Issue 19-08-2016
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Evil
Currently, we hear much in the news about evil. In America, the word has been liberally thrown around at both presidential candidates. Meanwhile, the actor Will Smith has been discussing his part in the superhero movie Suicide Squad, which went on release recently.
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Just in time: a design for equality
When political and economic change whirls around us, I like to remember that the Religious Society of Friends began in such a moment. Then, as now, accepted arrangements were passionately challenged and division was everywhere. Actually, Friends were doing some of the dividing and challenging – Mary Fisher even walked to...
Our country is divided
It’s been the elephant in the room for a while. Quakers are predominantly middle class, white and well-educated. While inequality in the UK has risen, and austerity has hit the poorest, Quakers have mostly remained in well-paid, stable jobs, or are receiving income from generous pension schemes no longer...
Never again
August 6 2016 was the seventy-first anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. At 8:15am on 6 August 1945, a bright sunny day, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, by a single American plane, killing, instantly, 100,000 people and fatally injuring at least 50,000 others. Many...
Quaker family weekends
Many Quaker Meetings struggle to maintain an active children’s group. This may not be so much to do with what Quakers are offering or not offering but more to do with the realities of the time pressures on modern families at a weekend, when Sunday morning Meeting finds itself...
Meeting in Bonn
Fifteen years ago I attended a European Friends gathering near Frankfurt. It was attended by several young families and the small children that we read stories to then are now Young Friends in their twenties. They had enjoyed this childhood experience so much that they decided to run another all-age...
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Kendal’s Quaker stories captured for posterity
A new booklet from the Quaker Tapestry Museum in Kendal takes readers on a walk through the town’s Quaker history.
Planning decision a further blow for Exeter Quakers
Exeter Friends have expressed their disappointment over the city council’s decision to allow the building of a hotel next to the Meeting house. It is the latest twist in a saga that has gone on for several years.
Friends House exhibition prompts radio outreach
An exhibition currently on show at Friends House in London has been the subject of broadcasts on local radio stations across Britain.
Canadian Friends support rights of Indigenous Peoples
Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) last week received an update on its work on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and agreed a minute to carry that work forward.
European Friends consider ‘The Adventures of Life’
One hundred and sixteen Friends gathered at Haus Venusberg in Bonn, Germany, between 30 July and 6 August for a European and Middle East Young Friends (EMEYF) All-Age Gathering.
Peace Museum
The Peace Museum in Bradford has received a funding boost from the Arts Council to help it expand and increase its peacebuilding work in the town and surrounding area.
Ahmadiyya Muslims condemn violence
Thirty thousand Muslims from the Ahmadiyya tradition gathered in Hampshire between 12 and 14 August for the UK’s longest standing Islamic conference and made a strong condemnation of violence during their meeting.
New database for Welsh COs
Quakers are among those listed in a new database of Welsh world war one conscientious objectors.
Quaker support for activist
Friends were among a group of people who came to support Bahraini activist Isa Alaali at Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 9 August.
Young Friends reach out at Summer Shindig
More than fifty Young Friends gathered at Ackworth School in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, for the annual Northern Young Friends Summer Shindig.
Modernise or bust
The powers of the West, the greatest and the best, agreed to make a plan for no more war. After days and nights of labour, each resolved to love his neighbour by spending more on weapons than before.
Letters - 19 August 2016
Worship The reflection by Craig Barnett (5 August) is a welcome call. It is a challenge for us to put aside our own needs and thoughts and, instead, gather together with an open mind and a readiness to experience something from a source outside ourselves. Craig’s suggestions require us to...