Issue 29-07-2016
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Thought for the Week: Faith, hope and love
Over the past few days the chorus of a song keeps repeating in my brain: ‘Faith, hope and charity, that’s the way to live successfully. How do I know? The Bible tells me so.’ The chorus is from a hymn called ‘The Bible tells me so’. It was sung...
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Feeding the darkness
The challenge offered to us was that of creating and delivering a theatre piece that would address head on the issue of state-sponsored torture in relation to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 2. Journeymen Theatre exists to explore dramatically such Quaker concerns and we regard this work as...
Is compassion failing or just ailing?
Where can you go to listen to a Tibetan lama, a Jesuit priest, a Sufi Muslim activist, a Quaker and a social anthropologist in a single weekend? Answer: the Quaker Universalist Group (QUG) Conference, which was held from 8 to 10 July at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham and was...
From the archive: A variety of service
The Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July and continued until November 1916, was one of the bloodiest battles in human history. More than one million men were wounded or killed. The battle was not reported in the Friend, but its effect on Quakers in Britain and Ireland was profound....
No deterrent
On 18 July MPs voted by a large majority for the continuation/renewal of Trident, the UK’s weapon of mass destruction, with only the Scottish National Party MPs voting solidly against it. The prime minister confirmed her willingness to use Trident. There was the usual ‘justification’ for Trident as providing...
The Chilcot Report
Several months before the publication of the Chilcot Report our Ipswich Meeting decided to organise a silent vigil in the middle of town. We picked Friday 8 July, which gave enough time to analyse the main findings of the report.
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A thousand Friends gather in Minnesota
Some 1000 Friends, representing one 150 Meetings, travelled to St. Joseph, Minnesota earlier this month for the Friends General Conference (FGC) gathering. Friends from the United States were joined by Quakers from Canada, Belize and Guatemala for a week of worship, music, activism and community. The theme was: ‘Be Humble. Be Faithful....
Blue plaque for Leeds Friend
A plaque commemorating Thomas Edmund (Ted) Harvey has been installed on the wall of his home (1923-1955) by Leeds Civic Trust.
Ada Salter remembered in Bermondsey
More than 400 people gathered in South London over two days in July to mark the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Quaker and social campaigner Ada Salter.
Hiroshima tradition continues in Coventry
Quakers throughout Britain will be supporting a wide range of events on Hiroshima Day, 6 August.
Apology for JRCT from national newspaper
The Daily Mail has apologised to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) for referring to it as a ‘pro-terrorist charity’.
Young people to participate
Friends between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one will consider Yearly Meeting business alongside Meeting for Sufferings on Saturday 3 December.
Tapestry on the road
Panels from the Quaker Tapestry are once more on the road, with twenty of them destined for Chelmsford Cathedral next month. The twenty panels will include those on conscientious objection, railways and Elizabeth Fry. A diary given by Elizabeth Fry to her niece will also be on show.
Europe
The referendum has been a wake-up call across the voting and non-voting spectrum and many of us have learned a huge amount about our own myopia. While many are paying a very high price as direct targets of unleashed primitive hatred, and we all have to take a stand against...
Eye - 29 July 2016
A collection of interesting and engaging videos produced by Young Friends at Shaftesbury Meeting in Dorset have been made available online.
Letters - 29 July 2016
Labels I was intrigued to read Martin Pennock’s recent piece ‘Isms and ists’ (8 July). Many of us do wear religious labels, of course, and many of these ‘labels’ are ambiguous, invisible and often controversial. The last woman to be hanged in Britain was Ruth Ellis in 1955. Ruth was twenty-eight...