Issue 24-08-2018
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Presence
We live in a world of duality, of opposites and extremes. I find myself moving between these, trying to be one thing to discover I am the other. I have my weaknesses, my darkness, though I prefer to live in the Light. All the past and present conditioning doesn’t...
Top stories
Meetings and mental health
Mental and emotional distress are widespread. Many, if not all, of us suffer at some point in our lives, and many also seek comfort, support and friendship in spiritual communities. Last year Quaker Life sent out a survey to all Local Meetings with the aim of exploring how Quaker Meetings...
Quaker weddings and outreach
Many people’s first (and sometimes only) experience of Quakerism is through attending a Quaker wedding. Planning for and then having our own wedding raised some interesting questions concerning how we welcome newcomers and remember some of the great strengths we have, but sometimes take for granted.
What is the economy for?
Until recently, public discussion on the economy was almost totally dominated by an obsession with a very narrow set of economic measures. The complex labours and lives of millions were turned into a few numbers, in which the moral and spiritual values of those same individuals were unacknowledged and ignored....
Ministry of conflict
The novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner was written in the early nineteenth century by the aptly named James Hogg. The book is an over-wordy argument against Calvinism, and I am not recommending it, only the title.
Open spaces
The editor of the Friend, when reflecting on the importance of listening to people who hold different positions and views, once wrote in a ‘Thought for the Week’: ‘The challenge, surely, is to create spaces for people to grow. Not box them in… We need to protect these “open spaces”...
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A ‘Kingdom’ for all
The introduction to God, words and us says: ‘We have often wondered whether there is anything Quakers today can say as one.’ Is there a universal vision that we can all buy into?
A cabaret of souls
The rhythm is cool and the weather is hot, hot, hot So sings Rastamouse as we drive with our little granddaughters through the Sussex heatwave. It is hot, hot, hot indeed. Sleepless nights under a sheet. I have a headache as I type. There have been wonderful afternoons on the...
Friends rally behind hunger striker
Jill Gibbon, the Quaker artist who draws what she sees at arms trade events, has sent a postcard in solidarity with Ali Mushaima, the hunger striker outside the Bahrain embassy in London protesting in order to try to save his father Hassan Mushaima, a prisoner of conscience in Bahrain. Ali...
Letter to end ‘hostile environment’
Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, has joined twenty faith representatives in signing a letter calling on the UK government to end the ‘hostile environment’ against immigrants.
Friends protest at EDL march
Bewdley and Worcester Quakers held a peaceful protest on 21 July against a march by the English Defence League (EDL).
Lichfield Quakers speak out
Lichfield Friends have released a statement in support of their ‘Muslim friends’.
Working party set up for Indian march
A working party of Quakers and others has been set up to look at ways in which Friends in the UK can be involved in an international march campaigning for Sustainable Development Goals.
Elizabeth Fry is one of ‘100 women who changed the world’
Elizabeth Fry, the leading Quaker prison reformer, has made it onto a list of the ‘100 Women Who Changed the World’.
Conscientious objectors remembered
The second edition of a booklet that tells the story of Quakers who were conscientious objectors to war in the twentieth century has been published.
Ada Salter Garden opened
Ada Salter, the Quaker environmentalist and housing campaigner, was honoured this month with a special garden being named after her.
Eye - 24 August 2018
Canvas, campervans and companionship About forty Friends and families from across the country recently joined together for fellowship in canvas and campervans in the beautiful coastal town of Cromer at the end of July. The Quaker campers held open-air all-age Meeting for Worship every morning for those who wished to...
Letters - 24 August 2018
Peace and taxes I would like to add something to the news report (27 July) about a new peace and disarmament minister. I think Friends might have got the wrong impression. Fabian Hamilton MP did, indeed, launch the report at the beginning of July, with its author, Tim Street, and others,...