Issue 26-05-2017
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Thought for the Week: The Peace Testimony
Sixty murderers told me they didn’t want to kill – and then didn’t. There are several explanations for this, but only one is true. The obvious one is that they fooled me, they pretended to be ‘good’, but weren’t. This is the explanation prison ministers prefer, and use...
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Forgiveness and mercy
In a New Statesman article last month about her life as a peace campaigner, Sheila Hancock wrote: ‘As a Quaker, I aspire to be a pacifist.’ She considered whether, with a gun in her pocket, she would refrain from using it to save someone from being murdered. Would she, as...
Ireland Yearly Meeting: Live simply…
The theme of Ireland Yearly Meeting (IYM) 2017, which was held at The High School, Rathgar in Dublin between 20-23 April, was a quotation from Mohandas Gandhi: ‘Live simply, so that others may simply live’.
Reflections on the ‘Red Book’: Unity of creation
All species and the Earth itself have interdependent roles within Creation. Humankind is not the species to whom all others are subservient, but one among many. All parts, all issues, are inextricably intertwined. Indeed, the web of creation could be described as of three-ply thread: wherever we touch it we...
From the archive: Peace principles
The USA entered the first world war on 6 April 1917 when Congress, in response to a proposal by president Woodrow Wilson, voted to declare war on Germany. He had asked Congress to support a ‘war to end all wars’ that ‘would make the world safe for democracy’. It was a decision...
Living our faith in the world
Saturday: full of suspense and expectation, Meeting new people, filled with fear and elation. Sunday: getting to grips with the land, And realising it’s ok when life doesn’t go as planned. Monday: learning how to nurture and sew, Then working in the kitchen to eat what we grow....
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Reading Quakers to hold ‘reverse hustings’
Reading Quaker meeting house will host a ‘reverse hustings’ on 31 May from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. All but two of the parties standing candidates at the general election in the Reading East and Reading West constituencies have accepted the invitation to take part. The Labour and Green candidates will be...
Friends House anniversary
Friends House has just completed ninety years on its present site at Endsleigh Gardens in London.
‘Look outwards’ urges Rowan Williams
Rowan williams, the chair of Christian Aid, has urged Britain not to turn inwards but to look outwards as the country forges a new relationship with the world.
Thy Kingdom Come
Christians of all denominations will take part in the global prayer movement, Thy Kingdom Come, between 25 May and 4 June. Last year more than 100,000 people joined with the archbishops of Canterbury and York to pray during the 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost.
Great British Bee Count launched
Friends of the Earth (FOE) has launched its Great British Bee Count (19 May-30 June). The aim is to enable people to find out more about the bees that visit their neighbourhoods and take action to help protect them.
Debt crisis deepens
Twenty-seven countries across the world are in debt crisis, up from twenty-two when the figures were last calculated in 2015, according to new figures released for World Debt Day on 16 May.
Thy Kingdom Come
‘In praying Thy Kingdom Come we all commit to playing our part in the renewal of the nations and the transformation of communities.’ Justin Welby
Letters - 26 May 2017
Tweaking the testimonies In the paragraph entitled ‘Equality’ in the article ‘Tweaking the testimonies’ (19 May) the phrase ‘gender niceties’ was used. This should have been ‘gender awareness’ and the sentence, in the article, should have read ‘1981 was too early for gender awareness’. This was due to an editorial oversight. Richard...