Issue 04-05-2018
Featured story
Thought for the Week: The Inner Light
Diversity will be one of the themes at this year’s Yearly Meeting being held in Friends House, London, on 4-7 May, when hundreds of Quakers from every corner of Britain and further afield will gather to worship, conduct business and share fellowship. Consideration and discernment on Quaker faith &...
Top stories
The Swarthmore lecturer interview: Chris Alton
Could you talk about your family background? My Mum taught at a primary school and the head teacher was a Quaker. She had lost her own mother when she was in her teens and the head teacher took her ‘under her wing’, so to speak, and they started going to...
Building community behind bars
How do we make the Meeting a community in which each person is accepted and nurtured, and strangers are welcomed? Seek to know one another in the things which are eternal, bear the burden of each other’s failings and pray for one another. As we enter with tender sympathy...
Love and Light
‘On 10 December 2014 Rosie Adamson-Clark and Chris Smith became the first Quaker couple in the UK to convert their civil partnership to marriage.’ So read the short article in the Friends House news. We had been fortunate to have Michael Booth travel up from Friends House to witness the history-making event.
God, words and us: A Christian Quaker
Who shows us the Father and is himself the Way - Advices & queries 2, before 1994 We are told that, as Christ died, the sky darkened and the veil of the Temple was torn in two. For Christians, at the season of Easter, when I am writing this, the veil between...
A Quaker view of human nature
If someone asked you to explain the Quaker view of human nature, how would you respond? In my experience, we tend to say something like: ‘Quakers don’t really do sin, we prefer to see the good in people.’
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Learning to be human: the work of hospitality
Martha House is a house of hospitality in Tottenham. It is a way to support the homeless and lonely. I attend Tottenham Meeting, and almost four years ago my partner and I set up Martha House and have been living there, supporting the residents, ever since. We take referrals, settle...
Witness in the Congo
Three-and-a-half years have passed since our last visit to the Congo. Much has changed for Congolese Quakers and the village of Abeka in that time. The Community of Evangelical Friends’ Churches in Congo (CEEACO) decided to change its leadership, but this idea was not well received by Mkoko Boseka, who...
Militarism and schools
In November last year an Apache helicopter gunship landed in Stevenage to help pupils mark their remembrance day. A helicopter landing in your school field is obviously an exciting experience for reception class pupils, but this raises serious questions. In an era of austerity and public sector cuts, how is...
Towards a just UK?
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an unconditional, automatic and non-withdrawable income for every individual as a right of citizenship. It has recently aroused interest in the Scottish government, who are about to fund trials in four local authority areas. Some Quakers in Scotland believe it is a radical idea...
Quakers are hilarious!
Among non-Quakers and (‘I hope so’) Quakers too, it’s widely considered to be a good thing to be able to laugh at yourself. With this idea in mind I went on a literature search to see if I could find anything which self-parodied Quakers. I was pleased to discover...
Uxbridge Friends mark 200th anniversary
Uxbridge Quakers held an open meeting to discuss the resurgence of militarism as the first in a series of events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of their Meeting house.
Friends House joins call for tax justice
Paul Parker, Britain Yearly Meeting recording clerk, joined Christian leaders in the House of Lords last month to challenge government inactivity on tax justice reforms and to demand immediate, tough action.
Headstone for Benjamin Lay in Pennsylvania
abolitionist and Quaker Benjamin Lay finally had his legacy to Quakerism re-affirmed last week when a new headstone was laid at Abington Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania to mark his and his wife Sarah’s grave.
Huddersfield witness for cycling
Four Huddersfield Friends were among around 100 people who took part in a cycling event to encourage councillors to fund more cycle routes in the town.
Quaker values in education
The Quaker Values in Education group (QVinE) has published a new book featuring chapters from twelve Quaker education specialists.
Interfaith Week challenges fracking
Friends from Bolton, Pendle Hill, Lancaster and Huddersfield were among those who took part in an interfaith week to campaign against fracking last week.
Search for sustainable solutions
Staff at the Friend are investigating the most sustainable way of wrapping the magazine for posting to subscribers.
Letters - 04 May 2018
Membership I understand the suggestion that we should discontinue the off-putting process of what amounts to an assessment visit to a Friend who has applied for membership. However, just allowing open membership would do nothing to address the difficulties resulting from a widespread lack of understanding of ‘Quaker processes’. Perhaps...