Issue 12-09-2014
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Tea at the mosque
Recently our Local Meeting, in conjunction with the interfaith group in Inverness, were invited to ‘tea at the mosque’. It took place on a Saturday afternoon in June just before the start of Ramadan. Quite a few Friends attended this afternoon ‘tea party’. It was held in a lovely little...
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Thomas Paine: Quaker revolutionary?
Thomas Paine’s father was a Quaker and, as John Keane states in his acclaimed definitive biography, ‘Paine’s moral capacities ultimately had religious roots that were to have a lasting impact on his life and, eventually, the political shape of the modern world.’ In 1774 Paine left for America, where...
An independent Scotland?
South East Scotland Area Meeting found it relatively straightforward to discern from Quaker testimony our aspirational values for national life. But how do these relate to the Scottish independence vote? We met in July in Kelso Meeting House (just a few miles from the border with England) with the independence...
Secret trials
A key aspect of justice is its transparency in the conduct of law – ‘open justice’. This is currently under threat in this country. Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT) trustees would like to share their disquiet over this with Friends. Open justice has been a founding principle of...
The Retreat Lecture: Quakers and mental health
‘Friends, meet together and know one another in that which is eternal’. Jane, who is a former NHS clinical psychologist specialising in mental health and the elderly, began her lecture with these words of George Fox. On a first reading, she said, she took this to mean that by meeting...
Meeting for Sufferings: QPSW work highlighted
Three main subjects were highlighted for concern and discernment at Meeting for Sufferings on Saturday 6 September. Meeting for Sufferings was held in the George Fox Room at Friends House and Friends present considered a proposal to change the current procedure for appointing trustees for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the...
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Meeting for Sufferings: Yearly Meeting Gathering
Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) at Bath was described at Meeting for Sufferings as an ‘inspiring complex of friendly activity for all ages’. The session on Yearly Meeting Gathering began with an outline of the key issues to note from the event: membership, commitment and belonging; revision of the Book of...
Meeting for Sufferings: Friends consider proposed JRF/JRHT changes
A proposal to change the current procedure for appointing trustees for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) was brought to Meeting for Sufferings ‘The de facto position is that the Trusts have had a relationship with Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) over very many years,...
Meeting for Sufferings: National Quaker conference on ethics and economics
A one-day national Quaker conference on ethics and economics is to be held in Birmingham in November, Meeting for Sufferings was told. The conference, ‘Food banks are not enough: Practical ideas to challenge inequality’, is organised by the Central England Peace Committee, will consider a pathway towards a publication that...
Meeting for Sufferings: Terms of reference
The terms of reference of several groups and committees that are appointed by Meeting for Sufferings were addressed in an afternoon session. The groups were: the Central Nominations Committee Review Group; the Book of Discipline Review Preparation Group; the Sustainability Group; and the Review Group on the relationship with Listed...
Eye - 12 September 2014
Peace and remembrance On 3 August Bradford Meeting planted the first tree of a new Peace Garden. Chris Butler, a local Friend, wrote to Eye about the day: ‘Following Meeting for Worship, a cherry tree was planted in the newly cleared garden at the rear of the Meeting house. ‘The tree...
Letters - 12 September 2014
Expulsion versus running for your life I greatly appreciated Henriette Al-Khouri’s letter (29 August). It was a reminder that under the Muslim rulers of Spain, and, after the expulsion of the Spanish Jews in 1492 by the Christians, under the Ottoman empire, Jewish and Christian life flourished under a tolerant and...