends in York recently at a Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) conference.
Reclaiming humanism
The term ‘humanism’ has several meanings, including both a historical movement associated with the Renaissance, and a secular movement based on reason and ethics that rejects religious beliefs.
Arms anyone?
Successive British governments, including our present one, have happily traded weapons – euphemistically described as ‘defence equipment’ – to almost anyone who will buy them. We are in the world’s top five countries in the value of the weapons we sell overseas.
Census queries answered
In the Friend (25 February) the letters from Dai Jenkins and Gerard Bane stated that the award of a large contract to Lockheed Martin to run the census might lead, under the terms of the Patriot Act, to the US government potentially demanding access to personal census data on the UK...
Japanese earthquake and Friends
Japanese Friends have met to discern God’s guidance on how they can best respond to the suffering caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. They have also thanked Quakers in Britain for messages of support and love.
All articles
American conscientious objector wins appeal
A conscientious objector in the US has won his appeal for discharge from the navy despite anti-Quaker insults used by an officer investigating his claim.
Under 18 recruitment setback
Quakers have expressed disappointment with a committee of MPs who have recommended keeping the minimum age of military recruitment at sixteen. The UK is the only country in Europe to routinely recruit people aged under eighteen into the armed forces.
Cardiff compromise
Friends in Cardiff have supported a compromise in a controversy over the use of their Meeting house.
Reaching for God
For a moment, imagine yourself as a trapeze artist. You grasp the trapeze bar, kick off from the platform, and swing out into space. You manoeuvre into position, hanging from the bar by your knees. You swing back and forth, gaining momentum as you go higher and higher. Then, at...
Disabled church – disabled society
John Gillibrand is an Anglican priest and father of Adam, a teenager on the autistic spectrum. Disabled church, disabled society is an ambitious book in which he discusses the implications of autism for state, society and church. I found his work moving, thoughtful and thought-provoking. The personal becomes not only...
Letters - 18 March 2011
Recognition Recently at work someone three rungs up the management tree praised a project I completed both privately to me and publicly to colleagues. This is not usual practice where I have worked for sixteen years. I felt touched and encouraged by this and told him so. I have recently...
Eye - 18 March 2011
Buried at Bunhill One of the most important four acres in Britain, associated with Quakerism and the dissenting tradition, has been given a stamp of approval by the establishment. The cemetery at Bunhill Fields in London has been declared a grade one listed park by the government. Founded in the 166...